Why the iPhone SHOULD be a modem

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Wednesday, 05 March 2008

Page 2 of 3 One possible reason why Apple didn’t want users to use their iPhones as tethered modems is the reality that an EDGE Internet connection, which is around 100Kbps in speed, is only around double the speed of a dial-up connection. That means it’s slow, but if you were in a pinch and needed to access the Internet through your computer with a tethered iPhone, 100Kbps is better than zero Kbps. Another reason is likely because modem use chews through battery life, and it seems Apple won’t let iPhone users surf the web via their EDGE connection while on a phone call. Of course, a removable battery would solve that problem, as would tethering through the iPhone’s USB cable which charges the iPhone’s battery, although at the expense of your notebook’s battery if you’re out and about and not connected to a power socket.  I know this because I tried bringing up Safari while on a phone call using my iPhone, and got a message that EDGE was not available while the phone was on, with the exact message being ‘EDGE data connections are not available while a call is active’ – I know because I just checked again right now. This is an Apple limitation, as I just made a call on my Nokia N95 and then proceeded to surf the web, with the two functions working seamlessly and smoothly. The iPhone won’t even let you surf the web when you are connected to a Wi-Fi network and then decide to make a call – once again, I know, because I just tried it. This is patently ridiculous. Why has Apple limited us so? Please read onto page 3. << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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