I picked up my iPhone 3G about a week after the Australian release and have, for the large part, been really happy with the phone. The one nagging software hassle has been with Safari that seems to be very unstable for me. I seem to be able to crash it at least a couple of times per day. In particular, it doesn't seem to like me trying to scroll and zoom a page until it's completely finished loading the page.

My main beef has been with my carrier. Optus is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singtel, which is owned by the government of Singapore. Optus' cellular network, it seems to me, is oversubscribed and there seems to be little likelihood that the network will be augmented to the required degree.

So, in order to test my theory I've contacted Optus and had my iPhone carrier unlocked. The support tech on the phone, john, was very helpful and after i'd supplied my phone number and IMEI he informed me that my phone would be unlocked within 10 working days and that i'd receive an SMS telling me when the process was complete. Given that I anticipate an overseas trip next year this will make life easier as I'll be able to use a local SIM card and save on international roaming costs.

It also means that I can do some testing with different Optus SIM cards to see if the iphone is being speed-limited to "protect" the Optus network.

 iPhone unlocking • Optus