Optus blocks Android App Store -- Does Exetel's HSPA?

[vk3xem]

Just wanted to let everyone know that vicbitter is right, Optus prevented access to paid apps through their SIM cards, and yes, Optus announced last week that they had enabled access to paid apps in the Andoid Marketplace: http://twitter.com/Optus/status/11062812547.

Access to paid apps, does that mean they are deliberately blocking free apps?

I have just purchased a Google Nexus One from eBay and waiting for it to arrive hopefully this week. Never played with Android OS before so looking forward to it. Personally my first preference will be to access via WiFi first, I hope having our Exetel (Optus) SIM doesn't impose the same restrictions over WiFi.

[jylan]

Access to paid apps, does that mean they are deliberately blocking free apps?

I have just purchased a Google Nexus One from eBay and waiting for it to arrive hopefully this week. Never played with Android OS before so looking forward to it. Personally my first preference will be to access via WiFi first, I hope having our Exetel (Optus) SIM doesn't impose the same restrictions over WiFi.

To my knowledge Optus were only ever blocking paid apps (or the paid app section) in the android marketplace, so now they’ve removed that restriction you should have full access. While the blocks were in place the only way to access paid apps was to swap the SIM - connecting over WiFi didn’t bypass anything. I would say that the Optus-supplied Exetel SIMs would have had the same restrictions.

I’m not using Android personally (got this info from a friend).

[vk3xem]

Thanks for the info jylan, I'm looking forward to tyring out the Android OS.

[jylan]

No probs, let us know how the Nexus One is!