Optus has announced it has broken the Australian record for 5G speeds, delivering a download speed of 2.5-2.8 Gbps on a Samsung Galaxy S20 5G at their test site.

The company says they will enhance 150 of their 5G sites in Sydney and Melbourne with “ultra-high-speed” within a few weeks by unlocking 100Mhz of 3500Mhz midband 5G spectrum for 5G Home and 5G Mobile customers in these areas.

โ€œThe speeds we have achieved today are a real taste of what we are capable of delivering to Optus 5G Mobile customers in the coming months as we progressively roll out 5G ultra-high-speed sites in Sydney and Melbourne.โ€

Mr Kanagaratnam said speed is a critical component of 5G but “not all speeds are created equal. He went on to make a bold claim that Optus will offer the “fastest 5G”:

โ€œOptus 5G ultra-high-speed sites are the next step in our ambition to deliver Australians a network that offers the fastest 5G. This is not lab technology, this technology is available now and we have an ambitious rollout plan over the next few months to ensure that more of our Optus 5G Mobile customers benefit from these ‘gigabit’ speeds.โ€

The Optus 5G Home Internet service is already delivering average download speeds of 214Mbps, and this increase in spectrum bandwidth of around 60% should result in even faster average speeds for customers.

Optus currently has over 920 5G sites available to over 650,000 Australian homes, and the rollout is continuing.

Optus is also offering customers a 5G Price Match Guarantee on the purchase of 5G phones
stocked by Optus, ensuring customers can get the latest 5G handsets at the best price in Australia.

As with any mobile wireless communications technology there are of course caveats. The actual speed experienced by each Optus 5G customer will vary based on factors such as distance from the 5G tower, along with local conditions like obstructions and line of sight, and levels of internet traffic.

Ausdroid will be testing out Optus’ 5G Home Internet service in the near future, and we’re looking forward to the potential speed boost afforded by the extra spectrum.

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Dolgogi

I can’t complain, maybe I’ve been lucky?

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Dolgogi

That’s connected to the tower at Kingsgrove.
I’m sure I’m not the only 5G phone owner around there ๐Ÿ˜

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Last edited 3 years ago by Dolgogi
Dolgogi

In terms of real world use, I just downloaded a 2.1Gig file (android 11 / One UI 3 beta) for my Note20 Ultra, and that took approx 35 seconds.

Last edited 3 years ago by Dolgogi
Ang

People complaining about inconsistent speeds mobile internet need to do a bit fo reading on Carrier aggregation and also understand that their tower and modem switches frequencies as the tower sees fit, maybe also do a bit of reading on bandlocking (locking your modem to using only some frequencies)

antennashop

It depends where you are. From my experience Metro generally Telstra faster, Regional generally OPTUS, because of userbase. I get 30mbs on Telstra and 100+ on OPTUS. Tower on same mast.

Work from home has had a massive impact, as the load has moved from the cities to the suburbs but the networks weren’t built for it. It would amaze you the numbers of people who didn’t bother having internet at home till now. Telstras plans don’t come near OPTUS and so people flock to them for data.

Hdtkid

not sure what’s going on with your situation, but I get 5g outside the coverage range with telstra. Having said that at that kind of range the 4g is faster though. So atm it does pay off to be prepared to disable 5g when signal isn’t strong.

Hdtkid

1 device 1 test site. Optus have provisions for 3.5gbps on their towers according to Aus towers.

And their backgaul to international in the past has been terrible. When I had 100mbps hfc, I’d struggle to get more than 20mbps to anything outside Australia.

I’d be willing to test it for a month in the real world if was a no question asked way to leave when I realise telstra still faster.

James

Stuff Optus, our 4G wireless broadband has been slow like dial up most of time for the past two months! Including my neighbours, not just our house. All queries replied as maintenance, for 2 months!?
That’s how Optus did it, drain all 4g wireless to show case how fast 5g is.
Pathetic!

antennashop

Part problem is frequency. The higher it goes, the shorter it goes. Telstra have started bringing out 850mhz 5g, which is the old 3g spectrum and should penetrate well. That’s why mmwave (the one all the conspiracy theorists get worried about, but don’t realise that we dont have here yet) will need mini towers at every few blocks etc. because its in the 10000s ghz range. Also take the speeds with a grain of Salt though it will be better than what’s out there, I saw shots of a nighthawk getting near 1gb on 4g network. I doubt anyone has… Read more ยป

Magnum80

Still hoping I can get 5G access at home at some stage soon, the golf course directly next door to my apartment building has full 5G coverage but I have zero. Makes sense…

G L

If it’s next door and nothing much in between, try get a 5G modem and test it out. Don’t rely too much on their coverage maps. If indeed you don’t get your 5G bandwidth now, you can always return it on the next day

QSS

Forget optus, 1st night 275mbps 20ms ping 2nd night 65mbps 250to350ms ping we pages were barely loading due to congestion

Hdtkid

Yep congestion on optus is very common. I get excellent speeds on telstra to anywhere in the world.

Something optus can’t get their head around. When optus does work its only for Australian sites anyhow.