If you’re not familiar, 5G is the next upgrade to mobile networks following 4G. It’s many times faster than 4G and opens up lots of new opportunities like smart cities and farms, and untethered AR and VR experiences. There are three big names to watch for 5G in Australia: Optus, Telstra, and Vodafone. The service that’s available to you depends on where you live, whether the carrier has 5G-compatible phones yet, and if you want mobile service or just 5G internet at home.
Optus
One provider is Optus, one of the country’s biggest telecom companies. In November 2019, they began offering both a mobile 5G solution and fixed wireless access (FWA) 5G. From the launch date, there were over 290 5G sites in Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, NSW, Victoria, and Queensland. Optus turned on their Standalone 5G network for limited trial in late 2021. You can order 5G Home Broadband with a 40 Mbps Satisfaction Guarantee. One of the plans has no max speed, and another tops out at 100 Mbps. See their 5G phones page for an updated listing of their compatible smartphones. Their coverage map details where you can get 5G (mobile and home service). One benchmarking report shows average download speeds over 350 Mbps.
Telstra
Before 2019, Telstra already had over 200 5G-enabled mobile sites, including not only every single major city in Australia but also some less popular locations. Of the thousands of sites now in operation, over 3,000 suburbs and over 200 cities and towns have coverage, which amounts to over 75% of the population, including Queensland, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Melbourne, Tasmania, Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart, Launceston, and Toowoomba. The goal is to reach 95% of the population by mid-2025. See all of their 5G smartphone options. There are multiple plans you can choose from that work with one of those devices, from a 40 GB plan to one that supports 300 GB. The first Telstra 5G customer was FKG Group in Toowoomba through the use of the HTC 5G Hub. The company launched a 5G home service in late 2020. In early 2021, they doubled the included monthly data limit from 500 GB to 1 TB. In November 2021, 5G Home & Business Internet launched, with download speeds of up to 600 Mbps.
Vodafone
In 2019, Vodafone partnered with Nokia to provide Vodafone Hutchison Australia customers with 5G; services started in 2020. The first areas 5G rolled out to included Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Perth, the Gold Coast, Newcastle, Central Coast, and Geelong.
Australian MVNO Networks
If you get service from a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), you probably already have access to 5G because those operators buy their access from other telecom companies. For example, Woolworths Mobile, Boost Mobile, Belong, and ALDImobile are on the Telstra network; Hello Mobile, KISA Phone, and Kogan Mobile with Vodafone; and amaysim, iPrimus, and Exetel use the Optus mobile network.
