Australia, June 2023, Fixed Broadband Experience

Simon Lumb (Data Analyst), Sam Fenwick (Principal Analyst)

Key Findings

Telstra leads on Broadband Consistent Quality in all five cities — Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney — either on its own or with others       
Our Telstra users have the most consistent experience in Adelaide and Melbourne and Telstra shares the top spot for Broadband Consistent Quality with one or more providers in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. It ties with Aussie Broadband in Sydney, given their statistically tied scores of 80.4-83.3%. In addition, Telstra places first nationally for Broadband Consistent Quality with a score of 80.1%. This means that 80.1% of our Telstra users’ tests meet the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games.

In Sydney, Aussie Broadband comes top or joint top across four categories       
Our Aussie Broadband users in Sydney see the fastest average and peak download speeds — 50.1Mbps and 268Mbps, respectively. In addition, Aussie Broadband is in joint first place for Broadband Consistent Quality alongside Telstra and for Broadband Success Rate together with three other operators. However, Optus leads on Broadband Video Experience and Broadband Upload Speed.

Telstra can’t be beaten on broadband experience in Adelaide       
Telstra is at least joint first across all six measures of the broadband experience in Adelaide. It comes top outright for Broadband Consistent Quality, Broadband Video Experience and Broadband Peak Download Speed. In addition, Telstra ties with Optus for the top spot for Broadband Download Speed and Broadband Upload Speed and with TPG for Broadband Success Rate.

Aussie Broadband is joint first across five categories in Perth       
While no provider solely takes the top spot in Perth, Aussie Broadband performs strongly, sharing first place with other providers across five out of six categories — Broadband Consistent Quality, Broadband Success Rate, Broadband Download Speed, Broadband Peak Download Speed and Broadband Upload Speed. The exception is Broadband Video Experience, which is a three-way tie between Optus, Telstra and TPG.

Aussie Broadband dominates on city download speeds       
Aussie Broadband either comes top or joint top for both Broadband Download Speed and Broadband Peak Speed in the four cities where we have analyzed the experience of our Aussie Broadband users. It takes the top spot outright for both categories in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, while tying with Optus and Telstra in Perth on Broadband Download Speed and with Optus on Broadband Peak Speed. Looking nationally, our Aussie Broadband users observe the fastest average download speeds — 43.5Mbps — 3.1Mbps faster than those on second-placed Optus. In addition, Aussie Broadband has the highest score for Broadband Peak Download Speed — a remarkable 257.1Mbps, which is over 100Mbps faster than that seen on its rivals.

Optus users see the fastest average upload speeds and have the best Broadband Video Experience in Australia       
Optus comes top nationally in Australia for Broadband Upload Speed, given its score of 11.8Mbps, which is around 1.2Mbps ahead of Telstra and Aussie Broadband — they statistically tie for second place with scores of 10.5-10.6Mbps. Optus also beats its national rivals on Broadband Video Experience, as its score of 73.8 points on a 100-point scale is narrowly ahead of Telstra and TPG’s identical scores of 73.2 points.

Introduction

In this first Opensignal analysis of the high-speed internet experience on fixed networks in Australia, we have analyzed users’ real-world experience across six different measures: Broadband Success Rate, Broadband Consistent Quality, Broadband Video Experience, Broadband Download Speed, Broadband Peak Download Speed and Broadband Upload Speed.

To gain a comprehensive understanding of how broadband providers' experiences compare, it is necessary to evaluate multiple categories. One measure alone cannot fully encompass the broad range of applications and services that broadband services support, such as video streaming, gaming, remote work, application updates, video chatting, social media photo and video sharing, and web browsing.

For the first time, we examine the Australian national broadband experience and also analyze providers’ experience in five of the country’s largest cities.

Broadband subscription plan characteristics — for example, speed tiers or data caps — vary greatly by provider and the dispersion of the plan mix will affect the average experience result. Opensignal’s measurements capture users’ experience, regardless of the plan that they have purchased from their provider. This report analyzes the end-to-end real-world situation across all users’ plans which includes transport over a provider’s core network and connectivity onto the sites and content delivery networks that host popular services, apps and websites. Therefore, broadband providers’ scores may vary significantly, even for users connecting with providers using the same National Broadband Network (nbn).

