The iPhone took hits on two fronts Wednesday as Orange — an iPhone 3G carrier in France — admitted to limiting 3G bandwidth for its customers, and a safety measure flaw was discovered in the iPhone that enables unauthorized users to access private documents on the phone when it is supposedly locked.

The French Connection

When 3G-bug rumors and substandard network performance on the iPhone prompted a groundswell of irate customers last week, forums overflowed with anecdotal tales of the 3G network’s slow performance. One World Wide Web forum began to collate users’ notes speeds to get some answers. After thousands of results were in, France’s 3G carrier Orange came in consistently at the bottom of the performance heap.

Calls to the company by angry customers resulted in many of those consumers receiving special treatment by tech-savvy support folks, who upped their bandwidth. After online petitions and more calls to the company, Orange officials reluctantly admitted

they had been throttling iPhone users to a paltry 384KB bandwidth. By comparison, neighboring German iPhone users are logging 1MB speeds, as posted in the forum.

In a statement released by Orange, the company admitted its bandwidth restrictions, and promised that it would up the speeds to 1MB by mid-September. No word on why customers have to wait that faraway to get full 3G service or whether they will see compensation on their bills.

The French Connection problems have fueled Web rumors that AT&T may be rigging its 3G input speeds here in the United States, as more and more customers complain about substandard details rates.

iPhone Flaw

Reports began surfacing today that the iPhone suffers from a serious safety measure flaw that could put users’ private goods in jeopardy. Nearly all cell phones have the option of providing a lock cipher that prevents anyone from using the phone…

Original post by dhiram