Survey Says Carriers Are iPhone's Problem

A survey of over 2,000 3G iPhone users shows that problems with the device strongly correlate with which network carrier is being used, rather than the device itself.  The survey conducted by Wired.com found that AT&T ranked 3rd along wiht Telstra, Telia and SoftBank.  AT&T users averaged 990 Kbps, half of the 1,822 Kbps averaged on T-Mobile's European networks but miles beyond the 390 Kbps offered by Australian carriers Virgin and Optus. The average in Australia was 759 Kbps.

But the vast majority of participants reporting "0" speeds, meaning they dropped off of 3G entirely, were AT&T customers in the U.S. Out of more than 1,600 survey participants from the U.S., 63 reported speeds of 0. Only 80 participants worldwide reported speeds of 0.

In the American cities that should be the most built-out for 3G but many users are getting no better than EDGE speeds. The reason is probably because the number of iPhone 3G users are overwhelming the available 3G towers.