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These are the same people who derided Apple around the time of MWSF 07 saying that Apple 'should stick to their knitting'. MDN iCal'd it so I am surprised you didn't make reference to this earlier outburst.

100% agree with the MDN take - those comments set the iPhone back many months for Telstra

Telstra - old school mindset - MW 'true' as in 'true that'!

Noooooooo, Telstra sucks! I don't want telstra to have the iPhone :(

Try this link for a more detailed discussion by locals. personally my money would be on Optus rather than Telstra as the former is more cooperative with suppliers and the latter likes to dictate terms.

As for the Telstra insistence on Next G for an Aussie iPhone. In their dreams. The Australian market is not big enough for a dedicated model that has no use in most other places in the world. The only thing that may happen is the addition of HSDPA for data access as Edge is old hat and losing support globally.

Not Telstra please make it be somebody else. This company has the worst cell plans of all the majors, were the first of the large Telcos to count uploading as part of your internet plan and have been really tardy in supporting increased internet speeds.

They're also a part monopoly player because they own the copper telephone lines. They overcharge other players to access their telephone network, have been found to have breached competition laws by the federal Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

On a personal note some years ago myself and thousands of others were ripped off by Telstra for bogus overseas telephone calls. I had to make a complaint to the Telecommunications Ombudsman before Telstra sent me a letter saying it was a clerical error and refunded me all the money bar forty dollars. I then contacted them and they apologised for the (second) clerical error.

About a month later the ombudsman ordered Telstra to investigate their billing system. Telstra ended up refunding many thousands of dollars to their customers.

As I said, make it not be Telstra, please Apple there are other players.

Cha Ching... oh how the sound of cash changing hands sootheth the raging Telco. Only last February Telstra was bagging the life out iPhone saying it was "old hat" and that "Apple doesn't have the gumption to produce a capable mobile phone." The only positive thing about this is that Telstra's arrogance and poor service will probably end with Steve crossing the street to the other players and opening up some real competition in this country.

(see http://apcmag.com/5365/telstras_woolly_attack_on_the_iphone)

Actually out of all the telco companies, Telestra is the only one being political about how the australian government uses tax payers money on wasted projects.

It's clear that the old hags in the australian government, have no idea why "fast" and "cheap" internet is so important to us. Instead they go abouts handing out money to increase competition, without realising that they need to train more people out there to handle it, other wise it'd be damn expensive.

Currently Telstra has made a massive turn around in the correct direction, since Sol came in as CEO. Most people whinge about this american came here to suck money for himself, but there are a silent majority of people that appreciate where Telstra is heading.

Sol wants all Australians to have Optical Broadband, and if he also wants the iPhone for Australians then we should be rejoicing that it's going to come in rather than tip toing about the possibility of coming in.

Telstra is MS's Aussie lapdog. Can't see them doing a deal with Apple.

TELSTRA HAS AS MUCH CHANCE OF GETTING THE IPHONE AS MICROSOFT HAS OF TAKING MARKET SHARE FROM THE IPOD. THIS BUNCH OF TROGLODYTE VILLAINS AND DESPERADOES HAVE ABSOLUTELY NIL UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR TELCO MARKET LET ALONE ANY DIGITAL SERVICES.

THEIR DIRECTORY, SEARCH AND TRADING SERVICES ARE
A PATHETIC, INEFFECTUAL JOKE BASED ON HARD COPY MEDIA THINKING.

THEIR MAJOR REVENUE SOURCE OF INCOME FROM MONOPOLY COPPER LINE RENTAL WILL VIRTUALLY DISAPPEAR WITHIN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS. THEY ARE IN AN ARROGANT STATE OF SELF-DELUDED BLISS SIMILAR TO THAT OF IBM AND QUARK WHEN THEY THOUGHT THAT THEIR RESPECTIVE MAJOR MARKET SHARES WERE SOMEHOW GOD GIVEN, UNASSAILABLE AND WRITTEN IN STONE.

THESE ARE PEOPLE TO AVOID AT ALL COSTS. IT BEGGARS BELIEF THAT STEVE JOBS WOULD CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH SUCH A LOW RENT SHODDY OUTFIT.

A number or unlocked iPhones run on Voda.

Please God, you can have my testicles and my house. Not Telstra.

Actualy, on second thought, as much as it would suck, it's a neat way of digging the Apple trench a little deeper. I suppose we can crak/unlock it.

Doesn't anyone want to speculate on the fact that Telstra runs a variant of CDMA? What sense does it make to say they are testing the iPhone or that they are in talks with Apple? The iPhone is GSM.

Dissimilar to the USofA, it is the law here in Oz that a phone has to be unlocked!

Sure bring it in for Tel$tra but the rest of us who really know and appreciate good service from other telco providers will just go buy one and slip our sim cards into it. And it has to work!

I have OPTUS - good company but not the best! Not sure if there is a "best" in Oz. Sure liked Sprint when I was in Hawaii. $29 / month for all I can eat - anywhere in the US and Canada!! (that included data, too) Woo hoo!

i also realise that in the long run the telephone companies and computer companies turned telephone manufacturers really do not care about me as a consumer - unless I make big purchases (and i do) and if when I am not happy I let them know (I do).

