Cheapest NBN plans: Low-priced internet from $39 a month

Are you looking for the cheapest NBN plans to save money on your internet bill? We’ve compared many of the biggest telcos to find the best deals for you in each speed category.

A lot of the most popular NBN plans are going up in price thanks to annual wholesale cost increases. That means higher prices for customers, particularly those with major telcos like Telstra.

So, what’s the solution? Shop around frequently. Many internet service providers (ISPs) offer introductory deals, including generous discounts for the first six months. Afterwards, it’s always worth comparing providers so you’re not left paying more than you should. Most ISPs don’t use lock-in contracts, making it relatively easy to swap to a better-value plan.

Australians are downloading more than ever, and choosing faster plans accordingly. Make sure you regularly assess whether your current internet plan serves your needs, as recommended by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

With that in mind, here are the current cheapest NBN plans in Australia from a wide range of telcos. You can also compare the cheapest NBN 50 plans, the cheapest NBN 100 plans, and the cheapest NBN 250 plans to save on faster internet. Looking for a new phone plan? Compare the cheapest SIM plans to save even more money.

Contents

• Cheapest NBN plans
• NBN 12 plans
• NBN 25 plans
• NBN 50 plans
• NBN 100 plans
• NBN 250 plans
• NBN 1000 plans
• What you need to know
• Which NBN plan?

Cheapest NBN Plans

Here are the cheapest NBN plans at the time of writing. We update this article monthly, but the prices listed in the tables update frequently, 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.

$47.80 per month from Moose NBN is the best you can get from an NBN 12 plan, which is a discounted price for the first six months.

For the most part, 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 and basic online tasks, an NBN 25 plan gives you a bit more flexibility and much more value for money. Flip has the current standout deal among NBN 25 plans, with a clear gap between its discounted $39 monthly pricing and the nearest competitor. After the six-month promotional period ends, the regular price of $59.90 kicks in.

Other than Flip, most other telcos sell discounted NBN 25 plans for less than $50 a month for the first six months.

Without discounts, the cheapest NBN 25 plans cost roughly $60 per month, so it’s a relatively cost-effective speed tier.

NBN 50 plans

Australia’s most popular internet plan, NBN 50 balances value with performance. These plans support 4K video streaming and can sustain multiple simultaneous users. It’s not as cheap as it once was, but there are still plenty of good deals available.

Dodo is the cheapest NBN 50 plan at the moment, costing $62.90 for the first six months. Only a few dollars separate Dodo from Moose, TPG, Flip, and Superloop, giving you plenty of competitively priced internet options.

After promotional pricing, NBN 50 plans sit close to $80 per month. Buddy Telco, from Aussie Broadband, is one of the cheapest non-discounted plans, priced at a flat $75 each month.

NBN 100 plans

NBN 100 plans let your household stream multiple 4K videos at once, download files, and still have bandwidth for online gaming. Marginally more expensive than the slower 50Mbps tier, NBN 100 plans are still good value for most people.

Between Dodo, TPG, Southern Phone, and Moose, you’re looking at roughly $65 per month for the first six months of an NBN 100 connection. After discounts, Moose is one of the cheapest NBN 100 plans at $84.80 per month, although most telcos are $90 and above as a result of the higher wholesale costs.

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.

For sheer value, Southern Phone’s NBN 250 plan sticks out because of its 12-month discount. It means you pay $75 per month for the first year, before the price goes back to a monthly $98.90.

After discounts, the cheapest NBN 250 plans routinely cost just below $100 each month.

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. They’ve even got faster in recent months, delivering more consistent performance during busy hours.

Exetel made waves after announcing its “One Plan” structure, stripping away all of its tiers in favour of a single product with 500Mbps download speeds. At a flat $80 per month, it’s even cheaper than most NBN 250 plans. While you don’t get the absolute fastest speeds, there’s also the option to “hibernate” your plan whenever you’re away, saving $1 per day in the process.

Exetel’s parent company, Superloop, has one of the fastest NBN plans, averaging 860Mbps download speeds during busy hours. The same applies to Southern Phone, with both telcos priced at $85 per month while discounted. Southern Phone works out to be cheaper in the long run, with its discount lasting 12 months, compared to Superloop’s six months.

Over the long term, Buddy Telco’s $99 plan continues to be a highlight. Providing typical evening download speeds of 875Mbps, it’s one of the fastest residential plans available. Another positive is that the $99 price is set in stone; it’s not a discounted price, so it’s cheaper in the long run than most competitors.

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 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.

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