Need to know more about nbn™ speeds before signing up for a plan? Not sure about which nbn™ speed is right for you? This page is the one place you need to be. We'll cover off the main questions people have about high-speed broadband, and then you'll be set to go!
In general terms, it's very fast, offering near-fibre speeds to the majority of Australians. What you need to know about the nbn™ is that it's possible to purchase speeds at what is right for your needs. Not everyone needs blistering fast Internet all day long, and the nbn™ is structured to give the power of choice to consumers.
There are four common nbn™ speeds:
Basic 12 (12Mbps download/1Mbps upload)
Standard 25 (25Mbps download/5Mbps upload)
Plus 50 (50Mbps download/20Mbps upload)
Premium 100 (100Mbps download/20Mbps upload)
The bigger the number, the faster the download speed – so a 12Mbps speed is around eight times slower than a 100Mbps. Basic 12 is not considered high-speed broadband.
Numbers don't mean much in isolation; what you want to know is whether a speed will allow you to do what you want with the internet.
Whether your nbn™ is fast enough depends on what you're trying to use it for. Below are a few examples of the most common applications of the internet, and the kind of speeds that you need. Remember, this is cumulative, so if three people in your house want to watch Netflix in HD, then you'll need (3 x 5) 15Mbps to ensure that there's no disruption to those streams:
Netflix: Standard Definition – 3Mbps, High Definition – 5Mbps, Ultra High Definition - 25Mbps
Spotify: 0.5Mbps should be more than enough
Video Conferencing: One on one video call over zoom requires 2Mbps up and download speedsOnline Gaming: At a minimum you will want 3Mbps download and 1Mbps upload
Web Browsing: Basic web browsing requires 1 to 2 Mbps.
Once you tally together the total expected simultaneous use of these technologies, you'll have an idea of what is a good nbn™ speed for your needs.
When you're looking at a nbn™ plan offered by an ISP, you will see a term: 'typical evening speeds', and a number next to it.
This is to indicate what speeds you can expect during the peak hours, at night, where more Australians are online at once. During those hours (7pm to 11pm), it becomes almost impossible for ISPs to deliver the fastest possible speeds available on a plan.
There are a couple of other factors that can affect the kind of nbn™ speeds that you can receive:
What kind of nbn™ connection you're on. For nbn™ connections where there is copper wire as part of the cable mix (FTTC or FTTN/FTTB connections), the distance that the internet signal needs to travel over the copper will affect the speeds you get. This is most apparent with FTTN as the node (end of fibre connection) can be some distance from the premises. If you're within 300 metres to the node, then the speed loss will be less. If you're a kilometer or more away from the node, however, you're looking at a maximum speed of around 30Mbps.The quality of your modem/router. Depending on your equipment at home, your wireless signal may drop a couple of Mbps.
There are any number of reasons why you might not be getting the kind of speeds that you had anticipated. As mentioned above, you might be on a less efficient form of nbn™, or have older modem/router equipment. There are other causes to watch out for too – you may have been 'hacked' as one of your neighbours has guessed your password to access your Internet. Your home set-up might be blocking the wireless signal, so you need to set up additional boosters around the home. Or you might have 'smart home' devices that you forgot are connected to the nbn™ but are chewing up bandwidth.
SpinTel has slow speed troubleshooting guides that can further assist with slow speed issues. . If you're still having trouble beyond them, you can always contact our friendly support team.
Still not sure which is the right nbn™ plan for you? Afraid that you might select a plan that won't meet your needs – contact the SpinTel team today to discuss your planned use for the nbn™ further.