So, listen up Sol and Steve - do it right - treat us - your bread and butter - right and we will be loyal forever (or until we can get a better bargain).

Telstra runs an advanced HSUPA network now; CDMA is being shut down completely, in favor of UMTS. Their users (both Mac & PC) can connect at 7.2mbps wirelessly, from around 98% of the continent, even with their HSDPA modems after a firmware update.

my wife used to work at Telstra. They are all a bunch of hacks. The in joke with her colleagues was referring to other workers as being "Telstrated" --an obvious reference to them having lost their balls and succumbing to Telstra's crushing culture of incompetence and creeping inaction.

To Steve Jobs,
BEWARNED!
Telstra management is rotten to the core. It has a real problem with ethics.

Telstra customer service stinks, it is disfunctional.

Telstra is loathed by most in Australia.

Dear God,
As you know I'm very wary of malicious rip off merchant companies and I'd really like it if you could see your way clear to have a chat to arch angel Steve about the chances of releasing the iPhone on anyone else's network but Telstra in Australia. If that happens I fear for the Saints in Australia...
Telstra is just so Bad Lord.
I'm pretty sure Lord (if you have look into it) you'll find that Sol is actually the Antichrist and is setting up really bad opporutinites for sin everywhere with his really nasty company.
So Please God - let Steve go with some one else.

PLEEEAAAASSSEEEE GOD! NOT TELSTRA...

amen

Telstra's Next G network is just their name for an 850Mhz 3.5G network, almost identical to AT&T;'s in the states. That is why Sol said he is confident of a Next G compatible iPhone and I am too. When Apple make a 3G iPhone, it will be compatible with "American 3G" which happens to be what Telstra uses.

Do NOT go with Telstra! They are evil! They are incompetent! They slag off the iPhone and now want to come crawling back? They are so in bed with MS too.Choose Three, Optus, anyone, but don't do with Telstra!!!!!!

Like many, I hate Telstra with a passion, for their deceipt, abuse of market power and treatment of customers as "lepers". Oh, yeah and for the way they are "welded on" to all things Microsoft. They have no idea of platform neutrality.

However, I have to admit their Next G network is way more extensive than any other telco in Oz. I travel a fair bit in country areas and their coverage beats the others hands down. To travel by car for three hours in the country with the kids in the back surfing the net on our MacBook Pro using a Next G Express card, watching YouTube videos, and without a single dropout, is techology to behold! To be on a farm 110 kilometres south west of Wagga Wagga and get 3Mbps and full phone coverage while all others around me have nothing but static makes it worthwhile. Believe me, if you ever get out of the city, then Telstra's Next G is the only game in town.

Much as it hurts to say, I'd love to see iPhone on the Next G network in Oz.

Telstra used to be a government operated monopoly, and has never escaped that mindset. They are a nightmare of a company who continues to keep Australia 10 years behind the latest developments, but still charge huge premiums for their outdated technology. And Trujillo is a loud mouthed bully-boy who, with the aid of his thug offsider Burgess, looks after himself first and last, and screw everyone else.

Anyone else would be a better choice, possibly Optus, but preferably Three, the only Oz telco who actually seems to understand customer service.

iPhone on Telstra = Jesus phone on Judas network

I'm not sure that Apple can sign up the same "one wireless operator only" deal in Australia that is can in the USA.

Australian consumer law forbids the sale of mobile phones that are locked to one network, when used with post paid (i.e. a monthly bill) accounts. Even pre-paid mobile phones must be able to be unlocked, after the payment of a small unlocking fee (which is usually equal to the amount the carrier originally subsidised the phone). The principle is that Australians should have the right to choose the phone they want and the network they want to use.

More than likely, this is why Telstra want a modified 850 MHz iPhone - so it will only work on their network (and not on the 900/1900 MHz networks of their competitors). Of course if it were a quad band phone, just like it is in the USA, then it would work on all of Australian 3G networks...

I bought an iPod touch rather than wait for the iPhone. Why? Because I suspected that Telstra would be the carrier, and Telstra SUCKS! Overpriced, useless service and terrible contracts.

I hope the Labor government re-nationalises the telephony network, makes the much needed upgrades that Telstra won't make, and leases use of the network infrastructure back to the carriers. Strip Telstra of its stranglehold on the network OUR taxes paid for and give us decent service for a decent price.

Hmmm never ever owned a mobile phone. Was waiting for someone to make one right. And of course (rolls eyes) it was Apple. But it's no good having a awsome product but shite service. Might wait for a 32 - 64gig iPod touch instead. It still has all the wireless net stuff/email/maps. i could just use that with my isp Internode. screw the phone. I'll just buy a cheap Crazy K-Mart phone if ever i need one.

Just wanted to add my bit to the mix. (Please Steve J be reading these posts!)

Telstra just plain sucks ass. If Telstra gets the iPhone I can only hope that Sol (AKA the grim reaper of the Australian telco industry) is right (which would be a miracle in itself) and other handset makers are bringing out iPhone like devices because there is no way I want to be locked into Telstra.

Telstra is THE dictionary definition of soul less, vapid, corporate excrement.