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Where Apple's New iPhone Doesn't Help: AT&T's 3G Dead Zones

att-3g-iphone-map-northeast.gifExcited about buying Apple's (AAPL) new iPhone 3G, which goes on sale tomorrow? Pumped about those blazing-fast 3G Internet speeds? Hope you don't live in beautiful Bozeman, Montana; Burlington, Vermont; or Des Moines, Iowa. Those are just a few places where your new iPhone will download Web pages just as slow as the old one did -- because AT&T hasn't set up its 3G network there yet.

Skimpy AT&T (T) 3G network coverage was one of New York Times tech columnist David Pogue's biggest complaints about the new iPhone. From his review:

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There is, however, a catch: you don’t get that speed or those features unless you’re in one of AT&T’s 3G network areas — and there aren’t many of them...

AT&T hastens to note that its 3G coverage will expand, and also that it will get even faster over time. (3G is a much bigger deal in the 70 other countries where the iPhone will soon be available because 3G is much more common.)

Those 10 states you can't get service in: Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.

Where can you get 3G service? Anywhere marked highlighted in blue in the map below. (Surprisingly sparse, even to those of us who think about this stuff every day.) No need to panic -- you'll still be able to get on the Internet in most fairly developed, non-3G places, just at much slower "EDGE" speeds. We can confirm, for instance, that AT&T's network will let you surf the Web from your iPhone if you happen to be on Sunset Lake in Michigan's remote Upper Peninsula. But why would you want to? It's gorgeous up there. Turn off your phone!

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On the map below, blue areas signify 3G network coverage. Click the right or left half of the map to zoom in. (Current as of July 10, 2008. Click here for the latest map.)

att-3g-map-small-left.gifatt-3g-map-small-right.gif

Source: AT&T

See Also:
Apple iPhone Apps With Ads: A Risky Bet
Six iPhone Games We Can't Wait To Play
It Has Begun! iPhone Line Forms At NYC Apple Store

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