Telstra let’s you improve your mobile speed or latency with Speed Optimiser for $10 per month

Telstra Mobile customers (postpaid or mobile broadband) can now pay an extra $10 per month to get priority on their network with a new “Mobile Speed Optimiser” product available now in the My Telstra App or website.

The concept here is pretty simple – if you want better speeds, especially at congested times and areas, this $10 a month is going to be a game-changer.

Reports from users after just a few days suggest that on public transport like packed trains at peak hour they are getting a noticeable improvement in speed and response time.

There are two options for the Telstra Mobile Speed Optimiser – Speed or Latency. But you can only choose one of them to be active at any time.

Telstra suggests customers “achieve a typical uplift of 15% in mobile data speeds”, with performance reports available in My Telstra to compare average speed with and without Mobile Speed Optimiser.

It works on iPhones with iOS 14 and later, and all Android phones, plus on several Mobile Broadband devices

If gaming is your thing, then you might instead choose Mobile Latency Optimiser – it’s the same price, but again, you can’t have speed and latency optimised at the same time.

Both these plans are far more appealing than the Optus Turbocharge (nee Boost) options which are one hour at a time.

My only concern is that this sets a precedent for paying for the best level of service, when it used to be that we all got the same thing if we were on a particular network.

Some will argue net neutrality here, and there’s some validity to that – are we going to end up as a bunch of customers some who have, some who don’t, despite choosing the same network and paying for the same monthly plan – it’s just that one of us paid extra for priority on the network.

For Telstra home NBN customers, there’s also an “Internet Optimiser” feature available, for those using the Telstra Smart Modem – this allows you to prioritise specific activities, block devices, and see who’s on your internet, as well as adding a Gaming Geo-Filter to improve your gaming experience.

Web: Telstra