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 is the most awarded operator
Optus is the sole winner of five awards and the joint winner of three. Its outright award haul includes Video Experience, Games Experience, 5G Video Experience, 5G Download Speed and Consistent Quality awards.
Telstra wins both Coverage Experience awards for the third time in a row
Telstra wins the Coverage Experience award with a score of 9.5 points on a 10-point scale. This means it has the widest and largest footprint of geographical coverage in populated areas out of all mobile operators in Australia. Telstra also wins the 5G Coverage Experience Award with 6.7 points on a 10-point scale — ahead of Optus and Vodafone.
Vodafone is the sole winner of the 5G Availability award
Vodafone wins the 5G Availability award with our Vodafone users having an action connection to 5G 53.3% of the time, up from 47.3% in April. All Australian Operators saw a substantial increase in their 5G availability scores — Telstra by eight percentage points, while Optus — by six percentage points.
Optus remains in first place for 5G Download Speed
Optus has now won the 5G Download Speed award outright for the seventh consecutive report, scoring 209.1Mbps this time around. However, our Vodafone users have observed a 25Mbps improvement in their average 5G download speeds from the previous report. Optus also wins the 5G Upload Speed award for the first time as a joint winner with Vodafone, with statistically tied scores of 17.2-17.4Mbps.
Optus users have the most consistent experience in Australia
Optus is the sole winner of Consistent Quality for the second consecutive time with a score of 80.1%, up from 78.8% in the last report. Optus was also the sole or joint winner of the Consistent Quality award in five of the Australian states.
Vodafone wins 5G Availability in all six Australian states
There was also much competition in the Download and 5G Download Experience Awards, with different operators winning in each state. Meanwhile, Telstra enjoys a clean sweep for Coverage Experience and 5G Coverage Experience across all Australian states.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
Optus continues to be the most awarded operator, winning five awards outright and three jointly out of 13 available. Optus is either the sole or joint winner across all four 5G experience awards. Vodafone wins three awards outright, both overall speed awards and 5G Availability, and three awards jointly — all shared with Optus. Telstra is the sole winner of the Coverage Experience and 5G Coverage Experience awards. Telstra in their full year 2024 results revealed that in June 2024, 54% of their mobile traffic was on 5G.
Operators in Australia have either shut down their 3G networks or soon will be. Vodafone has finished its 3G shutdown while Optus and Telstra will complete theirs by the end of October 2024. Australia’s senate opened an inquiry into user issues resulting from the shutdowns in March and that report will be published at the end of November. Opensignal has produced an insight looking at the impact the 3G shutdown is having on our Vodafone users’ mobile experience in Australia.
In this report we examine the mobile network experience of the three main mobile network operators in Australia — Telstra, Optus and Vodafone — over a period of 90 days starting on July 01, 2024, and ending on September 28, 2024, to see how they fared.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Once again Optus wins the Video Experience award outright, this time with a score of 69.8 points on a 100-point scale and a one point lead over Vodafone, which places second with a score of 68.6 points.
Optus and Vodafone place in the Very Good (68-78) category, while Telstra places in the Good (58-68) category.
A Very Good (68-78) rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling. A Good (58-68) rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
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
As was the case in the previous report, Optus is the outright winner of the Games Experience award. It wins this time with a score of 75.2 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of two points over Vodafone, which places in second with its score of 73.2 points.
All operators increased their score by at least one point with Telstra having the largest increase (four points).
Optus places in the Good (75-85) category, while Telstra and Vodafone place one category lower, in Fair (65-75).
A Good (75-85) rating means that most users deem the 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. A Fair (65-75) rating means that users find the experience to be ‘average’. In most cases the game is responsive to the actions of the player with most users feeling like they have control over the game. The majority of players notice a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game.
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
Our Vodafone users continue to observe the fastest overall average download speeds in Australia, and as a result Vodafone continues to hold the Download Speed Experience award. It does so with a score of 84.3Mbps and a lead of 15Mbps over Optus.
Vodafone's score has increased by 16Mbps, Optus' — by 12Mbps, while Telstra's — by 11Mbps.
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
Once again Vodafone is the outright winner of the Upload Speed Experience award. It wins with a score of 11.8Mbps and a lead of 3Mbps (31%) over Optus, which places in second with its score of 9Mbps.
Optus, Vodafone and Telstra each increased their score by 1Mbps.
