i Phone’s pain is rivals’ gain

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: Apple sold more than a million iPhone 3G cell phones its first weekend — with some stores running out — and 2 million more since then, analysts say. But its July debut has been nothing less than a public relations headache for AT&T, with eager buyers complaining about dropped calls and poor network connections.

Some fingers point to Apple, which has tried to deflect the complaints. But many others point to AT&T’s cellular network. Whatever the source of the problems, AT&T’s rivals, long irritated by all the attention the iPhone has received, are on the attack and happy to exploit the discontent.

“A phone is only as good as the network it’s on,” said a full-page Verizon Wireless newspaper ad on Thursday, lobbing a shot at AT&T’s 3G, or third generation, high-speed network. A Verizon executive sent an e-mail to Wall Street analysts last week: “So much for a ‘new’ way of doing business at the old AT&T — your father’s phone company.”

For AT&T, the nation’s No. 1 wireless carrier, which exclusively offers the iPhone, the situation is especially tricky because the stakes are so high. Apple’s customers are largely forgiving of any foibles of the iPhone’s maker. But wireless companies, though, like AT&T and Verizon, are afforded no such a luxury. The 3G network is supposed to make it easier to surf the Web and watch videos online. With nearly 90 % of all Americans owning a mobile phone, there is little room to grow and these rivals can little afford to lose customers.

Further aggravating consumers, neither Apple nor AT&T has fully explained why calls were dropped and the network slow. Theories abound, which is causing even more confusion — and fingerpointing. Is it a problem with the phone itself? Richard Windsor of Nomura Securities surmised in a recent research report that a new radio chip made by Infineon, a German chip maker, was to blame for the iPhone’s spotty service in areas where the cellular signal was weak.