Friday, August 22, 2008

iPhone droppings

In my last trip out West, my iPhone dropped more calls in San Diego than we have dropped bombs in Tora Bora. Yesterday I was relieved to find out in a BusinessWeek article, that I am not the only one having a case of excessive iPhone droppings.

Until July 18, I was also carrying two phones at all times. A Nokia N95 for telephone calls, and the iPhone for checking mails. The combination was expensive but superb. Then I had to give up my T-Mobile account because the service won't work properly in my office.

According to the BW article, many others are also carrying two phones: One for phone usage, and the iPhone for email and surfing.

I think I have a clue as to why the calls are dropping. AT&T will have to figure out the details but here are two pointers:


1. Hundreds of calls dropped in San Diego but no call drops in the Hartford area.
2. Calls drop when there are many iPhones in close vicinity.

Since San Diego has more GSM connections than Hartford (I think) the problem has to reside in the interoperability of iPhone with the wireless switch under high loads. Or iPhones go berzerk when there are many in close vicinity.

Apple is already on to it. The last iTunes update requested permission to transfer iPhone diagnostic information, anonymously to Apple.

I hope that the problem can be fixed in software.

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