I am doing some experimenting at present. I have 4G mobile data from both Telstra and Optus. I also have ADSL from Telstra. The only NBN option at my place in Mystic Drive is Satellite.
To understand NBN, you need to understand the technology that is available to you at your address. 4G is not ‘NBN’. 4G is on the mobile phone network. There are a couple of plans from Optus and Telstra that offer a good amount of data for a reasonable price. But one wonders how the quality of the service may change as the take-up of 4G for internet increases.
At present I am seriously thinking of abandoning my landline and ADSL, currently costing me $80/month, and just having the biggest mobile service with data (about 90GB) I can get. Households with lots of streaming teenagers should be careful – this may not be enough!
4G from both Telstra and Optus is highly variable in terms of speed, but is generally better than ADSL.
Current results (7pm April 26) on 4G:
Optus: PING 38mS, DOWNLOAD 12.05Mbps, UPLOAD 1.38 Mbps
Telstra: PING 36 mS, DOWNLOAD 34.58 Mbps, UPLOAD 13.38 Mbps
Telstra ADSL is typically about 4.5Mbps download and 0.8Mbps upload at my location, admittedly about 5km from the exchange.
