The National Broadband Network has the potential to supercharge the average Australian internet connection, but how fast is fast enough? Do you have high enough speeds for your browsing needs or are you living a life of excess?
In this guide, we'll walk you through each NBN speed tier and provide recommendations on which one would be best for you:
- NBN 50 (Standard Plus) speed: 50 Mbps download / 20 Mbps upload
- NBN 100 (Premium) speed: 100 Mbps download / 40 Mbps upload
- NBN 100 / 20: 100 Mbps download / 20 Mbps upload
- NBN 25 (Standard) speed: 25 Mbps download / 5 Mbps upload
- NBN 12 (Basic) speed: 12 Mbps download / 1 Mbps upload
Confused about NBN speeds?
Watch our quick video to get you up to speed and find out what’s best for your household. And we did it with LEGO!
What is Mbps?
Before we start, you’ll need to understand what "megabits per second", or Mbps means.
Mbps (note the lower case b – an upper case one means something else) is a universal method used to measure how fast data travels along the network. More Mbps means a faster connection, less means a slower one.
The number of Mbps is also the capacity of your internet connection. Each task you do online occupies a certain amount of this capacity. So, with each new user and task on your connection, the remaining capacity drops. Remember - less Mbps means a slower connection and you can do fewer things at the same time.
As a rule of thumb, your internet will need to be faster if you have a lot of people and devices that access the connection.
NBN 50 (Standard Plus): The great all rounder
Download speeds
- Up to 50Mbps
- Around 30-45Mbps during peak hours*
Upload speeds
- Up to 20Mbps
These plans are your best bang for buck option when it comes to the NBN. They're a significant speed upgrade over most ADSL connections and are pretty affordable.
They're also a good option for families - households with between two and four people. An NBN 50 plan will ensure everyone in your household is able to partake in their favourite online activities, whether it's streaming movies and music, online gaming, sharing memes and photos, or video calling with overseas friends and family.
You might not think any individual online activity in your life requires NBN 50 speeds, but your NBN connection is a shared resource. When you subscribe to an NBN 50 plan, your 50Mbps is divided up between every person and device in your household. For example, if one person is using 10Mbps to watch a video on YouTube, there's only 40Mbps left for everyone else.
* The exact peak speeds you will experience will depend on your provider's evening speeds.
NBN 100 (Premium): A must for internet lovers
Download speeds
- Up to 100Mbps
- Around 60-90Mbps during peak hours*
Upload speeds
- Up to 40Mbps
These plans are the best bet for large households and anyone who regularly downloads or uploads large files. Games will download so much faster, and everyone from the kids to grandma can binge different shows on Netflix, all at the same time.
The fast upload speeds also make this a good option for small businesses which may need to share work with clients, or for backing up business documents to the cloud.
However, the speed is known as Premium for a reason. You tend to pay about $20 to $30 more per month for an NBN 100 connection over an NBN 50 plan. The maximum speeds are twice as fast, but ask yourself if you'll make use of them.
* The exact peak speeds you will experience will depend on your provider's evening speeds.
NBN 100 / 20: For bingers and movie marathoners
Download speeds
- Up to 100Mbps
- Around 60-90Mbps during peak hours*
Upload speeds
- Up to 20Mbps
Not yet widely available, NBN 100 / 20 come with all the benefits of a Premium NBN plan but with a slower upload speed and a cheaper price tag.
Slower upload speeds mean that sharing content may take a bit longer, but it 20Mbps is more than fast enough to share photos and it won’t affect your general browsing and internet usage at all. The vast majority of NBN users won’t notice the slower upload speeds at all.
With a saving of about $10 per month, if you’re an avid streamer and memer, then it might be worth looking into this as a lower cost option.
* The exact peak speeds you will experience will depend on your provider's evening speeds.
NBN 25 (Standard): Just okay
Download speeds
- Up to 25Mbps
- Around 15-20Mbps during peak hours*
Upload speeds
- Up to 5Mbps
These plans are best suited to one a one person household. 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 once.
A lot of providers no longer offer NBN 25 speeds, or offer it for the same price as NBN 50, thanks to a rejig in NBN wholesale pricing.
Some providers do still offer NBN 25 plans at a discount, however, so if you really need to save the cash, it could be an option for you. But in most cases, we'd say the sacrifice in speed doesn't make up for any marginal savings on offer.
* The exact peak speeds you will experience will depend on your provider's evening speeds.
NBN 12 (Basic): Barebone connectivity
Download speeds
- Up to 12Mbps
- Around 7Mbps during peak hours
Upload speeds
- Up to 1Mbps
NBN 12 (Basic Evening Speed) is a basic internet connection, roughly equivalent to the average speeds you'd get on ADSL2+. A NBN 12 connection is only really suitable for day-to-day internet usage. It won't wow you, but it's still enough to stream high definition video from the likes of Netflix, Stan, YouTube, or Foxtel Now.
For many, NBN 12 should still be faster than ADSL speeds, but we'd recommend it in very few cases. NBN 12 may be suitable if your household doesn't have heavy internet users, or you rarely use streaming video services.
