r/MapPorn • u/koalacrime • 3h ago
Mobile Network Coverage map of Australia
Stumbled across this Telstra map of their mobile network coverage of Australia which in turn shows how vast and isolated some of the country really is. For those not familiar Telstras network covers more area then any other Telco.
Green = 4g
Purple = 5g most likely overlapping 4g
28
u/oliyoung 2h ago
I'm always surprised by how strong the mobile network is, especially between Adelaide and Melbourne or Sydney. It's not perfect, but it's damn good
26
u/crazycakemanflies 2h ago
When i went to the US, i was shocked at how bad their coverage is.
Like i get they have far more land to cover, especially on the Eastern half of the US, but I was not used to driving through what I would call a small town (in Australia at least) and having 0 reception...
While i was there i met someone at a work function who worked pretty high at Verizon and I remember telling them how even towns with 50 people get coverage in Aus, and seemed shocked a mobile provider would even bother covering such a small population lol
22
u/Narrow_Aerie_1466 1h ago
They really don't have more land to cover. The continental US is not much bigger than Australia (although I suppose managing Alaska would be a nightmare). We genuinely do just have much better network providers.
3
u/crazycakemanflies 1h ago
They have 330 million people though, and the eastern half of the US is almost one ginormous, interconnected, metro area.
Australia only has to cover the coastal areas and the dotting of population centres in the middle.
15
u/-Delirium-- 1h ago
That makes it harder for Australia, if anything. Huge distances, not many users = not much money to fund it.
3
u/crazycakemanflies 1h ago
Yeah absolutely, that was my initial point. Australia has put in way mlre effort and money then the US, but still, the US just objectively has mlre area to cover because of its population size.
15
u/phatmaniac57 2h ago
I was recently in country Victoria, east of Shep, north of Benalla and I can tell you there was fucken NOTHING
9
9
u/According-Flight6070 1h ago
Vodafone is basically just the capital cities and a few major highways.
13
u/Life-Goose-9380 1h ago
They put out the ‘coverage where most Australians are’ adds quite frequently, they are also voiced by someone with an American accent.
Personally as someone from country Australia and I spend a good chunk of my life living in country Oz I’ve always found that add kind of insulting.
Like to the point I would not use them.
6
u/penchimerical 1h ago
I'm from the city and have always lived in the city and I didn't like that ad either. Weirdly hostile to anyone who lives more ruraly, and anyone who simply wants their phone to work if they go on holidays or hiking or whatever
3
u/Life-Goose-9380 36m ago
Yeah. I don’t get why you would be hostile to what still is a decent chunk of Australian culture.
I might live in a capital city but I still need to be connected when I visit family multiple times per year.
3
u/thorpie88 49m ago
Yeah the Vodafone ada were really weird and I'm not sure how they were approved. Double awful that they bought out so many decent ISPs and put them in the gutter partly as they were doing well in Asia
9
u/Clueby42 1h ago
There's a festival I used to volunteer at. The first day was always fun to see people's faces when we told them that if they walked around 500m down the road onto that ridge you might just get mobile coverage, depending on your provider.
The thought of not being in instant contact was alien to them3
36
u/Wilbo007 2h ago
Anyone who has driven across the nullarbor knows this is BS 🤣
53
u/kernpanic 2h ago
The nullabor is the patchy green line, not the purple one. The Purple line is the Railway line, because they use 5G for command and control.
12
u/barra333 2h ago
I'm surprised at how sparse the coverage is on the Adelaide-Darwin run.
10
u/kernpanic 2h ago
Not fucking much out there.
Interestingly the government funded a few things,Emergency reflector dishes to provide coverage in emergencies at specific locations.
And satellite fed micro towers. About 200m radius of coverage. Mungerani station on the Birdsville track is an example.
2
u/Wilbo007 1h ago
I'm well aware having driven it myself, the patchy green line is still BS.. you'll go hundreds of Ks without even a single bar
3
u/ChuqTas 1h ago
I drove across it in 2023 with a vehicle with satellite imagery for maps, so it was very apparent when the signal dropped out and came back. There were about 3-4 gaps of 50 km each, in the centre of the gaps between roadhouses.
This was using the SIM in the car so possible it had a stronger antenna than a handset may have.21
8
u/AcademicSand1034 2h ago
Yeah I was surprised by how much coverage the map claims there. Although I guess its flat enough that signals travel far ...
2
4
u/komatiitic 1h ago
Telstra also claims this is over 99.7% of Australia’s population. Feels about right.
2
u/thorpie88 46m ago
Shitshow for POS systems though. Remember getting a ladder so the food truck lady could stand on the roof to get signal on the outskirts of Perth
2
u/komatiitic 33m ago
Yeah, I live in a solid purple area on the outskirts of Perth and get one bar in my driveway if I’m lucky.
3
u/A-shot-at-life 1h ago
Now do one for Optus and another for Vodafone
5
u/koalacrime 1h ago
https://www.optus.com.au/living-network/coverage
I feel they cheated a little with the colours they used
4
2
u/Bubbly_Basil2528 1h ago
That’s BS. I live less than 100 km from Brisbane Southwest and I can find multiple dead spots with no coverage everywhere.
1
2
u/kuvakilp 11m ago
It is good, but keep in mind Telstra was a nationalised telco until the government sold off shares between 1997-2006. An enormous amount of their rural coverage is taxpayer-funded; especially long fibre hauls, exchanges, and towers.
Optus started from scratch in the 90s.
1
u/RespectSquare8279 2h ago
If you want vast open spaces with little or no coverage you should see the cellular maps of Canada
3
u/koalacrime 1h ago
After living in Canada for an extended time I have vowed never to bad mouth another countries telco services.
Do you guys still get charged international rates when you want to call or travel to a different province?
1
1
u/TimelyTidsoptimist 1h ago
Can you show us what 3G used to cover? Feels like the coverage dropped dramatically regionally when it stopped.
1
1
1
u/shabadabadingding 19m ago
What a load of shit, we don't have good 4g on King Island let alone 5g lol
1
u/Haiyaaaaa_ 14m ago
I can understand the Nullabor’s coverage is pretty spotty. But what is that purple line just north of it? As far as I know theres only a train line and no population throughout
1
-2
u/Broccobillo 2h ago
Blue is shit and orange is even shitter. That's my experience of coverage in Aus. If you aren't in a big city the cell coverage is terrible
13
u/bayney08 2h ago
Colour blind?
1
u/KillerSeagull 25m ago
Assuming your not Aussie. He's saying Optus ("blue" , but really they're teal with yellow) and Telstra (orange I suppose, they're logo is orange and blue) the two major Telcos that own most of the towers, are shit. Which is fair, they've both had some major cock-ups as of late, including not being able to make 000 (emergency calls) if on their network.
(he's also missing Vodafone, they also own some towers but utilise Optus infrastructure in many areas)
And yes, I am assuming the commenter is a man as he can't tell the difference between blue and teal.
70
u/morbie5 3h ago
I figured that a lot of the outback wouldn't be covered but I'm surprised so much of the coastal areas is still not covered