Wired iPhone reception survey results
Wired has published the results of the iPhone reception survey they were running, and clearly Antarctica needs way more coverage. But they also pulled a lot of useful data out of places where people actually live, and it probably doesn’t surprise you.
3G performance is slow almost all over, especially in cities where the 3G service is getting overloaded. If you want to have fast speeds, hang out in Germany and the Netherlands — those folks had the fastest speeds (and it’s no coincidence that the 3G network there has three extra development years on its American counterpart). The worst reception is apparently in Australia, as Optus and Virgin users had their iPhones chugging along at just 759 Kbps.
What can we draw from this? Just like those Swedish scientists told us, it’s the service, not the phone. But you know what Mark Twain said about statistics, so just in case you want to draw your own conclusions, Wired has kindly made a Google Spreadsheet of all the data available to anyone who wants it. Anyone want to try putting together that heatmap? [Read]
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T-Mobile Germany Mails Papercraft iPhone 3G Templates Instead of Actual Phones
Oh, the cruelty—German pre-order customers still waiting for their iPhone 3Gs to be delivered apparently received this sick little joke in the mail instead, obviously inspired by reader Matt’s original papercraft iPhone he made to quell the anticipation for the first launch. My German is, well, I don’t speak it, but Google does, and it seems as if the full flyer after the jump is labeled “As a small passtime/tinkering project” at the top. Just plain sick. [iPhone-ticker.de (translated), Thanks, Nicolas!]
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Popularity: 5% [?]
T-Mobile Germany says sipgate makes jailbreaking too attractive
Alright, can someone help us out with a little primer on German law here? California-based sipgate offers up a VoIP client for the iPhone that — for the moment, anyway — requires a jailbroken handset to run. It goes about its business on WiFi airwaves, so from the carrier’s perspective, no harm, no foul, right? Not so much. T-Mobile Germany takes issue with the app, claiming that it’s enticing its iPhone users to jailbreak — a violation of its contract terms. Furthermore, the contract disallows VoIP of any kind, WiFI or otherwise, which pretty much makes sipgate public enemy number one in T-Mob’s eyes. They’ve gone ahead and sent out a nasty little cease ‘n desist, which sipgate says it plans to fight all the way through the court system if that’s how T-Mobile wants to roll; meanwhile, it’s still providing service and says that “for the time being [its] users are safe.” Fight the good fight, guys.
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iPhone 3G on display in Germany: alles in Ordnung
Hallo vom Deutschland! Since I haven’t been able to participate in most of the line-waiting, MobileMe-stalling, activation-collapsing fun yesterday and today, and the 29 pages of lovely iPod touch apps are inaccessible until the touch update drops, I figured the least I could do was post a picture of one lonely iPhone 3G on display in the T-Mobile store in the Innenstadt (central city) of Osnabrück, a medium-sized city in the northwest portion of the country.
The caption reads “Das iPhone, auf das Sie gewartet haben” — the iPhone you’ve been waiting for. Despite reports of mob scenes elsewhere, I can report that if you’re looking for an iPhone 3G in Osnabrück you can just walk in, lay down your euros and buy it with nobody in a sleeping bag blocking your way. [t-mobile]
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Deutsche Telekom “satisfied” with iPhone sales so far
Echoing statements made by other carriers offering the iPhone, Deutsche Telekom has gone on record at its recent annual meeting saying that iPhone customers on its T-Mobile network in Germany are shattering mobile internet usage stats, outpacing users of other handsets by a factor of 30 (yes, thirty). Without going into too much detail — wouldn’t want to irritate the Cupertino mothership, after all — DT said that it has sold in excess of 100,000 units since its November launch, a number that meets its expectations. The smart money says that data usage is going nowhere but up once the darned thing launches with a serious radio, too, so let’s just hope the satisfaction doesn’t turn into sorrow when the airwaves get saturated with overzealous Safari sessions.[Read]
Popularity: 4% [?]
