There’s no doubt you’ve heard the term "NBN" and it was probably mixed up amongst some confusing acronyms and technical mumbo jumbo. Well we’re here to help. In this guide, we'll cover everything you could want to know about connecting to the NBN and the things you need to know to order a plan with confidence.
What is the NBN?
The National Broadband Network (NBN) is an Australia-wide project funded by the Federal Government to provide all homes and businesses with a fast, reliable connection to the internet.
The NBN is designed to "future-proof" Australian homes and businesses by replacing older, dated infrastructure with new, supercharged connections. With internet access becoming so integral to both our work and personal lives, it makes sense to build a sturdier, faster broadband network, especially in a geographically isolated country like Australia.
When can I get the NBN?
If you haven't received notice that the NBN is now available at your premises, there's an easy way to find out when you'll be getting it. Simply enter your address in our broadband search tool below, and we'll give you an estimate of when it will be rolled out in your neighbourhood, and show you comparable ADSL, cable or wireless broadband plans that you can sign up for in the meantime.
If you already have access to the NBN at your address, we'll let you know which NBN services and providers are now offering NBN plans in your area.
How do I connect to the NBN?
Once the NBN is live in your area, all you need to do to connect is pick a provider and choose a plan. Although NBN Co builds and owns the network, you'll be buying access to it from a internet service provider like Optus, Telstra, TPG, iiNet, or Aussie Broadband.
Place your NBN order (either online, via the phone, or in a retail store), and your new provider will take care of switching your current internet service over to your new plan.
If your home is ready to connect, you'll have most likely received a letter from NBN Co informing you of this fact.
While you'll need to pay for your NBN plan (and potential hardware fees if you need a new modem), in most cases, the process of connecting your home to the NBN is completely free, as the Government is covering the cost.
The letter from NBN Co should also inform you of which technology type you'll be connecting with. Seven different technology types make up the National Broadband Network. Your exact setup process can vary depending on which technology exists in your area, but you'll ultimately be connected to the same network as everyone else.
Here are the NBN connection types and the break-down of how many Australian homes and businesses are likely to use them. These pages also cover the exact equipment you'll need to get online with each technology type.
- Fibre to the Premises - approx 19%
- Fibre to the Node/Fibre to the Building - approx 40%
- Fibre to the Curb - approx 12%
- HFC Cable - approx 23%
- Fixed Wireless - approx 4%
- Satellite / Sky Muster - approx 1.5%
Importantly, you don't get to choose which technology is used to connect your home to the NBN. The specifics of the rollout have been decided on by NBN Co based on which technology works best at each address.
After you've ordered a plan, your NBN provider will organise an installation date and time, plus guide you through anything else you need to know to get connected. Be prepared for the fact that there may be a small period of downtime between switching off your ADSL and switching on your NBN.
If you're without internet during the switch-over for more than three days, your carrier is obliged to offer an interim service, for example, more mobile data or credit towards mobile data, while you wait.
If you're renting, make sure you have landlord permission before installing, and for those living in units or apartments, you may also need to double check with your building's management or Strata before hooking up your service.
For more information about switching over your service to the NBN, click here.
If the NBN isn't live in your area, it shouldn't take too much longer; Teams of installers working hard to connect every home to the network. The vast majority of homes and businesses should be connected by the end of the 2020.
How fast is the NBN?
NBN plans are offered on four different speed tiers.
NBN speeds
| Tier | Maximum download speed | Maximum upload speed |
| NBN 12 (Basic) | 12Mbps | 1Mbps |
| NBN 25 (Standard) | 25Mbps | 5Mbps |
| NBN 50 (Standard Plus) | 50Mbps | 20Mbps |
| NBN 100 (Premium) | 100Mbps | 20Mbps or 40Mbps |
The speeds in the table above are the maximum speeds you can get on these plans. However, the actual speeds you get at home will still be dependent on:
- The NBN plan and provider you choose.
- Congestion during peak hours (this is what is meant by 'evening speeds').
So which NBN speed do you need? Let our quick video to help you decide:
NBN speed is a shared resource. If you subscribe to an NBN 50 plan, your 50Mbps is shared between every person and device in your household.
