Apple sued four times in two weeks over iPhone 3G speeds
Apple and AT&T are facing two more cookie-cutter lawsuits over what customers claim is poor iPhone 3G network performance and hairline cracks in the casing.
The latest pair of suits, identical in almost every way save for the names of plaintiffs, join two from last week.
Florida residents Onel Gonzalez and Ron J. Brayteson filed a 24-page complaint in the Southern District of Florida on behalf of themselves and all members of the class in their state, demanding statutory, compensatory, and punitive damages plus interest. They also seek a ruling deeming Apple and AT&T's practices ruled unlawful, an injunction preventing them from "continuing to disseminate false and misleading advertising," and pay restitution for any ill-gotten gains.
Meanwhile, New Jersey resident Timothy Ritchie filed a 23-page complaint in the District of New Jersey for himself and all similarly situated members of his state, making the same demands as Gonzalez and Brayteson. Ritchie claims to have purchased his iPhone 3G in September 2008, while Gonzalez bought one in June 2008, and Brayteson in August.
Both suits use many of the same allegations made in the class-action lawsuit filed by four Texans last week, right down to the same phrasing. They, too, cite the conclusions of Swedish engineering weekly Ny Teknik that some phones aren't sensitive enough to 3G signals and boost their own signal to compensate, creating the network conflict.
Successive and independent evaluations contradict this theory, however, concluding that the iPhone 3G does not suffer from hardware issues but rather congested and inadequate wireless networks.
The filings spend several pages reprinting comments from blog posts and messageboards, including one customer who posted on Wired, "I have a brand new [iPhone 3G], and my home is inside an AT&T 3G coverage map (suburban area) and I NEVER get 3G reception. The iPhone flickers "3G" for a second or two and then it's all Edge all the way."
The latest complaints also allege hairline cracks in the iPhone's casing around the camera, near the volume rocker, and in other areas. Ritchie, Gonzalez and Brayteson all accuse Apple and AT&T of knowingly marketing the inherently flawed iPhone 3G devices without disclosing the 3G speed problems and hairline cracks that form.
The two sets of plaintiffs also posture their claims by referencing a August 2008 ruling in the United Kingdom that required Apple to stop advertising the iPhone's ability to access "all parts of the internet" as proof of the 3G woes. The UK regulator did not take 3G speeds into account, but rather the lack of Java and Flash support.
However, a second iPhone 3G ad was indeed banned late last year by the agency on grounds that it "it exaggerated the speed of the iPhone 3G."
The latest pair of suits, identical in almost every way save for the names of plaintiffs, join two from last week.
Florida residents Onel Gonzalez and Ron J. Brayteson filed a 24-page complaint in the Southern District of Florida on behalf of themselves and all members of the class in their state, demanding statutory, compensatory, and punitive damages plus interest. They also seek a ruling deeming Apple and AT&T's practices ruled unlawful, an injunction preventing them from "continuing to disseminate false and misleading advertising," and pay restitution for any ill-gotten gains.
Meanwhile, New Jersey resident Timothy Ritchie filed a 23-page complaint in the District of New Jersey for himself and all similarly situated members of his state, making the same demands as Gonzalez and Brayteson. Ritchie claims to have purchased his iPhone 3G in September 2008, while Gonzalez bought one in June 2008, and Brayteson in August.
Both suits use many of the same allegations made in the class-action lawsuit filed by four Texans last week, right down to the same phrasing. They, too, cite the conclusions of Swedish engineering weekly Ny Teknik that some phones aren't sensitive enough to 3G signals and boost their own signal to compensate, creating the network conflict.
Successive and independent evaluations contradict this theory, however, concluding that the iPhone 3G does not suffer from hardware issues but rather congested and inadequate wireless networks.
The filings spend several pages reprinting comments from blog posts and messageboards, including one customer who posted on Wired, "I have a brand new [iPhone 3G], and my home is inside an AT&T 3G coverage map (suburban area) and I NEVER get 3G reception. The iPhone flickers "3G" for a second or two and then it's all Edge all the way."
