Get out of the way of your wireless antenna so you can surf faster.
Boosting the speed of the EDGE network is a simple matter of holding your iPhone correctly. Improperly holding the iPhone can decrease speeds by as much as half!
AU: Update to be inclusive of the 3G
The black plastic piece on the back of your iPhone that you see in Figure 1-14 is the antenna cover. This component is responsible for transmitting and receiving cellular signals, including the EDGE network data. It's crucial that this part of the iPhone isn't covered while using the wireless features of your phone. In fact, page 105 of your official iPhone User's Guide states that the antenna must be kept at least 5/8" from body to avoid potentially harmful radiation from the cellular wireless signals. When your body intercepts these signals, besides purportedly being bad for you, it is also decreasing the speed of the EDGE network. By keeping your fingers and hands at least 5/8" away from your antenna, you're increasing both your safety and your EDGE network speed. (Before you wrap your iPhone in tinfoil, realize that radiation decreases rapidly--by the inverse square of the distance from you, in fact--so don't immediately take Apple's legal disclaimers as proof that cell phones are murder.)
ED/AU: Highlighted: Is this different on the two models? Also, are there multiple antennae? If so, please
restore antenna->antennae in the previous paragraph.
It's easy to find yourself holding your iPhone in the natural-feeling way shown in Figure 1-15. However, knowing what you now know, you can see that this could impair your health, and even worse, your download speeds!
By holding the iPhone higher, as in Figure 1-16, you'll avoid the problem. If you find this method uncomfortable, then look at Figure 1-17 and hold your iPhone sideways.
Please note that there is no need to hold your iPhone in exactly shown in the figures. As long as you care not to obscure the antenna with your hands or fingers, you can keep the iPhone in a way that is found to be as comfortable.
Figure 1-14
The iPhone's antenna
Figure 1-15
Improper iPhone handling
Figure 1-16
Good iPhone handling
Figure 1-17
Another good way to hold the iPhone
An additional factor that can slow the EDGE network is the strength of service. The strength of the service is indicated by the bars at the top left of your iPhone's screen. If you're in an area where you only have a couple bars of service, your EDGE network speed is dramatically reduced, and your battery life might be reduced as well, as your iPhone boosts its own signal to better reach the cellular tower.
You may find some places where the network slows to a crawl: this will generally happen in rural areas, especially in areas where you are roaming off your carrier's network. Some rural locations have not upgraded to EDGE and use the slower GPRS protocol for cellular network access. How slow is GPRS? EDGE generally tops out around 130 kilobits per second, and that's pretty darn slow. The maximum speed for GPRS is a mere 40 kilobits per second. When you're connected to a GPRS network, you'll see a solid blue box at the top of the screen instead of the blue box with the "E" in it.
If you want a good measure of the speed you're getting, try out a few online speed tests:
http://www.bandwidthplace.com/
The only way to solve problems with your EDGE signal strength is to go to an area where the service is stronger. If it's your home or office that has problems with signal strength, however, you can't just get up and go outside everytime you need to use EDGE. If you get acceptable reception outside (or on the roof of your building), you could look into a cellular repeater: one part of a repeater goes into the part of your building or property that has good reception, and the other part goes wherever you need better reception. A coaxial cable connects the two.
Cellular repeaters for small or home offices generally cost around $500, but you need to make sure that the one you purchase is configured for your cellular carrier. At the time of this writing, searches on Newegg.com and Amazon.com for "cellular booster," "cellular repeater," and "cellular extender" turned up a number of products. Carefully read the customer reviews and seek out other online reviews for the product you're thinking of getting, and be sure to check on the return policy: the same cellular repeater may work great in certain locations and terrible in others, so do what you can to avoid getting stuck with something you won't use!
ED/AU: Perhaps mentioning a model or two would help people cut through the BS, otherwise I'd skip
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