NBN and Australia’s internet service providers are working out the final details so that new NBN super fast 1000/50 250/25 plans can be available for some residential home customers by late May 2020 – that’s just a few weeks time!
Prices for these new plans aren’t available yet, but they will obviously be higher than the new NBN Wholesale prices (ex GST) which we’ve got here:
There’s a lot of details in this plan table, but the key things to look at are the new 250/x and 1000/50 plans – who wouldn’t want a gigabit download plan? At an $80 wholesale price, you might see that sold to consumers for anywhere between $100 – $250 ish, but it’s purely a guess.
Which NBN Connection Types will get top speed?
If you’re lucky enough to have an NBN FTTP (fibre to the premises) connection you’ll be able to signup for a sweet 1000/50 or 250/25 high speed download speed plan as soon as those plans are available from retailers.
If you have an NBN HFC (Hybrid Fibre Co-Axial) connection you’ll eventually have access to 1000/50 and 250/25 as well, but not at the end of May.
According to the CEO of Aussie Broadband these two new faster 1000/50 and 250/25 plans:
“… will be released onto some of the HFC network and the foot print availability will grow with time. Around 800,000 HFC premises are expected day one”.
If you have a NBN FTTC (Fibre to the Curb) connection you won’t have access to the 1000/50 and 250/25 plans (or any above 100 Mbps) at first, but there is hope you’ll be able to signup to these plans in the future because your copper line length is so short. This will most likely require the fibre-to-the-curb device which lives in the pit outside your house to be upgraded, but once that’s done, FTTC connections should be able to reach these super-fast speeds, too.
If you have a NBN FTTN (Fibre to the Node) connection unfortunately you have little hope of ever getting access to connection speeds faster than 100 Mbps. In fact many FTTN customers are lucky to get even that much with copper line lengths to the node often so long that a maximum connection speed of only 20-50 Mbps is possible.
If you’re upset about that, well … we’re sorry. While the Labor government’s proposal of near-universal Fibre to the Premises might’ve been unworkable, the policy adopted by the Liberal/National government of a “multi technology mix” means we’ve got a messed up broadband network that delivers lightning speed to some, and paltry 20th century internet to others.
Your current NBN Provider may not offer the highest speeds
Until now the available NBN speeds have been: 1000/400 (FTTP only), 500/200 (FTTP only)
250/100 (FTTP only), 100/40, 50/20, 25/5 and 12/1.
However you weren’t able to get higher than 100 Mbps NBN speeds with some of the bigger NBN providers like Telstra and Optus. Only some retailers opted to make these plans available.
Smaller – and we would say more innovative – providers like Aussie Broadband have offered higher than 100 Mbps plans for years. In fact I tested one of these plans a year ago and my plan changer already offers up to 250/25.
It was recently revealed that Aussie Broadband had attracted over half the NBN customers who have signed up for a 250 mbps NBN connection. Unsurprising, given how few of their competitors deigned to offer these plans.
FTTN, HFC and FTTP customers can choose to signup for one of the new 100/20 NBN plans right now (FTTN only if your copper line supports that speed) with Aussie Broadband or Superloop.
NBN Enterprise customers can get 1000/400
Aussie Broadband has also recently enabled its Enterprise Business NBN plans to allow connections at up to 1000/400 speeds. Nice … if you can afford it.
Your thoughts?
What do you think of the new NBN 1000/50 and 250/25 plans for FTTP and HFC customers? Let us know in the comments how much would you be willing to pay for them.
