Since the NBN speed upgrades arrived in September this year, I have been quite vocal about my opinion on the value offered by the NBN tier 500. Although, until now, this opinion has been largely speculative, as all claims about actual speeds have come from the providers themselves.
Now that’s all changed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) releasing its latest broadband performance measurement report. Published today (December 17), the new report confirms that the NBN 500 more than delivers on performance promises.
To give you a general overview of the NBN 500 level (and before we get into some serious numbers), the ACCC has confirmed that “[the] The average download speed on the enhanced NBN Home Fast plan during the peak hours of 7pm to 11pm on weekdays was 503.9 Mbps, with 80.5% of services on this plan achieving an average peak hour speed above 500 Mbps. In short, NBN 500 plans are actually overdelivery on speed, further cementing them as an exceptional value option for any Australian home that can access them.
The most efficient providers
As with previous ACCC broadband reports (which we often use here at TechRadar to back up any claims we make when recommending certain internet service providers), the performance data is broken down by provider and time of day. The ACCC relies on monitoring actual customer connections, with the nine providers mentioned in the new report all having crossed a minimum threshold of 40 users in total. These providers consist of the “big three” Telstra, Optus and TPG, as well as a selection of smaller providers such as Exetel and Leaptel. Data is then collected at all hours of the day and at identified peak hours in the evening, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
In what may surprise some, Optus came out on top, delivering 104.5% of advertised speeds during all hours of the day and 103.7% during the busiest times. Exetel, which consistently performs well in the ACCC reports, comes a close second, recording 103.8% and 103.4% respectively for the same periods.
The top three is completed by TPG, which achieved 103.4% of the package’s advertised speeds during all hours and 102.8% during the busiest evening hours. You can see the full results graph in the image below.
These figures encompass all plans offered by a provider, so in the case of Optus this means the slower NBN 25 and faster NBN 1000 plans are also taken into account. In Exetel’s case, however, only NBN 500 is considered, since the provider has only been offering its new 500 Mbps “One” package since June.
And in what could be interpreted as evidence that offering a single plan can benefit end users (and should be simpler to manage from a provider’s perspective), Exetel was the only provider out of the four mentioned in the report to successfully deliver four simultaneous 4K video streams 100% of the time. Aussie Broadband, Leaptel and Telstra were also evaluated: Telstra was able to consistently get three streams without any issues, while Leaptel managed two and Aussie Broadband only managed one.
Proof that fiber upgrade works
The main thing to know with NBN 500 (and faster) plans is that you’ll need a fiber to the premises (FTTP) or hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) connection type to access them. If you don’t already have one, you’re likely eligible for NBN Co’s free fiber upgrade which will install the equipment needed for an FTTP connection for free. If you qualify for the latter solution, I 100% recommend you take advantage of it.
For what? Because ACCC data shows that customers with a combination of an FTTP connection and an NBN 500 plan will benefit the most. Data shows that this specific pairing allowed customers to achieve 102.9% of the plan’s speeds during all hours of the day – 514.5 Mbps – and 102.5% during the busiest hours – 512.5 Mbps.
In contrast, customers on the same plan with an HFC connection only achieved 97.8% and 97.4% of the plan speeds during the same respective periods.
(Interestingly, customers with an FTTP connection and an NBN 750 plan only achieved 97.6% and 97.3% of the speed of their advertised plan – which in my opinion only reinforces the great value of the NBN 500 plans.)
Not fully supplied with fiber? No problem!
If you connect to the fixed NBN via older technology like fiber to the node (FTTN) or fiber to the curb (FTTC), the maximum plan speed you can achieve is 100 Mbps. While that may be all the speed less demanding households need, with 5x faster NBN 500 plans generally costing the same as their 100Mbps counterparts, it makes more sense to get the upgrade in my opinion.
Still, if you’re using one of these connection types, there’s also some good news in the ACCC report. The consumer watchdog found that customers connecting via an FTTN connection could achieve 104.7% of plan speeds on NBN 25, 95.6% on NBN 50 and 90.1% on NBN 100. While the latter two figures are less than 100%, they’re not too far off. Additionally, these figures represent an average of all providers tracked.
Overall, FTTN connections across all available speed tiers achieved 95.8% of their package’s advertised speed. FTTC fares well, achieving 105.1% of advertised plan speeds across all available tiers.
What packages to get?
In my opinion, what the ACCC data ultimately shows is that you should be able to turn to any NBN provider for fast service. So it makes sense to opt for an affordable plan. I’ve selected what I think are the best affordable options for each speed level below, and you can also click through my dedicated guides for each level for more options.
