In less than a month, NBN CO will upgrade the speeds of multiple Internet plans available on its full fiber and HFC networks that mark the most extraordinary speed increases since the start of the network in 2009. It is a movement that has been in the works for a long time and service providers are ready for the big switch (although a few have jumped the piste).
If this is the first thing you hear about it, here’s a quick review of what happens: Fiber-affiliated homes served by either fiber-to-room (FTTP) or Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) on an NBN 100-level will have their service upgraded to a brand new NBN 500 tier offering maximum theoretical download-TEEDS of 500M. 100 were able to. Meanwhile, the NBN 250 gets up to 750 Mbps, NBN 1000 gets a new minimum speed of 750 Mbps, and a new top speed of 2,000 Mbps (aka NBN 2000) is introduced.
It is a very exciting time for the Australian Internet, and it is set to improve speeds to be far more competitive against other developed nations across the globe-digging the independent speed testing organization OOKLA is Australia currently ranked as 63. For average fixed line Internet speeds. NBN Co expects the new 500-MBPS-capable plan to one day its most popular, with the hope conditioned by the continued implementation and recording-of the fiber upgrade program.
But a lot has happened behind the scenes to facilitate this speed increase. Retail providers (RSPs) that Aussie broadband has built for this moment for years. Techradar joined forces with Aussie Broadband CSO Jonathan Prosser for a broad conversation about the impending changes and how they are likely to affect both providers and end users.
Get ready for the speed increase
NBN has been drastically over the years. After the nationwide roll-out began in 2010, followed by a cost-saving solution to use existing copper infrastructure, the network’s speeds as a whole have hung well behind many other countries-so when 1000 MBPS-capable consumer plans were first introduced by 2020, the majority of Australian households and businesses could not access it.
Today, full fiber plans are growing in recording thanks to a proactive free fiber upgrade program operated by NBN Co, but although this has happened, ISPs buying wholesale compounds have managed to the large network increase, which ensures along the way that consumers are not much affected by sudden increase in demand.
“There is actually a truck load of work that we have had to do to be ready,” Prosser told Techradar. “We have always actively exaggerated our CVC [the NBN bandwidth capacity in a geographic area]… What has translated into is a very active capital management program at a network level where we always over -invest the year to ensure that we are really ready for any future capacity. Because of this, we have been networking for this future for quite a long time. “
One of the biggest obstacles that Prosser described was a switch into the system from traditional CVC to what NBN Co calls CVC Max – a change that NBN Co introduced after consultation with its wholesale customers. CVC Max removes the network’s speed caps in the traditional CVC system, where the network is now able to achieve directly matched speeds with the NBN providers infrastructure. “It is a very important change and we are very proud of our role in making it happen,” Prosser added. “It effectively gets you through what would have been one of the most affected bottlenecks at a network level.”
Aussie Broadband has said it will not raise prices when the new speeds are introduced in September, and other NBN providers are unlikely to do so either, as many have already increased their plan prices at the beginning of the financial year. Rather, Aussie teased that there will actually be price reductions across its pro plans that offer increased upload speeds compared to their regular colleagues.
There is also the question that providers get into the speed upgrades early. Early in July, the Superloop-Owe changed Exetel completely its business model to focus on offering a single 500 MBPS capability plan, making it available two months before the NBN 500-speed level was officially set to be introduced. A handful of other NBN providers have since followed, although Aussie broadband has no plans to participate in.
“It’s not something financial,” Prosser said. “For the NBN 500 plan must be a compelling thing to buy [if introduced today] would effectively make a retail price marketed lower than your resale price. “
It’s only a matter of time
As far as Aussie is concerned, it is ready to come September and does not foresee any maximum speed problems with its network partners. “We don’t think there will be any major bottleneck risk when we enter these new high -speed plans,” Prosser added. “Really, it becomes an experiment when we first launch it as a nation.”
In the future, Prosser says there will be a change in how Aussie broadband marketing its plans to make things less confusing. After all, these speed upgrades will only be available to FTTP and HFC customers, which means there will still be millions of Australian households on copper-based compounds that are only capable of speeds of up to 100 Mbps. So on top of advertising speeds, NBN providers such as Aussie must be included in messages of technology type.
September 14, 2025 is officially the big day, and we expect most NBN providers to offer NBN 500, NBN 750 and NBN 2000 from Get-go-to DA, anyone who is interested in jumping to one of the new plans will check their NBN connection type (and if needed, confirm if you can access plans to find an offer, to your needs.