As normal, we report on our users’ experience by brand — as consumers make choices between brands, while not necessarily being aware of the companies that own them. We have only included the largest brands by market share in each city — those that serve at least five per cent of our user base.. Only providers that meet this threshold in all five of the major cities we’ve analyzed in this report are included in the national results. This means that some well-known providers are absent from this analysis. For example, Vocus is not included, partly as its users are split between its Dodo, iPrimus and Commander brands.

Broadband providers included in this report       

 * Note: TPG Telecom operates both the TPG and Vodafone consumer brands which are considered separately in the report

National Experience

Aussie Broadband takes first place nationally for both Broadband Download Speed and Broadband Peak Download Speed. Our Aussie Broadband users’ average download speeds are 3.1Mbps (7.6%) faster than those on second-placed Optus. Aussie Broadband’s lead is far more impressive for Broadband Peak Download Speed due to its blisteringly fast score of 257.1Mbps, which is over 100Mbps faster than that seen on its rivals. Our users’ average peak download speeds on the other operators are in the 134.6-143.7Mbps range.

Meanwhile, our Optus users see the fastest average upload speeds over fixed broadband in Australia — 11.8Mbps. This gives Optus a lead of around 1.2Mbps over Telstra and Aussie Broadband, which statistically tie for second place with scores of 10.5-10.6Mbps. Vodafone is in last place and quite a way behind the rest of the pack given its score of 7.5Mbps.

Optus is also in first place for Broadband Video Experience, as its score of 73.8 points on a 100-point scale is less than a point ahead of Telstra and TPG’s identical scores of 73.2 points. Vodafone is in last place with 71 points. However, the five providers’ scores differ by only 2.8 points at most between each other and they all place in the Very Good (68-78) category. This means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.

80.1% of our Telstra users’ tests meet the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games. This means that Telstra comes top nationally for Broadband Consistent Quality with a lead of around 1.7 percentage points over Aussie Broadband and Optus, which statistically tie for second place with scores of 78.2-78.5%. Vodafone and TPG are at the other end of the scale with tied scores of 64-65.6%. Out of the compared providers, only our Vodafone users did not see a statistically significant difference between Broadband Consistent Quality measured across all hours of the day and that seen during peak hours (between 16:00-22:00). The other providers’ scores were 1.2-3.4 percentage points lower during peak hours, with our TPG users seeing the largest drop.

Our users see no statistically significant difference between the five providers for Broadband Success Rate — the average proportion of successfully completed tests relative to all the tests executed for each unique Wi-Fi network on each provider. 97.5-98% of our Australian users’ tests complete successfully.

City Experience

City Results — Adelaide

Telstra dominates the broadband experience in Adelaide as it comes at least joint first across all six measures. Telstra is the sole provider in first place for Broadband Consistent Quality, Broadband Video Experience and Broadband Peak Download Speed. In addition, Telstra ties with Optus for the top spot for Broadband Download Speed and Broadband Upload Speed and with TPG for Broadband Success Rate.

Our Optus and Telstra users see the fastest average download speeds, with statistically tied scores of 39-41.3Mbps. TPG and Vodafone bring up the rear with tied scores of 33.4-33.7Mbps.

Telstra comes top for Broadband Peak Download Speed in Adelaide by an impressive margin. Our Telstra users observe average peak download speeds of 238.6Mbps, while its rivals — Optus, Vodafone and TPG are statistically tied for second place with scores of 134.8-150.8Mbps.

Our Optus and Telstra users see the fastest average upload speeds — 10.5-11Mbps, while those on TPG are in third place with 8.6Mbps and Vodafone users bring up the rear with 6.8Mbps.

Telstra is in first place for Broadband Video Experience in Adelaide with a score of 74.2 points on a 100-point scale, ahead of Optus and TPG (which statistically tied for second place with scores of 72.7-72.8 points. Vodafone is in last place with 70.7 points. Our users’ experience on all four providers places in the Very Good (68-78) category.

TPG and Telstra tie for Broadband Success Rate with statistically tied scores of 98.3-98.4%, while Optus and Vodafone share third place with scores of 96.6-96.8%.

Our Telstra users have the most consistent experience in Adelaide, as Telstra scores 82.5% for Broadband Consistent Quality — 5.5 percentage points ahead of second-placed Optus’ 76.9%. TPG is in third place with 69.1%, while Vodafone brings up the rear with 61.1%. Across all four providers, there is no statistically significant difference between our Adelaide users’ average Broadband Consistent Quality scores across all hours of the day and those during peak hours.

