iPhone 3G Reality Check: AT&T's 3G Coverage Called Into Question
Before you head out to your local Apple Store on Friday to pick up the new iPhone 3G, you may want to double check you're going to be able to take advantage of AT&T's 3G network. The problem? There is no guarantee you'll have access to it. According to Gear Diary, AT&T's national 3G coverage is spotty at best, and the blog claims that 90 to 95 percent of the United States is not 3G ready. If this is true, it means the large number of Apple fans who plan on buying the latest iteration of the iPhone will be stuck paying 3G prices for the slower EDGE service.
But Apple fanboys are riding to the rescue of Steve Jobs and dispute Gear Diary's conclusion. According to others, the map (click on image above. dark blue spots show the 3G service) is misleading because it is based on data from March 31, 2008 and does not include AT&T's recent expansion of 3G service earlier this year. It should be noted that AT&T covers about 275 markets right now and plans to expand even further to 350 U.S. markets by the end of 2008.
Here is a link to AT&T's official coverage map.
Your best bet to know whether or not your area will have service is to rely on AT&T's list of cities to see where 3G is up and running. However, it should be noted that AT&T admits that its 3G service is only available in major metropolitan areas.
So if you live in a rural area way out in the middle of nowhere, you may be out of luck. From what I have seen, Gear Diary may be out of date, but AT&T's 3G coverage is by no means comprehensive. For a national overview, visit this map which is pretty much the same as gear diary's, and therefore relatively accurate.
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You people need to rethink what these claims mean "AT&T's national 3G coverage is spotty at best, and the blog claims that 90 to 95 percent of the United States is not 3G ready" - ... ehh umm.... you can still cover like 50 percent of the POPULATION even if 90 to 95 percent of the AREA is not covered... (for instance if the entire population only occupied ten percent of the area.. you could cover the entire population with service by only covering 10 percent of the U.S.'s land area- you should know what these claims MEAN before you go shouting them)****** is not covered.. Percent not covered does not equal percent of CUSTOMERS not covered- which is actually what you want to know...... (- B.S. In Geography / Geographic Information systems)
Furthermore.... if you REALLY want to know how good the coverage is "functionally" ... you create two maps: 1. A population distribution map 2. A network coverage map... ensure that they are in the same PROJECTION etc etc... and imagine the population distribution as dots on a map... imagine this map as a transparency- lay that map over the coverage map and see how many of the dots (which represent people) reside inside the blue (3g coverage area).. take how many people are inside the blue area out of the total population... that's how you do a percentage.....