OK - amazingly good news, and one of the cheapest ways to get an iPhone 16gb (especially as the pre-paid's are scarce).

I can confirm that my Virgin 3G SIM works perfectly in my new Optus PostPaid 16GB iPhone 3G.

No need to pay the $80 for unlock as Voice & data work perfectly fine.

So one of the cheapest ways to get an iPhone (if you can't find a pre-paid)? Get it on the Optus $19 per month cap, $61 per month iPhone cost over 12 months.

So if you just pull out the Optus SIM and never use it again, this makes the total cost of iPhone:

$19 + $61 x 12= $960.

Regards,
Shane.

To top that off - when I plugged it into iTunes 7.7, it popped up with "Updated Carrier Settings are available for your phone, Download?" and I clicked yes, and now the screen says Virgin instead of Optus!

Nice!

I am gathering this means Virgin will eventually carry the iPhone and Apple are ready to go

Regards,
Shane.

scritch, I was just talking to Virgin customer service and bought up the possibility of buying an iphone outright and putting my Virgin sim in it. The rep said that they don't support the iphone and implied that you'd be able to use it for phone calls (and texts?) but not for data. Have you had any problems since you started using your phone with your virgin sim?

I guess its probably been said a hundred times already but Virgin reps say they ARE getting the iphone but don't know when... maybe tomorrow, maybe next year.

maybe friday the 13th

thats what I heard anyway

The next Friday 13th isn't until February next year. Hope you heard wrong!

hmm I have a sneaking suspicion that it is the friday the 13th it's coming tho

Another case of Virgin reps saying they are getting it.
I just spoke to Virgin customer service about getting out of my contract early and mentioned i was going to get an iphone and they were very open about the fact they are getting the iphone in the next few weeks (forgot to ask if they could give me a date) and i should think about waiting for them. Guess it is all but official now.

Shane, or anyone else with this idea - have you gone through with this?

This is exactly what I plan to do with my iPhone when I get it.. how is it?

Please let us know!!

Oh wow. I didn't read the thread til the end and now just saw this.. AWESOME.

Awesome awesome awesome. How's the experience going Shane?

I'm going to get my iPhone exactly with that plan, and go straight to Virgin, but does an Optus Dealer / Apple Store install that stupid "Optus Zoo" app onto your iPhone?

Is there a way to remove that? Let me know your process so I too can be overjoyed :-D

I've used conference calls on Virgin.

Has anyone heard any more updates - there's a thread over on Whirpool which suggests their launch may have been delayed until August (shortage of phones perhaps?).

I rang Virgin last night and they told me that they had been getting a lot of phone calls about the iPhone and that they have absolutely no idea when it will be released and to keep checking the website for updates...

I cant accept that, I want to know NOW!!!

I will call again soon, maybe someone else will give me an approximate, then again that might be worth nothing, because all details to date was that it would be released today

I was at a virgin store today and the guy working there VERY confidently told me when I asked that virgin would be getting the iPhone, when I asked if he could say when he said sometime next month and that it would be free on the $70 cap with 1gb of data.

theov

was that the 8gb or 16gb version that was free on the $70 cap?

he didn't say, he just talked about the iphone in general.

seems preety decent though i reckon seeing as you need to do the $79 cap on optus to get it free (as far as i know)

theov

you have? when did you manage to do this, cause i have been trying every now and then with no luck... whenever i make another call it puts the first one on hold, and doesnt allow me to merge the two...?