Still on NBN 50? Here are 5 good reasons to switch to Superloop's speedy NBN 500 plan instead

If you're still on an NBN 50 plan, the question isn't simply whether NBN 500 is faster; it's what that extra capacity would actually change in your day-to-day internet use. If you regularly wait for large downloads to finish, or streaming, gaming and video calls often happen at the same time, switching to Superloop’s NBN 500 Family Max plan could make those busy periods much easier to manage.

TL;DR

• Moving from an NBN 50 plan to Superloop’s Family Max plan increases the maximum download speed from 50Mbps to 500Mbps¹. At those speeds, a 100GB game download will take roughly 4 hours 27 minutes to complete at 50Mbps, but only around 27 minutes at 500Mbps.
• Superloop’s Family Max NBN 500 plan gives your household more download bandwidth to share when streaming, gaming, video calls and large downloads overlap.
• Moving to Superloop’s Family Max plan from NBN 50 raises your upload speed from 20Mbps to 50Mbps¹, which can shorten upload times for large files and leave more bandwidth available for things like cloud backups, file transfers and video calls.
• At current pricing and excluding introductory discounts, the ongoing monthly cost for Superloop’s 500Mbps Family Max plan is just AU$6 more than that of its 50Mbps Extra Value plan.
• In the ACCC's March 2026 broadband testing, monitored users on the Superloop NBN 500 averaged 102.4% of plan download speed during busy hours.

1. Superloop’s Family Max plan can cut large download times

Upgrading from an NBN 50 plan to Superloop’s Family Max plan raises your maximum potential download speed from 50Mbps to 500Mbps.¹ Large game installs, software updates and other hefty file downloads can finish much sooner, with the time saving becoming more noticeable as file sizes grow.

At NBN 50’s maximum download speed of 50Mbps, a 100GB game download will take roughly 4 hours 27 minutes to complete, while at the Family Max NBN 500 plan speed of 500Mbps, the same download should complete in around 27 minutes, which means you have about 4 hours less to wait.²

Superloop’s My Speed Boost gives you a temporary speed upgrade

Superloop’s My Speed Boost feature lets customers on eligible plans temporarily move to a faster NBN speed tier for only $2 a day. On the Family Max plan:

• Superloop’s My Speed Boost lasts 24 hours.
• The NBN tier moves from 500/50Mbps to 1000/100Mbps.
• You get five Speed Upgrade Days to use each month.
• Up to 30 unused days can be banked for later use.

You can use a Speed Upgrade Day when you have an especially large download or several bandwidth-heavy activities happening all at the same time, and days can even be scheduled in advance.

2. Superloop’s Family Max plan gives you more bandwidth to share

Moving from an NBN 50 plan to Superloop’s 500Mbps Family Max plan will give your household more download bandwidth to share when multiple people are using the connection at the same time. Aside from downloads, not many online activities suddenly need hundreds of megabits per second; in busy households, the real benefit is in having more bandwidth available when streaming, gaming, video calls and large downloads overlap.

When multiple people share the connection, one person might be streaming 4K video, another is on a video call and a third is gaming – all while a large download runs in the background. On an NBN 50 plan, those activities are sharing 50Mbps of total download bandwidth, whereas on the Family Max plan, they have 500Mbps to use.

NBN Co recommends choosing an NBN speed based on how many people and devices are online and what they're doing, particularly during the peak evening hours. If your internet is lightly used and mostly handles browsing, email and one video stream at a time, you probably won’t notice much day-to-day difference, as an NBN 50 plan can keep up just fine.

If multiple activities use all of your connection’s available bandwidth at the same time, some traffic can end up delayed, which can mean gaming feels laggy, video calls stutter or streaming video periodically pauses to buffer.

3. Superloop’s Family Max plan gives you more upload bandwidth too

Upgrading from an NBN 50 plan to Superloop’s NBN 500 plan raises your upload speed from 20Mbps to 50Mbps¹. That extra upload bandwidth can help shorten the time it takes to send large work files or handle cloud backups.

NBN Co’s current Home Fast II (aka NBN 500) guidance highlights higher upload speeds as important for faster file uploads and video calls while other people are online. The ACCC also flags cloud applications such as photo storage as use cases where upload speed is important.

On Superloop’s Family Max plan, if your phone is backing up large videos while someone else joins a video call and another sends a large file for work, those activities share 50Mbps of upload bandwidth, compared with 20Mbps on an NBN 50 plan¹. If you rarely upload large files or run cloud backups, and video calls and file uploads don’t often overlap, the extra upload bandwidth may be less noticeable.

