A number of iPhone users attempting to access AT&T's EDGE network to access the Web and send or receive e-mail are running into trouble today, according to a number of messages posted to Apple's Support forums.

The outage, apparently due to tower/server problems, is mostly affecting folks in the middle of the country. They're receiving the following message: "Could not activate EDGE."

This lack of connectivity is especially frustrating for those not within range of a Wi-Fi hotspot.

AT&T says the problem should be fixed by the end of the day, but it could last until February 5th, according to one forum member who says he spoke to the wireless carrier about the outage today. The former timeframe is acceptable, the latter completely unacceptable.

We tested our EDGE connection with an iPhone in St. Louis. And, like other iPhone users in this area, ran into the EDGE outage issue, usually receiving the "Could not activate EDGE" message, but sometimes having the iPhone’s Safari browser go and go and go without anything happing—no message and no Web site loading.

It shouldn't just be iPhone users being affected by AT&T's EDGE outage. It is likely that any cell phone or smartphone attempting to access the carrier's 2.5G data network in the areas affected should run into trouble as well.

See the postings on Apple's Support forum here for more on this problem.