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VPNs for ad-blocking Because older broadband technologies like ADSL2+ and cable internet are all but extinct now that the NBN rollout has finished, scroll on to find out which internet speed is right for you. Note that we’re focused on NBN fixed-line technologies on this page because providers are required by the ACCC to self-report their typical evening download speeds, which makes it easier to track than NBN Fixed Wireless and NBN Sky Muster satellite. Because most providers offer parity between self-reported typical evening download speeds and the maximum theoretical download speed of an NBN 25 connection, the table below shows the most popular NBN Basic II plans. As with NBN 25, more and more providers are shifting towards parity with advertised and max download speeds, so the table below shows a daily updating snapshot of the most popular NBN 50 plans. This has a maximum of 50Mbps download and 20Mbps upload available. If you start streaming 4K Netflix movies to your TV, 25Mbps of your download bandwidth is gone, leaving a maximum of 25Mbps to be shared around. With two simultaneous 4K Netflix streams, you wouldn’t have any spare download bandwidth to do anything else. If you try to do something online, either the quality of your video streams would suffer or the other online activities would be slower than usual. Additionally, that’s assuming that your provider can deliver 50Mbps download speeds. Even if those speeds are at 45Mbps, which may be the case during the busy nightly period, an NBN 50 connection couldn’t comfortably handle two concurrent 4K Netflix streams. There are a handful of providers that have parity between the 100Mbps max NBN Fast download speeds and self-reported speeds, which you can see at the top of the table of NBN 100 providers below (ranked by speed). Telstra is the only NBN Superfast provider offering parity with the max potential 250Mbps download speeds, and the table below shows you the ranking of NBN Superfast plans from fastest to slowest. NBN Ultrafast is built for homes with a Von Trapp number of internet-hungry occupants or, alternatively, the gamer home that wants as little downtime as possible when downloading games or multi-gigabyte updates. This NBN speed tier can reach download speeds of up to 1,000Mbps and upload speeds of up to 50Mbps. If you’re looking for the fastest plans on this speed tier, Aussie Broadband and Origin Broadband are your best options. Check out the NBN 1000 plans below ranked in terms of fastest typical evening download speeds. While it’s a big step up from share your phone data by activating ‘hot spot’ mode, Home Wireless Broadband works in a very similar way. This type of internet technology connects to the same mobile phone tower your phone would, except it does so via a modem-router. That modem then shares the internet connection with the other devices in your home. The end result of this is a home internet connection with less wiring involved. As the name might suggest, 4G home wireless broadband relies on Australia’s 4G mobile networks. While these networks are technically capable of reaching speeds of up to 100Mbps in the right conditions, most 4G home wireless plans have speed caps of 20Mbps. While a 4G home wireless broadband connection plan might start at a lower price point than an NBN one, it’s rarely going to be faster and it’s never going to be quite as reliable as what a physical cable can offer. For that reason, 4G home wireless broadband isn’t really something that’s recommended for households of more than 2 people or those who need faster speeds. Those using 5G home internet should expect a minimum speed of 50Mbps. However, speeds can go as fast as 225Mbps for those using the Optus 5G network and up to 300Mbps relying on Telstra’s 5G network. The downside here is that whether or not you’re located in an area eligible for 5G home internet can be fairly hit or miss, as can the speeds involved. Factors like the distance of serviced homes from the nearest 5G tower and usual home networking factors, such as modem-router placement, can all have a big impact on the reality of 5G home internet. At the time of writing, all three major carriers in Australia now offer 5G home internet plans with prices starting around $80/month. As you might expect, the coverage of the Telstra, Vodafone and Optus networks varies wildly. We recommend using the tool to determine whether or not you live in an area with decent 5G coverage. You can select and deselect the telco network you’re most interested in, as well as switch between 5G, 4G and 3G mobile signals. Below is a table breaking down the different NBN speed tiers in terms of their maximum potential download speeds, upload speeds and the types of recommended activities. Note that each successive column entry for ‘Online activities’ also includes everything above it. At the time of writing, Australia was ranked 70 out of 180 with an average download speed of 87.86Mbps, upload speed of 28.21Mbps and latency of 23ms. For context, the global averages at the time of writing were 139.19Mbps for download, 77.84Mbps for upload and 18ms for latency. We can go a step further specifically for NBN users in Australia, though. By using the self-reported typical evening download speeds of the providers we track in our comparison engine, we get an idea of the average NBN fixed-line internet speed in Australia. It’s worth noting that the average internet speeds across tiers have been trending upward over the last few months as more and more providers boost their speeds. The table below uses quarterly ACCC data for 10 providers to showcase latency and webpage loading times (lower is better for both). For context, while all of the latency values in the table below are great, MyRepublic is more than double the two quickest providers (Superloop and Aussie Broadband). While webpage loading times are a lot closer and make for ultimately negligible differences, online gamers specifically should consider a provider that offers low latency. Below is a breakdown of online activities and the corresponding data requirements. Note that streaming services should be multiplied by the number of simultaneous streams to determine overall usage in your home (where relevant). For example, streaming Netflix in 4K on four devices simultaneously, the maximum number on a single account, would require 100Mbps of download speed to stream in uninterrupted 4K quality on all screens.
