Have you been happy with your iPhone 3G data performance? After all, isn't that 3G speed the whole point of upgrading from a first-generation model? It seems like we're seeing more and more cases of people being really upset with how slow they perceive the handsets to be.

Some have taken issue with just how fast Apple depicts the phone's connection in commercials; the UK banned one on the basis that the phone's performance, as shown accessing Google Maps and switching between web pages, didn't accurately reflect real-world speeds.

The latest development isn't so much concerned directly with speed, but with network availability. After all, a high-speed connection that drops out every few seconds isn't an improvement on a slower but reliable hookup. A California man filed a lawsuit against Apple this week, alleging that the iPhone is defective, unable to maintain a signal lock on AT&T's 3G network.

The lawsuit says that Apple knows about the problem, but has continued to sell the phone without taking steps to correct it. Considering how secretive Apple is, we find it hard to believe that it'd ever admit to something like that, making us think this lawsuit is overly heavy with conjecture. For all the plaintiff knows, couldn't the problem be with AT&T and not the iPhone; it's not like it's easy to just test the phone on another 3G network with the carrier lock-in in place. The class-action suit is asking for over $5 million in damages.

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