With the connectivity woes facing many iPhone 3G users, is it really surprising that there's a demand for the original iPhone model - even used ones - as reported in a recent Business Week article? No. Here's what's surprising. This demand for the tried and true is supposedly rising.

For example, a company called NextWorth Solutions is buying up 8GB and 16GB iPhone models in good condition, offering $200 for the former and $300 for the latter. That's $50 more than it paid for the same units a month ago. What NextWorth is doing is then turning around and selling these devices for $500 and $600 each - about $100 more than the devices cost to purchase when they were new and more than twice as much as NextWorth bought them for.

The article cites eco-awareness; folks not wanting to sign a long-term contract with AT&T; and easy unlocking (compared to the iPhone 3G) to allow the smartphone to work with another carrier as a few reasons for the phenomena. In addition, some users are deciding to forgo a cellular-data connection altogether, instead choosing to only use the old iPhone's Wi-Fi feature for wireless connectivity only.

And don't forget, even if data access over a cell phone network is important to you, you can still – after all - access the Internet and e-mail from AT&T's EDGE network with the original iPhone – albeit not as quickly - therefore avoiding the operator’s problematic 3G network.

Location-based services are made available through cell phone tower triangulation, which can reasonable determine your whereabouts. Sure, it's not GPS, but it works well enough for some.

Lastly, you also get all the major software upgrades, including the iPhone App Store, available on the current iPhone model with the old iPhone once you've install firmware 2.0.