[psmith2.0]

This may not be a true problem in the end, and may simply stem from my ignorance about cell/data networks:

Are there certain areas - or times of day (heavy usage, etc.) - where one's EDGE performance on their iPhone might be excessively crappy? To the point of getting a "cannot connect" or "server not found" message on the iPhone when trying to load a webpage?

My iPhone has been one of the "perfect" ones (knock on wood) so far - great screen, no dots, good battery, no dead spots on Multi-Touch, plenty of volume and clarity, etc. - so it really jumped out at me today when I was at lunch and just checking my e-mail and hitting a few news sites; pages taking forever to load...if they loaded at all.

In three-plus weeks, this is the worst I've seen my iPhone act, in terms of the EDGE network. Now this was about 12:10 and I was sitting in a fast food joint on a fairly busy, main street (lots of other business and food places around, quite a few people in the place, some on their cell phones too, although they were talking...I saw no one doing any sort of texting/e-mail/surfing).



I usually don't do lunch until 1:30 or so, after the main big rush, and I've not experienced this before. Today, though, I go a good 90 minutes earlier than usual and I notice this. Is there a connection? Or is there a deeper problem?

Should I restore my iPhone or anything like that? Is there some sort of diagnostic I can perform to tell me if everything is working on the phone itself the way it's supposed to?

What gives? Is EDGE a fluctuating, dynamic type of deal, prone to spikes and dips in speed and performance depending on locations, heavy usage from others (could it be that everyone was out at lunch at noon and accessing the network on their various devices, or am I really reaching?).

I think I got one of those dips today, because, so far, I've been quite happy with it. Definitely faster than dial-up speed for me. But today, it was like having a 28.8 modem (if that).



What's the scoop on all this? Was I just in a funky spot, where, for whatever reason, the EDGE coverage or service wasn't that great? I had the little boxed "E" icon in the menu bar the entire time. But that little pinwheel timer graphic would just spin and spin, and pages would take ages to load, or not load at all (and I got two error messages).

[turtle]

I'm running into issues with EDGE here in Tidewater too. Maybe AT&T is upgrading things around the nation?

[psmith2.0]

That's encouraging to hear. If I'm gonna suffer, then I want everyone else to as well...

j/k

I've generally been very happy with EDGE - enough to hop on check my e-mail, a few websites, some news, maybe check a movie time/location, etc. with pleasant enough speeds (I'm not going to sit and surf for two hours on EDGE, of course). It's certainly faster and more usable than all the pre-June 29 caterwauling led me to believe.

But today was just a dog using it.

I hope it's something internal, AT&T related. Or me just being in a low-reception/performance area.

I don't know. I'll try it again later (I've got Wi-Fi where I am now, and, of course, it works just fine...fast as ever).

And all other functions of the phone work fine. I even made and received a couple of phone calls to make sure. I had 4-6 reception bars, had good volume and signal (I could hear my friend just fine, and she could hear me).

Seems to be just the EDGE network performance being less than idea. Otherwise, the phone is perfect as always.

[apple007]

Aside from normal network fluctuations due to system maintenance, etc., I don't think there's any doubt that using EDGE during peak times will result in slower speeds, not unlike using a WiFi connection when 100 other people are using it vs. when 10 others are using it.

E.g., I've noticed that checking email at 3:00 a.m. is quite faster than at 1:00 p.m. We're only talking 1-2 seconds, but it's noticeable nonetheless.

I highly doubt there's anything wrong with your iPhone.

(Side note: Didn't an admin ask that all iPhone-related questions get posted to the Apple Products forum for now? I thought I recalled something along those lines. Not trying to give you a hard time; just might make sense to keep all iPhone issues in one place. (I've debated where some of my iPhone-related posts belong but have posted everything on the Apple Products board and no one has asked me to do otherwise.))

[psmith2.0]

I don't know, but if a Mod or Admin guy sees fit to move this, they can.

I've just always put my questions/problems here, in Genius Bar. Just makes sense.