It seems, based on the latest ACCC NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report for March 2019 that most of us are opting for 50Mbps plans on the NBN with 25Mbps also popular. With that being the sweet spot, it’s time to look for the best plans that deliver those speeds.
It’s important to note that all Retail Service Providers (RSPs) have to give you an indication of the real speeds you can expect at peak periods. And these can vary depending on the type of NBN connection you have and where you live. Our advice is to check out local Facebook groups to find out which RSPs your neighbours are using, what connection type they have and what the RSP is promising during “peak periods” – usually defined as between 70PM and 11PM.
NBN 50 Plans: The Sweet Spot
The ACCC pushed NBN Co into rejigging its wholesale rates to make the 50Mbps tier more attractive to consumers. As such, we’ve seen this tier become the most popular speed for connections with the ADSL-level 12Mbps plan less attractive to most people.
NBN 50 plans are a big improvement over ADSL in terms of speed, and monthly prices undercut NBN 100 plans by a healthy margin. Typically, you’re looking at between $60 and $70 per month.
Download speeds are nominally rated at up to 50Mbps and upload speeds up to 20Mbps. In peak periods, you can see this deteriorate by around 15 per cent.
Best NBN 50 plans with unlimited data:
NBN 25 Plans: The new bottom end
NBN 25 plans now represent the new entry level for the market. Fewer than 20% of NBN customers are opting for 12Mbps conenction with over 1.1 million of us choosing 25Mbps. Over half of NBN users are on 50Mbps.
Nominal download speeds are 25Mbps with uploads of up to 5Mbps with the same caveat of peak-time slowdowns.
When you compare NBN 50 and NBN 25 plans on a Mbps/$ basis, it’s clear that the 50Mbps plans are a more cost effective option. But if your needs are modest or budget is constrained, then 25Mbps is good enough for browsing, email, and some streaming.
NBN 25 plans with no-contract and unlimited data:
With all the plans, keep an eye on download limits. Some lower-cost plans limit how much traffic you can access at the top speed you’ve paid for.
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