iPhone 3G not yet ready for country use: Telstra

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 01 July 2008 13:26

Your IT - Mobility

If you live outside major population centres in Australia, you might not get a good signal on that shiny new iPhone 3G when it arrives on July 11. In fact, you may not get a signal at all, even on Telstra's famed Next G network.

According to an iTWire source, Telstra - Australia's largest carrier - will only be recommending Apple's iPhone 3G for use in metropolitan areas, and in and immediately around major regional centres and towns.

This does not bode well for the iPhone's success in regional Australia, as Telstra has the largest 3G network in the country and claims coverage of 99 percent of the population, dwarfing the 3G networks of both Optus and Vodafone, the other Australian carriers that will be offering the iPhone.

On the other hand, the vast majority of Australia's population lives in urban areas.

Telstra came in for criticism when customers were moved from the CDMA network to Next G, as some found they could no longer get a signal in previously served locations. In some cases, Telstra was able to fine-tune its network to provide coverage; in others, it turned out that the handset being used was not suitable for use so far from the nearest tower.

Telstra uses its Blue Tick logo to identify handsets recommended for use in country areas.

But there may be an answer to the problem - find out what Telstra has in mind on page 2.