Do you really need an expensive Telstra SIM for reliable coverage in Australia, or can a cheaper MVNO plan perform just as well? I put both to the test on a month-long road trip from Sydney to Melbourne to find out.
How mobile networks actually work
A mobile phone works by connecting to cell towers. As you travel, such as when driving in a car, your call is handed off from one tower to the next. Eventually, if you move far enough from populated areas, you will run out of towers and lose coverage.
In Australia, there are three network operators: Telstra, Optus and TPG (Vodafone). Many more phone network retailers sell phone plans without owning their own infrastructure. These companies are called Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs).
Network coverage in Australia
Coverage depends on which operator owns the tower in a particular location. In some remote locations, Telstra may have a tower while Optus or TPG does not. In others, Optus may have a tower, but Telstra may not. Telstra is known for having the best coverage (ie. the most towers) in Australia. Optus and TPG have a sharing agreement, which has substantially increased their coverage.
If you had an Optus SIM and only a Telstra tower is available, you could make an emergency call, but you could not make regular calls or use mobile data (and vice versa).
What is an MVNO?
MVNOs in Australia have a contract with a network operator to use the operator’s cell towers and infrastructure, but own the relationship with the customer, which usually includes billing and customer service. In most cases, network operators do not provide MVNOs the same coverage and data speeds, so they keep a competitive advantage. Countering this, MVMOs offer lower prices for monthly plans.
One exception to this is Boost Mobile, which is now owned by Telstra and offers full Telstra network coverage. Its advantage is lower pricing for the same Telstra coverage.
Boost Mobile v Woolworths Everyday Mobile coverage maps
Most Australians live in a major city or town and rarely venture out to woop woop (aka remote Australia). So the question needs to be asked: Does it really matter if you have a Network operator SIM or an MVNO SIM?
Testing coverage on a Sydney to Melbourne road trip
On a recent trip to Melbourne, I went to test this out, as Melbourne to Sydney is a trip many Australians are likely to make at some time in their lives. I travelled to Melbourne along the coast road via Wilson Promontory and returned via the Hume Highway, detouring into the Victorian High Country.
I use a Woolworths Everyday Mobile SIM and have a Boost SIM in a mobile Wi-Fi router mounted in the car. These SIMs both use the Telstra network.
Over the course of a month, I worked from the caravan using the mobile network for phone calls and internet connection (data). For the most part, I had no issues. I found that in some out-of-the-way towns where I had a good reception, I still had slow internet. This was not a coverage issue, but rather a limitation of how much internet bandwidth had been provisioned to the tower.
The results: Telstra vs Boost vs Woolworths Mobile
When comparing the two SIMs, there was only one location where the Woolworths SIM lost coverage while the Boost SIM still had a signal. This was around the NSW-Victorian border on a very hilly, winding road.
From a data speed perspective, the Boost SIM performed better, but the faster speeds were rarely necessary for my day-to-day usage.
Which SIM should you choose?
Overall, the results of this trip would not change my SIM choices. I like having the Boost SIM for the peace of mind of extra coverage, especially in an emergency, and for providing shared mobile data across multiple devices. My everyday usage is driven by the low cost of using the Woolworths SIM and the 10% off groceries.
In this scenario, Telstra is arguably the loser. While it owns the network infrastructure, its retail plans are the most expensive and offer little additional benefit over alternatives that use the same network.
If I lived in Sydney or Melbourne and never really left either city, and only had one SIM, I would use a cheaper MVNO. In my case, if I were limited to one SIM, the low price and full network coverage of the Boost SIM make it an easy pick.
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