Australian NBN prices are WAY too high!? | Dirt Report

[@christian.rossmann]

What annoys me here in Australia isn't the pricing, its lack of symmetrical speeds which is ridiculous. IF they don't give us symmetrical speeds then they need to drop prices now! We are so screwed

[@peachsncream5808]

If the pricing doesn’t bother you ,your clearly not one of the many many lower income families struggling to keep your head above water . Sadly , considering we are tolled we are a wealthy country ….. the wealth distribution is far from balanced .

[@PAPO1990]

Honestly, for most people symmetrical doesn’t matter. But the upload speeds are abysmal. The old 100/40 plan is a decent split I think, and the ratio should remain the same at higher speeds (1000 down should get 400 up)

[@JohnAdams22-r2c]

Symmetrical is Soo good as well, I had symmetrical gigabit at Monash campus uni accommodation and it was brilliant, now I'm stuck on inconsistent hfc.

[@PAPO1990]

@ if you’re not unloading TONNES of stuff, you don’t need symmetrical. But the NBN does need a small improvement to upload speeds across to board, to between 10-25% of the download at higher speeds

[@mynameistito]

Kiwi over here, just want to mention you forgot about hyper fibre which is our multigig lines starting at about 120 nzd for 2000 symmetric! 😉 Besides that great video like always

[@kjangmy]

NBN Too Expensive ? WTF! Haven't you noticed that EVERYTHING IN AUSTRALIA is more Expensive :)

[@TheMarine664]

Having just travelled through europe, things in Australia are VERY well priced considering

[@Crazy--Clown]

@@TheMarine664 Lol yeah right...

[@TheMarine664]

@@Crazy--Clownyeah you’ll find most things are around 10-20% less then in aus, however add the exchange rate and they are a lot more. Diesel is around $2.50-3.00 per litre in aussie dollars equivalent Not hard to spend it here

[@silica-gel]

I live in South Korea for half the year. 2.5Gbps no contract is about $84AU a month. If you go for a 3 year contract or add a mobile its only $50AU a month.

[@wahahabuh]

@silica-gel don't have to go that far lol. Look at indonesia, internet is so much better value there. I know people who live in a house without proper plumbing who has better internet than me.

[@KurtGuy]

Google says south koreans average wage is 52k AUD, Australia is 89k apparently. You'd have to factor tax stuff that I can't be bothered researching but I bet it's alot closer than it seems with everything factored in.

[@silica-gel]

@@wahahabuh True there are cheaper places in the world. Just my experience in SK.

[@silica-gel]

@@KurtGuy Sure you have to factor that in. My monthly water bill is $25AU, electricity $50AU in Seoul. You can get 1/1Gbps in Seoul for $35 to $40AU a month. Most Australians would be on 250/21Mbps for $89 to $99AU. The big thing for me is HFC in Australia, $109 a month for 811/42 Mbps. Avg speed in the afternoon or weekends is never close to that. 42Mbps upload is a joke for the price you have to pay.

[@k.vn.k]

@@silica-gelseveral factors basically. 1. Australia has a large landmass with a relatively small population density, which increases infrastructure costs. South Korea, with its more compact geography and higher population density, finds it easier and cheaper to lay down infrastructure. 2. South Korea has a competitive telecom market with several major players, which helps drive down prices for consumers. 3. South Korea has prioritized internet infrastructure as a part of its national economic policy. Australia NBN rollout has faced delays, higher-than-expected costs, and technology changes that impacted both speed and price. 4. Australia relies on undersea cables to connect to global internet backbones, which comes with high costs for international bandwidth. South Korea’s proximity to major internet hubs in Asia, such as Japan and China, means lower international data transmission costs. 5. Consumer Demand and Usage: South Korea has one of the highest internet penetration rates in the world, with high demand for ultra-fast speeds, which has pushed companies to offer competitive prices for faster services.

[@TastierBackInThe80s]

Australia consumers have been ripped off since the dawn of internet. Telstra Big Pond pricing was in the early days, and still is, criminal.

[@Devastator0]

Us Aussies getting ripped of for internet? Shock horror lol. It is a sad state of affairs considering our connected society but of course, all the RSP's just want to milk us for substandard service.

[@bigalsplayin]

Yeah totally agree , we need our higher download / upload prices improved here in Oz .

[@MrTimMifsud]

Totally agree there needs to be more high-speed symmetrical plans at more reasonable prices.

[@rakeau]

It's worth noting that AussieBB now has "Pro" plans which mirror the Business plans, but on Resi. Same speeds + Static IP. 250/100, 500/200 and 1000/400. Can't see them mentioned on that sheet there.

[@SimonGreen85]

Prices are getting much better. quality of service is a lot better compared to ADSL days. Im curious to see how the pricing changes next year will impact things.

[@Crazy--Clown]

Thats because Tel$tra is slowly losing the monopoly...

[@derbybOyzZ]

One thing to consider is that with exetel you can boost the speed several times per month, which if you are on 100/20, being able to boost that is nice.

[@Alex-un5tl]

NZ broadband is much cheaper than in AU, the prices in Australia do need to come down

[@Respectable_Username]

To be fair, NZ is a much smaller country physically! I imagine the costs to service regional areas in Australia are much higher just due to the distance of the network runs. And TBH if the NBN socialises that cost a bit across customers connecting from wealthier city areas, I don't mind paying a little extra so our regional friends aren't given unreasonably large bills just because they happen to live out in Whoop Whoop!

