[UPDATE]

It seems that is is most assuredly a network fault. There are now regular times of the day (that I would assume are peak times for the carrier) that I still experience this error. Optus are still refusing to investigate further, or even admit that there may be problems with their network. If you are experiencing this fault, please use the “Feedback” link on the side of this page to leave your details and we can see how many people are affected. (Add your details to the existing question here).

[END UPDATE]

This afternoon completely out of the blue my iPhone running 2.2 software has just started saying “Error Sending Message”.

Unfortunately – I am with Optus, which means that I have to call either 133 713 and deal with one of the most idiotic voice response and prompt systems ever, or call 1300 307 937 to get straight on to Optus Technical Support (erm… that’s what they call it) and then ask for the iPhone support team.

When you eventually get the iPhone support team – its a 70 / 30 chance that you will get the Philippines or Australia. Officially Optus says that the teams in Australia and the Philippines are the same size, and it is merely the operator that has been waiting the longest for the call that gets assigned the call, but – from a customer perspective… (and keep in mind this customer has called the iPhone support line about 214 times… not that I am counting) it seems to route offshore first, then to Australia.

Firstly, I will explain why so many calls to the support line. The primary issue is access to information. I have found that the offshore call center doesn’t understand some fundamental pre-requisites that somebody taking accounts or technical support calls needs to know. We recently added another 3G card with Optus, and for some reason my personal Credit File had the entry put on it. The Accounts / Customer Service people that I was dealing with initially didn’t even know what a Credit File was, until I spent a great deal of time explaining it.

However, i digress…

I am unable to send messages with my 2.2 iPhone. Connected to the 3G network or 2G network, there is no difference, I just get the progress bar appear, move slightly then the phones response is “Error Sending Message”.

I can put my SIM in a $5 nokia phone, and it can send fine… just not the iPhone.

The wizards of technical support wanted me to reset my network settings, done – no joy. So I had to erase my phone (that takes two hours) then restore the software (another 45 min). That still doesn’t work.

I have wasted a fair amount of time on this already, and now I have no idea what to do. There is no apparent fix online, and Optus has “no idea” (yes that is a quote from their technical support people). If anybody who reads my inane rants has a fix – let me know… comment comment comment – or email me directly.

Also, if the person from Optus who reads my blogs (yeah, I check my stats) would care to respond to the abhorent disregard with which your customers are treated – please feel free also… I would love to hear your reasoning behind it all…