if i fall out of 3g coverage, will i automatically get 2.5g, 2g, or the next best coverage?

[BlahBlahYouToo]

does it depend on the phone or the carrier?

 

[pm]

It depends on both - what the carrier supports and what the phone supports.

With a 3G iPhone for example, if you are in a 3G area you get 3G, then if you move out of that area and have only EDGE, then it will drop to EDGE (which is 2G or maybe 2.5G depending on who you talk to). But if you move out of an EDGE area, a 3G iPhone will not drop to GPRS (1G). My wife's phone - a Nokia 6000-series, will do 3G -> EDGE -> GPRS and back again without a problem.

But it also depends on your carrier and what they support. If your carrier doesn't have GPRS at all - or 3G - then you can't drop to that.

 

[ViRGE]

GPRS is 2G, not 1G (1G was analog). EDGE is an evolution of 2G, 2.5G is technically incorrect but a good description none the less.

Anyhow, my iPhone 3G has no problem switching between 3G, EDGE, and GPRS, although there are only very isolated pockets near me where I can't get at least EDGE.

 

[pm]

Thanks for the corrections, Virge. I did some reading on Wikipedia and you are right: GPRS is 2G, EDGE is ~2.5G, and 3G is 3G. And the iPhone supports GPRS - although it displays the EDGE symbol when using it.

 

[ViRGE]

It doesn't use the EDGE symbol(E). It uses a large inverted dot for GPRS (why? I have no idea).

 

[pm]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
It doesn't use the EDGE symbol(E). It uses a large inverted dot for GPRS (why? I have no idea).

Hmmm.. I've never seen that, and I've probably been in areas that were GPRS. I just always have the "E" no matter what... even if I turn off EDGE. I wonder if that's a 3G iPhone thing.

 

[ViRGE]

Nope, that's for the iPhone 2G too.

 

[pm]

I've used my iPhone in Wyoming and in Montana. I've used it in Poland, in the mountains in northern Czech Republic and in the western Ukraine and I've never seen that circle thing.

Looking at this map, I spent a lot of time in the yellow GPRS area:
http://was.plusgsm.pl/GSIMZ/ImzControl?lang=1

I don't know. Hmm... Ok, I wonder if it's a hacked/unlocked iPhone thing.