City Results — Brisbane

Our Aussie Broadband users see the fastest average download speeds in Brisbane — 51.1Mbps. Aussie Broadband is therefore in first place for Broadband Download Speed, with a lead of around 6.5Mbps over Optus and Telstra which tie for second place with scores of 44-45.2Mbps. TPG and Vodafone statistically tie for last place with scores of 36.6-39.6Mbps.

Aussie Broadband also places first for Broadband Peak Download speed, with our users in Brisbane on its network clocking up an impressive 248.3Mbps. Three providers — Optus, Telstra and TPG — share second place with statistically tied scores of 161.4-214.8Mbps, while Vodafone is in last place with 120.4Mbps.

Our Optus users have the best Broadband Video Experience, as it scores 75.2 points on a 100-point scale, 1.1 points higher than the experience of Telstra users — 74.1 points. TPG and Aussie Broadband tie for third place with scores of 73.2-73.3 points, while Vodafone comes last with 72.2 points. However, our users’ experience on all five providers places in the Very Good (68-78) category.

Optus and TPG come joint top for Broadband Success Rate with scores of 98.3-98.9%. Telstra, Aussie Broadband and Vodafone are statistically tied for third place with scores of 97.1-97.7%.

There’s a three-way tie for the top spot for Broadband Upload Speed in Brisbane — Telstra, Optus and Aussie Broadband share it with statistically tied scores of 11.3-11.6Mbps. TPG is in fourth place with 10.5Mbps and Vodafone brings up the rear with 7.9Mbps.

Aussie Broadband, Telstra and Optus share first place for Broadband Consistent Quality with statistically tied scores of 77.8-80.8%. TPG is in fourth place with 71.9%, while Vodafone is in last place with 66.3%. Across all five providers, there is no statistically significant difference between our Brisbane users’ average Broadband Consistent Quality scores across all hours of the day and those during peak hours.

City Results — Melbourne

Telstra has the highest Broadband Consistent Quality score in Melbourne — 85.2%, giving it a lead of around 3.7 percentage points over Optus and Aussie Broadband that statistically tie for second place with scores of 81.1-81.9%. Vodafone places fourth with 68.3% and TPG comes last with 57.5%. Across all five providers, there is no statistically significant difference between our Melbourne users’ average Broadband Consistent Quality scores across all hours of the day and those during peak hours.

Aussie Broadband users see the fastest average download speeds in Melbourne — 50.4Mbps. As a result, Aussie Broadband comes top for Broadband Download Speed. Aussie Broadband leads the two providers that are tied for second place, Telstra and Vodafone, by around 6.6Mbps. Optus is in fourth place with 41.9Mbps and TPG is last with 38.7Mbps.

Aussie Broadband also comes top in the city for Broadband Peak Download Speed, racking up an impressive score of 292.5Mbps. That’s 109Mbps faster than second-placed Telstra’s 183.5Mbps. TPG, Optus and Vodafone share third place with statistically tied scores of 137.1-155.2Mbps.

Optus and Aussie Broadband tie for the fastest average upload speeds in Melbourne with scores of 12.5-12.6Mbps, around 0.6Mbps faster than third-placed Telstra’s 11.9Mbps. TPG and Vodafone follow behind with scores of 11.3Mbps and 8.6Mbps, respectively.

There’s a three-way split between Telstra, Aussie Broadband and Optus for first place when it comes to Broadband Video Experience, given their statistically tied scores of 74.3-74.7 points on a 100-point scale. Vodafone and TPG tie for last place with scores of 73.1-73.8 points. The Broadband Video Experience of our users in Melbourne on all five operators rates as Very Good (68-78).

Our users observe no statistically significant differences in their Broadband Success Rate in Melbourne across the five providers we’ve analyzed.

City Results — Perth

Aussie Broadband has the strongest showing out of all the covered major providers in Perth, despite no provider coming top outright in any category. Aussie Broadband shares first place with other providers across five out of six categories — Broadband Consistent Quality, Broadband Success Rate, Broadband Download Speed, Broadband Peak Download Speed and Broadband Upload Speed. The exception is Broadband Video Experience, which is a three-way tie between Optus, Telstra and TPG.

Our Aussie Broadband, Optus and Telstra users see the fastest average download speeds in Perth — due to their statistically tied scores of 39.7-42.6Mbps. Vodafone, TPG and iiNet tie for last place with 31.8-34.5Mbps. Aussie Broadband and Optus are also at the top of the chart for Broadband Peak Download Speed, sharing first place with 157.9-212.9Mbps. The pair achieve a similar distinction for Broadband Upload Speed, with statistically tied scores of 10.4-11Mbps. Telstra and TPG tie for the next fastest average upload speeds with scores of 9.3-9.7Mbps.  

