Optus NBN review

Optus has always maintained a tight balance of quality and price. Almost as expensive as Telstra, with a large mobile network and appealing bonuses to back it up. But with the rollout of the NBN and more internet providers in Australia than ever before, it's worth re-evaluating the value of a premium provider like Optus.

When you build an Optus NBN plan, prices start at $70 for NBN 25, $85 per month for NBN 50 or $99 for NBN 100 (with an introductory offer that knocks this down to $89 for the first 6 months). The basic Internet Everyday plan for each tier gets you internet, an Optus Ultra WiFi Modem and a discounted rate on Optus Sport. Ordinarily, that last one will run you $25 per month. For Optus NBN customers, it's just $6.99 per month.

The next plan up (an extra $10 per month) is the Family Entertainer plan. It adds an Optus Ultra WiFi Booster and Optus WiFi Secure into the mix.

Optus used to include a third tier that includesd a Fetch Mighty PVR set-top box and one Premium Fetch channel pack (valued at $6 per month). This is no longer available, though Optus does insist that a dedicated Fetch app will be coming to their SubHub platform sometime in the future.

There are also NBN 250 and NBN 1000 plans for eligible households, though these will cost you significantly more. While not the most expensive plans, there are cheaper plans available, especially for the NBN 100 speed tier. Take a look at how the cheapest NBN 100 plans stack up below.

Even if they aren't the fastest provider right now, there's ample evidence suggesting that Optus are one of the the most consistent when it comes to speeds.

Here's a small handful of the fastest self-reported NBN speeds, sorted by NBN 50 plans. To change speed tiers, simply click the drop-down box in the top-left corner.

Broadband bundles used to be a huge value add for customers but they're becoming a bit of a relic. There are a few providers who will allow you pay off a Fetch box with your monthly bill but its rare you'll get a bundle 'bonus' or 'freebie'.

That said, Optus does offer the closest thing with its NBN, home phone and internet bundles. Basically, a phone service can be added for $0 p/m (PAYG) or $10 p/m (with specified call inclusions), plus you'll get a discounted rate on Optus Sport bundled into the plan.

As mentioned before, Optus no longer offers Fetch bundles. However, if that's a requirement for your next internet provider, here's a short list of alternative providers that do offer Fetch.

But it's not all about bundles; Optus scores so highly for perks and features because it also offers online account management (and the My Optus app), a bundled modem at no extra cost, discounted international calls, and perks like the ability to save money by lumping streaming subscriptions together via Optus SubHub. If you pay for the more expensive Internet Family Entertainer plan, you'll even score a few free months of Netflix. If you want to know more, here's everything you should know about Optus NBN.

Given its status as one of Australia's biggest and most prominent players in the mobile and broadband landscape, it's no surprise that Optus is one of the more robust options when it comes to NBN alternatives like 5G. While the provider no longer offer 4G fixed wireless broadband plans, they do have a number of 5G mobile plans that might be worth investigating if you're located in an area with decent Optus coverage.

If you're intrigued by the idea of spinning up a 5G home internet connection, you can check out what Optus has to offer below.

As one of Australia's largest telcos and over 600,000 broadband customers alone, there's something to be said about the telco's infrastructure. Optus has just about every customer support avenue you can think of; live chat, in-app chat, phone support, brick-and-mortar stores, customer forums and responsive Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The problem is, there's something else to say about Optus' customer support, and its customers are saying it, regularly.  On user-generated review aggregator Trustpilot, Optus has a 1.2 out 5-star rating based on 9340 reviews and Optus Broadband, specifically, has a 1.6 out of 5-star rating based on 2,051 reviews on Product Review. Telstra is sitting at roughly the same score, around 1.4 to 1.5.

This is no big surprise. Angry telco customers are often the loudest, and most people who are perfectly satisfied with their service don't go online to leave a review.

Unless you're one of the smaller players, like Aussie Broadband, which is currently rated 4.5 out of 5 out of 5 based on 3,537 reviews. That's an incredibly impressive effort. 92% of the users who rated Aussie were satisfied with their speeds and the customer service alone has a 4.6-star average.

Here's a few of Aussie's most popular broadband plans if you're thinking of making a new friend in the broadband space.

We scour the NBN plans in our system to compare to find the best. We take into consideration things like cost, connection, customer service, features and benefits and internet speeds. For a full rundown of our approach, click here.