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As I write this, my Google Chrome browser wheel is on spin, and it’s been like this for the past five minutes. I ask myself; why is Australian internet so bad? This is 2024, why is Australia so far behind other developed countries when it comes to internet speeds.
Waiting on Australian internet happens a lot. It doesn’t matter if you’re in downtown Sydney, or the far reaches of the Outback, you’ll find slow internet speeds regardless.
What’s worse, is that Australia has the most expensive internet services of a developed country in the world.
So what’s the deal? Why do Australians suffer like this? In this guide, I’ve not only explained why slow internet is still an ordeal for Australians and how you travelers can get around it (well, the best you can!).
Why Is Australian Internet So Bad?
Australia’s poor internet speeds are awful for a number of reasons. According to the Global Speed Index, Australia’s broadband is ranked #70 in the world with a download speed of 75.99 mbps, according to information from October 2024. This is down 15 places from October 2023.
To put that into perspective for you, the global average download speed is 94.52 mbps, so Australia is seriously lagging.
There are a number of reasons for this, including:
Geography and population density
Australia is a vast country with a small population spread out over a large area. This makes it expensive to build and maintain internet infrastructure, especially in rural and remote areas.
Outdated infrastructure
Australia’s internet infrastructure is based on old copper telephone lines, which are not designed for high-speed internet.
In 2009, the Coalition Australian government launched the National Broadband Network (NBN) project to upgrade the country’s internet infrastructure.
The NBN plans to offer broadband services to homes and businesses through a mix of hybrid fibre-coaxial connections.
However, the NBN has been plagued by delays, due to political issues and cost overruns, and it finally rolled out at the end of April 2024.
Despite this, Australians were so fed up waiting for the NBN rollout, many have sought other solutions for faster internet speeds and (more on that to follow).
Limited competition
The Australian internet market is dominated by a few large internet service providers, which is why broadband is so expensive.
Network congestion
Do you remember the days when every member of your household being on the internet at the same time slowed it down? This is still an issue in Australia!
Many Australians face interference and slower speeds during peak hours (evenings between 7 pm to 11 pm).
Government policies
The Australian government has been slow to invest in internet infrastructure and has not done enough to encourage competition.
It Infuriates Is For Two Reasons
1. We live in a wealthy country. If I can get high-speed internet for $20 a month and unlimited data in the hills of Chiang Rai Thailand, I should be able to get online in Cairns!
2. Even though I understand our country is vast and unpopulated, so there will be places internet won’t be, I’m infuriated that I have to pay over $330 a month for a substandard service. If you give me quality less than par with the hill tribes of Thailand then charge me a price that matches that.
How To Get Faster Internet In Australia
So that’s why the internet connection in Australia is useless, but the good news if there are ways to get around this.
The way to get around this is to switch from broadband to 5G data. Most Australians are doing this now as they are so fed up waiting for a decent WiFi provider.
Not only does 5G work for mobile phones, but you can get portable modems that basically offer WiFi capability.
Although, you don’t have to get hardware, you can just sign up for a mobile plan.
The big competitors in offering 5G mobile data in Australia are Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone.
Here are my tips for getting the best internet in Australia:
- Optus is cheaper, but Telstra has the best coverage. Keep reading for our experience with Optus…
- If you’re going rural, which let’s face it is most of the country, Telstra is your only option.
- Believe it or not, Optus service people are nicer than Telstra. Optus customer service gives me angina, Telstra customer service gives me a heart attack.
- We had a pre-paid Telstra mobile broadband that we use in the areas we can’t get connected to Wi-Fi. Optus still charge you whether you get service or not, our data bill then goes through the roof. We had an extra $100 on one month in the outback when we couldn’t connect at all.
- There are flexible plans with Optus meaning, if we know we’re going to go way under our data allowance, or over, we can phone Optus and change the data limits and pro-rata the cost. This is extremely handy. I do thank you for this Optus! It’s just a headache to maintain. So just phone and say you want to upgrade or downgrade your usage for that month.
- You need a friggin degree to read a phone/data bill. It just does not make sense and impossible to know what you are being charged for nor how much data you have used. Sorry no tips here.
- Do as much of your work as you can offline.
- Use free Wi-Fi in hotels and cafes as much as possible. I’m seriously laughing so hard here as I type that. Do not hold your breath, nor rely on it. We don’t even bother connecting any more when we see it advertised. But, you might get lucky so you might as well try. If you do then quickly do as much downloading of your apps and things you need.
- Our friends at Travel Outback Australia reviewed an iSavi Wideye iSatHub as an option for people to get connected when they are out bush away from Telstra or Optus service. Read more about it here.
Our Experience With Optus
We were in Yallingup, a coastal town not far from Margaret River. Margaret River is a decent size town and very touristy.
The facilities should be in place. We stayed nearly two weeks, thinking we could mix up fun exploring with a bit of online work at the Caravan Park.
But, we couldn’t connect. It was one of the worst services we had experienced in Australia – that is in the places where you get service.
When we signed up to Optus – because they were cheaper – they told us they had 95% of the coverage that Telstra did.
They don’t. We’ve travelled the country to verify it.
We had to buy a Telstra mobile broadband device to cover us for that long stretch across the Top End where an Optus signal could not be found.
If you want to fail in business in Australia, travel the country and then choose Optus as your internet provider.
The Truth
I know there will be some people who’ll like to tell us Australian internet is not so bad and we’re ungrateful and traitors for writing this BUT, this is the truth.
We’ve travelled the entire country to find the proof and we speak to many travellers who say the same thing.
It’s no secret, internet in Australia is a joke!
We were chatting about it the other night with another Aussie who said something really interesting, yet quite frightening:
“In the past, countries who have kept up with infrastructure have slipped into first world status and thrived. The future is not highways and transportation routes, but internet highways. If Australia doesn’t start getting committed and investing in fixing this we are going to slip way behind”.
It just took me 15 minutes to hit the publish button on this post. Yep, we’re in Yeppoon, it’s the school holidays, and the internet sucks!