Australia
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Australia
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Key Findings
Optus wins the 5G Download Speed award outright for the fourth time in a row
Our Optus users continue to see the fastest average 5G download speeds — 229.6Mbps, 14.6Mbps (6.8%) faster than the speeds seen by Telstra users and more than double Vodafone users’ 106.8Mbps. However, Telstra remains the outright winner of the overall Download Speed Experience award, this time with a score of 59.6Mbps — giving it a lead of 3.9Mbps over second-placed Optus and 11.8Mbps over Vodafone.
Vodafone makes impressive gains on 5G Availability and 5G Reach
Vodafone remains the outright winner of the 5G Availability award — which recognizes operators for the proportion of time that our 5G users have an active 5G connection. It comes top with an impressive 30.8%, far ahead of Telstra’s 19.2% and Optus’ 12.1%. In addition, Vodafone’s score has risen by a remarkable 8.5 percentage points since the last report. While Vodafone remains in second place for 5G Reach (behind Telstra), it saw the largest improvement from last time — a rise of 0.6 points (from 4.4 to 5 points on a 10-point scale), while Optus’ rose by 0.2 points and Telstra’s remained unchanged at 5.2 points.
Optus is top for overall video streaming, multiplayer gaming and using voice apps
Across all mobile technology generations, our Optus users have the best overall Video Experience, Games Experience and Voice App Experience — therefore Optus collects all three awards. This is a change from the previous report, when Optus won two of the three awards outright and statistically tied with Telstra for first place on Video Experience. Optus is now ahead on Video Experience with a score of 69.5 points on a 100-point scale.
Telstra has the best consistent quality
Telstra continues to impress for the consistency of its users’ experience, as it is the only Australian operator to win the Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality awards in Opensignal mobile network experience reports, since their addition in April 2022. Telstra comes top for Excellent Consistent Quality with a score of 83.1%, followed by Vodafone’s 80% and Optus’ 77.2%. For Core Consistent Quality, Telstra scores 91.5%, giving it a lead of 1.4 percentage points over Vodafone’s 90.2%.
The best 5G multiplayer gaming experience is with Vodafone
Vodafone is the new outright winner of the 5G Games Experience award. It comes top with a score of 80 points on a 100-point scale, giving it a lead of 1.2 points over second-placed Optus’ 78.8 points. Telstra is in third place with 77.4 points. Vodafone’s solo victory is a change from the last report when all three operators shared the 5G Games Experience award. All three operators continue to place in the Good (75-85) category.
Optus users spend the most time with a 3G or better connection
The two-way statistical tie for the Availability award from the previous report between Optus and Vodafone has been shattered, leaving Optus in sole possession of the award. Optus wins Availability with a score of 99.4%, with Vodafone and Telstra hot on its heels with 99.3% and 99.2%, respectively. Meanwhile, Telstra remains the outright winner of the 5G Reach and 4G Coverage Experience awards — meaning that our Telstra users observe 5G signals in the greatest proportion of the locations they visit and experience 4G in the most locations visited by our users across all operators.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
Alongside its outstanding all-time track record, Telstra is also the most awarded operator in this report — winning six awards outright and sharing the 5G Video Experience award with Optus. Plus, Telstra remains undefeated in Opensignal mobile experience reports for both consistency awards.
Optus is only one outright win behind Telstra and our Optus users have the best overall experience when streaming mobile video, playing multiplayer mobile games and using over-the-top voice apps over cellular connections.
While Vodafone has the smallest haul of awards, it still wins four outright: Upload Speed Experience, 5G Games Experience, 5G Voice App Experience and 5G Availability. Clearly, Australian operators have different strengths in different areas of the mobile experience — highlighting the importance of analyzing more than just download speeds.
In December 2022, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) refused to authorize Telstra and Vodafone’s proposed network sharing plan, using a regional Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) approach, saying that it would likely lead to less competition. However, Telstra and Vodafone appealed the decision in January 2023. Network sharing agreements similar to Telstra and Vodafone’s plan are typically aimed at lowering operators’ network costs. Operators usually argue infrastructure sharing will enable them to increase the availability of their services through greater efficiencies.
