iPhones

In my experience it's no better (and no worse) than any other "normal" phone.
If you want better capability I'd suggest that it isnt the way to go.
They are good fun though...

Johanna,

I've been using an iPhone for almost 2 years around Goondiwindi on Next G and it is just as good as both my wife's Motorola and my parent's LG (blue Tick) phones.

As far as smartphones go, they really are miles ahead of anything else I've used.

However, DO NOT buy an iPhone at the moment. The World Wide Developer's Conference is on in the US next week, and all the scuttlebutt points to Apple announcing the next model of the iPhone at this conference - probably available within a week or two. I would STRONGLY suggest you wait until after WWDC before committing, as that will ensure you get the latest and greatest iPhone rather than "old" technology.

Darren

I have had an Iphone for several years and it is an original model (before nextG)
I travel to the bush several times a year and have found the iphone to be the worst I have had for remote reception. It also does not have an external point to plug into externally mounted antenna. I have a telstra ZTE country phone, this has the external plug in point and works well in remote areas.
I just swap the sim card to the ZTE and usually get reception in some of the most remote areas

I work for an emergency service and have spoken to a few mobile dealers over the years because of my habit of losing them in surf, toilets, under vehicles, in brawls etc, etc, etc. I have been told that there are the blue tick phones which have to have the best reception available and there is also a list of phones NOT to sell to people whose first criteria is excellent reception. My iphone is not as good as my old ZTE Telstra Blue tick phone. The other consideration is that if you are going remote then maybe satelite phones might be the way to go.

Not entirely sure what you're asking, but here's my response.... I have taken the iphone 2G and 3G camping on various trips. In the remote areas it wastes a lot of power searching for cell towers. Possibly boosting its output to find a signal? Either way, the battery life is horrible in the bush. The worst part is, the iphone doesn't have a removable battery. Also on occasion i forgot the apple charging cable! No phone for 4 days, that could have turned a bad situation into a worse one!

I still bring along the iphone for music and whatnot, but I now use a Blackberry Bold. I ordered 4 extra batteries and have them charged up before I leave for camp. This eliminates the reliance of a recharge point. Mind you 4 batteries will last a good week or so worth of normal usage while having 3G on! On top of that, the Blackberry uses a mini usb, which is more readily available/common than the apple ipod cable. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Will

I use an iPhone running Telstra 3G, love it's functionality, as getting the 4 day weather forecasts and boating weather conditions is the main reason I bought it.
Has good internet capability with more capacity than I usually use for free too.

I’ve no problems here in the South West of WA, but it's not the most remote area, the iPhone is better than the Samsung I had previously.

Maîneÿ . . .

Last year we took an iphone and a nokia 6120 with us when touring cape york and the gulf. The iphone held its own for coverage. Neither are blue tick phones though, I think.

In reality dosen't it all come down to the service provider having coverage in the area an not the individual phone?

On our trip I started with a Nokia 6120 with a carkit and an RFi antenna connected to the inductive aerial in the car kit.

Had good reception in most places. At Timber Creek had to go up to the lookout to get reception and the phone worked in the cradle but not removed from it.

Plug here for the RFI multiband aerial

Got reception 45k noth of Carnarvon

Got an Iphone 3GS 32Gig in Geraldton and then the fun started.

It says to turn off 3 G to conserve battery life. It does but over there there's nothing else so I didnt get any calls for 3 days till I workrd out what was wrong.

Also have a carkit with the aerial hook up for it

The external aerial makes 3 bars difference to the reception.

The Iphone doesnt have as good reception as the 6120 as my wife is using it and comparing it while travelling she would have 2 or 3 bars and the Iphone would have 1 or none.

Conclusion Its a fun item to have if you want fun apps etc.

I got it for nothing or would have just stuck with the Nokia

Its a Yuppy phone for use in good reception areas.

Others may have different views but thats mine.

Great replies, thankyou.

We have 3GS Iphones as our business phones and we supply our guys with Nokia 6720's.

When we travel we take the wifes Iphone and a Nokia 6720 with a different phone number that fits into a car kit with an external antenna.

Last weekend we did a quick trip from Adelaide to broken Hill in one of our cars that had no car kit for the Nokia.

This gave us a good chance to see how the two phones performed on a level playing field.

The Iphone would drop out more and take longer to obtain a signal then the Nokia.

At some stages up to 20 minutes or around 35 kilometers.

So the Iphone is no where near as good as some of the other phones around.

But for everyday use the Iphone wins hands down.

FYI.... the Nokia in a car kit with an external antenna give on average about 70 kilometers more then the Iphone with out a car kit.

Got a iphone and find the reception excellent can get reception in places where I couldnt get it before, out the back of Tom Price pit cant get reception on any of the work mobiles but can on the Iphone, can get reception at the Millstream park turnoff on the way to Karratha, I reckon that is impressive.