Telstra, Optus and Vodafone all invest billions of dollars in their networks each year, improving everything from coverage in rural areas to download speeds and capacity.
However, just because a telco says it's throwing big dollars at the network, doesn't necessarily mean you as a customer are going to see better results in day-to-day usage.
Luckily, there are a few metrics we can look at to help us work out what sort of performance you're likely to achieve and why you're achieving that.
In rural areas, Telstra still has a clear advantage in terms of overall coverage, so in this article, we're going to be focusing just on the major metro areas. Major metro areas are where telcos fight the hardest battles and tend to roll out the newest fastest, network infrastructure, meaning this is often where the real network competition is.
There are three separate organisations that track mobile network speeds and coverage in Australia: P3, Ookla (SpeedTest) and OpenSignal.
All three of these track speeds and coverage in different ways which give us the ability to get different perspectives on each.
P3 is an independent test, involving testers travelling across the country to test speeds and coverage with their own devices.
The P3 group works closely with carriers here who use these results to optimise their networks, so it's more an indication of peak performance on your best days, and more importantly, a reflection of investment rather than real-world speeds.
Ookla's results are from the data it receives when people use its Speedtest applications and test the speeds of their phone. If you're curious, you can run a speed test on your mobile or broadband connection using Ookla's infrastructure right here at Finder.
Ookla then takes those download, upload and ping speeds and uses them to form its yearly report. This is a great real-world indicator. Its results are "speed scores" which combine download and upload speeds and also weight when times were recorded such as off-peak and peak.
Lastly, Open Signal uses an app installed on thousands of devices which tracks coverage and download speed across those devices in the background. Like Ookla, it's a great real-world indicator as it's just tracking owners' everyday usage.
We've pulled the most recent data from each of these tests at the time of writing and collected the results in the tables below.
Compare speed results
Unsurprisingly, it's Telstra that takes the lead across all three tests. Its network infrastructure is both the oldest and the largest of all Australian telcos, which gives it an advantage in delivering higher speeds across a wider portion of the country.
That said, Telstra's lead isn't as commanding as it once was. Vodafone and Optus have spent considerable time and money in recent years shoring up their own networks and the test results reflect that. Yes, if you want the fastest speeds possible, Telstra is likely your best choice, but you're not going to be left in the dust if you go with Vodafone or Optus.
One point worth noting is how different the P3 speeds are to the crowd-sourced OpenSignal and Ookla results. The speeds recorded by P3 are far higher than those from Ookla and OpenSignal, which is largely due to the controlled nature of the P3 tests.
For its 2018 report, P3 conducted all its tests with Samsung Galaxy S8 handsets. The Galaxy S8 supports Category 16 network speeds and can take advantage of a technique called "carrier aggregation" (also referred to as LTE-A or LTE Advanced) where it receives data across three different frequencies at the same time. This allows for far higher speeds than are possible across a single frequency.
In reality, a lot of Aussie phones don't support carrier aggregation and this is likely why the OpenSignal and Ookla results are considerably lower than P3's.
As data limits continue to rise, handling congestion and consistent network speeds will become a challenge for carriers as they start to roll out their 5G networks.
For now though, it's important when you're signing up to a new plan to seek results like these to show what the network you're signing up to is like. There's no point buying a 50GB plan if you can barely use it because of sub-par speeds.
It's also wise to consider signing up to a month-to-month plan, either SIM-only or on a prepaid basis.
A lot can change in a network in just a couple of years, so not locking yourself into a service that could be dramatically different halfway through your contract is wise. That's if you don't need a new handset to go with your service, of course.
Also remember it's incredibly easy to change carriers if yours isn't fast enough, as is keeping your own number when you move, which in most cases is transferred within the hour of signing up.
Matt Sayer is a technology writer and editorial engineer for Finder, combining industry expertise with data-driven solutions to help people make better decisions. His extensive portfolio spans investigative reporting on the roll-out of 5G, statistical analysis on the legacy of E3 and guides for popular products like mobile phones and smart speakers. Matt has a Bachelor of Computer Science from RMIT University and is passionate about finding ways that technology can better our lives.
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