Following the confirmation and subsequent introduction of price increases and decreases across the entire NBN landscape, we wanted to see if and how it had affected the decisions Australians have made when it comes to switching their NBN plan.
For context, NBN Co in conjunction with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), have been going back and forth the last couple of years, in an attempt to agree upon a new pricing structure for Australia’s largest broadband network.
The new pricing structure was needed, says NBN Co, to not only change in line with the consumer price index (CPI) but to also help pay off the debt generated by upgrading the infrastructure to a full fibre broadband network.
The ACCC, understandably, did its part to ensure any agreed upon pricing — which relates to the wholesale price NBN Co charges providers — still encouraged competition within the NBN space. The ACCC wanted a fair deal for the end consumer once those wholesale price changes were inevitably passed onto them.
The final result has meant that slower NBN plans — those delivering 25Mbps and 50Mbps download speeds — have seen their price increase, but faster NBN plans — those delivering 100Mbps download speeds and faster — have actually been on the receiving end of a price decrease.
The hope is that these price decreases will encourage Australians to sign up to any of the best NBN 100 plans, best NBN 250 plans or even the best NBN 1000 plans and revel in speedy download heaven.
But, 10 days on from the price changes that were introduced on December 1, 2023, has that actually happened?
At Tom’s Guide, we use data from WhistleOut to compare the best NBN plans, but we can also use data to find out the most popular plans of the past seven days, based on user clicks and the results are pretty clear: Australians are hankering for fast NBN.
Two providers and one speed tier on top
The top two most popular NBN plans of the past seven days were both NBN 1000 plans, from Aussie Broadband and Superloop. Rounding out the top three is Dodo's 100Mbps plan — most likely due to a WhistleOut exclusive discount live right now — while NBN 100 plans from Aussie Broadband and Superloop once again round out the top five.
On paper, there is little to separate the ultrafast plans from Aussie Broadband and Superloop, other than the price, as both claim to deliver 600Mbps during the commonly busier hours of 7pm to 11pm (otherwise known as typical evening speed).
I’ve previously claimed Superloop’s NBN 1000 plan to be unrivalled, because at AU$99p/m for the first 6 months and a total of AU$1,248 for the first year of the service, it’s cheaper than approximately half of all the slower NBN 250 plans we monitor, over the same first year period.
Aussie Broadband’s equivalent plan costs a little more than Superloop’s, but the Australian-owned telco is consistently ranked among the very best when it comes to customer service. For some users, this onshore Australian technical support could be priceless (and well worth the AU$10 to AU$20 monthly premium over the Superloop plan).
Aussie Broadband and Superloop featured once again in the top five most popular options for their NBN 100 plans, although neither advertise the maximum 100Mbps typical evening speeds.
Dodo, which takes the number three spot, also doesn't advertise the maximum 100Mbps speeds, instead quoting 95Mbps. In the real world, you're unlikely to notice this drop, although we appreciate if some customers do want to get the maximum possible service for their money.
Exetel however — which is coincidentally owned by Superloop — does, and while it just misses out on the top five, we still felt compelled to mention it here due to its Speed Boost days feature.
Keen to see which other NBN plans are currently ranked among the top 10 most popular on WhistleOut? You can check out the widget below, and if any of the NBN plans take your fancy, simply click through to be taken to the sign-up page.
