2025 was an exciting year for NBN Co – well, as exciting as it can be for our government-run broadband provider – as it brought with it a series of NBN speed upgrades that now allow millions of Australians to achieve home internet download speeds that would have been unimaginable just a couple of years ago.
And it seems Australians are clearly seeing the benefits of the faster plans, as NBN Co said: “Since launching on September 14 [2025]“Customers across Australia have been requesting higher speed plans at the fastest rate we have ever seen – more than 12,300 orders per week.”
Wait, what speed improvements?
For the uninitiated, the speed upgrades arrived in mid-September, boosting NBN 100 plans to NBN 500 with 5x download speeds, NBN 250 to NBN 750 (a 3x speed increase) and a speed boost to existing NBN 1000 plans, giving them a minimum guaranteed speed of 750Mbps.
NBN Co also launched a new NBN 2000 speed tier with theoretical maximum download speeds of 2Gbps, although only a handful of providers offer it so far. That said, the broadband wholesaler says it has received 9,500 orders for an NBN 2000 plan since it went live.
Do the updates deliver on their promise?
The evidence suggests that yes, they do! I previously reported on speed data recorded by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which found that customers on the best NBN 500 plans were actually achieving even faster speeds – the average speed recorded was 503.9Mbps.
How can I get involved?
If you want to have faster internet at home, you should check a couple of things first. The main one to consider is the specific type of connection you have in your facility: you will need fiber to the premises (FTTP) or hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC). If you don’t have either, you can request a free fiber upgrade where a technician will come to your home to install FTTP equipment. This update is available for installations that currently connect using FTTN or FTTC technology. If you connect via FTTB, unfortunately there is no upgrade path available to you.
NBN Co says 90% of the fixed line network is now eligible to connect via full fibre, adding that it “expects to provide upgrade paths to all remaining Fiber to the Node (FTTN) installations by the end of 2030”.
Which NBN plan should you get?
If you want to join the 12,300 Australians who order a new high-speed NBN plan every week, the good news is you have plenty of options. I regularly review the prices of the best NBN plans and lately there are some great values to be found.
Ultimately, I recommend the most affordable plans, or those with the best discounts or additional benefits. Internet service providers (ISPs) list typical overnight speed (TES) figures – the download speed you can realistically expect to achieve during the busiest hours of the evening, 7pm to 11pm All of the ISPs I monitor quote the maximum of 500Mbps for NBN 500 plans, while many quote close to the maximum for NBN 1000 plans.
For me, an NBN 500 plan is the best option for most people, and considering you need to hit top speeds at all hours of the day, the more affordable plans are your best option.
Here are my top 3 options:
