This afternoon I returned my day-one iPhone 4 to the Apple Store. I’ve just had enough. You see, I’m a fan of the iPhone. I love the intuitive interface, the clean lines, and the system. I’m not a fan of calls going directly to voicemail, hit and miss reception on 3G, and the numerous dropped calls. I assumed this issues would be resolved with the iPhone 4. I was decidedly wrong. If anything, the frequency of problems has increased to an annoying degree. My bottom line: The iPhone 4 isn’t worth getting married to AT&T for another two years. No chance. So, I’m currently...

Rumor has it, many people are running into problems with their new iPhone 4 showing “No Service” in the upper, left-hand corner. I worked through some issues and found a solution that worked for me so I thought I would pass it along. I purchased my iPhone 4 around 3pm local time. The sales rep “activated” the phone using a Mac in the store, then told me there were some issues with phone activation but it shouldn’t be much of an issue. I left the store with my old iPhone 3G still working and my new iPhone 4 without service. About 20 minutes after leaving the store, my old...

Having an iPhone is both a blessing and a curse. The phone has fabulous functionality, is robust, provides a vector for many applications which add additional features. In my opinion, the curse comes with the sometimes dreadful reception that the AT&T 3G network provides. I’ve been paying for a plan to ensure I didn’t go over my monthly minutes. The additional charges can be draconian. Push over by just a few minutes and you’ll end up with a $400 cell phone bill. However, AT&T followed Sprint’s plan and offers roll-over minutes. They don’t advertise it but, on my...