For example, if you're streaming a movie on Netflix, the internet may be slower for everyone else using your connection at the same time. Faster NBN speeds mean there's more capacity to share: you can stream all the video you want and no one else will notice any slow-down.
For households with two people or more, we generally advise choosing an NBN 50 plan. If your household has four people or more, you may be better off going with an NBN 100 plan. We don't often recommend choosing an NBN 12 or NBN 25 plan these days, as these plans don't represent good value in most cases.
If you're looking at NBN 100 plan, you should be aware that there are now two different types of NBN 100 plan: NBN 100 / 20 and NBN 100 / 40. Both types of plans offer download speeds of up to 100Mbps, but an NBN 100 / 20 plan has slower upload speeds than an NBN 100 / 40 plan.
Read more about the difference between an NBN 100 / 20 plan and an NBN 100 / 40 plan here.
NBN evening speeds
Much in the same way that traffic on the road can slow down during peak hours, the NBN can too. And for pretty much the same reason. You share the NBN with other people in your neighbourhood and connections tend to slow down in the evenings, when everyone is jumping online to stream, surf, download, and more.
Evening speeds indicate how fast your connection will be at the times you use it most. They are a measure of the typical speeds a provider delivers to its users nightly from 7pm - 11pm.
How much do they slow down? It varies greatly from provider to provider, but here's what you should expect as a baseline, according to the ACCC:
| Speed Tier | Maximum Speed | Evening Speed |
| NBN 12 (Basic) | 12Mbps | 7Mbps |
| NBN 25 (Standard) | 25Mbps | 15Mbps |
| NBN 50 (Standard Plus) | 50Mbps | 30Mbps |
| NBN 100 (Premium) | 100Mbps | 60Mbps |
Fortunately, these days, many NBN providers are achieving evening speeds that are much faster than this. And there are some easy ways to find out how your provider performs compared to the market.
The ACCC regularly tests real-world NBN speeds on plans offered by all the major providers. We've taken a look at the most recent ACCC test results here.
In addition, many NBN providers now perform their own testing and publish typical evening speeds their customers can expect. We've collected that information and taken a look at how provider evening speeds compare here.
How much does the NBN cost?
The National Broadband Network will be installed at your home free of charge. However, you will have to pay for an NBN plan to cover your monthly usage.
The cost of a plan will vary based on the speed you want and the provider you go with. The price of NBN plans is always changing, but you can expect to pay somewhere between $60 and $100 per month for your connection. Some cheap NBN plans can even push the price below $60 per month, although with these plans you tend to make a sacrifice on speed or data allowance.
Best value: NBN Standard Plus (NBN 50)
Maximum Speed: 50Mbps
Typical Evening Speed: 30-45Mbps
What to expect: NBN 50 plans are a good option for families. You'll have enough speed to ensure everyone can use the internet at the same time, without any fights breaking out over how long YouTube is taking to buffer.
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Tangerine Telecom 
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Internode 
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SpinTel 
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Belong 
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MATE 
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MyRepublic 
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Best for internet lovers: NBN Premium (NBN 100)
Maximum Speed: 100Mbps
Typical Evening Speed: 60-90Mbps
What to expect: NBN 100 plans are the best bet for large households and anyone who regularly downloads or uploads large files. Games will download at breakneck speed and everyone from the kids to grandma can binge different shows on Netflix, all at the same time.
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Tangerine Telecom
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Vodafone 
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Kogan Internet 
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MATE
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Superloop 
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SpinTel
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Best for moderate budgets: NBN Standard (NBN 25)
Maximum Speed: 25Mbps
Typical Evening Speed: 15-20Mbps
What to expect: NBN 25 plans are better suited to one or two person households. There's not much you can do online that needs a faster speed than NBN 25, but you may notice slower speeds if multiple people are using your connection at the same time.
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Tangerine Telecom
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Belong
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SpinTel
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Kogan Internet
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Superloop
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Southern Phone 
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Best for tight budgets: NBN Basic (NBN 12)
Maximum Speed: 12Mbps
Typical Evening Speed: 7-10Mbps
What to expect: NBN 12 plans are best for basic internet usage, such as web browsing, email, and social media. You can still stream HD video through Netflix and YouTube, but you won't be able to do much else with your connection at the same time.