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
Regional Analysis Summary: Australia, Mobile Network Experience Report, October 2024
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5G Experience
National Analysis
As was the case in the previous report, our Optus users have the best available experience when streaming on-demand mobile video over 5G connections. Optus therefore continues to hold the 5G Video Experience award. It does so this time with a score of 75.9 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of around one point over Telstra’s and Vodafone’s statistically tied scores of 75.1-75.2 points.
All operators place in the Very Good (68-78) category. This indicates that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
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.
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
In the previous report, Optus won the award. This time, Optus and Vodafone are joint winners of the 5G Games Experience award due to their statistically tied scores of 83-83.2 points on a 100-point scale. This is a change from the last report, when Optus was the outright winner. The two operators command a lead of around two points over Telstra, which places in third with its score of 81.3 points.
Telstra and Vodafone increased their scores by two points, while Optus increased its score by one point.
All operators place in the Good (75-85) category. This means that most users deem the 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.
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
Our Optus users continue to observe the fastest average 5G download speeds, this time racking up an impressive score of 209.1Mbps, giving Optus a lead of 31Mbps (18%) over Telstra.
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
Vodafone has gone from winning the 5G Upload Speed award in the previous report to being a joint winner alongside Optus. The operators share the award with statistically tied scores of 17.2-17.4Mbps and a lead of around 3Mbps over Telstra
Optus' score has increased by 2Mbps while Vodafone's score has increased by 1Mbps, which has led to the joint win for both operators.
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
Regional Analysis Summary: Australia, Mobile Network Experience Report, October 2024
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- New South Wales
- Queensland
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- South Australia
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Coverage
National Analysis
Once again, Telstra is the outright winner of the Coverage Experience award. It wins with a score of 9.5 points on a 10-point scale and a lead of one point over Optus. This means Telstra has the widest and largest geographic footprint of coverage in populated areas out of all mobile operators in Australia.
Definitions
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
National Analysis
As was the case in the previous report, Telstra is the outright winner of the 5G Coverage Experience award. It wins this time around with a score of 6.7 points on a 10-point scale and a lead of three points over Optus, which places in second with its score of 4.2 points. Vodafone comes third with a score of 3.4 points. Telstra's score has increased by one point.
Definitions
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
5G Coverage Experience shows the proportion of places Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
National Analysis
Optus and Vodafone are again both on the winners’ podium for Availability, sharing the award this time with identical scores of 99.3% and a marginal lead over Telstra, which places in third with its score of 98.9%. These scores represent the proportion of time Opensignal users spend with a 5G, 4G or 3G mobile signal.
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.
National Analysis
As was the case in the previous report, Vodafone is the outright winner of the 5G Availability award. It wins this time around with a score of 53.3% and a lead of 26 percentage points over Telstra, which places in second with its score of 27.3%. Optus comes in third with a score of 18.8%.
All operators have observed substantial increases in their 5G Availability scores — Telstra by eight percentage points, while Optus and Vodafone by six percentage points each.
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.
Regional Analysis
Regional Analysis Summary: Australia, Mobile Network Experience Report, October 2024
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- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- Queensland
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- South Australia
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- Victoria
- Western Australia
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Consistency
National Analysis
Our Optus users continue to have the most consistent mobile experience in Australia. As a result, Optus continues to win the Consistent Quality award outright. It wins with a score of 80.1% and a lead of one percentage point over Vodafone, which places in second with its score of 79.2%. Telstra comes third with a score of 76.9%.
Vodafone, Optus and Telstra's scores have all increased by one percentage point each since the previous report.
This metric measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical demanding tasks on their devices. It assesses a number of experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical tasks on their devices.
We combine different experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet discard, and time to first byte to calculate Consistent Quality. These components are evaluated against thresholds recommended by various more demanding common applications used for a range of common tasks.
To calculate the metric value, the proportion of tests that pass the requirements of Consistent Quality is multiplied by the test success ratio, which is the proportion of completed tests to all tests conducted. Tests that pass indicate that activities such as video calling, uploading an image to social media, or using smart home applications will be possible without noticeable lag or slowdown.
Regional Analysis
Regional Analysis Summary: Australia, Mobile Network Experience Report, October 2024
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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 Northern Territory
in Queensland
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in Tasmania
in Victoria
in Western Australia
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