5G home internet in Australia: what it is, plus the best plans and deals

5G is the fifth generation of mobile phone technology. The first generation was analogue mobiles, followed by digital, then 3G and 4G made mobile data better and faster. 5G amps up the speed, but it’s also about boosting capacity and reliability to handle the many millions of different devices that want to get online, including the devices we don’t have yet: augmented reality glasses, smart self-driving cars, time-travelling killer robots from the future... you get the idea.

While 5G won’t be replacing the NBN as a whole (or other fixed line internet services) as a whole – at least not any time soon – it has reached the point where it can be a viable alternative to an NBN connection for some people. 5G home internet has two main advantages over fixed-line NBN (convenience and cost) but also comes with some caveats. Most NBN plans have unlimited data, for example, whereas some providers are capping their 5G home internet plans, and 5G internet is more prone to interference from external factors, including weather conditions and network load during peak periods.

But we wouldn’t be surprised if 5G (or perhaps more realistically, 6G or 7G) eventually became the de facto connection for both your mobile phone and home internet. While we’re some way off that eventuality, there are still plenty of situations where having a 5G home connection makes more sense than going with the NBN.

The three major telcos of Telstra, Optus and Vodafone have switched on their 5G networks, and each of them now offers 5G home internet. That doesn’t mean anybody can sign up to 5G internet though, as you can only connect in areas where 5G service is available.

5G coverage continues to rollout, and while Telstra is comfortably in the lead, Optus and Vodafone are making progress on this front too, as their infrastructure continues to catch up with Telstra’s head-start. Aside from the major players, mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) which resell access to the top telcos have also entered the 5G space, including iiNet, Internode and TPG (which all use the Vodafone network) and Spintel (which uses Optus).

Before signing up to a 5G home internet plan, it’s essential to use the provider's address checker and/or check each carrier’s 5G coverage map to see if your area and its surrounds are currently served by 5G signal. We’ve linked to each telco’s 5G coverage maps below:

• Telstra 5G coverage
• Optus 5G coverage
• Vodafone 5G coverage

5G home internet is here, with Telstra, Optus and TPG all now offering a 5G home internet option, along with a select few MVNOs. The major caveat, though, is that it’s only available in select areas.

As for availability, 5G coverage is available in all capital cities in Australia, though Darwin is only served by Vodafone’s 5G network at present. A number of regional centres across the country also have access to 5G coverage.

The initial rollout of 5G has been based on higher frequency bands, that deliver lots of capacity over short distances, which isn’t much use in rural areas where there are fewer people spread over much larger areas.

5G can be quite a lot faster than many broadband connections, though you should take any headline figures with a grain of salt. Quoted 5G speeds are theoretical, as you’ll know if you’ve ever struggled to do anything on a one-bar 4G connection. According to the small Australian telco Mate, which uses parts of the Telstra network, 4G is capable of download speeds up to 180Mbps. In reality, though, you’re more likely to achieve around 20Mbps. 

For 5G, speeds are expected to be between 100Mbps and 1Gbps, according to WhistleOut. On Telstra’s 5G home internet sign up page, the telco reports download speeds between 50Mbps and 600Mbps. However, you should only expect to reach top speeds under ideal conditions, and that qualifier is important because mobile data speeds are affected by signal strength, interference and congestion.

But it’s not just about straight line speed. Latency matters too. Latency is the gap between asking for something and getting it: a song, perhaps, or throwing a grenade at someone in a game. The longer the lag the worse the performance. On 4G, latency hovers somewhere between 50 to 100 milliseconds; on 5G that can drop into single digits.

We have a dedicated guide on how to do an NBN speed test, which you can also use to test your 4G or 5G speed.