Optus 5G Just Hit Sydney (But You Can’t Use It Yet)

Optus 5G Just Hit Sydney (But You Can’t Use It Yet)

Optus recently switched on its first 5G sites in Canberra, with a view to roll out to other states in the following weeks and months.

The telco didn’t indicate where the next site to go live would be, but now we know that it’s Sydney.

[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2019/01/optus-announces-australias-first-5g-broadband-service-prices/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/optus-sign-410×231.jpg” title=”Optus Announces Australia’s First 5G Broadband Service” excerpt=”2019 is set to be the year of 5G, and Optus has officially kicked of proceedings today in Canberra. The telco has announced Australia’s first 5G home broadband plan, as well as which suburbs will be the first to get it.”]

Only one 5G site has been set live so far – Kellyville in Sydney’s north-west. This will be one of 50 sites that will be built by Ericsson across Sydney and Melbourne.

However, despite being turned on, the Kellyville site won’t be part of the initial suburb availability. Optus is working with vendors to make this happen over the coming months.

We do know which Australian suburbs will be part of the initial rollout, though – you can view the entire list here. 1,200 sites total are being planned to go live across the ACT, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia by March 2020.

“This is another significant milestone for Optus as we continue with our customer focused 5G roll-out plan. We are further demonstrating that our multi-vendor approach to Optus 5G will help to deliver a more dynamic and innovative 5G network for the benefit of our customers,” said Dennis Wong, Managing Director Networks at Optus.

Select customers will be able to get onto Optus’ 5G network early through the telco’s Expressions of Interest program.

At the present time only one plan is available – $70 a month, which comes with unlimited data. We can apparently expect other plans in the future, though.

You can see if you’re elegible over at Optus’ website.

If you’re concerned about jumping head first into 5G tech this early in the game, Optus is also offfering its 5G customers a 50Mbps Satisfaction Guarantee.

It’s worth noting that this doesn’t guarantee that speeds won’t drop below 50Mbps. Rather, if a customer finds that they are getting below that speed, they can opt out of their plan for free.


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