In February 2023, Optus announced that it has used its early access to the 900MHz spectrum it acquired in December 2021 to boost its 5G coverage, activating around 1,000 sites with the spectrum while working to roll out support for the spectrum across the country. Optus claims this has boosted its 5G population coverage by up to 20% on a per-site basis, but the 5G low-band coverage is currently only available on select devices and subscription plans.
In this report, we've analyzed real-world data gathered in the 90 days starting on January 1, 2023 and ending on March 31, 2023 to see how Australia’s three national operators — Optus, Telstra and Vodafone — stack up.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Optus has gone from sharing the Video Experience award in the previous report with Telstra, to winning it outright. Optus wins the award with a score of 69.5 points on a 100-point scale, giving a slender lead of 0.5 points over second-placed Vodafone. Telstra is in third place with 67.5 points. Vodafone and Optus both place in the Very Good (68-78) category, while Telstra places one category lower — Good (58-68).
This means that our Optus and Vodafone users, on average, are able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
Optus also comes first for the overall video experience of our 5G users, given its score of 71.5 points, ahead of Vodafone’s 69.9 points and Telstra’s 69.1.
Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users’ real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate video experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the overall video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
In addition to Video Experience, we report on the following metrics related to video experience:
- 5G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Video Experience – 5G Users: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G video experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator’s 3G network.
National Analysis
This is now the third report in a row in which Optus has won the Games Experience award outright. Our Optus users continue to have the best overall experience when playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections, given the operator’s score of 75.6 points on a 100-point scale. Vodafone and Telstra are in second and third place, respectively with scores of 73.4 and 72.1 points.
Optus places in the Good (75-85) category, while Vodafone and Telstra place one category lower — Fair (65-75). This means that most of our Optus users deem their experience acceptable. The gameplay experience is generally controllable and the user receives immediate feedback between their actions and the outcomes in the game. Most users do not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
Optus also comes first for the overall games experience of our 5G users, with a score of 74.7 points, ahead of Vodafone’s 72 points and Telstra’s 70.5 points.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.
Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world.
Calculating Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games. The score is then measured on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Games Experience, we report on the following metrics related to games experience:
- 5G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Games Experience – 5G Users: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G games experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
As with Games Experience, Optus is the outright winner of the Voice App Experience award and has won both awards outright for three reports in a row. It wins the Voice App Experience award this time around with a score of 80 points on a 100-point scale. Vodafone and Telstra are hot on its heels with scores of 79.2 and 78.8 points, respectively.
Optus’ score of 80 points narrowly places it in the Good (80-87) category, while Vodafone and Telstra continue to place in the Acceptable (74-80) category. This indicates that many of our Optus users are satisfied with their overall over-the-top voice app experience. However, minor quality impairments are experienced by some users. For example, clicking sounds or distortion are very rarely present.
Optus is in first place for the overall voice app experience of our 5G users (Voice App Experience – 5G Users), with a score of 79.6 points, ahead of Vodafone’s 78.8 points and Telstra’s 78 points.
Definitions
Opensignal's Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — using a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality. Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Voice App Experience, we report on the following metrics related to voice app experience:
- 5G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Voice App Experience – 5G Users: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G voice app experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
Telstra remains the sole winner of the Download Speed Experience award. Our Telstra users see average overall download speeds of 59.6Mbps — 3.9Mbps (7%) faster than those on second-placed Optus and 11.8Mbps (24.6%) faster than Vodafone.
Looking at the average overall download speeds of our 5G users (Download Speed Experience – 5G users), Optus and Telstra share first place with statistically tied scores of 80.5-81.2Mbps, while Vodafone is in third place with 61.9Mbps.
Definitions
Measured in Mbps, Download Speed Experience represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across an operator’s mobile data networks.
