Anyone who has had to deal with snail-crawling 2G or 2.5G-limited Internet access would want 3G on their iPhone, too. "Where'd my SMS go?" wouldn't even begin to cover the network grief experienced with the multimedia-enriched mobile phone, but it appears that in order to have 3G, you'd have to get another iPhone.

 

Or so they say. While many rumors have flown around dubbing European phone buffs as the lucky ones to get the extra G, none have proven factual or true. And while Steve Jobs himself admits that iPhone 'surfing' on AT&T isn't as fast as preferred, Apple is going to be hard-pressed to come out with a simple 3G solution.

Another bit of interesting developments was a mention of AT&T, Apple, planning, iPhone and 3G in one sentence. PBS' Robert Cringely wrote in a column that he believes "Apple and AT&T are planning a fall rollout for full 3G iPhone service, with technical trials already underway in certain AT&T markets," although there were no factual statements to support his claim.

He goes on further that the iPhone has a 3G capability tucked within its innards, ready to burst open at Christmas when a new firmware rolls out and flicks the magic switch. Some folks have turned their iPhone inside out and have yet to spot a piece of hardware that rings 3G-capable, pointing against the speculations of Cringely.

3G needs a transceiver with 3G capability, blogs Philip Elmer-DeWitt, which means that another iPhone with the hardware would be needed before being able to even use 3G capabilities. In turn, that would also require more power for the additional hardware. 

But instead of scrambling over the comm for Scotty, Apple considered battery life was first and foremost in their list of priorities. Apple has assured customers that Wi-Fi Internet access can still be used as a faster alternative to AT&T's current EDGE network, but while hotspots are few and far between, there's nothing more you can do to speed up your iPhone 'surfing' experience.