A reader of a blog called the Consumerist wrote in to ask an interesting question: Should AT&T be advertising the iPhone 3G as “twice as fast” in Wichita when the 3G network is not available in Wichita?
The person pointed out that an ad that ran in The Eagle touted the iPhone’s speed but didn’t mention that the network isn’t available here:
It may not seem like a big deal to some of us that are aware that the 3g coverage of ATT is limited and know to check the coverage first, but there is no guarantee that the good folks at the ATT store will let potential customers in on this, and (again) nowhere on the advertisement does it say that ATT’s 3g coverage is quite limited and not available anywhere near the newspaper’s reader’s area.
I have to admit, I love a good gadget and might have considered buying an iPhone if I weren’t still in the first year of my two-year Verizon contract. And I don’t know if I would have researched the iPhone enough to know the network isn’t available here.
I’d be interested to know if anyone bought one without knowing and regrets it. Maybe it’s not that big of a deal, and I imagine the 3G network will be here soon enough.
4 Comments
Its not really funny but at&t promised me that it would have 3G over a year ago. They do in Rogers/Bentonville Arkansas. So how come AT&T cant get it working here?
I was going to upgrade from iPhone v1 to iPhone v2 cause I wanted the 3G and the new GPS, but when I found out that Wichita area doesn’t have 3G coverage, I have decided to wait. No need to upgrade since v1 can still run the new 2.0 software.
Based on info I’ve seen across the Web, it’s reasonable to expect 3G in Wichita Q4 ‘08, possibly Q1 ‘09.
I’ve been getting 3G reception for a couple of days now, so Q4 was a good projection.
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