everything sounds good execpt EDGE. But I guess having some form of internet is better than none huh? Well, I will still be in line anyways :P

Can somebody out there explain to me why Apple went with Edge. Is there some technical reason for using this technology that seems out of date and has had problems for several years?

Also, don't they require all cell phones to have a GPS chip for E911 services?

Thanks.

Why is EDGE so slow on AT&T's network? I wonder why, because on the only EDGE network in Ireland (everyone else went straight to 3G and skipped EDGE), average speeds are 120-200kbps. That isn't exactly 3G, but it's much faster than dialup.

3G coverage is not that great right now. More importantly, most of the current 3G hardware sucks battery life like there's no tomorrow. This would be something of a non-starter on a phone w/o a removable battery. In the future it will undoubtedly be more practical.

Also, keep in mind that even HSDPA and EV-DO Rev A (3G, or even 3.5G standards) are still a lot slower to use than WiFi.

Yes, that's what it is here in the US, between 15 and 20 kilobyte per second. That may not sound that bad, but one wonders what possessed Steve to strike the deal with YouTube. People are going to go crazy trying to play videos over this horribly slow network. In comparison, AT&T's 3G gives you a consistent 60 to 80 kilobyte per second throughput. It may only sound like 4 times faster than EDGE, but it's the difference between pokey and broadband-like. I guess it's all a matter of what you're used to and what your expectations are...

The real potential of the iPhone will be experienced when wi max is rolled out and the iPhone takes advantage of this technology. Excellent speed, wide area coverage, bye-bye Edge.

I wish people knew this because there is so much hate for edge when they don't realize they might have have coverage in their area if it was 3g. Well I can't complain it just may mean others will skip so I can get one friday.

There's a perception out there that AT&T's 3G coverage isn't as good as Verizon or Sprints. I don't know if it's true, but I imagine that could be a reason that the iPhone doesn't have it yet, and why Apple went to Verizon first before they turned them down.

I travel a lot and never have trouble finding wifi. And its pretty easy to find where I live. I see EDGE as being the 2nd option.

It's not a perception. Even ATT/Cingular's CEO has admitted in interviews that ATT's 3G deployment is 12 to 18 months behind Verizon's. They're prolly about the same amount of time behind Sprint's deployment as well.

Simply put, yeah, Verizon and Sprint both have much better 3G coverage than ATT. But ATT's 3G coverage should be pretty good in a year or so.

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