The NBN is meant to be fast, but that’s not always the case – and it’s not just because of gamers. Well, it’s almost never because of gamers, but let’s move on. The point is, not all NBN providers are equal.
An NBN 100 plan on one provider, say Telstra, won’t necessarily be the same speed as an NBN 100 plan on Optus, even though they’re technically the same product. The way NBN providers buy network capacity from NBN Co means there can be quite a bit of variance in peak hour speeds from one provider to another. But thanks to the ACCC, NBN providers are now disclosing the NBN speeds you’ll *actually* get if you sign up with them, not just the speed tier you’re connecting on.
To help you find an NBN plan that’s actually fast, all of the time, we’ve done the leg work and put together a list of the fastest NBN 100 and NBN 50 plan providers based on the evening speeds they’ve disclosed.
Before we continue, it’s important to understand the “typical evening speeds” provided by NBN providers are just an indication of the speeds you can reasonably expect during peak hours. There’s a myriad of other factors that can affect what speeds you’re able to get. These include the technology you’re using to connect to the NBN, the hardware in your home, and abnormally high usage in your area.
NBN 100
The NBN providers with the fastest advertised “typical evening speeds” for their NBN 100 plans are as follows:
- Aussie Broadband: Typical evening speed of 90Mbps
- Internode: Typical evening speed of 87.4Mbps
- Exetel: Typical evening speed of 83Mbps
- iiNet: Typical evening speed of 82.7Mbps
- Optus: Typical evening speed of 81.1Mbps
- Telstra: Typical evening speed of 80Mbps
- amaysim: Typical evening speed of 78.1Mbps
- TPG: Typical evening speed of 78.1Mbps
And here’s the pricing you’re looking at for an unlimited NBN 100 plan from one of these providers:
Telstra doesn’t technically sell any NBN 100 plans, hence the separate widget. Instead, you’ll need to buy the NBN 50 plan and pay $30 per month for a speed boost.
NBN 50
The NBN providers with the fastest advertised “typical evening speeds” for their NBN 50 plans are as follows:
- Internode: Typical evening speed of 45.9Mbps
- Aussie Broadband: Typical evening speed of 45Mbps
- TPG: Typical evening speed of 44Mbps
- iiNet: Typical evening speed of 44Mbps
- Optus: Typical evening speed of 43.65Mbps
- Flip TV: Typical evening speed of 43.27Mbps
- Dodo: Typical evening speed of 43Mbps
- Exetel: Typical evening speed of 43Mbps
And here’s the pricing you’re looking at for an unlimited NBN 50 plan from one of these providers:
There’s a couple of things worth noting:
- There’s a lot more variance in evening speeds across NBN 100 plans compared to NBN 50 plans
- Plans with higher evening speeds tend to be pricier on NBN 100 plans, but this isn’t necessarily the case for NBN 50
- Aussie Broadband is the only provider to public CVC capacity graphs for each NBN Point of Internet connection, which means you can get a more accurate idea of what speeds in your area will be like
- As it stands, Aussie Broadband and Internode are easily the fastest NBN providers based on typical speeds during peak hours
Pity WhistleOut doesn’t have a section for pensioners who just want the best home phone deal and not broadband but are being forced onto the NBN anyway.
I think that is to get a decent mobile phone plan with enough data to encapsulate existing usage. That will usually include unlimited calls; you can use VoIP to keep your existing landline. Selecting Optus for unmetered Netflix, iView etc. and even football, might be a good move.
If the minimum NBN plan is going to be over $50pm and you need a mobile plan anyway, it’s going to be silly for pensioners to do anything else.
Seriously, someone in NBNCo. is smoking something, they need to be CUTTING the prices…
Most of the big carriers do offer Pensioner specific plans, but if they’re like Telstra they’re not advertised. You’ve just got to ask in a store on online/on the phone and you can get one. Most seniors wouldnt be too comfortable shopping for a plan online, and have probably never heard of WhistleOut
Seniors, do have family that helps them out you know. Plus, its amazing what shows up when you google, like WhistleOut as an example.
Certainly my experience with Aussie is that I don’t see major slow downs even at peak times.
Exetel high on that list, you have to be kidding. It was a mess when I had them for NBN 100, often it was down to 8mb. With Myrepublic these days I sit on 93 to 97 and get down to the mid 80’s in peak, it used to get to less than 10 on occasion but don’t see that any more.
I was with Exetel about 6 years ago, they were absolutely horrible
My recent experience with Exetel was absolutely horrendous. They could not even connect me to their network as there was supposedly a NBN fault which they needed to go though Optus for. The never actually provided internet to me but wanted to start charging me for it. Worst company ever. Should be shut down
Funnily enough, that is my exact experience with Myrepublic. 5/1 evening speeds
Yes they had the issue for me. They moved us off of Optus to a direct connection. The issue is Optus wholesale is over subscribed.