In addition to Download Speed Experience, we report on the following metrics related to download speeds:
- 5G Download Speed: The average download speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Download Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average download speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G download speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
National Analysis
Vodafone is once again the outright winner of the Upload Speed Experience award, winning this time around with a score of 9.4Mbps, 0.8Mbps (9.6%) faster than second-placed Telstra’s 8.6Mbps and 1.7Mbps (22.3%) faster than Optus’ 7.7Mbps.
Vodafone is also in first place for the average overall upload speeds of our 5G users (Upload Speed Experience – 5G users), given its score of 9.5Mbps, while Telstra and Optus are second and third place, respectively, with scores of 9.2Mbps and 8.3Mbps.
Definitions
Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.
In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:
- 5G Upload Speed: The average upload speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G upload speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
Regional Analysis
Looking at the regional breakdown for Video Experience, Optus wins outright in Western Australia and shares regional awards with two or more operators in the other six regions. Vodafone has the second-best showing, collecting six regional awards for Video Experience. On the other hand, Telstra picks up two joint wins — in South Australia and Tasmania, where our users report three-way statistical ties between the operators.
Similarly — and as might be expected, given Optus’ national outright wins — Optus wins in all seven regions for both Games Experience and Voice App Experience, either outright or jointly. For Games Experience, it shares the victory with Vodafone in three regions (Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia) and with Telstra in South Australia. There are only two regions where Optus is a joint winner for Voice App Experience —Northern Territory and Tasmania — where it wins alongside Vodafone.
Telstra performs strongly in terms of the regional Download Speed Experience, winning outright in four regions (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania), while tying for first place with Optus in Victoria. Optus is the only other operator to win recognition this time around, being the sole victor in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Our Telstra users in South Australia see the fastest average overall download speeds — an impressive 72.2Mbps.
Vodafone picks up four outright wins for Upload Speed Experience and ties with Telstra in New South Wales. Optus wins outright in the Northern Territory.
Regional Analysis Summary: Australia, Mobile Network Experience Report, April 2023
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- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- Queensland
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- South Australia
- Tasmania
- Victoria
- Western Australia
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5G Experience
National Analysis
Optus and Telstra are joint winners of the 5G Video Experience award with statistically tied scores of 76.6-76.8 points on a 100-point scale. Vodafone is in third place with 75.8 points. This is a change from the last report, when Optus won the award outright.
5G Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users’ real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
All three operators place in the Very Good (68-78) category for the experience of our users when streaming mobile video over 5G connections. This means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
Definitions
5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world video streams when they were connected to 5G. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate 5G Video Experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the video experience observed by our users on each operator’s 5G network on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
National Analysis
Vodafone has gone from sharing the 5G Games Experience award with Optus and Telstra in the previous report to winning it outright this time. Vodafone wins with a score of 80 points on a 100-point scale, giving it a lead of 1.2 points over second-placed Optus’ 78.8 points. Telstra is in third place with 77.4 points.
All three operators continue to place in the Good (75-85) category. This means that most of our users in Australia deem their experience acceptable when playing multiplayer mobile games over 5G connections. The gameplay experience is generally controllable and the user receives immediate feedback between their actions and the outcomes in the game. Most users do not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
Definitions
5G Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator's 5G network. It analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience was affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter. 5G Games Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
5G Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world. Calculating 5G Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games.
National Analysis
This is the third report in a row in which Vodafone has won the 5G Voice App Experience award outright. It does so this time with a score of 81.6 points on a 100-point scale, followed by Optus with 80.6 points and Telstra with 77.8 points.
As was the case last time around, Vodafone and Optus place in the Good (80-87) category, while Telstra earns an Acceptable (74-80) rating.
Definitions
5G Voice App Experience quantifies the experience of Opensignal users when using over-the-top voice apps — such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — on an operator’s 5G network. It uses a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality. 5G Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
National Analysis
Our Optus users continue to see the fastest average 5G download speeds — 229.6Mbps, 14.6Mbps (6.8%) faster than those seen by Telstra users and more than double Vodafone’s 106.8Mbps. This is the third report in a row in which Optus has been the outright winner of the 5G Download Speed award.
