iPhone firmware 2.0.2 update explained
What’s the deal with the iPhone 3G? I mean, I updated it and I’m still dropping calls like U.S. Olympic batons!
Bad Seinfeld jokes aside, Roughly Drafted has some information from “a source close to AT&T” as to why you may have updated your iPhone 3G and still don’t have your reception problems fixed.
Basically, iPhone firmware update 2.0.2 addressed how much power the iPhone was requesting from network base stations. Originally, it was requiring a lot of power; certainly more than it needed. This resulted in slowed 3G access and dropped calls for many. So, it’s not the network’s fault for being slow, but the network is affected.
Even if you update your iPhone, there may be others out there who are still running power hungry firmwares 2.0 or 2.0.1, effectively perpetuating your reception issues.
“It is not the network that is fault but the interaction of the bad power control algorithm in 2.0 and 2.0.1 software and the network that is at fault. The sooner everybody is running 2.0.2 software the better things will be. Having seen the graphs the 2.0.2 software has already started to make difference.“
That’s why you may have received a text message from AT&T urging you to update your iPhone to the latest software. Supposedly, if everyone updated to 2.0.2 (or higher), the issues would fully be addressed.
So, if you are still having reception issues with your iPhone 3G, they should be fixing themselves as fast as the users in your area are updating their iPhones. Reminds me of a Beatles’ song:
“I’ve got to admit it’s getting better, a little better all the time…“
Via [RoughlyDrafted]
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I’ve posted elsewhere that I believe that the problems users encounter are indicative of a QOS—or, quality of service—issue with the iPhone, and support for those settings on any given network. I still believe that is the case.
The explanation offered by this “… source close to AT&T;“ is ridiculous on its face, as a mobile handset device does not get “power” from “network base stations.“ This claim seriously ‘dumbs down’ the conversation about the issue. It does, however, lend weak credence to the idea that this issue is a QOS mismatch problem with nearby cellular arrays, resulting in poor receptions and inappropriate switching from one network segment to another.
It’s hard to imagine, however—since the sensitivity of individual mobile handsets and their QOS related performance has little or no bearing on network loading or the performance of other mobile handsets—that updates to other devices would improve the performance of any given iPhone, or—in an environment where users had not yet updated—that the performance of any other device would suffer as a result.
Shorthand: this is a SILLY explanation, by an individual who does not understand basic cellular technologies, or cannot manage to find a coherent way to explain the claim.
on August 29, 2008 at 10:51 AM - LINK