This article is sponsored by Dodo.
Most internet providers push faster NBN plans as the default choice for all Aussie homes. Like chips with your burger, we're encouraged to pay more or risk missing out, implying that lower speed plans will leave you staring at loading screens. But for many households, even couples who both work from home, paying for that extra speed means buying capacity that is rarely used.
This is because NBN speed is as much a measure of maximum capacity, or bandwidth, as it is raw download speeds. Think of it like a pipe carrying water to your home, where the speed tier is the diameter of the pipe. You can pay for a bigger pipe, but this doesn't mean that the water flows faster into the sink; that depends on how far you open the taps.
The same is true here. Higher capacity NBN plans are great when you have multiple devices all trying to watch Netflix at the same time, but a bigger pipe won't make browsing the web on your laptop feel any zippier.
The annual cost of paying for speed you don't need
In many circumstances, choosing a high bandwidth NBN plan is basically a FOMO tax, but how much can you save? Looking at Dodo’s current fixed-line NBN pricing shows how quickly these savings add up.
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Dodo
All Fixed Line nbn®
nbn25 Unlimited Plan
$43.99/mth
Min. cost $43.99
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Dodo
All Fixed Line nbn®
Editor's Pick
nbn50 Unlimited Plan
$57.99/mth
Min. cost $57.99
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Dodo
FTTN, FTTB, FTTC
Editor's Pick
nbn100 Unlimited Plan
$62.99/mth
Min. cost $62.99
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Dodo’s nbn25 Unlimited Plan currently costs $43.99 per month for the first 6 months ($73.99 per month after the first 6 months). Stepping up to the nbn100 Unlimited Plan increases the cost to $60.99 per month with a similar discount ($92.99 per month after the first 6 months). That's up to $32 per month you could be saving for 6 months. Plan prices may change. New and returning nbn customers only. This is a WhistleOut exclusive offer.
Over 6 months, these savings add up to $192 just by choosing the nbn25 Unlimited Plan. Dodo offers a $30 monthly discount for the first six months to new and returning nbn customers across all these plans.
A day in the life of your NBN plan
A decision like this hinges on whether 25 Mbps is enough in your household. The value of higher capacity plans is obvious when every device in your home demands data continuously throughout the day, but this is not the case in many homes. When you break down a typical work-from-home day hour by hour, the actual demand on your connection remains consistently low.
9:00 am: You open your laptop to check emails, download a couple of PDFs and open links to spreadsheets. This requires less than 5 Mbps of bandwidth. You listen to music or stream a podcast while you do this, but this only adds 320kbps to the mix at the highest audio quality settings.
11:00 am: You join a video meeting on Zoom or Microsoft Teams. A reliable HD video call requires roughly 4 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload.
2:00 pm: You download a large 1 GB project file. On an NBN 25 connection, this takes a little over five minutes.
7:30 pm: One person streams a movie in full-HD resolution while another person browses websites on a phone. The video stream on Netflix or Stan needs between 5 and 8 Mbps. Even if you love doom-scrolling TikTok while watching TV, this only adds about 2Mbps to the capacity you need at this time.
As you can see, even during peak evening hours, these standard online activities rarely run at maximum capacity at the exact same time. A stable NBN 25 connection handles this entire daily sequence without performance issues.
Dodo's nbn25 Unlimited Plan has a typical evening speed (7pm–11pm) of 25 Mbps download, 9 Mbps upload. Speeds for Fibre to the Node (FTTN) and Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) customers will be confirmed once connected. Fixed Wireless speeds are slower than fixed connections. See About nbn® Speeds for more info.
How to check your actual network needs
If you're currently on a higher-bandwidth plan, it can be tricky to test whether switching to NBN 25 is right for you, but there are a couple of tools that can help.
Firstly, most modern routers feature a simple management page or smartphone app with a traffic monitor tab that displays real-time data usage. Exactly how much of this data you can view will depend on how the manufacturer has developed this app, but it is an easy, free way to start looking for this information.
If your peak usage stays under the 25 Mbps mark, checking the current plan options on the Dodo website is a step toward lowering your monthly bills. And with all Dodo plans offered with no lock-in contract, you can try NBN 25 for a month or two, and if NBN 25 isn't quite right for your household, it's easy to switch between plans online or through the Dodo App to make sure you and your family have the speed and performance you need.
Internet Provider Of The Year
Dodo has won WhistleOut's top internet gong for the second year running. Dodo came top of our lists for almost every NBN category, offering consistently great customer value across its NBN services.
Joseph Hanlon
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