Telstra network coverage: Telstra vs ALDI vs Boost and more

Telstra mobile coverage is the widest in Australia, which is one of the reasons it also has the biggest market share of any mobile provider – as high as 42%, according to ACCC data. But its network footprint might not be as far ahead of the pack as you think, at least in terms of 4G.

The telco's network resellers also benefit from the great reputation Telstra coverage has. These smaller providers are call Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), and they buy wholesale access to Telstra's network and re-sell it as cheap, no-frills plans.

But crucially, they don't generally have access to the full Telstra network. With the sole exception of Boost Mobile, Telstra MVNOs use the smaller Telstra "Wholesale" network, rather than the full network. As such, you'll need to decide how much that little bit of extra coverage is worth to you.

In this guide, we'll take a look at Telstra coverage and compare it to its MVNOs like ALDI Mobile, Boost, Belong, and others. And we'll take a look at various plans to see which ones might better suit your needs. But before we get into that, here's a quick look at popular plans from our database on the Telstra network:

The Telstra network is separated into the full-sized retail network and the smaller Telstra Wholesale network. Only Telstra and Boost Mobile customers have access to the full Telstra coverage. All other Telstra MVNOs use the Telstra Wholesale network.

Check out the table below for an idea of mobile network coverage in Australia, including the 4G network and Telstra 5G coverage.

It's often assumed the Telstra Wholesale network is larger the Optus and Vodafone networks, but this isn't necessarily the case.

Compared to the Optus network, the Telstra Wholesale network offers 4G coverage to only 0.3% more Aussies, but it’s noticeably behind Optus on 5G coverage (by 5.5%). Against Vodafone, 4G coverage of the population is only 0.4% larger for Telstra Wholesale. Vodafone doesn't provide clear coverage stats for 5G, but it's generally thought to be smaller than Telstra Wholesale.

As for who uses it, the Telstra Wholesale network is home to popular mobile providers like Tangerine, Everyday Mobile, ALDI Mobile, and the Telstra-owned Belong and Boost Mobile, among others.

Full Telstra mobile coverage for 4G users is available to 99.7% of the Australian population, and 5G for 91%, of Aussies. The Telstra Wholesale Mobile Network is at 98.8% and 75%, respectively. Use the slider below to get an idea of how much extra coverage is available for customers on the full Telstra network. Note that green is for 4G and purple is for Telstra 5G coverage on the map.

As a reminder, only Telstra and Boost Mobile have full Telstra coverage, while all other Telstra providers (e.g. ALDI Mobile, Belong, Tangerine and the rest) use Telstra Wholesale.

Mobile plans on the Telstra network are separated into the full network (Telstra and Boost Mobile customers only) and the Telstra Wholesale network (every other Telstra provider). There’s a mix of prepaid and postpaid plans, including 4G and 5G plans. Telstra MVNO plans usually cost a little more than Optus MVNO and Vodafone MVNO plans when you compare data amounts, but unlimited national talk/text is standard.

For postpaid SIM-only plans on the Telstra network, expect decent data caps, data banks, eSIM support, and some plans that offer international calls. Here’s a list of popular postpaid plans from our database that operate on the Telstra network: be it Wholesale or the full experience:

ALDI Mobile plans operate on the Telstra Wholesale network and have 30-day prepaid recharges. Prices start at around $20 for minimal data and extend up to $120+ for a family plan with 100GB+. The cheaper ALDI Mobile plans are restricted to Wholesale Telstra 4G coverage, but the pricier picks include Telstra Wholesale 5G coverage, albeit capped at either 150Mbps or 250Mbps speeds.

The biggest ALDI Mobile perk is continuous data rollover for any unused gigabytes, as long as you keep recharging. Excluding ALDI’s cheapest plan, all others include international calling and text. This is a point in the telco's favour when comparing ALDI Mobile vs. Telstra.

Compared to other plans in our database, ALDI Mobile is generally one of the cheaper options, albeit usually beaten by plans on the Optus and Vodafone networks.

Here’s a look ALDI Mobile's plans:

Boost Mobile is owned by Telstra and is the only mobile provider aside from its parent that uses the full Telstra mobile network. So, if you're comparing Boost vs Telstra, by far the biggest consideration is pricing. Boost has much cheaper plans, while its parent tries to make up the difference with extra perks for loyal customers.

But while Boost is cheaper than Telstra, its plans are typically pricier than its Telstra MVNO peers. On top of that, Boost's standard plans have a 28-day recharge. This means you end up paying 13 bills per year, as opposed to the 12 of a monthly or 30-day cycle. The telco also has a seven and a 365 day plan. All Boost plans have data rollover for the next recharge and support eSIM devices. Except for the cheaper options, most have unlimited international calls to selected destinations.

Here's a look at Boost's plans, ordered by popularity with our readers over the past week:

Belong is another sub-brand of Telstra, built to offer cheaper postpaid SIM-only plans. But, unlike its its sibling – Boost Mobile – Belong operates over the smaller Telstra Wholesale network. As such, it doesn't have the same widespread coverage.

