Wednesday, 31 January 2024

Home » , , , , , » Cheapest NBN plans – February 2024

Cheapest NBN plans – February 2024

By  January 31, 2024  No comments

Are you looking for the best value or cheapest NBN plans? GadgetGuy has done the searching for you.

It’s a good 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

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 – February 2024

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.

Pretty much every NBN 12 plan costs around $65 per month, with no standout deals currently live. You’d be better off scrolling down and looking at faster speeds available for the same price or less.

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 and much more value for money. Tangerine (using Vocus Group infrastructure) has the cheapest NBN 25 plan this month, with a $49.90 monthly offer for six months, which then increases to $64.90.

For literally nine cents more, Exetel comes runner-up with a near-identical deal. Exetel and Tangerine are currently the only retailers offering sub-$50 NBN plans.

Superloop also has a nice deal active, with its NBN 25 plan down to $59 for the first six months, down from $65. Another decent deal comes from Kogan, bringing the price down to $53.90 per month for the first three months. Afterwards, it reverts to $63.90, which is similar to most other providers.

Most retailers hover around $65 when not discounted. Despite Aussie Broadband being one of the first to increase the cost of the NBN 25 tier, its competitors have so far held firm.

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 and Exetel again duke it out for the best price, with the slimmest of margins separating them. Tangerine has a $59.90 deal for the first six months, down from $79.90, while Exetel sits at $60.99 for the first six months.

Spintel, Superloop, and Dodo are also good options price-wise. Outside of discounts, Kogan Internet claims the cheapest NBN 50 plan at $68.90 per month for its Silver Unlimited tier. For the first three months, it’s down to $58.90.

NBN 100 plans

NBN 100 plans let your household stream multiple videos at once and still have bandwidth for online gaming.

Competition for the cheapest NBN 100 plan in February is tight. Tangerine currently leads the way with its $64.90 for six months offer, down from $84.90. Dodo, Exetel, Spintel, and Superloop are all close behind with various six-month deals below $70 per month. Kogan is the only provider that offers a sub-$80 plan outside of discounts.

Of the currently discounted plans, Dodo, 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 February, you can get an NBN 250 plan with Tangerine at a monthly $79.90 rate for the first six months, normally priced at $104.90. For the best speeds, Superloop advertises speeds of 240Mbps in exchange for $85 per month.

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 February, 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. It also comes with a bonus Amazon Eero6+ router (normally $249.99 by itself) if you connect for 18 months.

Both Tangerine and Exetel also offer sub-$100 plans, albeit with slower advertised speeds. Tangerine lists typical evening speeds of 350Mbps, while Exetel is slightly faster at 400Mbps.

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.

GadgetGuy occasionally uses affiliate links and may receive a small commission from purchased products.

The post Cheapest NBN plans – February 2024 appeared first on GadgetGuy.


0 comments:

Post a Comment