In Late August, Eulardi Tanseco filed a complaint against Apple and AT&T for dropped calls and inconsistent connections to AT&T’s data network.

The case was filed on August 29 in U.S. District Court in New Jersey and seeks class action status.

"Apple has wrongfully and unfairly deceived its customers by advertising and selling the alleged newer and improved iPhone 3G with the express and implied promise that this consumer product was a reliable and efficient mobile phone," according to the lawsuit.

Mr. Tanseco complained that his new iPhone 3G would often switch to the slower EDGE network, even though he hadn’t changed location. he is upset that AT&T didn’t advise him that his new iPhone 3G wouldn’t maintain its 3G network connection during a data transmission.

An attorney who follows Apple told iPO that we can expect more of these cases to crop up in state and federal courts in the near term. He said that Apple and AT&T are unlikely to suffer significant damage from these lawsuits unless the plaintiffs can prove that Apple and AT&T intentionally misrepresented the quality they could expect from the iPhone 3G.

The defendants will likely point to their warranties which explicitly state that they don’t promise a consistent quality or level of calls and that they couldn’t have foreseen the demand for the iPhone and the stresses on the network. Alternatively, they’ll just offer to settle out of court for what the plaintiff would have received as a member of the class. Since the filer has to pay attorney’s fees and court costs, in general, it’s likely that the plaintiff will come out on the short end financially.

As potential plaintiffs realize that it’s an expensive, uphill battle, and as AT&T slowly improves its network, these cases will become ever less viable, he said.

Previously, a San Diego, Calif. man and a woman in Birmingham, Ala. have filed similar complaints.