The latest complaints also allege hairline cracks in the iPhone's casing around the camera, near the volume rocker, and in other areas. Ritchie, Gonzalez and Brayteson all accuse Apple and AT&T of knowingly marketing the inherently flawed iPhone 3G devices without disclosing the 3G speed problems and hairline cracks that form.
The two sets of plaintiffs also posture their claims by referencing a August 2008 ruling in the United Kingdom that required Apple to stop advertising the iPhone's ability to access "all parts of the internet" as proof of the 3G woes. The UK regulator did not take 3G speeds into account, but rather the lack of Java and Flash support.
However, a second iPhone 3G ad was indeed banned late last year by the agency on grounds that it "it exaggerated the speed of the iPhone 3G."
Comments
Apple and AT&T are facing two more cookie-cutter lawsuits over what customers claim is poor iPhone 3G network performance and hairline cracks in the casing.
The latest pair of suits, identical in almost every way save for the names of plaintiffs, join two from last week.
One big difference of these suits vs one we argued about last week is the named defendants. One suit last week was against Apple and, amazingly, not AT&T. The slow real-world experience that some of us get is most likely AT&T's fault.
I'm wondering aloud if one of these suits finds AT&T liable (but not Apple), if Apple can break its exclusive deal with AT&T and sell iPhones via any carrier. That'll get more iPhones out there (except, of course, for the first version with cut-and-paste!
I do live in the sticks and don't have it there, but that's what Wifi is for!
I would be worried about visiting America, I might get sued for not trying to sue someone else!
I haven't been very successful in my suit against Toyota. My Avalon doesn't go anywhere near as fast as they say it can go. I've tried several times to get it to go that fast, and every time I get over 100 MPH, a cop stops me, so I don't know how fast it will really go
And my other lawsuit against my cable company isn't going well either. Seems that when ever I go online my Mac slows down after 6,000 neighbors decide to get online at the same time.
Skip
Apple and AT&T are facing two more cookie-cutter lawsuits...
Muricans love to sue, huh?
I have a 3G and it has two hairline cracks, one at the jack-hole and one on the lower corner. I also get my service from fido in Canada, so it's pretty much a lock that the service sucks, the speed sucks, the coverage sucks, and the price is through the roof.
But am I going to sue? No.
You see there is this thing called "life," where not everything is fair and there is not always someone at fault just because you didn't get what you want.
Seriously though, the irony of suing a company for failing in it's responsibilities because you don't yourself want to take any responsibility for anything is priceless. Suck it up Murica!
Muricans love to sue, huh?
I have a 3G and it has two hairline cracks, one at the jack-hole and one on the lower corner. I also get my service from fido in Canada, so it's pretty much a lock that the service sucks, the speed sucks, the coverage sucks, and the price is through the roof.
But am I going to sue? No.
You see there is this thing called "life," where not everything is fair and there is not always someone at fault just because you didn't get what you want.
Seriously though, the irony of suing a company for failing in it's responsibilities because you don't yourself want to take any responsibility for anything is priceless. Suck it up Murica!
I'm glad someone realizes how the world works...or how it should work at least. These are my thoughts exactly!
We would call O2 (in the uk) and they said there is nothing wrong with the coverage.
A few of us noticed that the 3G speed issue was only happening around the office. So we pestered o2 until they sent an engineer out. In the end they 3!
They did some tests and rebooted all the cell towers in the local area. The speeds have been great since then!
So O2's cell towers had a fault that needed it to be rebooted that lasted for a couple of month without them picking up the problem. If you have a problem with speeds, dropped calls in your area and it affects multiple iphones then it's a problem with the carrier and not Apple.
The iphone 3G speeds are fine and when on 3G they are definitely quicker than edge. Which is what apple compared the speeds to in the first place!
They sue everyone. Karma on them.
What goes around. Comes around.