4. Superloop’s Family Max plan may cost less than you expect

Based on Superloop’s current NBN prices, the Family Max plan’s ongoing monthly cost is only AU$6 more than that of the NBN 50 Extra Value plan once the new-customer discount period ends.

Source: Plan, speed and price information from Superloop's current NBN plans and typical evening speeds, checked September 16, 2026. First-year and two-year totals are calculated from the published introductory and ongoing monthly prices and assume the current ongoing prices remain unchanged.

With Superloop’s current introductory discounts, the Family Max plan costs a total of just AU$12 more for the first year of service versus the NBN 50 Extra Value plan. If Superloop’s current ongoing prices remain unchanged, Superloop’s Family Max plan costs a total of just AU$84 more than its Extra Value plan over two years.

Is it worth paying more for Superloop’s Lightspeed NBN 1000 plan?

Paying more for Superloop’s Lightspeed plan may be worth it if you expect to make regular use of the higher 1000/100Mbps potential speeds. If you only want those faster speeds occasionally, an eligible Family Max connection can temporarily move to 1000/100Mbps speeds with My Speed Boost, while keeping the Family Max plan’s lower monthly price.¹

5. Superloop’s NBN 500 performance during busy hours

In the ACCC's March 2026 NBN testing, monitored customers on the Superloop NBN 500 plan averaged 102.4% of promised plan download speed during busy hours. The result, published in the ACCC's final June 2026 report, came from 53 Whiteboxes, the ACCC's in-home monitoring devices, and 3,334 busy-hour tests.

For context, in the same test period the ACCC found that NBN 500 plan average speeds from different providers ranged from 95% to 105.9% of plan download speed during busy hours. (Note that results above 100% are possible because NBN Co supplies a little extra download capacity on some fixed-line plans to offset the small amount of bandwidth used by network protocols.)

So, is it worth moving from NBN 50 to Superloop’s NBN 500 Family Max plan?

Moving from NBN 50 to Superloop’s NBN 500 Family Max plan may provide significant real-world benefits if your household regularly waits for large downloads or has experienced interruptions (such as in-game lag, or video stuttering or buffering) due to multiple internet activities all competing for bandwidth at the same time.

As of September 16, 2026, the total first-year cost of Superloop’s Family Max plan is only AU$12 more than that of its Extra Value NBN 50 plan, and once the introductory discounts end, it’s just AU$6 more per month.

Moving from 50/20Mbps to 500/50Mbps gives you more download and upload bandwidth to share, which can be particularly impactful in busy households during peak usage periods. Conversely, if your internet use mostly consists of browsing, email and just one video stream at a time, NBN 50 may already provide sufficient capacity for your needs, so the difference when upgrading to NBN 500 may be less noticeable.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get Superloop’s Family Max plan without FTTP?

Yes, you can get Superloop’s Family Max plan without FTTP if your address has an eligible HFC connection. Start with Superloop's address checker to confirm whether Superloop’s Family Max plan is available at your home.

If you’re on FTTN, use Superloop’s fibre-upgrade checker to see whether your address is eligible for a free upgrade to FTTP. Keep in mind that Superloop’s own Flip to Fibre offer has its own specific commercial conditions that must be met to qualify for free standard installation.

Is an NBN 500 plan too fast for one person?

No, NBN 500 isn't necessarily too fast for one person if you regularly download very large games or other software, upload large work files or back up data to the cloud. However, for lighter use such as browsing, email and one video stream at a time, an NBN 50 plan may be plenty.

Can my existing Wi-Fi handle a Superloop NBN 500 plan?

It’s quite likely that your existing Wi-Fi will be able to handle a Superloop NBN 500 plan provided your router and personal devices are recent enough to support the higher speeds, and you have good wireless coverage at home. However, older hardware or weak coverage can limit the speeds your devices actually see.

If your current hardware does need replacing, Superloop often offers free or discount modems with certain plans, please check here for up to date information. T&Cs apply.

If you're experiencing low speeds over your home Wi-Fi network, your first step should be to work out whether the limitation is your NBN connection or your local in-home network. Your NBN plan determines how much total internet bandwidth is available to your home network, while your modem-router, devices and Wi-Fi coverage determine how much of that capacity you can actually use over Wi-Fi.

A useful check is to run a speed test over a wired Ethernet connection if available, or over Wi-Fi close to the router if not, then compare that result with the speeds you get over Wi-Fi elsewhere in your home. If the difference is large, your home Wi-Fi, rather than the NBN plan itself, may be limiting the speed your devices receive, and an upgrade may be warranted.