Vodafone is the newest provider to offer gigabit NBN plans

By Alex Choros

Last updated 02 July 2020

Vodafone today joined the likes of Aussie Broadband and Superloop in offering customers NBN plans with speeds faster than 100Mbps. Vodafone customers are now able to pick from NBN 250 and NBN 1000 plans, in addition to the traditional NBN speed tiers.

Vodafone's NBN 1000 is the priciest out of the bunch, billed at $155 per month with unlimited data and typical evening speeds of 250Mbps. For comparison, Aussie Broadband and Superloop both charge $149 per both for NBN 1000 plans.

Vodafone's NBN 250 plan is $135 per month with unlimited data, and typical evening speeds of 200Mbps. Aussie Broadband and Superloop NBN 250 plans start at $129 per month, and MyRepublic's NBN 250 plan is billed at $109 per month.

A Vodafone spokesperson noted that the company has seen "significantly higher speed on these plans", but has published a more conservative speed claim until it has further testing data.

Both plans are available on a contract-free basis, but can bundled with a Vodafone modem with 4G backup. Customers that choose to bundle the modem will receive it at no-extra charge, but will need to pay an exit fee if they leave within their first 36 months. The modem fee is equivalent to $5 multiplied by the number of months remaining in the three-year term.

Vodafone mobile customers are eligible for discounts on Vodafone NBN plans. Vodafone will reduce 5% from a customer's total bill for each service after the first, up to a maximum discount of 20% with five services on the same account.

At present, Vodafone's NBN 250 and NBN 1000 plans are only available to customers who call up or head into a Vodafone store.

Vodafone Chief Consumer Officer Ana Bordeianu says the telco introduced the faster speed tiers in response to the strong take up of its NBN 100 plans.

"Around 40% of our customers have chosen our [NBN 100] plan so we know that there is strong demand for higher speed plans in the Australian market," said Bordeianu.

"Connected devices are on the rise in Australia, going from 17 devices per household in 2018 to an expected 37 devices per household by 2022. Couple this trend with increasing working from home, online homework, and streaming services, and it becomes even more important for Australians to have the right home broadband solution."

The move makes the Vodafone the first out of the "big three telcos" - which also includes Telstra and Optus - to launch plans with speeds faster than NBN 100.

Vodafone's announcement today follows news of MyRepublic launching its own NBN 250 plan earlier in the week.

NBN 250 and NBN 1000 plans are only available to customers connecting to the NBN via FTTP and HFC. All FTTP customers can get either plan, but only 70% of HFC customers can get NBN 250 speeds, and only 7% can get NBN 1000.

NBN Co intends to upgrade the HFC portion of the network to ensure all customers can sign-up for an NBN 250 plan by June 2021.