Congestion-free NBN is a new commodity that is exciting because it delivers the NBN we as Australians once thought was a given. At the dawn of the NBN when you heard the term NBN 50, you rightfully assumed that the speed you would get was 50Mbps - but that wasn't the case. With congestion-free NBN however, it is.
In the past the NBN has been most well-known for it's underperformance. We all want high speed internet, we want it now, and we all want to use it at the exact same time.
What we tend to forget is that the NBN is a shared commodity and it's being divvied up between the majority of Australians. When a good chunk of people are using the network it becomes congested which slows down the speed. It is kind of like a highway - the more cars on the road, the slower it is going to go.
And oh boy, did it go slow. So much so that the ACCC stepped in to create more transparency about how fast you can actually expect your NBN to run when you want to use it. Enter: typical evening speeds.
These speeds showcase how fast your connection should be during the hours of 7:00pm - 11:00pm. Generally speaking these have been gradually improving, and providers with higher speeds tended to charge more for the luxury of going with them.
Yet now, things are starting to change. Thanks to some backend magic from NBN Co more and more providers are offering congestion-free NBN. Which means that no matter how many people are online, at what time, you should be able to achieve the maximum speeds for your plan. You'll be flying down that highway (at the speed limit) until you run out of petrol, or turn off and get stuck in a wiki-hole.
|
#1
|
Telstra 
|
Link not supplied
|
|
#2
|
amaysim 
|
|
|
#3
|
Belong 
|
|
|
#4
|
Dodo 
|
|
|
#5
|
Moose NBN 
|
Link not supplied
|
|
#6
|
Tangerine Telecom 
|
|
|
#7
|
Flip 
|
So why does that matter for consumers? The changes made by NBN Co are available to all providers, meaning that every single telco can access maximum speeds if it is willing to pay for it. The more providers that take up these super fast speeds, the more they need to do to differentiate themselves from each other.
Up until recently we recommended assessing typical evening speed, price, and data allowances when you pick your NBN plan. Almost every NBN plan now comes with unlimited data, and with typical evening speeds increasingly being taken out of the equation, you're left with just one major point to ponder - price.
For consumers, price is by far and large the most significant change congestion-free NBN will bring. After all, if you can get the exact same speeds but pay less through one provider, why wouldn't you go with them? Providers now need to offer more affordable prices, or other extras in order to stay competitive in a sector that is, for all intents and purposes selling the same service. At a certain point, brand recognition will hit the point of diminishing return and then what else will the more expensive telcos have that the cheaper ones don't?
While congestion-free NBN isn't ubiquitous yet, you'll be hard-pressed to find any NBN 25 or NBN 50 plans not spruiking the maximum download speed. NBN 100 plans boasting 100Mbps download speeds are growing in popularity and we'll almost certainly see more soon.
Every time I think of the NBN rollout an Animal Farm quote comes to mind:
“We are all equal, but some are more equal than others.”
Soon enough we'll all be connected to the National Broadband Network, but some will continue to have better access than others. While congestion-free NBN won’t solve the inequality of the system (especially for rural and regional Australians) it does stand to break down one of the most significant boundaries between Australians and a genuinely good internet connection.
Anula Wiwatowska
Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram
Find a better internet plan
Thousands of internet plans unpacked. All the facts. No surprises.
Related Articles
Internet Plans by State
- Internet Plans in ACT
- Internet Plans in NSW
- Internet Plans in NT
- Internet Plans in QLD
- Internet Plans in SA
- Internet Plans in TAS
- Internet Plans in VIC
- Internet Plans in WA
![[Hand-Picked] Best internet providers in Australia](https://r3.whistleout.com.au/public/images/articles/2026/07/man-and-woman-with-laptop-on-green-couch.jpg?w=280&h=280&usm=20&usmrad=0.8&fit=crop "[Hand-Picked] Best internet providers in Australia")
