Are you looking for the best value or cheapest NBN plans? GadgetGuy has done the searching for you.
Now’s the best time to shop around and save money on your internet, as recommended by the ACCC, with changes to wholesale NBN coming into effect, impacting prices. Australians are downloading more than ever, so it’s important to find the cheapest NBN plan that suits your needs.
- What you need to know
- Which NBN plan?
- Cheapest NBN plans – December 2023
- NBN 12 plans
- NBN 25 plans
- NBN 50 plans
- NBN 100 plans
- NBN 250 plans
- NBN 1000 plans
What you need to know
If you want broadband internet in Australia, your main and most reliable choice is via the National Broadband Network (NBN). Although the NBN provides the internet backbone, it does not sell plans directly to the public. Instead, telecommunication vendors package up retail and business plans, which include different features and levels of customer support.
NBN availability
The NBN is available to all Australians, but the way you access the NBN may be different. This might include a fixed cable into your home, wireless access via an antenna on your roof or a satellite dish. To see what technology is available to you, start by visiting the NBN getting connected page. After entering your address, you will be shown the technology available at your address. You will also see which providers or NBN retailers sell access in your area. In Sydney alone, we were presented with 123 different retailers.
Speed and reliability
It is important to understand that the speed and reliability of your NBN plan can differ by retailer. Each buys internet capacity from the NBN. This capacity is then shared with a certain amount of the retailers’ customers. This means that a retailer may have faster speeds in one suburb versus another based on how many customers are accessing the overall capacity. It’s always good to ask your neighbours who they are with and their experience with a particular NBN retailer.
It’s also worth checking the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) website regularly. They publish quarterly broadband performance results, measuring how well telcos deliver on advertised internet speeds. You want to be certain that you’ll get the speeds you pay for, so this is a good starting point.
For those customers looking for an NBN alternative, we suggest the following GadgetGuy guides: How does 5G fixed-wireless stack up as an NBN alternative and Caravanner’s guide to connecting to the internet anywhere.
Having good internet speed is more than just a fast broadband connection. For more, be sure to check out GadgetGuy’s guide to improving your internet for more information.
Which NBN plan?
When evaluating an NBN plan, consider the following criteria:
- Data Limits – Is there a monthly download limit of data, or is the plan unlimited?
- Download Speed – Best measured at its busiest in megabits per second (Mbps) typical evening speed. Is it enough to watch Netflix? (Netflix requires 10-25Mbps depending on resolution quality.) Larger households with members using the internet simultaneously will require higher download speeds.
- Cost – How much do you pay each month, and is there a connection fee?
- Contract – Are you locking yourself to a retailer for a period, or is it month to month?
- Telephone – Is a fixed-line telephone service bundled into the plan?
- Customer service – What hours are supported, and is it an Australian-located call centre?
- Upload speed – Important for people who save large files online, like photos and videos.
Changing providers
If you wish to change internet providers, the process involves signing up with the new retailer in-store or online. You may receive a new Wi-Fi router, and you may have to return your old router to your previous retailer. The retailer-provided router is generally low quality but provides a fixed-line telephone connection if selected.
Your retailer might offer you an email address. Still, we recommend using a non-telco-specific email address such as Gmail or Hotmail, allowing you to easily change NBN retailers.
The NBN changeover process can take less than an hour, but depending on the location and NBN technology, it could take a few days. To take advantage of introductory offers, you could swap your provider every six months.
Suppose you do not wish to leave your existing provider. In that case, you may be able to negotiate a better rate by comparing it to cheaper offerings.
Cheapest NBN Plans – December 2023
Here are the cheapest NBN plans at the time of writing. We update this article monthly, but the prices listed in the tables update in real time, giving you up-to-date and accurate information.
Many of the retailers display promotional prices aimed at new and returning customers. These offers generally involve paying a discounted rate for six months before reverting to a standard price. To view the details of promotional offers, click on the green text labelled ‘deal’, which will also show the standard price.
