Wow, what a cool site! Thanks for that. One interesting note from it. 24/6/08 Optus installed a new UMTS2100 tower 2 streets away from me, from the records. What great timing! No wonder I get such good reception.

Thanks for that. Very interesting to see the towers around my area.

I will be interested in seeing if you get replies from anyone in this position.

I assume you have not had the opportunity to test yours on another network?

macrich and i are still waiting for our unlocks afaik

you just cant wait to blame optus can you

@vandozza: I put a 3 SIM in my unlocked device here at the office. On Optus I get 5 full bars 3G and fast downloads. On 3 it stayed mostly on 2 bars and hovered sometimes to 3 bars. Download speeds were halved.

Don't know what that tells you though as I'm a happy Optus customer at the moment.

@kevinnugent - i really dont know how to interpret those results! How is the 3 service on another phone?

i know i keep saying it, but if i had to choose between a carrier problem, or an apple problem, my money is on an apple problem.
simply because -
- other 3g phones work on the affected carriers without issue.
- it seems to be a worldwide occurance

still ill happily be proven wrong! and think that if it's carrier issues the that is probably better for everyone.
- we dont have defective phones
- the carriers get their issues sorted OR we as customers, change networks!

can't rule out that there is some type of hardware conflict arising from the carriers end, or that the 2100mhz spectrum is a dud... who knows!

To be honest I want to see you work it all out to your satisfaction. I would like to think you can enjoy your iPhone as much as I enjoy mine.
Evidence wise, from this thread at least, it would seem to be pointing that way.

Edit: Can you name one other 3G phone that has been released simultaneously on multiple networks in Australia?

I may be wrong here, but I think most carriers have 3G phones that are exclusive to their networks, and as such, as I have previously suggested, are tested and optimised in the factory for that network, so you expect them to be working well. So comparing them doesn't really confirm a lot.

To be honest, im 80% satisfied with the iPhone. If 2.0 wasn't so laggy it would be 85%, if I could get the iPhone to sick on a 3G signal that I know is covering my area, I'd be pretty close to 100% I think!


Yeah I can't dispute the evidence either.

From 58 Survey replies...
Voda - 1/5 No issues
Optus - 7/38 No issues
Telstra 5/6 No issues
"Other" - 0/2 No issues

and as far as naming another 3G handset that has had a simultaneous release, I have no idea, havn't even thought about it (but I have been living overseas for 4 years pretty much... So like I'd know anyways.)

That's my quandry. I don't have another phone to try it on. My Blackberry isn't 3G as far as I'm aware, and my staff don't have 3G phones (luddites!) yet.

The NextG coverage here is OK. Not as good as Optus but better than (as you'd expect) 3. Still doesn't answer any questions though does it.... I'll need to grab a 3G phone off someone...

oh and in the massive apple discussion threads, there was a report of O2 in the UK not receiving stock/stock being withheld from delivery by Apple, the suggestion was that there was going to be a recall.

i would put about 0.1% confidence in this report though. what does anyone on a forum/message board ever know (myself included!)

Mine does perform ok on the 3G network but only for short periods of time.
When I got my phone/signed the contract, they took my pre paid Optus sim and just used it.
Would it make a difference if I got Optus to send me a new 3G sim to use in my iPhone. Would my phone stop reverting back to 2G?

nath, you can try it. and it's probably part of the process/one of the steps that optus techs would try, when trying to solve an issue like this. (and you are sure you get onto the 3G network at times, and don't have an old 2G sim?)

however, i ported to optus from virgin for the iphone, and hence received a new sim. it hasn't helped me

its worth a try though i suppose, some people have suggested that there are cases where reception is poor as the sim is not seated securely, but i don't buy this.

Have you tried the old tape on the back of the SIM card trick? I remember back in the dim dark Windows Mobile days when a business card wedged into the back of the battery saved many a Atom owner from collapsing.

Yeah that was one of the first things the guy at Telechoice checked. And there is definitely a little 3G icon that sits up the top next to Optus sometimes. it's only a relatively new sim but has pre-paid written on it.
What does the new 3G sim cards have on them? I highly doubt a new sim would help but I thought I might give it a try.

Your situation is ridiculous considering how close you are to a tower (esp. if you can see it from your house!)

yeah give it a try. if i wasn't a 4 hour round trip to the nearest Optus store I would have tried that by now...

The fact that I can see the tower is pretty frustrating. I walked over to it the other day, and got 5 bars reception and a 700k+ download speed. Was awesome. Lasted till I was about 500m away from it (it's almost like my phone doesnt have an antenna, or its not connected right! )

Having been informed that I've 30 days to return the phone, so till approx Fri 8th August (not counting that weekend - they might not be there!) I'm happy enough atm to relax a bit and see what happens.

Hopefully we hear more before then!

@kevin - yeah tried the electrical tape on the back of the SIM card. no help. (though I was reading that fix was more for "No SIM" issues than poor reception - which I suppose makes sense.)