As far as I am concerned, I was using the internet via 3G. It was horribly slow.
And its the phone, not the provider. I am on Rogers and they are not AT&T.
Apple should market the phone with real facts not BS.
Apple deserves it.
They sue everyone. Karma on them.
What goes around. Comes around.
As far as I am concerned, I was using the internet via 3G. It was horribly slow.
And its the phone, not the provider. I am on Rogers and they are not AT&T.
Apple should market the phone with real facts not BS.
Fine. You should be able to return phone and get a partial refund.
All this bad rep for Apple will hopefully teach them not to BS.
I am very glad the EU pulled the ADs that were false.
Wishing other countries did the same - and that goes for any company that tries to push the limits.
At least Apple's legal team doesn't have to worry about job security
LOL love it
I'm wondering aloud if one of these suits finds AT&T liable (but not Apple), if Apple can break its exclusive deal with AT&T and sell iPhones via any carrier. That'll get more iPhones out there (except, of course, for the first version with cut-and-paste!
Apple deserves it.
They sue everyone. Karma on them.
What goes around. Comes around.
As far as I am concerned, I was using the internet via 3G. It was horribly slow.
And its the phone, not the provider. I am on Rogers and they are not AT&T.
Apple should market the phone with real facts not BS.
What? I think if you really look into it you'll find that Apple get sued way more than they sue anyone else. Get your facts straight.
It's called holding the company accountable. Just as if the government decided it was going to take an extra 5% from your pay check just because they feel like it. You would be screaming and yelling about that.
When you don't hold companies accountable for their actions, the consumers are the ones that get screwed. First it's a crack, then down the line it's a screen or a battery.
You don't feel a crack in your phone is important enough to make a big deal out of it. Congratulations, you're an individual. Thousands of other people would prefer that moisture doesn't leak into their phone through cracks.
When Apple sends out compensation checks, you can send yours back.
THAT is life.
I'm glad someone realizes how the world works...or how it should work at least. These are my thoughts exactly!
Muricans love to sue, huh?
I have a 3G and it has two hairline cracks, one at the jack-hole and one on the lower corner. I also get my service from fido in Canada, so it's pretty much a lock that the service sucks, the speed sucks, the coverage sucks, and the price is through the roof.
But am I going to sue? No.
You see there is this thing called "life," where not everything is fair and there is not always someone at fault just because you didn't get what you want.
Seriously though, the irony of suing a company for failing in it's responsibilities because you don't yourself want to take any responsibility for anything is priceless. Suck it up Murica!
If you are seeing slower 3G data rates, it has more to do with your network connection or network speed. That has nothing to do with the iPhone itself.
No I like my iPhone. I don't like how they lied and lured me in with twice as fast.
All this bad rep for Apple will hopefully teach them not to BS.
I am very glad the EU pulled the ADs that were false.
Wishing other countries did the same - and that goes for any company that tries to push the limits.
Apple deserves it.
They sue everyone. Karma on them.
What goes around. Comes around.
As far as I am concerned, I was using the internet via 3G. It was horribly slow.
And its the phone, not the provider. I am on Rogers and they are not AT&T.
Apple should market the phone with real facts not BS.
It's fun to make up stats on the spot!
Given a good network connection and speed, the iPhone with 3G has been found to be 3 times faster than the iPhone with EDGE. So Apple is telling the truth that 3G is faster than EDGE.
If you are seeing slower 3G data rates, it has more to do with your network connection or network speed. That has nothing to do with the iPhone itself.
Really? Give me a network that show its 3x faster.
Have you seen those Ads? You can do everything in 30s. LOL
The same Ad was mimicked and it took over 2m 50s to do the same thing.
That is the problem.
Sure Apple can say it does it all... But don't show an Ad with everything it can do it 30s supercharged. If it wants to do an Ad in 30s.... then show what it really can do in that timeframe. Don't try to fit all 10 things in 1 Ad to get customers to buy the phone to only find out it ain't so.