Provider - Optus
Reception Issues - YES
Week Number - 28
Model Number - MB500X
Firmware 2.0.1

Well I've had my phone for three weeks today. I love the phone. It's a little bit buggy but not nearly enough to worry me as the whole thing is a paradigm shift to phones. However, as a long term Telstra customer I've been appalled with the Optus network. I guess I just took complete coverage for granted.

Anyway, what I've got is a phone that when sitting at my window seat in the heart of the Brisbane CBD drops between 3g and GSM, back and forth.... I have the same thing in my home 7k North of Brisbane on a hill! I honestly thought Optus would have it together in the city. I was prepared for less country coverage, but their network is so sub-standard in the areas I use it most that I don't think I can put up with it. Unless you are standing in the open people can't ring me, as the network just blasts them to missed call service. I even had a call drop out in the Brisbane mall this morning! I've also determined that I can only take and make calls in certain parts of the house.

Best speed seen with iphonespeedtest.com was 360kbps in the city, down to 43kbps when the phone switched to GSM. As I sit here at home it's only able to manage 35.5 kbps on 3G! Not surprisingly, it managed 495kbps on my home wifi. I've been getting lots of "Server can't be reached" type messages.

I've phoned optus support and walked through the test but at the time it was all working so they just said that was that.

Having seen that virtually no-one is having trouble on Telstra I would presume that the iphone has a substandard antenna, and on a strong network like Telstra this is masked however on a substandard one like Optus it really shows up

So, I've got a few options now. I can hand the phone back in the next few days without penalty. I can then choke it back and go back to the T and pay $20 more a month for $325 less of included calls and 200gig less of data. But, when I want to use the phone at least it will work, and when someone calls me it should ring...

I'm furious about this but I don't see a choice.

Optus need a new slogan.


YOUR ICANTPHONE WILL BE HAPPY

ON THE OPTUS MAYBE 3G NETWORK

EDIT: My wife says so it doesn't work on Optus and we can't afford to use it on Telstra - it's a loose loose.

Call quality is crap in metro Radelaide!

I'm on optus in a 3G coverage area, can only get on the edge network and iPhonetest said I'm peaking at 20kb/s! woo who

I have never had a problem with call quality EVER with optus in my house, even with 2G phones ten years ago! But the other day i couldn't even hear the bloke on the other end!

Oh and never above one bar!

Welcome to the 2100mhz/iPhone "issue"
Make sure you ring both Apple and Optus on the numbers listed above and LET THEM KNOW!



(not to be picky but i think the other network you connect to is GPRS, not Edge. I think only Telstra has Edge in Australia.)

That's pretty much the conclusion that i came to. And the dilemma I face.

I returned my iPhone under the coverage guarentee, and will just keep an eye on things and see what happens over the next few months.

Would honestly love to stay an Optus customer as they have the best value by far. The Telstra Business plans might be my next best option.

Again, make sure you let Optus and Apple know on the numbers I've given... It's the only way any type of investigation will occur!

I thought you guys were nuts...
But I just held my phone upside down and I get 2 - 3 bars (3G), when held upright sitting in exactly the same spot I get 1 Bar - No Signal!!!

I'm with Vodafone.

The main prob I'm getting is that it refuses to use the 2G signal. If I try and call someone it just says "Call Failed" when my wife's 2G phone has full signal (same network)...

Slashdot | Infineon Chipset May Be Cause of IPhone 3G Issues

So, as I summarised above if you're on a strong network (Telstra) you might not notice these problems, but on a weak network (Optus) it's likely that it will be at the very least frustrating.

Not sure I like the suggestion that a firmware fix might not fix the problem.
I was thinking maybe apple just writes crappy 3G radio-stacks/software, but a chip issue would be bad.

It's looking more likely that for the people having issues, it's not just "in our heads!"

Thanks for your work on this thread. I was intending to hand it back and get a Telstra iphone but after reading all this I think I'm just going to hand it back and re-instate the 8 year old siemens that it replaced. Then I'm going to wait because I can't see any way that Apple can not address the wave of issues that are engulfing the web about this!

More links to stuff happening out there...

Apple, AT&T mum on iPhone 3G issues | One More Thing - CNET News.com
AppleInsider | iPhone reception; Australian Mac sales boom; 30% off Office 2008
Some Customers with iPhone 3G Connection Issues - Mac Rumors
IPhone 3G owners have love-hate attitude
Congratulations Apple, you made the iPhone less stable than Windows Mobile | The Mobile Gadgeteer | ZDNet.com

I returned mine as I can't actually see Apple admitting any problems with their flagship product.

Allegedly with the 1st gen iPhone, there were 2 "silent recalls", one for a faulty battery, and another for a SIM card tray related issue. If you bought your phone into Apple/at&t with either problem (and your serial number matched the right batch,) your phone was replaced without question. People were even reporting that if you took your phone in with an unrelated problem, if the serial numbers matched the recall batch, you walked out with a new phone regardless.

*Standard disclaimer - this is just guys on forums talking, who knows if any of it is accurate, the guy from fixmy3giphone.com was told of the above recalls.

I hope it gets fixed soon, I'd love to have an iPhone (that works for me!)

Given they have made and sold who knows how many millions of them I reckon they will go a long way to try and not do any fixes... Even if they did do a fix it would take some time to filter through...

*APPLE CONTACT NUMBER!*

REPORT THESE ISSUES TO -

Optus iPhone Tech support - 133 713
Apple Australia - 1300321456, listen to the voice prompts, there is a silent option, dial 8. Enter extension 40109. Speak with Chris.

Thanks guys!

Imagine the cost of a worldwide recall...
and the PR disaster that it would be

It might be worth posting any issues here as well - Some Customers with iPhone 3G Connection Issues - Mac Forums

MacRumors has pretty good coverage, and the issue seems to be gaining traction there, it hit the front page today.