There are very few NBN plans left that offer concession discounts, but this doesn't mean finding a cheap NBN plan for seniors can't be done. There are plenty of cheap internet plans from smaller providers, which are often cheaper than any special discount might get you from a bigger telco.
Switching providers has never been easier or faster, and contracts are largely a thing of the past, so you might as well give it a go. However, if your main email address is hosted by your current provider, that's a different matter. We'll go over the basics of this at the end of the article. But in the meantime, here are some useful tips for finding the cheapest NBN plans for pensioners and seniors.
Finding cheap NBN plans for seniors
There are a few key factors when looking for a cheap NBN plan for pensioners and seniors: senior-specific discounts, long-term price, NBN plan speed, customer service, phone line rental, and technical support. Almost all plans these days come with unlimited data, but there's at least one telco with data-limited plans aimed at seniors and pensioners, so it's worth keeping an eye out.
Senior discounts and long-term price
NBN plans with special discounts for seniors or pensioners don't always offer the best value, even when you manage to find a rare example. You'll often be better served by signing up to a normal cheap NBN plan that doesn't have pensioner discounts.
Also keep an eye out for introductory deals, which are temporary discounts for new customers that usually last about six months. While you can work this to your advantage by changing internet providers a couple of times per year (and therefore never pay full price), most people would rather not bother.
So, in our comparisons in this guide, we've ranked plans based on how much they'll cost you over the first 12 months after signing up. This helps to even out those intro discounts, without totally ignoring the savings they represent.
NBN plan speed
Plans that are specifically marketed as NBN for seniors and pensioners tend to be on the slower side – NBN 12 or occasionally NBN 25. We'd recommend even light users start their search with NBN 25, at least.
Your NBN connection technology can also dictate what speeds are available to you. Most households in Australia fall into the "fixed-line NBN" category, which is an umbrella term covering five NBN connection types: Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN), Fibre-to-the-Curb (FTTC), Fibre-to-the-Building (FTTB), Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC), and Fibre-to-the-Premises.
The latter two, HFC and FTTP, can access the full range of plan speeds. But FTTN, FTTC and FTTB are limited to a maximum of NBN 100.
Here's a quick summary:
- NBN 12 plans are often as or more expensive than the doubly-quick NBN 25. They also have a tiny 1Mbps upload limit, which will tank your whole connection (including downloads) when maxed out. We don't recommend these for anyone who has any reliance on the internet, no matter how minor.
- NBN 25 plans are suitable for light users in households of one-to-two people who really only use the internet for browsing, video streaming, or video calls. And if you regularly use video calls, look for a plan with upload speeds faster than 5Mbps (often called NBN 25/10).
- NBN 50 plans are also suitable for households with one-to-two people, but who need a bit more speed. More people are likely to fit into this bucket than NBN 25. However, NBN 50 plans are also only a tiny bit cheaper than the next speed tier up, making them poor value for money. But if you're certain you don't need anything faster, you may as well save a few bucks per month and stick with this speed tier.
- NBN 100 and NBN 500 plans are typically the same price as each other and most households fit into this bucket. If you have an FTTC, FTTN or FTTB connection to the NBN, the maximum plan speed you can get is NBN 100. If you have HFC or FTTP, you'll usually be offered NBN 500 for the same price as NBN 100.
As for anything faster than NBN 500, you probably don't need it (almost no-one does at this stage). And there certainly won't be any dedicated internet plans for seniors or pensioners, nor could you really consider any of those faster options "cheap".
Phone line rental
Home phone services over the NBN are also called VoIP, which stands for "Voice over Internet Protocol". Some NBN providers offer home phone services, but not all. And most that do offer it only provide limited included calls or treat it as a pay-as-you-go service. If you'd like more information, you can read our detailed VoIP guide.
Customer service and satisfaction
Every year, we conduct surveys customer satisfaction data, letting us hand out our WhistleOut Awards to the top-scoring providers. This year, we crowned Vodafone as the internet provider with the most-satisfied customers overall, as well as the highest satisfaction score for Price.
