Initially, NBN 50 and NBN 100 were the maximum speeds on offer, but in more recent years, NBN Co has rolled out even faster speed tiers. As the next step up in speed from NBN 100, NBN 250 offers plenty of speed to meet your household needs. Depending on your address and NBN connection type, you could be eligible for these super-fast NBN 250 speeds. Read on to find out more about this speed tier and compare the best NBN 250 plans.
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NBN offers you might like
The following table shows a selection of sponsored unlimited data Standard Plus Evening Speed (NBN 50), and Premium Evening Speed (NBN 100) plans on Canstar Blue’s database with links to referral partners.
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1 Month Contract (1 month min. cost $79.99) Typical evening speed of 97Mbps
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Unlimited Data/month |
$79.99 Cost/month |
Go to Site |
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1 Month Contract (1 month min. cost $85) Typical evening speed of 50Mbps
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Unlimited Data/month |
$85.00 Cost/month |
Go to Site |
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1 Month Contract (1 month min. cost $99.99) Typical evening speed of 97Mbps
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Unlimited Data/month |
$89.99 Cost/month |
Go to Site |
Unlimited Home Standard (NBN 50) Plans
The following table shows a selection of published unlimited NBN 50 plans on Canstar Blue’s database, listed in order of standard monthly cost (excluding discounts), from the lowest to highest, and then by alphabetical order of provider. Use our comparison tool above to see plans from a range of other providers. This is a selection of products with links to referral partners.
Unlimited Home Fast (NBN 100) Plans
The table below shows a selection of published unlimited NBN 100 plans on Canstar Blue’s database, listed in order of monthly cost, from the lowest to highest, and then by alphabetical order of provider. Use our comparison tool to see plans from a range of other providers. This is a selection of products with links to referral partners.
What is NBN 250?
The NBN 250 plan — 250 Mbps NBN or the Home Superfast speed tier —is the second-fastest NBN speed in Australia and should be able to provide maximum download speeds up to 250Mbps, with upload speeds of up to 25Mbps.
Referred to by NBN Co as ‘Home Superfast’, NBN 250 is faster than the typical download speeds previously offered by most providers. For the most part, the NBN 250 plan is a huge upgrade to your NBN 100 service if you’re wanting to go super-fast, but the cost may be a deal-breaker if you’re on a budget.
NBN Co recommends the Home Superfast speed for a smooth 4K video streaming experience (even when up to 10 devices are online) along with smooth cloud-based and online gaming and seamless video calls even when others are online. You should be able to download a 10GB file within seven minutes while uploading a 1GB file will take around seven minutes.
Best NBN 250 plans
NBN 250 is now widely available from a range of providers to residential customers, provided you’re on an eligible connection type. Providers currently offering residential NBN 250 plans include Aussie Broadband, Vodafone, Telstra, Kogan, and Superloop, but prices, plan inclusions and upload speeds vary between each provider. It’s always a good idea to compare NBN 250 plans from a wide range of providers to ensure you’re getting the best NBN 250 plan for your household’s needs.
The following table shows a selection of published NBN 250 plans on Canstar Blue’s database, listed in order of standard monthly cost (excluding discounts), from the lowest to highest, and then by alphabetical order of provider. Use our comparison tool above to see plans from a range of other providers. This is a selection of products with links to referral partners.
How much does NBN 250 cost?
Thanks to wholesale price changes introduced by NBN Co, NBN 250 plans have become much more affordable — but they still aren’t cheap. If cost is your biggest concern, you could be better off on an NBN 100 plan for the price point alone, as upgrading to an NBN 250 plan can typically add an extra $40-50 or more to your monthly bill compared to cheaper speed tiers.
NBN 250 costs vary between the providers, with the cheapest NBN 250 plans costing around $100 per month (and maybe a couple dollars below). On the pricier end, you can pay around $120 per month for your NBN 250 plan. Compared to the next speed tier down, unlimited data NBN 100 plans start at about $75 per month, but can get up to about $100 per month or more.
If you’re interested in an NBN 250 plan, you’re probably investing money in your home internet for a good reason. These plans aren’t for the budget-conscious — so if monthly price isn’t a deterrent, spending a bit extra on an NBN 250 plan may be worthwhile, especially if you’re getting more than twice the download speed of NBN 100.
How fast is NBN 250?
NBN 250 offers incredibly fast broadband speeds. At its maximum theoretical speed it should be able to perform downloads in lightning-fast time for certain file sizes:
- A full-length musical album in less than a minute
- A 1080p TV show episode in less than a minute
- A 30GB 4K movie download in 16 minutes
- A 90GB video game in 49 minutes
However, do consider that these speeds are calculated from the maximum potential speed, which is faster than the speed you’ll actually experience. Most providers now list a ‘typical evening speed’ for each speed tier, which reflects the average speed recorded by customers during peak traffic hours of between 7pm and 11pm.
Typical evening speeds for the NBN 250 speed tier reach around the 200-250Mbps mark. However, there are other factors that impact your internet speed outside of your provider.
Things that could impact your download speed:
- Your distance from your modem on a WiFi connection
- Your home’s distance from your neighbourhood or street’s node
- Potential damage to your modem or fixed line
Can I get NBN 250?
NBN 250 is limited to just Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) and some Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) connections. Some providers, such as Telstra, Aussie Broadband, Vodafone, iPrimus, Kogan, Superloop and Optus all provide various NBN 250 options, but restrict these services to FTTP and eligible HFC connections only.
Some Aussie homes may now be eligible for a free NBN fibre upgrade which will allow you to sign up to an NBN 250 plan once your home is upgraded to an FTTP connection.
This is because other NBN technology types – including Fibre to the Node (FTTN) and Fibre to the Building (FTTB) – simply aren’t capable of delivering the fast speeds promised with an NBN 250 plan. FTTP and HFC connections are more efficient with bandwidth.
Read more: What to do when your internet is down
Do I need NBN 250?
Ultimately it depends on what your internet usage needs are. For larger households, fast-speed NBN 250 plans offer plenty of speed and at a cheaper price than the NBN 1000 speed tier. NBN 250 plans are also a good option if you’re big on high-definition streaming, intense online gaming, big file downloads and working from home.
If it’s in your price range, and your address is able to connect via FTTP or HTC, it may be worth considering upgrading to an NBN 250 plan if you’re a really heavy-duty user, or you’re underwhelmed by your current NBN 100 performance. With a typical evening speed of over 200Mbps, NBN 250 is a great way to congestion-proof your plan during busy periods, and cut back on download time and buffering for games and video.
Keep in mind that if you use your broadband plan for live streaming on platforms such as Twitch, or YouTube — or for any kind of file sharing or frequent content uploading – you may want to consider upload speeds as well as download speeds when picking the right plan. While NBN 100/40 offers slower downloads, you will get faster maximum uploads compared to a NBN 250/25 plan.
If you don’t fall into one of these heavy-use categories, signing up to an NBN 250 plan is, for the most part, unnecessary and expensive. Unless you’re a current NBN 100 user looking for faster speeds, you’ll probably find an NBN 50 plan a bit more suited to your household needs. If you’re unsure, start out at a slower speed, then upgrading if needed — NBN providers are always happy to move you to a faster plan, especially if you’re on a month-to-month agreement.
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