If you’re here to speed test your Telstra NBN then the chances are that your plan isn’t going as quickly as you might like it to. There are plenty of factors to consider when it comes to NBN speed. Maybe there is maintenance, maybe there is congestion, maybe your plan is too slow for what you need, maybe someone is sucking all the WiFi juice.
Before we get any further into Telstra NBN speeds, and what you can expect from them check your current download speeds. This will help you to figure out what you need to do to make them faster.
In this guide:
- Telstra NBN speeds
- Telstra speeds vs. other providers
- Telstra NBN speed tiers
- NBN typical evening speeds
- What speed you need
- Reasons why your NBN is slow
Telstra NBN speeds
Telstra NBN works the same as most other NBN providers, meaning that the provider tends to stick with the traditional speed tiers. Speeds from 25Mbps up to 1000Mbps are available through Telstra depending on which plan you choose and your technology type.
Telstra is easily one of the providers offering the fastest NBN speeds. Its NBN 25, NBN 50, and NBN 100 plans are all ostensibly congestion-free, boasting typical evening speeds of 25Mbps, 50Mbps and 100Mbps respectively.
At the time of writing Telstra was also the fastest NBN provider on speeds faster than 100Mbps. Over the past couple of years NBN co. introduced the NBN 250 and NBN 1000 speed tiers, however, these are only available to HFC and Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) customers.
Currently, Telstra is the only provider offering typical evening speeds of 250Mbps on NBN 250 plans and is also selling the quickest NBN 1000 plans with speeds of 700Mbps.
Telstra speeds vs. other providers
All NBN providers are selling access to the same network, the main differentiating factors are speed and price. In some cases you’ll pay a little bit more to get a few extra Mbps worth of download speeds, or to benefit from perks or bonuses from the provider. Here is how Telstra’s NBN 100 plans compare to other popular providers.
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#1
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Southern Phone 
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#2
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SpinTel 
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#3
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Moose NBN 
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#4
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Kogan Internet 
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#5
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Tangerine Telecom 
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#6
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Exetel 
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#7
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amaysim 
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#8
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Swoop 
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#9
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Dodo 
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#10
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Superloop 
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The whole point of the NBN was to create a fairly equitable connection that is available to all Australians. We didn’t quite get there, but at least you can expect relatively similar services between the providers on the market.
Telstra is, of course, a well known name and with that name comes the typical Telstra price tag. If you want Big T, you need to be willing to spend Big $. However with the higher costs comes fast speeds and some bonuses like cheap movie tickets, and the Telstra Plus program. All plans are contract-free and you’ll also nab 4G back up with the Telstra Smart Modem, but note that this modem will be paid off over the course of 24 months with the provider. If you choose to leave sooner you’ll be liable for the remaining cost of the modem.
Telstra NBN speed tiers
As we mentioned earlier, Telstra uses the usual NBN speed tiers from NBN 25 through to NBN 1000. These are;
- NBN 25 (Basic II)
- NBN 50 (Standard)
- NBN 100 (Fast)
- NBN 250 (Superfast)
- NBN 1000 (Ultrafast)
You’ll need to be on FTTP or part of the lucky 95% of HFC customers getting upgrades by the end of 2021 in order to get a plan faster than 100Mbps.
Here is Telstra’s full range of NBN plans available right now.
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Telstra
Upfront Internet Plan Basic
$89/mth
Min. cost $89
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NBN typical evening speeds
Typical evening speeds are the download speed you’re likely to experience during peak NBN usage times. NBN technology is a shared commodity with limited bandwidth. NBN providers buy something called CVC which is capacity on the network. The more providers invest in this, the higher typical evening speeds that can be passed on to customers.
As time has gone on these speeds have gotten faster, and now all but a handful of providers are offering the maximum typical evening speeds available on NBN 25 and NBN 50 plans. On speed tiers higher than this it is still worth looking at how much you pay per Mbps of typical evening speed. It is a steadfast way to assess the value of your plan.
What speed you need
Every online activity you do uses some of the speed on your NBN connection. Streaming Netflix may use 5Mbps, browsing the internet may take around 2Mbps, playing an online game on your console uses about 3Mbps - that takes up 10Mbps worth of your NBN connection speed at the same time.
Here are some approximations of the speeds you need to do different activities online.
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Speed required |
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|---|---|
| 2Mbps | |
| Web Surfing | 2Mbps |
| Social media | 4Mbps |
| Zoom | 1.8Mbps |
| Music Streaming | 1.5Mbps |
| Online Gaming | 3Mbps |
| YouTube | 5Mbps |
| Streaming TV | 5Mbps |
In order to figure out the best internet speed for you, add up the total amount of Mbps you would use if you were to do all these activities concurrently. If there are multiple people in your household who may do these at the same time, then count it twice. Whatever your total is is the minimum internet speed you should be looking at.
Reasons why your NBN is slow
There is no single reason why your NBN may be slow, but there are a combination of factors to consider.
Your NBN plan isn’t fast enough for your needs
If you did the calculations above you may have already figured ti out, but there is a chance that your NBN speed tier is too slow for your needs. This is a simple fix - just find a faster plan. The majority of NBN plans up and running in Australia are on NBN 50. For some this is perfect, for others excessive, and for other households it is not speedy enough.
Here are the fastest NBN 100 plans available right now.
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#1
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Southern Phone
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Link not supplied
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#2
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SpinTel
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#3
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Moose NBN
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Link not supplied
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#4
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Kogan Internet
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#5
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Tangerine Telecom
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#6
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Exetel
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#7
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amaysim
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Link not supplied
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#8
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Swoop
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Link not supplied
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#9
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Dodo
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#10
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Superloop
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Your hardware is the problem
According to NBN co. many underperforming connections can be attributed to modem problems. A survey the organisation conducted in 2019 identified three key reasons for customers achieving slower speeds than advertised;
- Channel congestion
- Out of date firmware on the modem
- Positioning of the modem or router
These issues tend to pop up in telco-branded modems which are usually the cheaper option for customers and for telcos alike. We’ve written extensively on how to fix these problems and what to look out for when buying a modem to avoid them.
Your technology type kinda sucks
Annoyingly enough, we are all slaves to the NBN technology type we have been dealt. If you live in an apartment building you’ve probably got FTTB, if you are in the suburbs you may be stuck on FTTN, and if you’re a rural Aussie you could be stuck with Sky Muster.
If you didn’t hit the jackpot in the tech-type lottery then there are always NBN alternatives to consider. More and more 5G home broadband internet is starting to pop up, which theoretically can hit speed of up to 4Gbps (although almost every provider has capped speed options too). Starlink - Elon Musk’s satellite broadband network- is also available for rural Australians.
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