Aussie Broadband took home two satisfaction awards, one for Reliability and the other for Customer Service. Superloop's customers were the most satisfied when it came to Internet Speed, while Vodafone took home the satisfaction award for Price.
For additional information about a given telco's customer service, you can check its website for listed support times and practices. Here are a few things to look out for:
- Different modes of access – e.g. calling, text chat (with a human or chatbot), email, app, etc.
- Local or offshore support – if this matters to you
- Days and times of operation – not only when they operate, but how things change depending on time or day. E.g. calling might be Australia-based during business hours and via an international call centre during off hours.
NBN plans with senior discounts
Very few internet providers still offer senior discounts for NBN plans. We’ve consolidated some of them, but in most cases you’d be better off opting for run-of-the-mill cheaper NBN plans that don't have pensioner discounts.
Flip Connect NBN Plans for pensioners
Flip Connect now only offers special discounts on four NBN plans for pensioners: NBN 25, NBN 50, NBN 100, and NBN 500.
The seniors discounts only kick in once any catch-all introductory discount period ends. While the savings are fairly small, these plans are still worth considering, given Flip is already a pretty cheap NBN provider. And there's no lock-in contract, so you can easily change providers if you find something cheaper down the track.
To be eligible, you must have a Seniors Card, Pensioner Concession Card, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, or DVA Pensioner Card.
| NBN plan | Standard price | Seniors price | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBN 25 | $65.90/mth | $63.90/mth | $2 per month |
| NBN 50 | $84.90/mth | $80.90/mth | $4 per month |
| NBN 100 | $88.90/mth | $84.90/mth | $4 per month |
| NBN 500 | $88.90/mth | $84.90/mth | $4 per month |
These are the "ongoing" fees after any initial discount period has ended.
But, while any savings are nice, you can often find even cheaper NBN plans from other providers without seniors discounts.
Aussie Broadband NBN plans for pensioners
Aussie Broadband is one of the few carriers offering NBN plans specifically designed for seniors.
There are three options that bundle an NBN 12 plan with a home phone plan. Unusually, customers can choose between data limits of 100GB or unlimited data. The plans all include home phone line rental.
| Plan name | Cost | Monthly data | Home phone calls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seniors 100GB + Casual Phone | $50 per month | 100GB | 15c per local or interstate calls to Australian standard numbers. 22c per minute to mobile phones. |
| Seniors Unlimited + Casual Phone | $55 per month | Unlimited data | 15c per local or interstate calls to Australian standard numbers. 22c per minute to mobile phones. |
| Seniors 100GB + Everyday Phone | $60 per month | 100GB | Unlimited calls to local and interstate Australian standard numbers. Unlimited calls to mobile. |
If your internet needs are extremely low and you require a home phone service, these are some of the best NBN plans for seniors you're likely to find. Not only for the price (which hasn't gone up in around two years), but because Aussie Broadband is well known for customer satisfaction. But do keep in mind the severe 1Mbps upload speed limit of NBN 12 plans, which can catch even very light users off guard.
Also note the phone line call inclusions in the table above. The two cheapest plans are Pay As You Go (PAYG); they charge on a per-call basis for standard local and interstate numbers and per minute to mobile phones. This can add up if you make a lot of calls.
The most expensive plan has unlimited local and interstate calls, as well as unlimited calls to mobiles. But it only has 100GB of data per month, versus the unlimited data of the mid-priced plan.
Aussie Broadband and customer satisfaction
Aussie Broadband took home two WhistleOut Awards for customer satisfaction this year: one for Reliability and one for Customer Service.
Aussie was also awarded first place in the 2025 Roy Morgan customer satisfaction awards for Internet service provider of the year and consistently performs well in CHOICE's biennial Internet Provider Satisfaction Survey.
If this kind of customer service sounds like your cup of tea, but you need a faster plan than NBN 12, here are some of Aussie's other NBN plans:
Cheap NBN plans compared
We've covered the NBN plans with seniors and pensioner discounts, but you can often save more just by signing up to a cheaper standard plan from a smaller provider.
