4G shootout: Vodafone vs Optus vs Telstra

Vodafone says its brand spanking new 4G network was able to reach speeds of up to 100Mbps during the trial period. Impressive, yes, but what sorts of speed can users expect on an everyday basis? 

As with the Optus and Telstra 4G networks, it’s very much dependent on where you use it. For the initial rollout, Vodafone’s 4G coverage will be limited to selected metro areas of Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane, as well as Newcastle and Wollongong. 

We don’t know where Vodafone was able to clock 100Mbps download speeds, but good luck getting that in Sydney. The fastest we were able to achieve with Vodafone was 38.48Mbps downloads in Parramatta, although Telstra trounced it in that suburb with 44Mbps downloads. 

Vodafone came out strongest in the Sydney CBD areas, consistently scoring the fastest download speeds of the three networks. The top scorer, however, was Optus, scoring a blazing 59.23Mbps out in Bondi Junction.

It’s worth pointing out that hardly anyone is on Vodafone’s 4G network at the moment, so the throughput and latency speeds could change quite significantly in a few months once there’s more people on it. That said, Optus and Telstra have also had over a year to fine-tune and scale their 4G networks, so perhaps it’s still a fair fight after all?

Fastest network for each suburb is in italics.

Blacktown:
Vodafone (3G): 1.11Mbps downloads, 0.2Mbps uploads, ping 97ms
Optus (3G): 1.48Mbps downloads, 0.82Mbps uploads, ping 422ms
Telstra (3G): 3.49Mbps downloads, 0.38Mbps uploads, ping 50ms

Bondi Junction:
Vodafone: 28.24Mbps downloads, 26.82Mbps uploads, ping 25ms
Optus: 59.23Mbps downloads, 16.78Mbps uploads, ping 25ms 
Telstra: 15.06mbps downloads, 13.7Mbps uploads, ping 34ms

Carlingford
Vodafone: 30.85Mbps downloads, 3.03Mbps uploads, ping 47ms
Optus (3G): .97Mbps downloads, 0.62Mbps uploads, ping 59ms
Telstra (3G): 14.35Mbps downloads, 1.29Mbps uploads, ping 53ms

Concord:
Vodafone (3G): 3.41Mbps downloads, 2.56Mbps uploads, ping 56ms
Optus: 33.55Mbps downloads, 14.63Mbps uploads ping 28ms
Telstra: 9.36Mbps downloads, 1.01Mbps uploads, ping 37ms

Darlinghurst: 
Vodafone: 25.96Mbps downloads, 28.69Mbps uploads, ping 32ms
Optus: 16.70Mbps downloads, 8.3Mbps uploads, ping 27ms
Telstra: 18.64Mbps downloads, 15.74Mbps uploads, ping 39ms 

Haymarket:
Vodafone: 24.73Mbps downloads, 11.22Mbps uploads, ping 39ms
Optus: 10.65Mbps downloads, 10.41Mbps uploads, ping 44ms
Telstra: 14.38Mbps downloads, 9.73Mbps uploads, ping 35ms

Parramatta: 
Vodafone: 26.78Mbps downloads, 12.91Mbps uploads, ping 26ms 
Optus (3G): 8.08Mbps downloads, 0.55Mbps uploads, ping 67ms
Telstra: 44.02Mbps downloads, 28.36Mbps uploads, ping 36ms

Town Hall:
Vodafone: 26.15Mbps downloads, 32.35Mbps uploads, ping 31ms
Optus: 6.79Mbps downloads, 10.3Mbps uploads, 41ms
Telstra: 15.48Mbps downloads, 9.46Mbps uploads, ping 31ms

Wooloomooloo: 
Vodafone: 28.87Mbps downloads, 3.56Mbps uploads, ping 30ms
Optus: 10.81Mbps downloads, 11.19Mbps uploads, ping 27ms
Telstra: 19.39Mbps downloads, 16.57Mbps uploads, ping 36ms

Would you like us to test your suburb for 4G speeds? Let us know in the comments and we’ll try and include it in our second batch of testing next week.