As I mentioned earlier, O2’s 3G network has gone to crap today in my bit of Scotland – but talking to customer services, they were very keen to send me a checklist for 3G problems anyway. “We’ve sent this to a lot of iPhone customers”, the rep told me. Here’s the checklist exactly as it was emailed (hence the crap formatting).

Turn Airplane Mode on, wait 15 seconds, and then turn Airplane Mode off
again.  This resets all of iPhone’s wireless connections.

2.Try restarting iPhone
To turn it off, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the red
slider appears. Slide your finger across the slider to turn off iPhone.
To turn iPhone on, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the Apple
logo appears.
Does iPhone appear frozen or stuck?  Try pressing and holding the Home
button for 6 seconds to close a frozen application. Then try restarting
iPhone again.

3.Reset the SIM
To remove the SIM card, insert the end of a small paper clip into the
hole on the SIM tray.
Insert the SIM card using the same method.

4.Check APN
Select settings, then general, then network, then cellular data network. Please make sure the following info is there:
APN – mobile.o2.co.uk
Username – vertigo
password – password

5. Try the sim in another handset
Remove sim, put into another handset. If you receive 3G or EDGE coverage while doing this, then the issue is with your handset. If your sim still does not work in another handset then your sim card may be faulty.

6.Try restoring iPhone using iTunes.
Connect iPhone. When it appears in the Source list, click on Restore in
the Summary pane.
Note: This will delete all media and data. All settings will be reset
as well. If possible, sync iPhone with iTunes before restoring to back
up your most recent settings.

If none of the above works, please call 2302 from your iPhone to arrange either a replacement handset or sim

Hmmm. That O2 has a checklist for iPhone customers suggests that they’ve had a lot of queries from iPhone 3G owners whose 3G isn’t behaving. That’s not good, is it? It’s like coffee machine owners whose kit does everything but make coffee, or hairdryer owners whose hairdryers don’t dry hair. And since when was “try rebooting… if that doesn’t work, try wiping it and restoring it” an everyday way of troubleshooting Apple kit?