5 NBN questions you need answers to
1. How do I check if NBN is available in my area?
Easy peasy! To check whether NBN is available in your area:
- NBN Co tool: Just pop your residential address into NBN Co’s tool to find out whether NBN is available at your home.
- Contact your provider: Alternatively, you could contact your current internet provider to work out what’s available in your area.
On that note, the Australian government’s NBN rollout plan was completed in 2020. So by now, you might already have NBN installed in your home - or at the very least, you’d be eligible for it.
2. How do I check if I have the best NBN deal?
There are a number of different ways to help make sure you find the right NBN deal for you.
Step 1. Consider your needs
The type of NBN plan a full-time gamer needs will differ greatly from what your average Joe needs to scroll Facebook and surf the web.
Step 2. Compare, compare, compare!
The number one rule when it comes to getting a good deal (whether that’s for your NBN or getting a killer interest rate on your home loan) is to shop around. Don’t just sign up for the first thing you see.
Once you’ve worked out what type of plan you’re after to best suit your household’s needs, go check out Mozo’s free NBN comparison tool to see what’s out there or check out our article on the Best NBN plans for 2021 based on our Mozo Experts Choice Awards.
3. What broadband speed is best for me?
Like we said, choosing which NBN speed to get will depend on a bunch of different factors - such as the way in which you (and other members of your household) typically use the internet. Check your broadband speed with our speed testing tool.
Generally, there are six main NBN speed options available in Australia. Here’s a quick rundown on each of them and the sort of internet user they’d best suit:
| NBN speed: | Typically suited to: | Off-peak download speed: | Peak download speed: |
| NBN 12 | Very basic speed for lone internet users | Up to 12Mbps | Up to 7Mbps |
| NBN 25 | Budget-friendly option for a 1-2 person household. Good for: Emails, social media, general browsing and basic streaming. | Up to 25Mbps | Up to 15-20Mbps |
| NBN 50 | Families or households with 2-4 people. Good for: Basic movie & music downloads, gaming, video calls and HD streaming. | Up to 50Mpbs | Up to 30-45Mpbs |
| NBN 100 | Bigger families, gamers, people who work from home or households who regularly download larger files. Good for: Working from home, intensive gaming and HD streaming. | Up to 100Mpbs | Up to 60-90Mbps |
| NBN 250 | These NBN plans are fairly new to the market. They offer super-fast download speeds and are suited to small businesses or households that regularly have five or more people online at once. Good for: 4K and 8K video streaming, fast gaming updates and downloading larger files. | Up to 250Mpbs | Up to 150-200Mpbs |
| NBN 1000 | This is the fastest internet speed around, but you’ll need an FTTP connection to be eligible for it. According to WhistleOut, only 18% of NBN premises have this type of connection. | Up to 1000 Mbps | Up to 337.5Mpbs |
4. How do I check if there is an NBN outage?
So, your connection is playing up. If you’ve done the whole “switch your modem off and on” thing, then you’ll want to work out whether there’s an issue with your internet specifically or whether there’s a network outage.
To find out if there’s a network outage:
Your first step would be to head to your telco’s (NBN service provider) network status page to check for any reported network outages.
You’ll probably need to do this via your smartphone since your NBN is down (duh!) - so remember to disconnect your phone from the wifi and use your mobile data instead.
Here’s a list of different telco network status pages:
- Telstra
- Optus
- iiNet
- TPG
- Aussie Broadband
- Internode
- Exetel
- Dodo
- Belong
- MyRepublic
- MATE
- Tangerine
Alternatively, you could use the NBN network status checker to check for any current network outages in your area.
5. Can I switch NBN providers once connected?
Yep, you sure can! But first, you’ll need to check what type of plan you’re currently on. If you’re currently on a contract plan then you’ll need to wait for it to end before switching providers - or you could cop an early termination fee.
If your contract has ended then you’ll need to contact the new internet service provider (ISP) you’d like to move to to get the ball rolling. Once you sign up, your new provider will then start the process of connecting you to your new service and might even let your old provider know about the transfer for you.
To learn more about the NBN, just head on over to our NBN hub where you can find loads of guides and NBN news articles. Or, if you’re keen to start comparing your options - then check out some of the latest NBN deals below!
Compare broadband deals:
