Update 5g Broadband Home Review – Optus 5G Home Broadband may not be widely available yet, but for those who can get it, it’s an exciting taste of the future.
The Optus 5G home broadband modem is a cruel and unusual device that sticks with me. “Internet could be faster,” he shouts softly as the field strength indicator remains orange.
Update 5g Broadband Home Review
The Nokia-made Optus 5G modem uses a traffic light system for signal strength. Red is the worst, green is the best. Orange is fine. The LED ring on the top of the modem helps with positioning, but no matter where I put the modem, I can’t reach the fairy green light. I even left the modem out on the balcony for science.
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Not that I’m complaining. I can get great 5G speeds with an “ok” connection. But if ok is already great, I need to know how much better “best” is. Every time I look at the modem, I feel like I’m missing out. I don’t need the extra 100Mbps, but I definitely want it. That’s just how I am as a person. You should see how obsessed I am with meeting my Apple Watch fitness goals.
Despite my orange tormentor, I am one of the lucky ones. I’m one of the few Australians currently able to get a 5G connection at home – and the experience has been mostly positive.
Optus’ 5G home internet appears to be an NBN alternative, as are other 4G home broadband options. For $70 a month you can get unlimited internet powered by the Optus 5G network. That’s roughly the going price of a 50 NBN unlimited plan.
Of course, Optus 5G home broadband can be much faster than an NBN 50 package. Or even an NBN 100 package. In my testing I experienced speeds of over 300Mbps, which is about three times faster than my regular internet connection. And not bad at all considering my light shade of amber relationship.
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For the environment, 300 Mbps is a lot. This means you can download 30 megabytes in a single second. This results in huge download times for games such as
For example in one hour. In theory, you can run 12 simultaneous 4K Netflix streams. Album downloads are essentially instant. There aren’t many apps that require such a fast internet connection, but it’s definitely a good thing. Specially for the same price as the NBN 50 bundle.
However, 300 Mbps is the best case for me. 200 Mbps is a more realistic figure and I’ve already seen speeds of 120 Mbps in the evening. I probably wouldn’t have known without a speed test though – my connection is always more than fast enough. I was only aware of my 5G speed when I was downloading a large file or actively running a test.
Speed. Netflix will not look better on a 300 Mbps connection than it will on a 120 Mbps or 50 Mbps connection. Despite the fluctuations, my 5G consistently felt pretty fast.
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And sure, there’s a huge difference between 120Mbps and 300Mbps, but it’s still the kind of connection many Australians would envy. In particular the 76% of FTTN customers who will not have access to NBN 100 speeds by the end of the rollout.
My 5G speed may be great for now, but I wonder how consistent it will be as more people join the network. Wireless networks are much more prone to congestion than wired networks such as the NBN, so the difference in speed is much greater.
The NBN has congestion issues – more due to the NBN Co pricing model than network capabilities – but the fluctuation is not that significant. During busy periods, it usually only loses 20% of its speed, not two-thirds.
It’s impossible to predict the future, but Optus has certainly taken congestion into account when designing its 5G home broadband plan. If your speed drops below 50 Mbps, you can cancel your contract without any exit fees. But even with speeds above the 50Mbps mark, the worst case scenario is that you’ll be left with roughly the same connection as the NBN 50 package for roughly the same price.
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Upload speeds aren’t as exciting as 5G at the moment, but they’re still on par with what you can get on an NBN connection. In my speed tests, I usually saw uploads between 20 and 40 Mbps. At least it’s pretty much the same as the NBN 50 plan.
Latency is another factor to consider. Cellular connections tend to have higher ping – the time it takes for data to travel between the device and the internet – than wired connections, but I haven’t experienced this in day-to-day use. My NBN connection usually pings around 10ms, while my Optus 5G home internet connection usually pings around 20ms and occasionally drops to 40ms. This can have more of an impact if you are a gamer, but you play
It was still fine on Optus 5G. If I didn’t know I was using a cellular connection I wouldn’t be able to tell, but also that I’m crazy.
The WiFi range of the modem itself seems more than respectable. I only tested it in my apartment, but it was easily covered, even though the device’s wall blocks smaller WiFi signals. I can even make a decent connection in the hallway outside my front door. Although mileage will vary depending on the size and composition of your home, the modem is compatible with a range of Nokia mesh networks. If you don’t have enough Wi-Fi coverage, you can pair the modem with Nokia Beacon 1 or Nokia Beacon 3 to extend the signal in your home.
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The attached modem setup is apparently reliable; it’s literally a case of plug and play. You must insert at most a SIM card. Then you just plug in the modem and you’re good to go.
The most difficult part of the process will probably be finding the ideal location in your home; 5G isn’t very good at penetrating walls yet. There will be parts of the home where the mesh will be stronger than others. There may be parts where there is no 5G at all. You may get lucky the first time you turn on the modem, or you may have to experiment with a few different locations like I did. And even then, you can be stuck with an unbearable orange light that is slowly driving you insane. The joys of high technology.
The bleeding edge is not exaggerated. Just under 200,000 households are currently within reach of Optus 5G. If we assume an average of three people per household, we are only talking about 2.5% of the population. By comparison, almost 11 million properties are ready to connect to the NBN. Currently, 5G broadband is the dream of most people.
The reality is that my excitement and frustration mean little to most given how limited 5G is right now. But as 5G continues to develop, the rough edges will be smoothed out as the technology evolves. If you can’t use 5G at home for another year, hopefully you’ll have a better experience than the one I’m in now, and I’m already impressed. They might even reach the illusory green signal strength indicator. It would be worth getting excited about now.
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But hey, if you’re one of the lucky ones, Optus 5G home broadband is a relatively low-risk experiment. There are very few reasons not to give it a try. The best case scenario is incredibly tempting, especially for those still stuck with ADSL or a crappy NBN connection. Even if you have a decent NBN connection, it’s hard to resist the prospect of faster speeds for less money.
And if it turns out you can’t get a reliable 5G connection or your speed is too slow, you can cancel your contract without penalty. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? Forced to put up with 300Mbps while an annoying orange light tells you it could be better? I think there are worse fates.
We never sell or share your personal information and we never send you emails about anything other than what you signed up for. Please read our privacy policy for more information. Telstra 5G Home Internet offers faster download speeds at a better price than similar NBN plans, making it a suitable alternative for anyone struggling with a lower-end connection.
When talking about the NBN, it is often divided into “good NBN” and “bad NBN”. For everyone lucky enough to have an FTTP patch cable to get NBN 1000 packages, there are others stuck on a FTTN connection that doesn’t even get 100mbps. NBN really isn’t fair.
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NBN Co is slowly working to allow most FTTN users to apply for a free FTTP upgrade, but this process will not take place until late 2023.
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