Each plan featured here includes unlimited data. Some providers let you save a few dollars every month by choosing a plan with a data cap. If you know you don’t need much data, use this search tool to find plans with monthly data allowances.
NBN 12 plans
Aimed at people who only need the internet for browsing online and checking emails, an NBN 12 plan isn’t blazingly fast but saves money. Prices recently increased across the board as a result of the new wholesale pricing structure. You could previously find plans for less than $50 but no more, unfortunately.
Currently, the cheapest NBN 12 plan comes from iiNet at $54.99 per month for six months using the code “NBNBF10”. However, the deal ends on 5 December, so you’ll need to be quick. After the promotion, the price reverts back to $64.99, a price shared by most other retailers.
NBN 25 plans
Suited for streaming videos in HD in addition to basic online tasks, an NBN 25 plan gives you a bit more flexibility for not much more money. Tangerine (using Vocus Group infrastructure) remains the cheapest NBN 25 plan, with a $49.90 monthly offer for six months, which then increases to $64.90.
Other decent deals are also available from Exetel, Swoop, and Southern Phone. It’s worth noting that Southern Phone’s $55 offer runs for 12 months, instead of other providers’ six-month promotions. As a result, this ends up being the cheapest NBN 25 plan over 12 months.
Most other retailers hover around $65 when not discounted. Keep an eye on prices, as Aussie Broadband was one of the first to increase the cost of the NBN 25 tier, meaning others might soon follow suit.
NBN 50 plans
One of the most popular tiers, the NBN 50 plan supports 4K video streaming and is better for multiple simultaneous users. Unfortunately, this speed tier was hit hard by wholesale pricing changes, increasing prices en masse.
Tangerine has a $59.90 deal for the first six months, down from $79.90. Exetel is also one of the cheapest NBN 50 providers, offering a $60.99 promotion for the first six months.
Outside of discounts, Kogan Internet claims the cheapest NBN 50 plan at $68.90 per month.
NBN 100 plans
NBN 100 plans let your household stream multiple videos at once and still have bandwidth for online gaming.
Throughout December, competition for the cheapest NBN 100 plan is tight. Exetel, Sintel, Superloop, Tangerine, and Dodo all have six-month deals close to $70 per month. Most plans then revert to an $85 monthly fee but several sub-$80 plans include offerings from Kogan and Swoop.
Of the currently discounted plans, Exetel and Spintel advertise typical evening speeds of 100Mbps, while the others report slightly slower 95Mbps speeds during peak time.
NBN 250 plans
Not content with just streaming videos, NBN 250 plans significantly reduce the time waiting for large downloads. Whether you want to download the latest video game or save a whole bunch of media for offline viewing, this gets it done quicker.
Spintel currently has the cheapest NBN 250 plan at $75 a month for the first six months. It’s even one of the cheapest plans at its standard $85.95 pricing. However, Spintel’s advertised typical evening speeds are 211Mbps, slower than many of its competitors. During December, you can get an NBN 250 plan with Swoop at a monthly $84 rate for the first six months. It then jumps back up to $119, although it’s one of the few retailers to advertise full 250Mbps evening speeds.
Faster tiers like NBN 250 are among the major beneficiaries of the changed wholesale pricing. Retailers have dropped pricing in general, so there will be plenty of competition in the coming months.
NBN 1000 plans
You don’t like waiting for downloads to finish, that’s why you’re looking at this section. As long as you don’t expect to hit full speeds during peak periods, NBN 1000 plans are for households that live on the internet.
Superloop remains the cheapest NBN 1000 plan in December, offering its ‘Lightspeed’ tier for $99 a month for six months. Without discounts, its $109 price point is still good value, especially considering Superloop advertises one of the fastest evening speeds at 600Mbps.
Swoop, with typical evening speeds of 582Mbps, also has a $99 promotion but its regular price is a much higher $139. Exetel is also in the ballpark, although its fastest plan only peaks at 500Mbps.
As well as the cheapest NBN plans, make sure you check out the cheapest pre-paid SIM plans to save the most amount of money.
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