All three operators’ scores have fallen since the last report, with our Telstra users seeing the largest decline in absolute terms — 17.3Mbps — while our Vodafone users saw the greatest drop in percentage terms (12.6%).
Definitions
5G Download Speed shows the average download speed experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Download Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
National Analysis
Telstra is once again the outright winner of the 5G Upload Speed award. The last time this award was won by another operator was back in October 2021— when Vodafone wore the victor’s laurels. Telstra wins this time around with a score of 17.6Mbps, 2.2Mbps (14.6%) faster than second-placed Optus’ score of 15.3Mbps. Vodafone is in third place with 13.8Mbps.
As is the case with 5G Download Speed, average 5G upload speeds have declined across all three operators since the last report, dropping by 0.6-1.6Mbps (3.9-9.5%), with our Optus users seeing the largest declines both in absolute and percentage terms.
Definitions
5G Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Upload Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
Regional Analysis
This time around, Telstra narrowly has the edge in terms of 5G Video Experience, as it is a joint winner in five regions, followed by Optus’ four joint wins and Vodafone’s two.
Alongside its win for national 5G Games Experience, Vodafone also does well for multiplayer gaming regionally, winning outright in New South Wales and picking up joint wins in the remaining four regions. Optus shares victories with Vodafone in four regions, including South Australia and Victoria where all three operators are present on the winners’ podium due to three-way statistical ties.
Vodafone does slightly better in terms of 5G Voice App Experience, winning outright in New South Wales and Victoria, while statistically tying for first place with Optus in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
In contrast to the previous three categories, there are no joint wins for Download Speed — Optus wins outright in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, while Telstra is the sole winner in Queensland and Western Australia. Our Optus users in Victoria enjoy the fastest regional average 5G download speeds — 292.7Mbps — and do so by an impressive margin, given Telstra’s highest regional score of 264.5Mbps in South Australia.
However, Telstra does well on 5G Upload Speed, winning outright in three regions (New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia) and tying with Optus in Victoria (where Optus won outright last time around) and with Vodafone in Western Australia.
Regional Analysis Summary: Australia, Mobile Network Experience Report, April 2023
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- New South Wales
- Queensland
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- South Australia
- Victoria
- Western Australia
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Coverage
Optus
Telstra
Vodafone
National Analysis
The two-way statistical tie for the Availability award between Optus and Vodafone in the previous report has been broken, leaving Optus in sole possession of the award. Now, Optus wins Availability with a score of 99.4%, but Vodafone and Telstra are hot on its heels with scores of 99.3% and 99.2%.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
Availability shows the proportion of time all Opensignal users on an operator’s network had either a 3G, 4G or 5G connection.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
National Analysis
Vodafone is still the outright winner of the 5G Availability award, coming top this time with a score of 30.8%. This represents the proportion of time that our Vodafone 5G users spend with an active 5G connection. Vodafone is far ahead of its rivals because Telstra and Optus score 19.2% and 12.1%, respectively. In addition, Vodafone’s score has risen by a remarkable 8.5 percentage points since the last report, while Optus’ rose by 0.9 percentage points and Telstra’s remains statistically unchanged. 5G Availability is an important measure of the mobile experience, as users can only benefit from the enhanced performance that 5G can provide when they have a 5G connection.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
5G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
National Analysis
Telstra remains the outright winner of the 5G Reach award, having won the award ever since its introduction to Opensignal’s Australia mobile network experience back in April 2021. Telstra wins this time with a score of 5.2 points on a 10-point scale, closely followed by Vodafone with five points while Optus is further behind with 3.9 points.
However, Telstra has gone from winning by 0.9 points in the previous report, to doing so by just 0.2 points. This is because Vodafone’s score has improved the most since the last report, rising by 0.6 points, while Optus’ rose by 0.2 points and Telstra’s is unchanged.
