Telstra, Optus and TPG sell most of Australia’s home internet — but they win on very different things. We compare the big three on NBN and 5G home prices, real speeds, complaints, and bundles, so you can pick on more than the headline price.
If you are choosing home internet in Australia, the three names you already know are Telstra, Optus and TPG. Between them they carry the majority of fixed-line connections in the country, and each one wants to be your default. But “best” means different things depending on your home: the cheapest ongoing price, the strongest regional coverage, the fewest headaches when something breaks, or the best bundle with your mobile. Judged on price alone, the big three mostly lose to smaller providers. Judged on the whole package, each has a genuine case — for different households. Here is how they actually compare in October 2026.
The short answer
Best value overall: TPG. It is the cheapest of the three at almost every speed tier on ongoing pricing, and its Price Beat Guarantee means it will beat a competitor’s comparable offer. If price is your main criterion, start here.
Best coverage and backup: Telstra. The widest network reach, a modem with 4G backup on NBN plans, and the strongest option if your address is regional or your connection has to stay up. You pay a premium for it.
Best for bundlers and deal-hunters: Optus. Its Promo Plus NBN 500 deal is the sharpest short-term offer of the three, and SubHub streaming credits sweeten the bundle. But Optus carries the most trust baggage of the three right now, and its NBN 100 tier is only available on copper-based connections.
One honest caveat before the detail: if the only thing you care about is speed per dollar, smaller providers such as Exetel, Superloop and Aussie Broadband currently beat all three big telcos on most tiers. The big three’s case rests on coverage, bundles, support infrastructure, and convenience — not on being the cheapest.
NBN prices: what you actually pay after the intro deal ends
Introductory pricing is where comparison pages mislead. A plan advertised at $69 a month that jumps to $109 after six months is a $109 plan you happen to get cheap for half a year. The table below compares ongoing monthly prices (internet-only, unlimited data) as at 13 October 2026.
| Plan | Telstra | Optus | TPG |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBN 25 | $89 | $83 | $79.99 |
| NBN 50 | $99 | $97 | $89.99 |
| NBN 100 | $99* | $109† | $94.99 |
| NBN 500 | $99* | $109 | $94.99 |
| NBN 750 | $119 | Not listed | $104.99 |
| NBN 1000 | $129 | $129 | $114.99 |
* Telstra’s Premium tier is $99 a month and delivers 100 Mbps on FTTN/FTTC/FTTB connections but 500 Mbps on FTTP/HFC connections, following NBN Co’s September 2025 wholesale speed upgrades. Same price, very different speed depending on your address technology.
† Optus lists NBN 100 only for copper-based connections (FTTN/FTTB/FTTC); on FTTP/HFC addresses the equivalent tier is 500 Mbps.
Three things jump out. First, TPG is cheapest at every tier it lists, by $3 to $15 a month — a gap of $35 to $180 a year. Second, Telstra’s Premium tier is the value quirk of the market: on a fibre or HFC address it is a 500 Mbps plan for $99, undercutting Optus’s 500 Mbps plan by $10 a month, though TPG still beats it at $94.99. On a copper-based address it is only 100 Mbps for the same money, so the value depends entirely on your connection type. Third, Optus’s current range has holes: it lists NBN 100 only for copper-based connections (on fibre/HFC addresses you jump from 50 to 500 Mbps), and it has no NBN 750 tier. If you want a mid-range plan from Optus on a fibre address, your choice is effectively 50 or 500.
Introductory offers change the first-year maths. Telstra discounts its Premium tier to $69 a month for the first six months, Ultimate to $79, and Ultrafast to $89. Optus’s Promo Plus NBN 500 deal runs $69 a month for six months (then $109) and ends 12 November 2026, with a $250 digital Visa gift card via Finder and $10 a month in SubHub streaming credits. TPG discounts NBN 25 to $59.99 and NBN 50 to $69.99 for six months, and NBN 100 and NBN 500 to $74.99 for twelve months. TPG’s twelve-month intro on the 500 tier is the longest discount window of the three — worth roughly $240 in first-year savings against its own ongoing price.
Also watch Telstra’s modem pricing. The prices above are internet-only. Adding Telstra’s modem and phone line lifts the monthly price by about $14 on most tiers (Basic $97, Essential $113, Premium $113). Optus includes a modem at no extra charge if you stay connected for 24 months on its Promo Plus deal. TPG includes a modem with its plans and charges no lock-in.
5G home internet: the wireless alternative each provider sells
All three sell 5G home internet alongside NBN, and for many metro households it is a genuine alternative — no technician visit, no NBN connection needed, online the day the modem arrives. Our full comparison is in 5G Home Internet vs NBN in Australia: Which Is Better in 2026?.
| 5G plan | Telstra | Optus | TPG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry (~50 Mbps cap) | Basic $70 | Everyday $69 | 5G Plus $59.99 |
| Mid (~100 Mbps cap) | Essential $80 | Everyday Fast $79 | 5G Premium $69.99 |
| Top (uncapped/fastest) | Premium $95 | Superfast $99 | — |
TPG wins the 5G price war outright: its 5G Plus plan is the cheapest entry-level 5G home plan of the three at $59.99 ongoing, and its 5G Premium is $10 a month cheaper than the equivalent Telstra and Optus tiers. Telstra’s Premium 5G is the fastest of the three on typical evening speeds (around 300 Mbps), but it carries Telstra’s 1,000 GB monthly allowance — after that, speeds are shaped. Optus and TPG 5G plans are unlimited. One caution on TPG’s 5G: it runs on the Vodafone mobile network, so check Vodafone 5G coverage at your address, not TPG’s — they are the same network, but coverage checkers differ.