However, recent NBN pricing changes means there's no longer much of a discount to be had by picking an NBN 12 plan. At time of writing, unlimited data NBN 12 and NBN 50 plans both start at about $60 per month. Given an NBN 50 plan is literally four times faster, there's no reason not to get the faster plan when they're both the same price.
You can however save a little bit on NBN 12 plans if you opt for a smaller download allowance.
More NBN Speeds coming in 2020
If NBN 100 just isn’t doing it for you then don’t stress because there might be more speeds coming.
NBN 250Mbps and NBN 1000Mbps
Remember when we said that the higher the Mbps the faster the internet – well, feel free to get excited.
With speeds of 250Mbps you can download an album in around 3 seconds and with 1000Mbps, it would be instantaneous.
It’s worth noting that these plans are just proposals at this stage and could very well not even be established with providers, let alone passed on to consumers.
Until then we can dream.
What's the difference in download times?
So how much of a difference does a faster NBN connection make to your download times? Below we've got a list of common files you might download paired with how long it would take to download them on each NBN speed tier.
| Download | NBN 12 | NBN 25 | NBN 50 | NBN 100 | NBN 250 | NBN 1000 |
| A music album (approx. 100MB) | 1 min | 33 sec | 16 sec | 8 sec | 3 sec | Instant |
| Photoshop (approx. 1GB) | 12 min | 6 min | 3 min | 1.5 min | 34 sec | 8 sec |
| A HD movie on iTunes (approx. 5GB) | 59 min | 29 min | 14 min | 7 min | 2 min 51 sec | 42 sec |
| A new release game (approx. 50GB) | 10 hours | 4 hours, 45 min | 2 hours, 20 min | 1 hour 10 min | 28 min 37 sec | 7 min 9 sec |
What are NBN evening speeds?
Much in the same way as the traffic on the road slows down during peak hours, the internet can too. This is especially true on the NBN, so internet service providers are changing the way in which they advertise the speeds you'll get on your plan.
Currently, most ISPs will tell you the maximum potential speed of the NBN plan you're signing up for, but will also tell you the speeds you can expect during peak hours, when everyone else is online. These are being referred to as "evening speeds".
Evening Speed in a term coined by the ACCC, who set out the following suggested guidelines. Peak hour speeds will however vary depending on your provider, and what connection type you are using. In some cases evening speeds will be faster, in some they may be slower.
NBN Speed Tiers
| Tier | Maximum speed | Evening speed |
| Basic Evening Speed (NBN 12) | 12Mbps | 7Mbps |
| Standard Evening Speed (NBN 25) | 25Mbps | 15Mbps |
| Standard Plus Evening Speed (NBN 50) | 50Mbps | 30Mbps |
| Premium Evening Speed (NBN 100) | 100Mbps | 60Mbps |
| Premium Evening Speed (NBN 100 / 20) | 100Mbps | 60Mbps |
Peak internet usage hours are defined as the time between 7pm and 11pm. Your upload speeds may also be reduced during peak hours.
NBN Speed FAQ
Do I need different equipment if I want faster speeds?
In most cases, you won't need to change your modem or router if you take up a faster speed pack for your NBN. However, better hardware can help if you've got Wi-Fi connectivity issues for example, which may make it easier to take advantage of your improved speeds.
Can I change speeds month-to-month?
Generally, yes. If you're on a NBN plan that has the option for speed packs or if you're on a contract-free plan, you can typically change your speed pack once per month.
What's the difference between download speeds and upload speeds?
Your download speed refers to how quickly you're able to get files from the internet, while upload speeds relate to how fast you're able to send files to other places online. For example, your upload speeds will determine how long it takes send an email with a large attachment, back your photos up to Google Drive, or plonk a big document on Dropbox.
Upload speeds can also affect video calls, Voice over IP, and gaming, as these use cases all require both sending and receiving data.
Do I need fast upload speeds?
The average Australian internet user is a lot more reliant on download speeds for the majority of their broadband usage. However, if you regularly use video chat or Voice over IP applications, rely on cloud-based backup services such as Dropbox or Google Drive, or tend to send clients large files, you'll see big benefits from getting a connection with faster upload.
Why am I not getting the advertised speeds?
While NBN plans are advertised with a theoretical maximum speed, your connection could be slower than what you're paying for.
If you've got a fibre-to-the-node NBN connection, the most common reason for slower-than-advertised speeds is distance from the node. Customers within 400m of a node should be able to get speeds of up to 100Mbps, while customers further than 700m will start to see more significant speed degradation.
Congestion is another possible cause of slow down. If you're only noticing slower speeds at certain times, it's probably because everyone else in your neighbourhood is trying to pirate Game of Thrones simultaneously.
A failing modem can also impact your internet speeds. If you're not sure what speeds you're actually getting, you can run a quick and easy speed test here.
Want more information about the NBN?
Got questions? We've got answers. Whether you want to know what the NBN is, how to connect, if you have to connect, how much it will cost, what the alternatives are, or something else entirely, check out our complete guide to the NBN.
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