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MATE
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TPG 
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iiNet 
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Westnet 
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Southern Phone
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Installation and set-up costs
Depending on the kind of NBN plan you take up, you may need to pay your provider an installation or hardware fee; no-contract plans are more likely to incur these costs than a 12- or 24-month agreement.
In addition, if you are connecting a newly developed house to the NBN, and there has never been any telecommunications services connected to the property before, NBN Co will charge your service provider a once-off $300 contribution fee, which may then be passed on to to you as part of your set-up costs.
TV and phone bundles
If you still rely on a landline to make domestic and international calls, you can bundle your home phone service in with your NBN plan. Depending on your provider, this may be included in your plan price anyway, or cost you a little extra each month.
Some providers also offer entertainment extras as part of their NBN packages, such as a Fetch TV set-top box (offered by Optus, iiNet and others) or a Telstra TV set-top box (offered by Telstra). Adding an entertainment package will mean your NBN plan costs more, but it is are optional. For more info on TV bundles and pricing, click here.
Editor's pick: Best NBN plans
Looking for a quick pick for your NBN plan? Our dedicated team of experts reads over 1,400 plan documents every week, and every month they pick out the top value options. Check out:
Can I keep my home phone on the NBN?
Your existing home phone and internet services will be disconnected 18 months after your home is connected to the NBN. If you want to maintain a phone or internet service at your house, you'll need to change to an NBN plan before the cut-off date.
Unlike your old landline which was delivered over a copper connection, your new home phone will make and receive calls using the internet via the NBN. This type of phone service is known as Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP. Your experience of a VoIP landline should be similar to your existing landline experience in a lot of ways, except one: if or when the power and/or internet goes down in your home, your landline connection will go down too.
For this reason, we recommend keeping a cheap, prepaid mobile phone in your home, in case of an emergency. For more information see our guides on home phone cut-off and VoIP service.
Do I have to connect to the NBN?
Even if you're happy with your current internet service, sooner or later your neighbourhood will become NBN-ready, and you'll be prompted to move to an NBN plan. You can put off making the switch, but as fixed-line NBN services will be replacing your existing landline network, you'll eventually need to change your plan.
You'll have 18 months to switch to the NBN after your neighbourhood is upgraded. After this period, existing landline and ADSL broadband services will be permanently switched off, so you'll need to make sure you've made the move to an NBN plan in time - last-minute changeovers may mean you'll be without internet while your new service is activated.
The good news is that making the switch means you'll (hopefully) have fast and reliable internet, no matter where in Australia you're located. If the NBN at your home turns out not to be reliable, however, you do have the option to switch to a home wireless plan instead.
Home wireless is internet delivered to your home over the same mobile networks used by your smartphone. Home wireless plans now come with speed and data allowances high enough to replace your home connection.
If you're nervous about signing up for an NBN plan, you can also choose a no-contract option first, so you can try out your connection and provider, before making a long-term commitment.
Got slow NBN?
If you're already connected to the NBN and you're not happy with its performance, there are a number of possible reasons, including:
- Your home's distance from the node
- Congestion on your provider's network
- Wrong speed tier on your plan
See our full guide on why your NBN might be slow and, more importantly, what you can do about it.
Are there alternatives to the NBN?
Short answer? Yes. As briefly discussed above, if you're not happy with your NBN connection at home, you do have the option to switch to home wireless instead.
Home wireless is internet designed for a home connection that is delivered over a mobile network – the same networks utilised by your smartphone. But it's important to note that the quality of your mobile broadband connection is dependent on mobile signal. If you don't get good mobile reception at your house, home wireless is probably not a good option.
Home wireless plans can offer download speeds of up to 100Mbps. However, our real-world testing has generally found speeds of between 20Mbps and 50Mbps are more achievable. It's also important to note that many home wireless plans have their speeds capped to 12Mbps, which is equivalent to NBN Basic speed (NBN 12). Be sure to check speeds offered before signing up, so you know what you're in for.
Here are some home wireless plans with included modem and at least 200GB of data.
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SpinTel
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Yomojo 
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Link not supplied
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Optus 
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Link not supplied
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Southern Phone
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Optus
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Optus
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