Speeds: what you actually get
The ACCC’s Measuring Broadband Australia program, which placed test units in real homes, found in its final report (March 2026 measurement period) that fixed-line NBN services overall delivered an average of 100.0% of plan speed across all hours and 99.4% during busy evening hours. In other words, the NBN itself is no longer the bottleneck it once was — the plan you buy is, by and large, the speed you get, whichever provider you choose. The ACCC has since ended the program, but its final results remain the best independent benchmark available.
That levels the playing field on raw speed and shifts the contest to consistency, support, and price. Independent consumer testing tells a similar story: CHOICE’s 2026 provider survey named Aussie Broadband and Superloop joint Best Brand NBN providers (both 85%), with Telstra and TPG at 84% and Optus at 83% — a tight spread, and a reminder that none of the big three is the outright speed leader. Where the big three do differ is in what happens when speeds drop or something breaks, which is where complaints data comes in.
Complaints and support: the number nobody advertises
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) 2025–26 annual report is the most useful reality check on the big three, because it counts what happens when customers cannot get problems fixed. Total complaints across the industry fell 6.5% to 53,834. By provider: Telstra 18,541 (down 15.3%), Optus 12,181 (down 10.3%), and TPG Group 2,430 (down 8.6%).
Two caveats matter. First, these are raw complaint counts, not rates — Telstra has far more customers than TPG, so its higher count does not mean a higher proportion of unhappy customers. The TIO itself cautions against comparing providers this way. Second, falling complaints may not mean improving service: consumer body ACCAN warned that the drop may reflect collapsing consumer confidence, with many customers giving up on complaining rather than getting problems fixed.
The detail that stands out is a category the TIO calls “unconscionable conduct” — complaints about conduct that goes beyond ordinary unfairness, including taking advantage of a customer’s vulnerability when selling a product or service. Those complaints rose 154.8% in 2025–26 to 553, and Optus accounted for 69.8% of them, against Telstra at 15.2% and Vodafone at 10.3%. The figures record complaints received, not findings of wrongdoing, but they are a real signal about sales practices.
Optus also carries the freshest trust damage of the three: the 18 September 2025 Triple Zero outage, in which the TIO received 211 complaints from people who could not reach emergency services or hold a stable call. Add the 2022 data breach, and Optus is the provider with the most to prove on trust — a factor that matters more than a $10 monthly saving if your household depends on its connection for safety or work.
On support infrastructure: all three run a mix of Australian and overseas call centres. Telstra and Optus both offer 24/7 phone support; TPG’s support is also phone-based. Telstra’s Smart Modem includes 4G backup, which keeps you online during an NBN outage — Optus’s modem offers 4G backup too.
Bundles: the big three’s real pitch
This is where the big three justify their prices against budget providers. Each bundles home internet with other services in ways the small providers cannot easily match.
Telstra bundles its Smart Modem (with 4G backup), optional Fetch TV, and Telstra Plus rewards, and offers discounts when you bundle home internet with a Telstra mobile plan. Its pitch is one bill, one provider, and the country’s widest coverage.
Optus bundles SubHub streaming credits ($10 a month on the Promo Plus NBN 500 deal), mobile plan discounts, and its own entertainment offers. Its pitch is value through bundling: the internet plan itself is mid-priced, but the extras narrow the gap.
TPG bundles the least — and that is the point. Its pitch is the opposite: no lock-in contracts, a Price Beat Guarantee (it will beat a competitor’s comparable offer), and the lowest ongoing price. It does not try to win on extras.
If you already have a mobile plan with one of the three, check the bundle discount before comparing standalone prices — a $10 to $20 monthly mobile discount can flip the ranking. If you do not want bundles, TPG’s no-frills pricing is the cleanest comparison.
Which one should you pick?
Pick TPG if: price matters most, you want no lock-in, and you are comfortable with a no-frills service. It is the cheapest at every tier, its intro discounts run longest on the popular tiers, and its Price Beat Guarantee gives you leverage. Best for budget-conscious households and renters who want flexibility.
Pick Telstra if: you need the widest coverage, your address is regional, your connection must stay up (4G backup modem), or you value having one provider for mobile and internet. Accept that you will pay $10 to $20 a month more than TPG for equivalent speed — the premium buys coverage and backup, not extra speed.
Pick Optus if: you want the sharpest short-term deal and you bundle streaming or mobile. The Promo Plus NBN 500 offer plus SubHub credits is the best first-year package of the three. Go in with eyes open on trust: check the current offer terms, and weigh the complaints record against the saving.
Skip all three if: raw speed per dollar is your only criterion. Smaller providers currently beat the big three on most tiers. The big three win on coverage, bundles, and support infrastructure — not on being the cheapest way to get a fast connection.
What this means for you
- Compare ongoing prices, not intro prices. TPG is cheapest at every tier on ongoing pricing; intro deals can hide a $20–$40 monthly jump after six to twelve months.
- Check your address technology first. Telstra’s $99 Premium tier is a 500 Mbps plan on fibre/HFC but only 100 Mbps on copper-based connections — same price, five times the speed difference.
- Optus sells NBN 100 only on copper-based connections. On fibre or HFC addresses, your mid-range choice from Optus is 50 or 500 Mbps.
- Weigh complaints, not just prices. TIO data shows Telstra with the most complaints in absolute numbers (it also has the most customers), Optus with the worst record on unconscionable-conduct complaints, and TPG with the fewest of the three.
- Check bundle discounts before deciding. A mobile bundle discount can flip the ranking between the three.
- Confirm at signup. Prices and offers in this article were checked on 13 October 2026 and change frequently — verify the ongoing monthly price, not just the intro rate, before committing.