| Technology | Standard | Speed | Speed Up | Added Features | Spectrum MHz | Company | Launched | Notes | |
| Down | Up | ||||||||
| PAMTS 007 | 0G | Pre-Cellular | NA | NA | Mobile Voice | 500 | Telecom | Aug-81 | No handover or frequency re-use – Very large usually car mounted phones – Closed 1993 |
| AMPS | 1G | AMPS | Frequency reuse, handoff, Handheld phones | 850 | Telecom | May-87 | USA Advanced Mobile Phone System True cellular, widely used standard, mass market – Closed Sep 2000 | ||
| GSM | 2G | GSM 3GPP Rel 1 | Digital voice & cuircuit switched data, SIM security, SMS, MMS | 900/1800 | Telstra | Apr-93 | Closed Dec 2016 Telstra, Aug 2017 Optus | ||
| 2G | 900/1800 | Optus | May-93 | ||||||
| 2G | 900/1800 | Vodafone | Oct-93 | ||||||
| 2G | 1800 | OneTel | Jun-00 | ||||||
| CDMA | 2G | CDMA IS-95 | Boomer cells – Coverage to match AMPS | 850 | Telstra | Sep-99 | Designed to match AMPS coverage Gov mandate – Closed July 2012 | ||
| 2G | Home Zone | 850 | Hutchison | Mar-00 | Coverage Sydney, Melbourne and surrounds – Closed Sep 2006 | ||||
| GPRS | 2.5G | 3GPP Rel 97 | Always on mobile packet data | 900/1800 | Optus | Sep-00 | |||
| 900/1800 | Telstra | Mar-01 | |||||||
| 900/1800 | Vodafone | ||||||||
| 1800 | OneTel | Jun-00 | |||||||
| EDGE | 3G | 3GPP Rel 98 | 473/ | High speed packet data, Advanced Multirate AMR voice coding | 900/1800 | Telstra | Oct-06 | Introduced along with NextG major Ericsson supplied network overhaul – faster packet data for older non NextG phones | |
| 900/1800 | Vodafone | Aug-09 | Intoduced in selected areas outside capital cities as WCDMA 3G fallback | ||||||
| 1xRTT | 2.5G | Packet data, improved voice capacity | 850 | Telstra | Jan-03 | Packet mobile data with widest coverage | |||
| EV-DO | 3G | High speed data only channel | 850 | Telstra | Nov-04 | 3G speed packet data designed to match WCDMA but with far wider coverage | |||
| Navini | 3G | Pre WiMax | 1024Kbps | 256Kbps | Wireless broadband | 2300 | Unwired | Aug-04 | Close Feb 13 |
| WCDMA | 3G | 3GPP Rel 99 | 384/200Kbps | 384/150Kbps | High speed packet data,video telephony 64Kbps circuit switched data | 2100 | Hutchison | Apr-03 | First WCDMA became 3GIS shared with Telstra – Closed Aug 2012 |
| 2100/900 | Optus | May-07 | |||||||
| 2100/900/850 | Vodafone | Oct-07 | |||||||
| 3.6Mbps packet data | 850/2100 | Telstra | Sep-05 | 3GIS Network shared with Hutchison | |||||
| HSDPA | 3G | 3GPP Rel 5 | 14.4/0.5-3Mbps | 384/150Kbps | Packet data up to 14.4 Mbps down to the mobile, IMS | 2100 | Hutchison | Rel 5 supports up to 14.4Mbps however most networks and devices are to category 6 (3.6Mbps) and Category 8 (7.2Mbps), IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem not widely used | |
| 850/2100 | Telstra | Oct-06 | |||||||
| 2100/900 | Optus | ||||||||
| 2100/900/850 | Vodafone | ||||||||
| HSUPA | 3G | 3GPP Rel 6 | 14.4/0.5-3Mbps | 5.76/0.3 -3Mbps | Uplink 5.76 Mbps channel, MBMS, PoC | 2100 | Hutchison | Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service MBMS and Push to Talk PoC not widely used | |
| 850/2100 | Telstra | ||||||||
| 2100/900 | Optus | ||||||||
| 2100/900/850 | Vodafone | ||||||||
| HSPA+ | 3G | 3GPP Rel 7 | 21/0.5-8Mbps | 5.76/0.3 -3Mbps | 21Mbps packet data 64QAM, High speed SIM connection for NFC | 850/2100 | Telstra | Feb-09 | Near field initiatives have not been exploited to date. Dual channel takes rate to 42Mbps in Rel 8 |
| 2100/900 | Optus | 2009 | |||||||
| 2100/900/850 | Vodafone | 2012 | |||||||
| LTE | 4G | 3GPP Rel 8 | 2Gbps | 6-120Mbps | 4G speed packet data, VoLTE voice | 1800/900/700/2600 | Telstra | Sep-11 | Initially for data capacity relief in high use areas 40% of population expanding to 66% by mid 2013. 99% coverage by Apr 2015. 450Mbps and VoLTE by 2016 and 2Gbps 5X20MHz CA 256 QAM 4X$ MiMo in 2018 |
| 1800 | Optus | Jul-12 | Plans to get to 70% population coverage by mid 2014 | ||||||
| 1800 | VHA | Jun-13 | |||||||
| WiMax | 4G | IEEE 802.16 | 37/3-6Mbps | Wireless broadband | 2300/3400 | Vivid | Mar-10 | Perth full coverage, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide inner areas. Sold to Optus Feb 12 $252M | |
| LTE TDD | 4G | 3GPP Rel 8 | 2Gbps | 6-120Mbps | 4G speed packet data, VoLTE voice | 2300 | Optus | Jun-13 | |
| 75Mbps | 10Mbps | Fixed Wireless Broadband | 2300/3400 | NBN Co | NBN was to cover around 500,000 premises by 2015 using 2,300 Ericsson base stations. The footprint was expanded to 750,000 in Mar 2022 and speeds up to 250Mbps coming. | ||||
| NR NSA | 5G | 3GPP Rel 15 | 5.9 Gbps | 20-300 Mbps | 5G high speed packet data | 3600 | Telstra | May-19 | 2016 trials commercial launch May 2019 Practical speeds limited by available spectrum |
| Optus | Nov-19 | ||||||||
| Vodafone | Mar-20 | ||||||||
| NR SA | 5G | 3GPP Rel 15 | 5.9 Gbps | 20-300 Mbps | 5G high speed packet data, low latency, high device and data capacity,. | 3600 | Telstra | May-20 | |
| Optus | Aug-22 | ||||||||