Let's compare the pricing of the cheapest NBN plans in our database of 34 internet providers. We've ranked the results by the total cost you'll pay over the first 12 months after signing up as a new customer. This helps balance out the effect any introductory discounts have on the rankings, without totally disregarding the savings they represent.
NBN 25 plans
These are the cheapest NBN 25 plans in our database:
NBN 50 plans
These are the cheapest NBN 50 plans in our database:
NBN 100 plans
These are the cheapest NBN 100 plans in our database:
NBN 500 plans
These are the cheapest NBN 500 plans in our database:
What about my email account?
While the advice might be too late now, you should never adopt an ISP-provided email account as your main one (e.g. one that ends in "@telconame"). Doing so doesn't provide any real benefits, but it does make changing providers laborious.
There are free email services that won't trap you with an internet provider (Gmail, Hotmail, and Apple are popular), plus many others that are relatively cheap. Just make sure whatever email service you sign up to is well established, especially if it's free. You don't want to sign up to a company that goes bust or cancels the email side of its business because it's deemed unprofitable.
Steps for changing email addresses
If you're parting ways with your provider and need a new email service as a result, you should get the ball rolling in advance. Here are a few steps to get you started:
- Create a new email account (not with another internet provider).
- Set up an auto-forward from your old email account to your new one. Any emails sent to your old address will be forwarded to your new one until the old address is deleted.
- Export your old email account's contact list and import it into your new one, if possible. The method for this depends on the service, but your ISP should be able to help with the exporting part. And you can probably use a web search to handle the importation.
- Also export your email history from your old account. If you have a lot of emails, the download might take quite a while. The method depends on the provider or email service, but your ISP should be able to run you through it. The emails will be saved as files, so you'll need somewhere to safe store them. Once you've exported your email history, you might be able to import it to your new email account, but it's not guaranteed. At the very least, you'll have everything on file in case you need it.
- Start the slow process of switching all your important online accounts and contacts over to the new email address before the old one is deleted. Many online services use your email account as an authentication method, so you'll be out of luck if said account sends a verification email to the old, deleted address.
These are the main steps to take for switching email accounts, but there might be others that apply to your situation. Take a look around the web and see if anyone else has advice that works for you. But be careful about downloading any third-party programs that claim to make things easier unless you feel confident you can trust them.
FAQs about cheap NBN for seniors
Let's take a look at some frequently asked questions about internet speed, monthly data usage, and what happens to your email account if you switch providers.
How much speed do I need?
The NBN speed you need depends on how many people use your connection and what they use it for. There are many NBN speed tiers, but some will be excessive for many smaller households or light internet users. NBN 25 and NBN 50 plans will suit many pensioner households, though NBN 50 is fairly poor value for money compared to the much-faster NBN 100 and NBN 500 speed tiers. NBN 12 plans aren't advisable because most are as or more expensive than NBN 25 plans.
How much data do I need?
It's very rare to come across an NBN plan with limited data these days. Two of Aussie Broadband's seniors internet plans are rare exceptions, each of which comes with a small 100GB limit. This is pretty restrictive for most users, so be very sure you can get by with such a small amount. In any case, your provider should have an easy way of you checking how much data you've use in the past month or two, giving you a good idea of your usage habits.
Do I need a new modem or router?
You don't need a new router every time you switch providers. In the vast majority of cases, your existing modem or router will keep working with your new provider, but you might need to change settings like a username or password, which your new provider should be able to provide, if necessary.
Should I accept a free modem or router?
Free modem routers from internet providers always come with a caveat, usually in the form of a minimum term. Stick with that brand for 24 or 36 months (telco dependent), and your free modem router is yours to keep. But if you leave before the time is up, there's often some kind of hardware fee. This can be a flat payment or an amount based on how many months short of the mark you are. Some providers let you return your hardware in good working order (within a specific number of days) to avoid the fee, but this isn't universal.
What happened to iiNet's seniors NBN plan?
iiNet has discontinued its Seniors Card Plan, which was one of the market's last NBN plans with a seniors discount.
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Alex Angove-Plumb
Digital Content Editor
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