Hi Folks, The trouble with getting good reliable information here is that all the companies we deal with either keep things so secretive you are guessing or they just tell porkie pies.
Apple and Vodafone like to "launch" initiatives as you know. That usually means we find out the day before (or the same time as you do!) that we have a new product or service to provide. The other large Telco has a shop across the road from us and their sales people have not got a clue. We know that because we would have about 1000 more customers if we had equivalent coverage to NextG. We also know that because they tell Apple customers they CANNOT run a Mac and a PC on the same ADSL modem....! :-) Anyway... to answer what I can. Jane - I do not believe there will be an unlocked iPhone available. Vodafone and Optus will have prepaid options. Neil - Thank you for the expert tag. I'll try to live up to it! ;-) You are correct in that the iPhone works on those frequencies for 3G (UMTS/HSDPA) and also on GSM/EDGE as noted by Gordon. There is no comprehensive list of what features so and don't work, but you can assume that speed is the main issue. On Apples iPhone page they show a web page as 2.4x faster on 3G to Edge (that is based on a 1900MHz network). This from MacRumours Can I use all the features on EDGE/WiFi/GPRS? Feature WiFi 3G GSM/EDGE GPRS Speed Highest High Moderate Slow Youtube Yes Yes Yes, lower quality No iTunes Store Yes No No No Other Features Yes Yes Yes Yes Coverage - Vodafone is extending their 3G coverage to all areas that currently have 2G coverage across Australia by December 2008. There is an intent to extend that coverage through 2009. What I am waiting for is confirmation that the 3G coverage will be at 2100MHz and not 900MHz. My feeling (and hope) tells me that Apple would not have signed with Vodafone or Optus if they did not have a long term plan to support the iPhone beyond capital cities. I'll let you know when I have confirmation - either way. I don't know what Optus is doing but they did respond to Vodafone's plan and said they would get 3G out to regionals by December 2008. Martin - I'm with you, there needs to be competition. I'm keen on utilising the iPhone for our techs with the enterprise integration for communications, service desk and so on. I evaluated and tried NextG wireless broadband. Works well in a lot of areas but still not up to the coverage CDMA had. Plus $85 a month for 1GB!!!! Handsets with a data plan just don't cut it and I haven't heard anyone rave about the handsets anyway. I think the NextG data charges are too much. Conversely, Vodafone have a 5GB 3G Mobile plan for $39 a month. And on handsets currently you pay something like $30 a month for 100MB data with 10c excess per MB. I'm hoping their iPhone plan will be a good one. Cheers, Stuart -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