Definitions
5G Reach measures how users experience the geographical extent of an operator’s 5G network. It analyzes the average proportion of locations where users were connected to a 5G network out of all the locations those users have visited. In simple terms, 5G Reach measures the 5G mobile experience in all the locations that matter most to everyday users – i.e. all the places where they live, work and travel. 5G Reach for each operator is measured on a scale from 0 to 10.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
National Analysis
Telstra users continue to find a 4G signal in the most locations out of all those visited by our users across operators. Telstra therefore remains the winner of the 4G Coverage Experience award. It wins this time with a score of 9.8 points on a 10-point score. Optus and Vodafone are in second and third place, respectively, with scores of 9.4 and 8.4 points.
Definitions
4G Coverage Experience measures how mobile subscribers experience 4G coverage on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-10, it analyzes the locations where customers of a network operator received a 4G signal relative to the locations visited by users of all network operators.
In simple terms, 4G Coverage Experience measures the mobile coverage experience in all the locations that matter most to everyday users — i.e. all the places where they live, work and travel. It considers all the areas that Opensignal users visit, the portion of locations that 4G is available to them, and locations that more users visit have higher importance to them.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
Regional Analysis
Out of Australia’s three operators, Optus performs most strongly in terms of Availability — the proportion of time that our users spend with a 3G or better connection. It wins outright in New South Wales and is a joint winner in five regions. Telstra has the next strongest showing, winning outright in Tasmania and tying with Optus in Victoria and being in three-way statistical ties in South Australia and Western Australia. Vodafone is narrowly behind, being a joint winner in four regions.
Vodafone absolutely dominates the regional award table on 5G Availability — it wins outright in all five regions. This is a change from the last report, when Telstra tied with Vodafone in Queensland and South Australia.
Telstra narrowly has the upper hand in terms of 5G Reach, winning outright in Queensland and statistically tying with Vodafone in the remaining regions. However, in the last report, Telstra won outright in four out of five regions.
Regional Analysis Summary: Australia, Mobile Network Experience Report, April 2023
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- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- Queensland
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- South Australia
- Tasmania
- Victoria
- Western Australia
in New South Wales
in New South Wales
in New South Wales
in Northern Territory
in Queensland
in Queensland
in Queensland
in South Australia
in South Australia
in South Australia
in Tasmania
in Victoria
in Victoria
in Victoria
in Western Australia
in Western Australia
in Western Australia
Consistency
National Analysis
Telstra is once again the outright winner of the Excellent Consistent Quality award. Excellent Consistent Quality measures the percentage of users’ tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games. Telstra wins this time with a score of 83.1% and a lead of 3.1 percentage points over second-placed Vodafone’s score of 80%, while Optus is in third place with 77.2%.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. It measures download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, time to first byte and the percentage of tests attempted which did not succeed due to a connectivity issue on either the download or server response component.
Full details on how the Consistent Quality metrics — Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality — are calculated can be found here.
Excellent Consistent Quality is the percentage of users’ tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games.
National Analysis
Telstra continues to be the sole winner of the Core Consistent Quality award. It comes top this time around with a score of 91.5%, giving it a lead of 1.3 percentage points over Vodafone’s 90.2%, while Optus brings up the rear with 88.7%.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. It measures download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, time to first byte and the percentage of tests attempted which did not succeed due to a connectivity issue on either the download or server response component.
Full details on how the Consistent Quality metrics — Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality — are calculated can be found here.
Core Consistent Quality is the percentage of users’ tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds for lower performance applications including SD video, voice calls and web browsing.
Related Analysis
Our Methodology
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile and broadband user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
About Opensignal
Opensignal is the leading global provider of independent insights into consumers' connectivity experiences and choice of carrier. Our proprietary insights into mobile and broadband networks give operators the solutions they need to profitably compete and win, from executive level scorecards and public validation to pin-point level engineering analytics and consumer decision dynamics.
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Confidence Intervals
For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple operator winners.
In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars.
In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.
Why confidence intervals are vital in analyzing mobile network experience