Best 5G Phone Plans in Australia
- These plans are all very fast 5G speeds
- Compare a range of 5G phones plans
- Aim to get the most data for least $
Frequently Asked Questions
How fast will my data be on a 5G plan?
What speeds you’ll actually get on a 5G data connection vary enormously.
The lowest bounds of the 5G speed range is expected to be 100Mbps. This is faster than you’d get at home on a fixed line connection with the fastest plan the NBN sells. Most NBN100 plans range from 85-98Mbps.
At the high end (i.e. in a laboratory environment) speeds can get as high as 20GBps.
In fact, Optus’ fixed home 5G broadband cites a guaranteed speed of only 50Mbps. Basically, any speed range between these limits can easily translate to instant loading of web pages, high quality vision in Skype chats, and smoother frame-by-frame advancements in complex online video games.
How does 5G compare to 4G?
5G is faster and more efficient.
5G uses a range of frequencies that are different to 4G and lets data travel faster, over a smaller period of time and distance.
This set of high and low frequencies that are much different than those of 4G. Since these frequencies were previously untapped, they can now be used to augment existing bandwidths in the face of expanding data connection demands.
These frequencies are also highly directional, meaning that they can be used right next to signals from other generations of wireless networks without interruptions or interference.
And since 5G uses a shorter wavelength, it’s more energy efficient.
Will I get 5G speeds overseas?
That depends on whether your travel location has 5G network coverage or not.
Historically, many parts of the world take longer to implement new generations of wireless networks than Australia does.
5G integration will most likely follow the same path, given the greater infrastructure it needs for denser signals.
In fact, the international wireless standards body, 3GPP, only got to stipulate the official global standards for 5G new radio near the ending of 2017.
Can I keep my current phone number when I move to a 5G phone plan?
Yes, you can keep your current phone number when you move to a 5G phone plan.
Your phone number is associated with the SIM card you use. It’s the phone, not the SIM card, that carries the radio which supports wireless signals.
What will happen when I am outside 5G coverage?
You’ll fall back on the 4G network, it’ll be slower but you might not even notice the difference.
How much data will I use in my 5G phone plan?
Network provider Giffgaff, from the UK, suggest that in 2025, when 5G is expected to be deeply ingrained into the mainstream, users may be getting through data allowances at an astonishing rate of 100GB per month.
According to their report, 5G users will stream videos of about 73 GB worth of data per month by 2025.
What's good
- 5G offers users very fast mobile data speeds
- Low latency means your web page will load faster
- Replace your NBN with a fixed home 5G broadband plan
What's bad
- You'll chew through a heap of data
- Although 5G is widely available, you might not get coverage
- 5G still not available in many remote areas
5G Phone Plans in Australia - How can you find the best one?
- Very fast speeds on 5G are already available now.
- Fixed Wireless Broadband 5G products have also been launched.
- Portability of wireless home broadband allows you to take it with you on the go.
- No complicated set-up process, eliminating the need for a technician and set-up fees.
- 5G Mobile Broadband offers an alternative to NBN and ADSL, especially in areas where such access is limited or unavailable.
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What is a 5G Phone Plan?
A 5G phone plan provides 5G data to cover your connectivity needs. These plans couldn’t have come at a better time than now, when the Internet of Things (IoT) is taking off – with demonstrated consumer applications such as smartwatches, kid trackers, pet trackers, dashboard cams, and more.
As such, 5G phone plans can share data with secondary devices such as smartwatches. This means phone companies offering 5G phone plans will benefit from offering more shared data plans and family plans than usual.
So far, Telstra seems to have the largest footprint, followed by Optus, then Vodafone.
Australia’s big three telcos’ market share as the 5G market competition begins. Source.
Historically, the roll out of new generations of wireless network has been underwhelming. We have all experienced previous generations of network upgrades which were hyped and then, in large part, never lived up to the marketers’ words.
Telstra waited for 3 years after the introduction of 4G before launching its own 4G network in 2011, and it took nearly 6 years before they could boast of providing 97 percent of the country with 4G coverage. Optus and Vodaphone waited for about 4 years after the introduction of 4G to set up their own 4G networks, and it also took them nearly 6 years after that to cover most of the country with their 4G network.
It’s likely going to take even longer to fully roll out 5G networks because the technology requires so much more signal density. And the big three have always been reluctant to share their higher speed networks with their MVNO partners, which has been the case with 5G as well. However, all three major telcos recently opened up 5G networks to MVNOs, leading to the technology being offered by some of the smaller phone companies in Australia.
So here’s a summary of 5G developments from the three major telcos:
- Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone have all turned on 5G sites in select areas.
