Telstra begins selling its 5G home broadband plan
Telstra has finally launched their 5G home Internet plan, two years after becoming the first telco to switch on its commercial mobile 5G network in Australia. Telstra’s move here is coming late, compared to rival Optus which launched its 5G home Internet plan back in 2019.
What’s included in the Telstra 5G home Internet plan?
Here’s what you get if you purchase the Telstra 5G Home Internet plan:
- 1TB data (that’s 1000GB)
- 5G home modem
- 3 months free BINGE Standard (new BINGE subscribers only)
- 2 months device protect
- Telstra Plus rewards (members only)
- No installation tech wait time (plug and play)
Telstra is currently offering the first month of subscription for free, after which the plan will cost $85 per month. However, note that this 5G home Internet plan is only available to a select few in select areas. Each post code will gets a limited number of services for now.
How does Telstra 5G Home Internet plan compare to NBN and Optus?
- Telstra’s 5G Home Internet plan averages 378Mbps download speeds during peak hours (7PM to 11PM), but you’ll typically get speeds between 50Mbps and 600Mbps. These are quite fast, but they refer to the speeds coming into your modem. When you connect to your router’s WiFi signal, you’ll likely see speeds that are a bit less.
- Based on these speeds, we can compare Telstra’s 5G home Internet to their NBN Standard Plus Speed plan, which has speeds of 50Mbps during peak hours. That’s comparable to the bottom of Teltra’s 5G home Internet plan, but is nowhere close to the average and max 5G speeds. Another NBN plan from Telstra offers download speeds of 100Mbps during peak hours, which is also nowhere close to the 5G home Internet average or max speeds. Also, Both NBN plans cost more than the 5G home Internet plan. However, while Telstra’s 5G home Internet plan includes 1TB of data, all NBN plans include unlimited data. And to be fair, you can purchase Superfast and Ultrafast speed add-ons for your NBN plans to get speeds of up to 700Mbps.
- Optus compares a bit more favorably to Telstra’s 5G home broadband plan. Optus offers two 5G home Internet plans, both of which include unlimited data (unlike Telstra’s 1TB data) minimum download speeds of 50Mbps. Optus’ 5G Internet Everyday plan caps download speeds at 100Mbps maximum, averages 83Mbps during peak hours, and costs $79. Their 5G Internet Entertainer plan has no speed caps at all, averages 210Mbps during peak hours, and costs $89. But where Optus really shines is their 50Mbps minimum speed guarantee – if you aren’t get at least 50Mbps, you can cancel your Optus plan and Device Payment Plan without having to pay the remaining balance. If there’s a major failure with the service, you can even get a refund or compensation. Keep in mind, however, that Telstra has wider 5G coverage than Optus.
Final words – the realities of 5G right now
But while Telstra is entering the 5G mobile broadband market a bit late, perhaps the telco has good reasons. After Telstra’s 5G network now covers over 75 per cent of the Australian population, making this a good time to launch. The telco’s 5G network coverage was a lot thinner last year, and even more so the year before that.
Telstra is the largest telco in Australia – they have the widest mobile network coverage in the country, followed by Optus. The same holds true for the Telstra 5G network, but is that all that matters for a fixed home wireless plan?
We’ve used mobile 5G for the last 2 years and have not been impressed. In fact, we haven’t noticed a difference in performance or experience when compared to previous 4G mobile networks.
However, Telstra new 5G home broadband is different. Users will most likely compare it with their NBN alternative rather than mobile networks. But it’s hard to think of a way in which Telstra’s new offering will perform better. Speeds are more variable on mobile network connections, depending on a number of factors which don’t often affect fixed connections, such as weather and, sometimes, the number of devices connected to the network at the same time.
But Telstra’s 5G home Internet beats their NBN plans in price. Because its speeds compare mostly to the Standard Plus and Premium Speed NBN plans, you’d be getting a better deal with 5G home Internet which saves you at least $10 per month and up to $25 per month in comparison.
Also, customers would benefit most from a fixed / mobile broadband connection if they might move between offices and want to share a single connection between those two places – just carry it along from one office to another, plug it in, and connect. For everyone else, the NBN might be worth considering instead, especially for their unlimited data inclusion.