Our Optus, Telstra and TPG users have the best Broadband Video Experience in Perth with tied scores of 73.1-73.7 points on a 100-point scale. Aussie Broadband and iiNet share fourth place with 71.3-72.6 points, while Vodafone comes last with 69.8 points. However, the Broadband Video Experience of our users in Perth on all six operators rates as Very Good (68-78).

Telstra and Aussie Broadband share the top spot for Broadband Consistent Quality with statistically tied scores of 78.4-80.4%. Vodafone, Optus and iiNet follow with tied scores of 65.9-71.4%, while TPG is in last place with 57.5%.

Our users observe no statistically significant differences in their Broadband Success Rate in Perth across the six providers we’ve analyzed — 96.8-98.6% of their tests execute successfully.

City Results — Sydney

Aussie Broadband collects the most accolades for the broadband experience in Sydney — being in first place for both Broadband Download Speed and Broadband Peak Download, while being in joint first place for Broadband Consistent Quality alongside Telstra and for Broadband Success Rate together with three other operators (Telstra, Optus and TPG). However, Optus leads on Broadband Video Experience and Broadband Upload Speed.       

Our Aussie Broadband users’ average download speeds in Sydney come in at 50.1Mbps, giving the provider a lead of around 4.9Mbps over Telstra and Optus’ statistically tied scores of 44.4-46.2Mbps. Vodafone and TPG are in joint fourth place with scores of 39.1-40Mbps.        

Aussie Broadband also comes top for Broadband Peak Download Speed, due to its score of 268Mbps — which gives it a lead of 68.7Mbps over second-placed Telstra’s 199.3Mbps. Optus comes third with 162.2Mbps, while TPG and Vodafone bring up the rear with tied scores of 129.1-146.2Mbps.

Our Optus users have the best Broadband Video Experience in Sydney — they come top with a score of 74.9 points on a 100-point scale, giving Optus a lead of less than a point over second-placed Telstra’s 74.3 points. TPG comes third with 73.4 points. The Broadband Video Experience of our users in Sydney on all five operators rates as Very Good (68-78). This means that they are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.

Telstra and Aussie Broadband share first place for Broadband Consistent Quality — 80.4-83.3% of our users’ tests on their networks met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games. Optus places third with 78.9%, while Vodafone and TPG tie for last place with 62.3-64.8%.

Four providers share the top spot for Broadband Success Rate — TPG, Optus, Aussie Broadband and Telstra — given their statistically tied scores of 97.8-98.1%. Vodafone is in last place with 97.1%.       
 

Methodology and definitions       
 

Broadband Consistent Quality       
Measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. Broadband Consistent Quality uses six key performance indicators including download and upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte. This metric is represented as a percentage of users’ tests that have met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games.

Average — Consistent quality is measured across all users in all hours of the day.

Peak — By analyzing all tests, across all carriers nationally we can see that, on average, the 6-hour period between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. is the busiest. In this period, we see the highest amount of device activity and the largest drops in users’ experience relative to the 24-hour average. We have selected these hours to benchmark a ‘peak experience’.

Broadband Video Experience       
Opensignal’s adaptive video experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's network. The metric measures users’ adaptive video experience using a Mean Opinion Score (MOS) approach inspired by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters of adaptive bitrate video streaming and the perceived video experience as reported by real people.

The videos tested are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers and include a wide selection of resolutions that dynamically match the network conditions, available bandwidth, and device performance. Resolutions range from 144p to 2160p, which is also called 4K or UHD (Ultra High Definition). The model calculates a MOS score on a 0 to 100 scale by evaluating a number of parameters, including the time to start playing the video, the quality of the video, the time playing each resolution, and the time spent re-buffering.

Broadband Success Rate       
Measure the average proportion of successfully completed tests relative to all the tests executed for each unique Wi-Fi network on each provider.

Broadband Download Speed       
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Download Speed represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across a service provider’s network.

Broadband Peak Download Speed       
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Peak Download Speed represents the 98th percentile of the user speed distribution. i.e. this is what the users with the highest speeds within the footprint experience.

Broadband Upload Speed       
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds for each internet service provider observed by our users across their fixed networks. Typically, upload speeds are slower than download speeds, but this often depends on the technology used for broadband connections.