- Telstra have the widest 5G coverage so far, reaching over 80% of the population. Click here to check if your area has Telstra 5G coverage.
- Telstra’s 5G coverage is expected to cover 85 percent of the population by mid-2023.
- Optus’ fixed home 5G broadband is available to over 140,000 homes. Click here to check if your area has Optus 5G coverage.
- Optus recently switched on its 900MHz low band spectrum, which will expand its 5G footprint by 20 percent.
- Vodafone’s 5G network now covers 85 per cent of the population across 10 major cities and towns.
What do current 5G phone plans look like?
Current 5G networks function just like 4G. They utilise a SIM card and/or an eSIM, depending on the type of device you have. An eSIM is basically a digitized version of a SIM card. They’re embedded into devices, and allow you to select plans from various providers right from your device’s screen. eSIMs will allow you to easily switch between different monthly 5G plans of various mobile carriers. But whether they’re offered on a SIM or an eSIM, 5G phone plans will likely be structured in the same way as existing plans: voice, SMS, and data.
Also, 5G mobile broadband plans will most likely compete with the NBN. With 4G speeds competing favourably with those of NBN, more people are subscribing to mobile rather than NBN. In fact, a recent ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) report pointed out that mobile handsets account for 61 percent of all internet activity in Australia. More Australians are coming to prefer having data on the go, and that’s bad news for the NBN, which only provides data connections in fixed locations. And with lower latency and higher speeds than 4G, 5G will become an even more serious threat to the NBN.
Comparing 4G and 5G. Source.
Here’s a look at current 5G phone plans and how much they cost :
- Telstra 5G phone plans
If you want to access Telstra’s mobile 5G network, you’ll have to settle for one of their bigger plans. Only Telstra’s three largest SIM Only plans offer 5G for postpaid customers, starting at $65 per month. If you want prepaid, then you only have one Telstra prepaid plan with 5G coverage and it costs $65. - Optus 5G phone plans
All of Optus’ postpaid plans include 5G access at no extra cost, for now. The telco also offers three Optus Flex 5G plans which offer 5G access to prepaid customers. Optus also has two fixed 5G Home Internet plans at $79 and $89 per month, offering 100Mbps maximum capped download speeds and unlimited speeds respectively, on a month-to-month basis. - TPG Telecom (Vodafone) 5G phone plans
All Vodafone mobile SIM plans, both postpaid and prepaid, include access to their 5G network. TPG also offers two 5G Home Broadband plans. - Belong 5G phone plans
Telstra’s sub-brand, Belong, now offers 5G plans as well. There’s a drawback though – Belong 5G plans can’t exceed download speeds of 100Mbps. However, this phone company offers 5G plans ranging from $25 to $45 per month, giving you an alternative to the more expensive Telstra 5G plans. - MVNOs reselling Telstra’s trial mobile 5G network
Telstra has also opened its mobile 5G network to Exetel, Woolworths Mobile, Mate, and Numobile. But like Belong, Telstra has capped their download speeds to 100Mbps. However, these MVNOs are reselling Telstra’s 5G network on a trial basis which ends on February 28, 2023, after which a more permanent option will be launched. - Tangerine 5G plans
Tangerine also resells the Telstra 5G network on a single 5G plan. This MVNO stands out because its 5G download speeds are capped at 250Mbps, unlike other Telstra MVNOs which are capped at 100Mbps. - ALDImobile 5G phone plans
ALDImobile also offers a single 5G plan on the Telstra mobile 5G network. Unlike other MVNOs reselling Telstra 5G, ALDImobile hasn’t indicated any speed caps. - MVNOs reselling Optus’ 5G network
Amaysim, Spintel, Aussie Broadband, and Southern Phone all offer 5G plans without caps, using the Optus 5G network. Amaysim offers a single 5G plan for now, while Spintel and Aussie Broadband offer two 5G plans each, and Southern Phone offers four 5G plans. - MVNOs reselling Vodafone’s 5G network
Vodafone has also opened up its 5G network to MVNOs. This includes Lebara, Kogan, TPG, and iiNet. Note that Kogan is offering 5G to customers on its Large monthly plan on a trial basis until 1 June of this year. It is unclear what will follow upon expiration of the trial. Similarly, iiNet customers can trial 5G on their largest SIM plan until 1 June, but the MVNO also offers a 5G broadband plan that is not on a trial basis.
It’s possible that the providers will be charging much less for connections over the 5G network in the future. That’s because phones gulp up more data when connected to a faster network, eating into data plans much faster. A simple example is that YouTube will play in High Definition on a 4G connection and SD on a 3G connection. As a result, simply by virtue of the speeds involved, 5G plans will need larger amounts of data than 4G plans.
