The word is that in the UK, O2 UK iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre 3G coverage quality doesn’t fare well in Ofcom published maps, reports stuff.tv.
And apparently some users are not at all pleased as shown on several comments on the stuff.tv forums.
Forum users have posted complains ranging from the 3G on the iPhone is not great, to O2’s 3G service is shocking, although one user has said they do get good coverage with their iPhone and gets a consistent 3G signal everywhere they go.
So readers, are you experiencing bad 3G coverage with your iPhone 3GS? Feel free to drop us your comments.
I have had an iPhone 3GS on O2 for a few weeks now, having jumped ship from an MDA Vario III on T-Mobile, and I’m bitterly regretting the decision.
The T-Mobile HSDPA coverage was patchy enough - which is what prompted me to look elsewhere in the first place - but compared to O2 it was, as Monty Python was wont to say, “…luxury, pure luxury”.
I became suspicious that I’d fall foul of fashion over function on the day that I got the 3GS, prior to my T-Mobile number being ported over. My MDA vario was still working so I did a like for like website loading comparison using the mobile BBC news website, theonion.com and google searches. With a full set of bars on both phones, the MDA was hands-down the fastest - loading all websites approximately 3 times faster than the 3GS. Yes, 3 times faster.
I commute to Waterloo and then west on the Central Line. Coverage during the overland journey is pretty awful, with poor performance even when the 3G icon is showing - most of the time it flips in-between nothing, Edge and occasionally into 3G. Once out of the tunnels on the Central Line it is the same story - poor performance even when the 3G icon is showing.
Do yourself and your wallet a favour - don’t bother.
I have an iPhone 3GS sat next to a Nokia 5800. The Nokia has full 3G signal, the iPhone had 1 bar for about 30 seconds, and then back to standard GSM/GPRS. Rubbish.