My iPhone fell off the EDGE of the world last night
My posting was light yesterday as Barb and I were meeting with our potential wedding photographer. We loved the work he showed us and signed our contract, so that’s one less thing to do before November 8th! The studio was just outside the Borough of Doylestown and our appointment was over around dinnertime, so we drove in to the "big city" for some fine Italian food. Well, as fine as you can have while still dressed in jeans and an Adidas top, that is.
During a rare lull in the food I went to check e-mail on my iPhone but kept getting an error message that the server wasn’t responding. I thought it was odd, but didn’t stop to really look into it. Instead, I went to the web and found the same issues. Hmm… five bars of signal strength: check. And then it hit me: I saw something that I never saw before. Actually, it’s what I didn’t see for the first time ever: no "E" next to the AT&T, which meant no EDGE service. HUH?
I’m lucky to be in an area that’s pretty well covered by the major wireless carriers, but this was a first for me. Ironically, as the AT&T coverage map here shows, they’ve got Doylestown blanketed in HSDPA for 3G. Maybe the Italian place has lead-lined shielding in the walls? I even asked Barb to fire up her iPhone thinking that mine had some issues… same deal for hers. Definitely a strange experience for me… but a good one for the Italian place… I ordered a second glass of Merlot to cope.
so you replace a email addiction with a alcohol addiction? i wonder if someone close to you should be worried
did the “E” just turn into a little black box or did it go away completely? since upgrading to the 2.0 software i loose the Edge network quite often.
I live in Haverford and work in Center City! I just subscribed to your blog earlier this week, but knowing you’re in the same area makes it better for some reason.
We’re getting married March 6th, and I’ve been stressing about photographers for weeks. Photographers keep telling me I need to decide soon, but it makes me feel better that you’re 4 months away.
turn.self.off: I probably would have ordered the second glass anyway. The lasagna on my plate was enough to feed three people.
Brian: there was no E at all.
Justin: I lived in Philly for 7 years while attending college and grad school; I’m between Philly and Allentown these days but still make it down to CC every now and again. Don’t stress about photographers or the wedding at all. Everything will work out and it should be a celebration, not a time of stress. I should know… this is my second time around.
Interesting… I lost data service on my Nokia around 5pm last night. And I’m in Charleston, SC. Wonder if our cases are linked simply because I grew up outside of the “big city” of Doylestown
Hmm… Tom’s comment has me checking the web for any other outage reports. There’s one indicating sporadic data network issues last night: http://blog.dataoutages.com/2008/07/30/att-outage-as-well-july-30-2008/
Looks like I’ll have to go back and try another Italian dish in Doylestown now!
It’s almost certainly a software hangup – it happens to me now and then. Reboot the phone, EDGE will probably come right back. Yeah, it sucks.
What’s more aggravating to me is the frequent failure of the phone to trade off to EDGE WHEN 3G signal gets poor (and the EDGE signal in the area is strong). The 3G coverage is definitely spotty, and without a really strong 3G signal the phone seems to burn relatively more battery than when the signal is full.
But hey – what can you do?
The Merlot wasn’t totally affecting me, Greg.
I did reboot my phone and then asked Barb to check on her iPhone. No dice.
Along the lines of your 3G/EDGE comment: I’m hearing more and more grumblings of the handoff between the two. Any iPhone 3G owners care to chime in?
No edge?…
I’d be asking for another bottle of wine – and when the waiter asks one glass or two? I’d reply “None, just a straw thank you”.
Every few weeks in random locations I experienced that – I think AT&T’s data network is occasionally flakey. Speaking of which I’m getting antsy and it may be time soon to trade in my iPhone for something else. Maybe Blackberry Bold.
Guys: I have a first-gen iPhone with 2.0 unlocked and use it with T-Mobile. I get this “EDGE disappearance” problem from time to time. I just restart the phone and it comes back.
Could this be an issue with 2.0? It never happened to me in the one year that I used it with all the 1.0.2/1.1.1/1.1.2/1.1.3/1.1.4 versions.