But still has plenty to offer. The more you spend, the better Belong’s plans compare to others, while its cheaper SIM-only plans sit somewhere in the middle price-wise of the similarly geared options in our database.

All Belong plans support Telstra Wholesale 5G, but most are capped at 150Mbps (and one at 250Mbps). The telco offers continuous data rollover, so users can keep paying forward their data as long as they’re a customer. Alternatively, you can gift unused gigabytes to other Belong customers. If you use up all of your data, plan speeds are capped at 1Mbps for the duration of the billing cycle, instead of incurring an overage fee. Belong’s priciest plan also has unlimited international calls to selected destinations.

Here's a look at popular Belong mobile plans:

Everyday (Woolworths) Mobile is a rare MVNO, in that it sells both prepaid and postpaid SIM-only plans. Both options operate over the Telstra Wholesale network.

The SIM-only plans range between $40 and $60, offering a healthy amount of data up to 100GB+. For prepaid plans, Everyday Mobile offers 30-day, 180-day and 365-day expiries. Only a few Everyday Mobile plans offer  Wholesale Telstra 5G coverage, across prepaid and SIM-only choices, with speeds capped at 150Mbps.

SIM-only and prepaid users get unlimited talk and text to selected international destinations, plus a generous 500GB data bank for unused data. Alternatively, gift unused data to other Everyday customers. All Everyday Mobile SIM-only and 30-day prepaid plans offer a 10% once-a-month discount on a Woolworths groceries shop, as long as you're also a Woolies Everyday Rewards member.

Compared to similarly-geared SIM-only plans in our database, Everyday Mobile sits in the middle for pricing. For prepaid plans, it's is one of the cheaper options for monthly recharges, but back towards the middle price-wise for long-expiry plans.

You can check out all of the Everyday Mobile plans in our database below, sorted by popularity.

Superloop prepaid plans all have 30-day recharge cycles and operate on the Telstra Wholesale network. Except for its cheapest plan, all Superloop prepaid recharges have Telstra 5G, either capped at 150Mbps or 250Mbps.

Every Superloop prepaid plan has data rollover (up to 500GB), plus unlimited standard international calls to selected destinations. Compared to prepaid plans with similar data in our database, Superloop’s plans sit in the middle price-wise, with some plans more towards the expensive end of the scale.

Here’s a look at Superloop’s prepaid plans from our database, ordered by their popularity with our readers over the last seven days:

Tangerine Telecom offers a handful of SIM-only plans, all of which operate on the Telstra Wholesale network. The cheapest Tangerine plan doesn’t have 5G (capped at 100Mbps), but all other Tangerine plans have access to Telstra 5G, most capped at 150Mbps and the priciest at 250Mbps.

All but the cheapest plan have a 1,000GB data bank, plus unlimited calls to selected international destinations. Every Tangerine plan is available for eSIM devices. Depending on the plan, they’re either cheap or towards the middle price-wise compared to similarly geared alternatives in our database.

Check out Tangerine's plans below, ordered by popularity over the last seven days:

Exetel simplified its options to two 30-day prepaid plans: a 4G plan and a 5G, both of which operate over the Telstra Wholesale network.

The 5G plan is capped at 150Mbps, and includes unlimited calls and text to 15 selected destinations. It also has a 1000GB data bank.  The 4G plan has a 500GB data bank, but no other special inclusions and is capped at 100Mbps, though your actual day-to-day speeds might fall under that.

Here's a look at Exetel prepaid plans, ordered by their popularity over the last seven days:

More Telecom is a postpaid SIM-only mobile provider whose plans operate on the Telstra Wholesale network. Prices start under $30 for casual users and stretch up to $60+ for more than 100GB of Telstra 5G data. The cheapest More SIM-only plan is restricted to 100Mbps on the Telstra 4G network, but all other More plans have Telstra 5G, capped at either 150Mbps or 250Mbps.

All More plans support eSIM and come with a data bank. Most plans have a 1,000GB data bank, but the cheapest More plan is relegated to 500GB (which is still heaps). The cheapest More mobile plan doesn’t have international calls, but all other More plans come with unlimited calls to the top 15 international destinations. More Telecom plans are comparatively pricey next to similarly geared SIM-only plans in our database.

Below is a list of popular More SIM-only plans from our comparison engine.

Nowadays, most Telstra MVNOs sell 5G plans, but with two caveats. The first is the difference in coverage between the full Telstra network and the Telstra Wholesale network. The full network has 91% population coverage for 5G, while Wholesale has just 75%. Other than Telstra, Boost Mobile is the only provider with access to the full network.

The second caveat is speed. Most MVNOs cap 5G plans at 150Mbps or 250Mbps, with some exceptions. For the most part, this is more than fast enough for anything you'd do on a phone, but it's worth mentioning. Also worth mentioning is that Telstra itself places speed caps on most of its prepaid plans, though not its SIM-only (Upfront) plans.

Of the Telstra MVNOs in our database, ALDI Mobile, Boost Mobile, Everyday Mobile, Exetel, Belong, More, Superloop and Tangerine offer 5G plans.

Below is a list of plans that offer 5G coverage over the Wholesale or full Telstra network, ordered by their popularity with our visitors over the last seven days: