What is Opticomm, and can you get it where you live?

When it comes to home internet, most people are connected to an NBN plan. And that makes sense. NBN is available to pretty much everywhere in Australia in one form or another, and for most Australians, it’s a reliable way to get online. But there’s a growing list of home internet alternatives.

Starlink satellite internet is on the rise in Australia, alongside a somewhat similar tech in WiFi home internet. And Opticomm is another NBN alternative that offers a full range of speed tiers to eligible homes. Before we dive into everything you need to know about Opticomm internet, here’s a list of popular internet plans from our comparison engine.

For the last 15 years, Opticomm has been rolling out its own fibre network to select areas in Australia, a lot like what NBN Co has done with the NBN. If you live at an eligible address, Opticomm is a wholesaler that sells fibre internet plans via 50+ internet providers, including some familiar household names that also sell NBN and other internet plans.

According to Opticomm, it has more than 600,000 premises around Australia that use the internet service. While most Opticomm premises use FTTP, they also offer VDSL as a hybrid fibre-copper alternative, which may not be offered by all Opticomm retailers (like Aussie Broadband, for instance).

If you’re in the market for an Opticomm internet plan, check out this selection of popular picks from our comparison engine.

Opticomm is one of the largest competitors to the NBN, even if it can’t compete with how widespread the NBN is. Outside of availability, the big difference is Opticomm is predominantly a full-fibre solution, meaning most eligible premises use FTTP. Effectively, this gives those homes and businesses access to the full range of retailer speed tiers, the fastest including 250/25 and 1000/50 plans.

Any home connected to Opticomm or NBN via FTTP is futureproofed for multi-gigabit plans, too, one they’re available. While the number of FTTP homes is growing on NBN, most Aussie premises are still connected to the NBN via non-FTTP technologies. Admittedly, Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) homes (around 23% according to Statista), can connect to all NBN speed tiers these days. That said, Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN) (~35%), Fibre-to-the-Curb (FTTC) (~13%), Fixed Wireless (~4%), FTTB (~3%) and

Opticomm has a list of around 50 Australian internet providers it works with to connect eligible homes and business to its fibre network. Of those 50, here’s a list of the Opticomm internet providers that we track in our database (they also offer NBN plans, linked below):

• Activ8me
• Aussie Broadband
• Exetel
• iiNet
• Internode
• iPrimus
• Origin Broadband
• Superloop
• Swoop Broadband
• Telstra

Of those providers, look to TPG, iiNet, Exetel and Superloop for cheap internet plans. Superloop is also a speedy provider, alongside the premium pricing from Telstra and Origin.

If your home is eligible for an Opticomm internet connection, Opticomm will provide a connection box (aka, an Opticomm modem). To get online, you’ll need to connect an existing, bought or internet provider-sent router or modem-router. Most modern routers, modem-routers and mesh WiFi systems should be compatible with Opticomm—similar to the best NBN modems—but check with your internet provider if you have any compatibility questions about intended networking gear and Opticomm.