Optus has advised that they are expanding their 4G network out to more areas, including new regional and ‘holiday’ places. The rollout will take place over the next six months, but incorporates over 200 new regions, with most areas having never received 4G service previously.
Optus has a plan to cover 90% of the Australian population by April 2015, using a combination of their 4G Plus network operating on the 2600MHz network, which becomes available this month in the majorty of Australia (WA becomes available in Feb 2016), as well as the upcoming 700MHz network which will go online in January next year.
The Optus 4G Plus network is only accessible on certain handsets, with Optus carrying a full range, including handsets from Sony, Samsung, LG and HTC (Ok, and Apple). The 700MHz network will be accessible from a range of handsets as well, including the Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G3 and HTC One (M8), you can see all the handsets on the Optus website. The list of regions which should see the new 4G coverage include :
| New South Wales | |||
| Albury | Armidale | Bathurst | Bourke/Cobar/Coonamble |
| Clarence Valley | Coffs Harbour | Dubbo | Goulburn/Yass |
| Great Lakes | Griffith/Murrumbidgee (West) | Inverell/Tenterfield | Kempsey/Nambucca |
| Lachlan Valley | Lithgow/Mudgee | Lower Hunter | Lower Murray |
| Moree/Narrabri | Orange | Port Macquarie | Queanbeyan |
| Richmond Valley – Coastal | Richmond Valley – Hinterland | Shoalhaven | Snowy Mountains |
| South Coast | Southern Highlands | Tamworth/Gunnedah | Taree/Gloucester |
| Tumut/Tumbarumba | Tweed Valley | Upper Hunter | Upper Murray ex Albury |
| Wagga Wagga |
| Victoria | |||||||
| Ballarat | Barwon – West | Baw Baw | Bendigo | ||||
| Campaspe | Cardinia | Creswick/Daylesford/Ballan | Gippsland – East | ||||
| Gippsland – South West | Glenelg/Southern Grampians | Grampians | Heathcote/Castlemaine/Kyneton | ||||
| Latrobe Valley | Loddon/Elmore | Macedon Ranges | Maryborough/Pyrenees | ||||
| Mildura | Moira | Murray River/Swan Hill | Shepparton | ||||
| Upper Goulburn Valley | Upper Murray ex Albury | Wangaratta/Benalla | Warrnambool/Otway Ranges | ||||
| Wellington | Whittlesea/Wallan | Wodonga/Alpine | |||||
| Queensland | |||
| Bowen Basin – North | Bundaberg | Burnett | Caboolture Hinterland |
| Cairns – North | Cairns – South | Central Highlands | Charters Towers/Ayr/Ingham |
| Darling Downs – East | Darling Downs – West/Maranoa | Far North | Gladstone/Biloela |
| Granite Belt | Hervey Bay | Innisfail/Cassowary Coast | Ipswich Hinterland |
| Mackay | Maryborough | Outback – North | Port Douglas/Daintree |
| Toowoomba | Townsville | Whitsunday |
| South Australia | |||
| Adelaide Hills | Barossa | Eyre Peninsula/South West | Fleurieu/Kangaroo Island |
| Limestone Coast | Lower North | Mid North | Murray and Mallee |
| Outback – North and East | Yorke Peninsula |
| Northern Territory | |||
| Alice Springs | Daly/Tiwi/West Arnhem | Darwin City | Darwin Suburbs |
| Tasmania | |||
| Burnie/Ulverstone | Central Highlands | Devonport | Hobart – North East |
| Hobart Inner | Huon/Bruny Island | Launceston | Meander Valley/West Tamar |
| North East | South East Coast | West Coast |
| Western Australia | |||
| Albany | Augusta/Margaret River/Busselton | Bunbury | Esperance |
| Goldfields | Mandurah | Manjimup | Mid West |
| Pilbara | Wheat Belt – North |
That’s a lot of new areas, but you can check the full Optus coverage map on their website as well if you want to check out coverage closer to home.
just found the answer – its band 28 not 17 !
I have a moto X At&t version (I live overseas and travel back home once or twice a year) which supports LTE 700 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 – I use 2100 in Japan but Can anybody tell me where I could use the 700 in OZ. I mean in Japan, some bands are only for the city so is it going to be the same in OZ
Coverage completely disappeared in parts of blue mountains a few weeks back and has only patchy coverage still. Not impressed
The problem is they seem to have cut back on delivering straight ‘everyone can get it’ 4G to more places.
It used to be that if you selected at 4G phone and 3 months you got lots of new areas. Only last update they all seemed to disappear, and now you only seem coverage improvement with “4G in more places” (yuck) – which seems to be code for 2600 and 700 Mhz.
As such its a step back for me (and anyone else with a Nexus 5)