I would if they'd unlock the phones. Being business phones though, one especially can't go offline at any stage. We've fixed the problem for the moment, turning off 3G and keeping it off fixes the dropped calls issue, but defeats the purpose of the iPhone in the first place.
I tried to get the phones unlocked for mulitple carriers, but the second I requested it, they refused at first. Tried again, they put through the wrong IMEI numbers, requested a third time, but am still waiting. I've only requested one be replaced at the moment, thus only having $799 put on hold. I'd hate to see what would've happened if I requested both be replaced.
I do get where you're coming from though, hopefully the unlock on the other phone will come through soon, and we'll just see what happens with other sims inserted. I did get a new sim as well but that didn't fix the issue.

After complaining to OFT and ACCC (TIO can't help if it's not a carrier) I've been advised to contact the police to raise a charge of fraud against Apple for taking money without authority. I have contacted my lawyer who has advised me to take this route. Apparently regardless of who takes money, if they have no authority to take it, it's fraud. I hate to do it to Apple, but I'm afraid, they need a boot up the arse for this

apple was unhelpful... reception issues = speak to your carrier.
the apple person "had not heard any reports of this issue previously."
basically apple didn't want to know. as soon as i mentioned 3G reception issue... "call your carrier"... the end.
(pretty much all i was expecting.)

optus on the other hand today were very helpful.
i have 30 days from date of purchase to return if unhappy. really glad to hear this as i want to give apple/optus/carriers as much time as possible to try and get things sorted.

suggested to tech that i would try a telstra sim, once my unlock comes through, to see what happens then. might possibly indicate a carrier problem, if telstra's reception is much better (but then telstra has better coverage anyways, so maybe this won't tell me much!)
but i know that for the area im in, i should get good reception with both, so it's worth a try. the only definitive result i think will be if i get terrible reception with telstra too, then ill be more inclined to think phone problem.

they also walked me through several "fixes", turining airport mode on/off, manually locking the carrier settings to 3G, and full restore of the phone. (all of which I had tried previously, and didn't help this time either - but they were having a go at helping!)

i can also try my sim in another optus phone next time i'm near an optus store (that has stock,) if it's any better i can probably do a 1-1 exchange.

so at this stage i'm just going to stick it out for another 18 days or so, before making a decision. really glad that it's a 30 day return policy. something does tell me that as these problems are widespread/worldwide, that apple will be able to "tweak" something to improve my situation.

i'll update you as to what happens when my unlock comes through, and i am able to try a telstra sim.

Hi Guys,

live in Ballarat and get the train to work... Had a 1st gen Iphone on Optus, crap reception the whole way on the train. Actually the reception was pretty poor even in the city. If I sat near the window usually it would have no service. New 3G Iphone on Next G, full reception Metro... 1 or 2 bars for most of the train trip, although even on 1 bar, I can still make calls and surf the net..... I know its with Telstra and they are expensive, but Id rather be able to make a call if my car had broken down in the bush around ballarat than not being able to with Optus.


Cheers

thanks for sharing your experince craig.

however this isn't really a debate about who has the best/biggest coverage. the concern (for me at least) is when you are in an area of known good 3G coverage, and are faced with "No Service" or you are kicked back to 2G speeds, when there should be no problem in picking up the 3G signal comfortably.

i think we all understand, and agree that telstra's coverage is the best available in australia.
however i'm in the middle of what should be excellent optus coverage, and get terrible reception (while a nokia on the same network goes well.)

OK.
Simple question: Are there any Telstra users having problems in this, or other 3G reception thread?

out of the surveyed results so far there were 6 telstra users, with only 1 having "issues." (which could just be a statistical probability, i mean not everyone is going to go well on telstra, there are still dead spots in places.)

the general consensus seems to be that the iPhone on telstra has no issues. please correct me if this is wrong!

Hmm.
So Telstra 3G (although users are fewer here on Mactalk) is better than Otpus?

I should probably clarify.. when I had the 1st gen iphone on Optus, reception was pretty poor on 2G yet other phones were fine in the same location. Hearing that the new 3G phone had a plastic back instead of a metal one I decided to leap. I did read about Optus's coverage issues on Iphone 3G and just thought I shouldnt take the risk so I bought outright and Im now on Telstra.. As stated the pricing sucks but I guess at least I know I can make decent calls. I think it must be the design of the phone or the signal meter is just wacky because another cheapy prepaid ZTE next G phone can show 5 bars reception, the iphone 1 in the same spot. They will both make and hold a call though..

Are you in a metro area Craig?

EDIT: ah, Ballarat.

well i don't know if it's that clear cut -
- telstra's iphone plans were fairly ordinary with high coverage
- voda's were a little better priced, with low coverage
- optus's were generally regarded as the best value for money with medium coverage
= optus probably sold a lot more phones (?)

i'm thinking that its either a -
- iPhone hardware issue (hopefully not, this would be bad.)
- that the iPhone uses a newer chipset/hardware, that Telstra's network (being very good/modern) works very well, and better than the other carriers. Maybe there is hope here for an apple firmware upgrade, or an update on the carriers side that will help things out?
- or that what i'm seeing is just how it is for the iPhone (d/t antenna placement, engineering, or whatever.)

the other thing to remember is that "forums are like hospital wards, there are only people here with problems..." it's fairly obvious that not all iphones/carriers are having problems given that apple has sold over 1million iphones.

this is where it would be interesting to compare thier data transfer rates, and ability to pick up a signal after "no service" and studing how the iphone changes between 2/3g networks, which are problems that people are reporting.

as i've said before, i do think there might be somthing to the iPhone "under-reporting" coverage. and that 1 bar really is 3 or somthing like that. cause the call quality at 1 bar for me still is great.
however sitting on 1 bar 3G, the phone will downgrade/prefer 2G often, this uses up battery more quickly (changing networks often, so i am told) and annoys me when im trying to browse on 3g at lunch time...

Yes it would be good for a few Mactalkers with different carriers to get together in each city and roam around, drive somewhere, catch trains to the pub, etcetera and compare voice and data, not just how many bars.


Oh, and send their expenses claims to Decryption!

Don't do that to the poor fellow, judging by the Melbourne meet, Computer nerds be big drinkers! Not to mention the price of Petrol, you will bankrupt him!

Any late night MacTalk lurkers care to input here?

I jsut hope the next software update comes out before the 30 day return policy