These NBN Plans Just Got Faster [Updated]

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Signing up for a new NBN plan can feel a bit like a game of Russian roulette. There are so many factors that can affect the speed and quality of your connection, and no one wants to get stuck with a shitty service.

While not all providers are equal, some are doing a bang-up job of delivering high quality NBN. Thanks to the ACCC’s “Measuring Broadband Australia” program – which relies on real world testing data from Australian households – we’ve got a better idea of who they are.

The ACCC released its fifth report on real-world NBN speeds last month, and the results were mostly good. While there’s always room for improvement, most fixed-line NBN customers are consistently getting close to the speeds they’re paying for.

But first, here’s a look at how these providers price their Premium Evening Speed NBN 100 plans:

Winners and grinners

TPG came out on top again, delivering peak hour speeds that were 89% of plan maximums on average, while Aussie Broadband followed at 86.9%. These are both slight improvements on the previous report, where TPG and Aussie Broadband averaged 86.1% and 84.8%, respectively.

Optus, Telstra and MyRepublic were all close behind, delivering 85.8%, 83.9%, and 82.6% of their maximum speeds during busy periods, respectively. Lastly, Exetel, iiNet, and Dodo / iPrimus racked up 85.6%, 85.3%, and 83.5%. Again, these speeds are all faster than they were in February.

This suggests that the NBN is improving – albeit slowly – when it comes to performance. While very few people are getting 100Mbps and above, the average speeds are at least moving in the right direction.

What about Telstra?

Telstra doesn’t sell NBN 100 plans as a standalone product. If you want NBN 100 speeds on Telstra, you’ll need to sign up for one of the NBN 50 plans below first. If your physical connection to the NBN is fast enough, you’ll then be able to upgrade to a 100Mbps plan for an extra $30 per month.

It’s worth noting that these speed reports are still in their infancy and only encompass 940 individual NBN connections across 15 internet service providers. They’re not necessarily the be all and end all. But at the same time, they’re quite encouraging; it’s hard to complain if you’re getting peak hour download speeds between 80Mbps and 90Mbps.

You can find out more about the aforementioned NBN plans here.


Alex Choros is Managing Editor at WhistleOut, Australia’s phone and internet comparison website.

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