Pleasant Dreams for Optus' network
Optus today said that its move to start selling the Android-based HTC Dream would not see its 3G mobile network suffer congestion as it had appeared to when it launched the iPhone in mid-2008.
Optus' Michael Smith
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet.com.au)
"I would dispute your description of our network performance as 'sucks', but you're welcome to that opinion," Optus acting managing director, Consumer, Michael Smith said in reply to a question regarding network performance at the Dream launch this morning. "I think if you look around there's an equal amount of sites that will say different things."
Both the iPhone and the Dream are data-intensive devices that utilise any bandwidth 3G networks can give them.
Optus came last in a 2008 Wired global survey of iPhone speeds and there were multiple discussions on internet chat forums of the company's network performance, with users bemoaning the speeds their new devices were achieving.
Optus MD, Products and Delivery, Andrew Buay, had laid iPhone speed problems at the device's door. Yet Ovum analyst Nathan Burley disputed Buay's view at the time, saying that some blame had to be given to Optus' network, which had been having a spate of incidents at the time.
Smith did admit today to upgrading the network to meet demand. "We did enjoy a great deal of customer demand for our product. We have built to match that demand now and we believe our network is in really good shape," he said.
"As these customers come on board we're really confident that they'll continue to enjoy a good network," Smith said.
IDC market analyst Mark Novosel, who is just about to release some research on mobile networks, said that Optus had indeed done a lot of work over the last 12 months, which has led to some high volume sites being upgraded to provide vastly improved speeds and capacity.
Those in regional areas shouldn't hold high expectations, however, since the Dream will only offer 3G on Optus' 2,100MHz network, not on the 900MHz network used in regional areas.