Two Weeks With Optus

Published on April 23, 2009 in Soapbox. 13 Comments Tags: , .

For the last two weeks I’ve used my iPhone as my primary communications tool, for both web and phone. Here’s how it performed:

And finally, after 3 hours of “No Service”, this was one of many missed SMS’s to come through:

13 Responses to “Two Weeks With Optus”

Feed for this Entry Trackback Address
  • thomas
    April 23, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    Gotta love when you lose the 3g signal and the o.

    It’s even worse in regional QLD.

  • griffmiester
    April 23, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    Wow, that’s really bad.

    I mean I know I go through patches of bad reception with OPTUS, but generally they are in certain areas… and I sort of know about them… But that sux.

    BAD OPTUS!!!

  • David
    April 23, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    With no viable competition, what’s the alternative? Vodafone are awful, Virgin is rebadged Optus, Telstra rape babies, and 3 is about to go under isn’t it?
    :(

  • Peter Wells
    April 23, 2009 at 5:52 pm

    Vodafone arent *too* awful…

  • martin_english
    April 23, 2009 at 6:04 pm

    heh. Its all about what works. I originally refused to go telstra with my latest phone, but I AM reconsidering.

    * Optus – reception is VERY inconsistent at home, ranges from full to zero GSM reception, no 3G reception
    * Vodafone – Consistent GSM reception, very occassionally 3G reception at home
    * Telstra – a technoiphobe mate bought his phone round a couple of weeks ago – full 3g reception, in his phone and mine.

    Obviously, I don’t need 3G at home (the phone can access my wireless network), but its indicative of the reach of reception around the area.

  • ding
    April 23, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    merely a suggestion, but have you tried it with 3G turned off? works for me. internet will be slow, but at least it works…

  • Peter Wells
    April 23, 2009 at 6:12 pm

    Yeah, I switch off 3G all the time – its one of the reasons i’m still jailbroken, so i can do it quickly from SBSettings. But the point is i had a 2G iPhone, i upgraded to 3G for, um, 3G…

  • David
    April 23, 2009 at 6:41 pm

    No 3G? Why bother with a smart phone at all?

  • Ben Grubb
    April 23, 2009 at 7:28 pm

    Bad Optus are bad.

    I’m assuming this is Sydney Optus? It’s pretty shit there… on Vodafone too.

  • Peter Wells
    April 24, 2009 at 1:18 am

    The images were from Sydney, but the final straw came today when i missed out on something, and fucked someone else over, because my data/phone didnt work… And that was in Melbourne…

  • Benz Anonymous
    April 24, 2009 at 2:40 am

    Do remember Optus and Vodafone share a Mutual 3G Network.

    Port to Telstra…Only way out.

  • Neerav Bhatt
    April 26, 2009 at 10:23 pm

    What you need is the Iridium 9555 sat phone – It won’t play games, take pictures, or play MP3s. What it will do is work.

    Everywhere. Without exception – unlike Optus

    But seriously i’m an Optus customer via Virgin Mobile and in the same boat.

    Im stuck with VM for the near future because its so cheap and works kinda sorta most of the time, id give it 7/10

    NextG is alluring and would be 10/10 for speed and reliability but would cost me at least 3x as much money

  • Stilgherrian
    April 27, 2009 at 11:04 am

    I can add my name to the list of people using Optus via Virgin Mobile and have been less than impressed with the number of connection faults. Telstra have let me trial their Next G network and I’ve been impressed — but yes, it’s also the most expensive service on the market. I’ll be sad when I send the modem back later today.

    But on that cost point… If the cost difference is the equivalent of “a couple of beers a week”, could that not be worth it?

Leave a Reply