Originally Published Wednesday, 11/19
Updated Friday, 11/21
As of 11/27, 755 people had read this blog entry.
Five months after purchasing their fancy new 3G IPhones, Mainers in parts of York county bordering I95 to the ocean, Cumberland County, Brunswick, Topsham, Bath, and a sliver of Auburn received 3G Network coverage yesterday, November 18.
Update: The NEW date for the switch on is Monday, 11/24, and until then 3G IPhone owners in these areas have had their data usage restricted to the the slower AT&T EDGE Network speeds and have been unable to make use of a 3G Network for many features including talking on the phone and surfing the web at the same time, accessing certain video features, etc.
This, in spite of the fact that they have been paying the same data fee as IPhone users living in areas with the speed tripling 3 G network.
When the Portland Press Herald reported on the roll out of the 3G IPhone on July 11, no mention was made in the article of the fact that there was THEN no 3G network for the new IPhone in Maine, New Hampshire or Vermont.
In fact, staff writer Rat Routhier ironically wrote of the supposed dilemma facing Emma Pope-Welch, Director of communications and marketing for the United Way of Eastern Maine in Bangor
"Pope-Welch, who bought the first version of the iPhone, also balked at the claim of faster Internet service. A map on the AT&T Web site shows that there are parts of Maine, including areas east of Bangor, that are not covered by the faster 3G cellular network.
"So in some areas it wouldn't be faster for me," Pope-Welch said."
As I wrote in an unpublished letter to the PPH editor, Pope-Welch and perhaps Routhier were apparently looking at the EDGE coverage which reveals there is no EDGE coverage east of Bangor and they failed to notice that the July AT&T 3G data map showed the very severe limitations of the 3G network when the new IPhone was rolled out.
Pope-Welch in Bangor was wise to keep her first generation phone as there is no official AT&T corporate indication on the internet as to when the 3G network will be expanded to Augusta, let alone Bangor.
Sources of mine indicate it could be 1/1/2010.
So 3G on Monday in the Southern Maine areas outlined above? We will see.
***
Now, for those of you who have asked Santa for a 3G IPhone, The Boy Genius Report confirmed just hours ago that selected Walmarts and Sam's will start selling the IPhone on December 28.
Perhaps just in time for the after Christmas sales?
No, there isn't. Maybe it's being turned on at some point today? But as of yet, there's still no 3G anywhere from the MA/NH line through here in S. Portland.
I guess since this is a blog AND it's the Press Herald, that no fact checking is necessary.
Posted by November 20, 2008 12:10 PM
To " "
This was fact checked through the AT&T sales office on Brighton. Don't know what to say. I look at the AT&T coverage map, I call the AT&T store owned by AT&T....
Peter, just because the sales office says it was turned on... well, they are wrong. They had planned to turn it on and it will undoubtedly turn it on soon. However anyone with a 3G device will tell you you can see the network but you cannot yet connect to it. But to say that Mainers could use the 3G network as of yesterday is incorrect. We are all waiting for it and checking every couple of hours-- but no dice yet despite what the AT&T coverage map or the sales office says. Go grab yourself an iPhone and try to find a 3G network signal in Maine.
Posted by Tim November 20, 2008 02:49 PM
Tim is correct. Still no 3G. Anxiously waiting in Falmouth!
I called an at&t rep the other day asking about why would you post a coverage map indicating 3g coverage in places where it is not accessible? If you want a laugh try it yourself, talk about stump the rep. She said it was me "the user" with the problem!! Nice try but not quite. I bought the 3g in October, updated firmware the same day and was told, like you, 11-18 was the day. They got their coverage map up on schedule, but not the service.
Come on att&t, a news update would be nice, a lot of 3g users will switch coverage if you keep these shenanigans up.
All along, AT&T said the service would be avaliable in late Novemeber, and that it would only cover Portland and areas south. Thats why it was never a good idea to upgrade from the non-3G iphone if you lived around here, unless you just liked to complain....
Not really sure what this blog's point is....
Posted by get over it November 22, 2008 09:15 AM
People in most of Maine would be thrilled even to have an iPhone at all.
You wouldn't believe how much of this state is not served by AT&T, so the state that supports Apple more than any other with its middle school laptop program is one of just a handful of places nationwide where most citizens are not permitted to have Apple's awesome phone.
3G won't come up on your iPhone until you go into the general settings and reset your network settings. This will force a restart, after which you'll see "3G" appear at the top of your iPhone. Any time the 3G should disappear, when you are traveling in an area you know has 3G coverage, do this again.
Posted by November 24, 2008 07:58 PM
3G won't come up on your iPhone until you go into the general settings and reset your network settings. This will force a restart, after which you'll see "3G" appear at the top of your iPhone. Any time the 3G should disappear, when you are traveling in an area you know has 3G coverage, do this again.
Posted by November 24, 2008 08:01 PM
When I bought my 3G IPhone from the Brighton Avenue Office in August, absolutely NO one told me that A) 3G was not then active in this area or B) that it was coming in November. I have no idea what the yahoos named "get over it" and " angryATTrepMISinform" are talking about.
As far as I could see, they wanted my money and wanted me out the door (and no, Brown is not my real name AT&T).
Posted by Daniel Brown November 26, 2008 07:26 PM
Thanks for the info about going into general settings. I'd still be waiting for 3g!
Subscribe
Interested in becoming one of our community bloggers? 