Before my iPhone I had a basic Nokia that no issues at all with reception, pretty much anywhere was successful.

I am still with Telstra and have a tower close to home but reception is woeful. My iPhone is a shocker in alot of areas!

Are there any better comparable phones that have better reception?

I'm posting this from my HTC Desire which I absolutely adore. I didn't want to be locked in with Telstra so I got mine from overseas. I've had no problem with it yet that an email to the amazing support centre has not been able to advise me on and they are really fast responding.

I am with 3, and much as I hate their poor customer service, their coverage is excellent.

Yep HTC is what you want. They have a lot of phones in their range so you should be able to find something suitable at your price point. I *heart* my HTC

I also have the HTC Desire. Never had a problem with reception (with Telstra) so far.

Thanks guys.

I will look into it.

Have you called telstra and spoken to them about it?
My df had a similar problem with his brand new iphone and the only reason we queried them about it was because I also got a new iphone and mine worked perfectly, reception full but no matter where he went it was only one bar or none.

Turned out to be a faulty iphone after going through all their troubleshooting but maybe yours is faulty as well.

Thanks Beccajayne, this seems to be a problem for quite a few people I know, and I have heard others with the same issue, but I will look into that.