The complete Vodafone coverage map

There are a few mobile networks in Australia to choose from. Telstra has two and they’re both the biggest: first-party Telstra mobile customers get the biggest network, while Telstra wholesale customers get the second-biggest network. Optus first-party and MVNO customers are tapped into the next biggest network, while Vodafone has the third largest network. You can compare the coverage of all three networks and find out which is right for you.

There’s not a whole lot of difference between these networks in terms of the percentages of the population, but that’s for 4G and there’s currently a bigger divide when it comes to 5G that’s likely to continue into the future.

The interactive map below lets you select between Telstra, Optus and Vodafone network providers so you can see a visual representation of their coverage across Australia. This particular map below should default to the Vodafone network and offer at-a-glance info on Vodafone’s network coverage for 4G and 3G services.

If 4G is all you need right now, you can always opt for a low-cost Vodafone MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). MVNOs are providers that lease usage of the Vodafone network to provide their own services. Without the overheads of a huge network provider, you'll often find MVNOs provide cheaper plans for the same coverage. Here's a look at some of the most popular plans on the Vodafone network this week. 

The interactive map below is the same as the one above except that it should default to the Vodafone 5G network rather than the Vodafone 4G and 3G network. You may have noticed that the default Australia-wide view of the map above showed plenty of purple to indicate Vodafone’s network coverage. It’s a lot harder to see at a national level for Vodafone’s 5G network, and that’s because the Vodafone 5G network is noticeably smaller than its 4G and 3G networks.

Vodafone 5G is already available in more than 600 suburbs in Australia with an additional 1,600 sites in the planning and design phase. Vodafone is on track to have more than 1,000 sites live by the end of 2021. That said, those sites are across Australia’s six most populous cities: namely, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra. There are also plans for Vodafone 5G coverage in other parts of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

For anyone who doesn’t live, work or play in these areas—particularly those living outside of Australia’s most populous cities—you shouldn’t bank on receiving Vodafone 5G coverage. Admittedly, the Vodafone 5G network can be accessed from any Vodafone mobile plan, so it’s better treated as a bonus rather than a certainty for those living outside of currently supported or future planned Vodafone 5G areas.

Click on your state below for a dropdown list of every suburb where Vodafone 5G is live. 

Looking at the respective networks on the interactive map, that initial Telstra, Optus, Vodafone ranking for network coverage is reiterated. Vodafone’s trend towards focusing on populous cities also carries over to its 4G network.

Side-by-side comparisons between Vodafone 4G, Optus 4G and Telstra 4G maps shows comparable networks when it comes to Australia’s biggest cities, but Telstra is the clear winner when it comes to rural areas. Optus, too, drives its network deeper inland in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and east from Perth, as well as in more places along the coast and inland in Western Australia. Vodafone has some inland presence in the bigger states but it’s nowhere near comparable to Optus or Telstra.

Things start to fill out a bit more if you factor in Vodafone’s 3G rural network but even the combined 3G and 4G Vodafone networks pale in comparison to what Optus and Telstra offer, which isn’t just concentrated around major population groups. Bottom line: Vodafone has great coverage for more populous towns but you should absolutely use the map to see if the areas you live, work and/or play are part of Vodafone’s footprint before signing up for a plan.