However, the telco recently scrapped that idea and has decided to offer 5G free of charge on Medium, Large, and Extra Large plans, but Small plans get a speed-limited 5G.
TPG Telecom (Vodafone) previously indicated that it will not charge extra for 5G. However, they recently backtracked on that commitment, stating that they might charge extra for 5G phone plans in the future. Optus also left the door open to extra charges.
And phone companies can tell which phone network you’re using – 3G, 4G, or 5G – so they are likely to charge more for mobile data when it’s provided at 5G speeds.
The difference in 5G networks
- New spectrum bought from the government under license:
5G has been declared a priority by the Australian g The government is taking a much more proactive approach to the introduction of 5G when compared to its counterparts in other countries. It’s expediting the roll out of 5G in different ways, including by giving access to the various types of radio frequency spectrum required for 5G delivery. Since it’ll power the Internet of Things and allow for broader broadband, the radio frequency types required by 5G are such that have not been used in previous generations of wireless technology. These include frequencies at the lower end of the spectrum as well as those at the higher end which can be used to transport data through long distances and in highly saturated areas such as cities. -
5G Interesting facts
- The average 5G tower will cost between $30,000 and $50,000 to install.
- Optus and Telstra have paid the ACCC $2 billion to access the 5G EM bands.
- In July 2021, Telstra invested $75 million in regional Australia.
- NBN has invested $750 million in 5G infrastructure for rural areas.
5G Coverage : How many 5G sites / towers do Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone have?
- Telstra 5G sites:
Telstra have the widest 5G coverage right now, with over 80 per cent of the Australian population having access to their 5G network. Telstra’s overall network includes 10,766 sites, and 2,695 of those are 5G sites. According to the ACCC, 346 of those 5G towers are in ‘inner regional Australia’, 92 are in ‘outer regional Australia’, 5 are in ‘remote Australia’, and the rest are in major cities where your chances of getting 5G coverage are much higher. - Optus 5G sites:
Optus have the second most mobile network towers in Australia, with 8,238 sites. 1,010 of those are 5G sites, with 35 of them in ‘inner regional Australia’ and the rest in major cities. Optus don’t have any 5G sites in ‘outer regional Australia’, ‘remote Australia’ or ‘very remote Australia’. - Vodafone 5G sites:
Vodafone recently announced that their 5G network now covers 85 per cent of the population in 10 major cities and areas. Notice their claim of 85 per cent coverage is only valid in 10 cities and areas, not the entire country, and this makes it quite difficult to determine exactly what their coverage is like. However, we know that TPG Telecom (Vodafone) has 5,892 mobile network sites, and 163 of those are 5G sites. Two of their 5G sites are in ‘inner regional Australia’, while the rest are in major cities.
The best 5G plans for iPhones
Apple released a 5G-powererd iPhone in 2020, after settling disputes with 5G chip maker Qualcomm. Source.
Most iPhone users are already used to consuming large amounts of data, so the best 5G plans for iPhones will have to come with large data allowances. iPhone apps consume more data than Android apps, making larger amounts of data somewhat of a necessity.
A 5G-enabled iPhone was released in 2020, but it certainly wasn’t among the first 5G phones to be released. Before the release, Apple inked a new multi-year deal with Qualcomm, the 5G-enabled chip maker. Not too long before that, Apple and Qualcomm had been embroiled in a legal tussle over royalty settlements.
All of the plans on this page are able to be used with an iPhone.
The best 5G phone plans for Android devices
Android phone users consume relatively less mobile data each month. That doesn’t imply they enjoy an inferior user experience when compared to iOS users, as there’s no credible basis for such claims. However, due to their relatively higher sophistication in terms of graphics and aesthetic, the average file size of iOS apps are larger than those of Android apps. Besides, there are swathes of low-end Android phones that have low media specifications in comparison to iPhones, and they, therefore, don’t consume nearly as much data as iPhones.
Nonetheless, we can expect the first 5G-powered Android phones to land in stores nationwide starting from the middle of this year. Samsung has officially announced that the new 5G powered Samsung Galaxy S10 will be available in Australia in the first half of the year, exclusively through Telstra.
Huawei’s 5G-enabled Mate X is also expected to hit international markets within the first half of the year, although we’re not sure when it’ll be released in Australia. OPPO is gearing up to announce the release date of its first 5G-enabled model a few months from now, while other tech giants including Sony, Nokia, LG, and OnePlus have also stated that their 5G models are in the works.
In conclusion
The fact is most that phone plan companies are now offering 5G, even the smaller operators. You’ll probably have to pay a little more for your plan, but in an age where our phones and data run our lives, it seems worth it.
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This Month's Hot Offers