[@k.vn.k]

International Data Costs. Australia relies on undersea cables to connect to global internet backbones, which comes with high costs for international bandwidth.

[@Nox_Bishop]

Two further things to consider: 1. The United States do not typically offer open networks like we have in Australia. Going with Ziply, or Comcast, or Google Fiber, or Time Warner, or whoever - theyre usually the only provider available. There is otherwise no other option for consumers in the US. 2. NBN recently announced theyre moving forward with upgrading the NBN speed tiers at no additional cost by September 2025, including jumping 100/20 to 500/50, 250/25 to 750/75, 1G/50 becoming 1G/100 and introducing a 2G/200 tier as well. So this should make it competitive to Ziply even then.

[@seq_virtualtours]

the upload speeds are still shit, thats what needs to change

[@Nox_Bishop]

@@seq_virtualtours nah. If you need upload, pay for it in my opinion.

[@David-d4k9k]

We live 300metres outside the 60kph zone in a country town on the Southwest Slopes. We cannot get NBN at all. Telstra only supply ADSL and our download speed is 2.7 mbps, with 700kps upload. They have the gall to actually charge for this. People living in the city have no idea how Neanderthal internet service is outside a city or large regional centre. It’s stuck in the 1990s.

[@seq_virtualtours]

of course they are. 1000/400 needs to be around $99 retail

[@edwarddolezal559]

The thing that annoys me is the prices are too high for what is being offered, the speeds are not guaranteed on fiber, and the upload speeds are not symmetric. I do question the NBN hasn't built the network to be able to guarantee fiber speeds during peak times yet.

[@matrixcrew]

Perhaps they can't offer symmetrical plans as the NBN network wasnt built with fibre to the home everywhere. The hardware used for the copper section was never designed for that. Glad NZ did fibre to the home and didn't cut corners like in Australia.

[@Respectable_Username]

If my understanding is correct (I learnt about this years ago so info might be out of date), ISPs basically buy a certain share of the bandwidth on the network from the NBN. Better ISPs will buy more bandwidth so that, even when the network's saturated at peak times, there's still enough bandwidth to service all their customers at speeds close to what was advertised. Whereas cheaper ISPs don't buy as much bandwidth from NBN and have to throttle customers when too many want to use it at once. I'm currently with Optus and they seem to be pretty good with it. But also, their customer service is kinda sucky so have been thinking about moving to AussieBB for a while now but just haven't gotten around to it

[@CraigSmith-xx5vu]

My neighbour gets fibre but being so close I wouldn’t bother with outsourced companies that don’t have Australian call centres for customer service I might get sent a router that’s ddos when I can activate things myself.

[@vincentwilkes9611]

Here on the US east coast, I wish I had fiber. Our cable is 85 USD for 300/10/ The old IT joke: Why did the chicken cross the road? Because he didn't have an installed base.

[@daranmurphy]

Hey Pat that spreadsheet is for Opticomm pricing not NBN pricing.

[@TechManPat]

Yeah that's right, and when I double checked them they were all the same, I only found one that was a few dollars out. For example compare AussieBB

[@kevinoconnor6570]

There's 2 of them one was for NBN and the other for Opticomm.

[@TechManPat]

@kevinoconnor6570 did I link the wrong one ?

[@daranmurphy]

@@TechManPat yeah the link you have is for Opticomm

[@TechManPat]

Thank you, fixed, docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_wnaTFb_3QsdgZfKDrEO6D_Rpzt2clbB/edit?gid=1372195840#gid=1372195840

[@craigsutton4903]

Those 950/500 nz plans are just are just listed as that for marketing purposes, they're just 1gig down 500 up in reality as wholesaled by chorus. I have standard low end fibre advertised as 300 down 100 up. In reality its 330 down 110 up , can get that via speedtest 24x7 theres no complaining of not getting what you pay for.

[@garryhall-hollis4834]

Agreed I changed to Kogan internet I pay 70 dollars for NBN 50 and it's been really good I haven't had any issues

[@dallasdrew2390]

We live in Melbourne and have had Starlink for the last two years it's just the best never drops out $135 per month and we can have three devices all streaming HD movies at the same time and it doesn't miss a beat.

[@Rangatology]

I remember when NBN was being rolled out & the major Telcos were complaining about price, the NBN wholesale price was $60 per month for the 25/5 $70 plan at Optus. But I can’t remember what the costs were at 50/100/250. It would be interesting to know & im guessing the margins increase with the speed. If anyone can find a link to it, that would be an interesting read.

[@prasadana2]

You missed the hyperfibre offerings in nz 2degrees.. 360net.. hyperline.. zeronet in nz ..

[@icrusher42]

any chance I can get a link to that spreadsheet?

[@TechManPat]

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_wnaTFb_3QsdgZfKDrEO6D_Rpzt2clbB/edit?gid=1372195840#gid=1372195840

[@icrusher42]

i see that my Provider Spintel price info is incomplete missing the 250/25Mbps that im on

[@azzafdu]

Since NBN were forced to change CVC treatment end of last year, AussieBroadband has dropped my plan price twice. By a lot. I am now paying about 50% less that a year ago for same plan. So we are finally seeing pricing going in the right direction. (Of course I immediately upgraded my plan to a faster one!) IMO we should be able to get 1Gig/1Gig for

[@Sam-c8u8b]

2:25 Aus mobile has had lots of price increases, are they still cheap?

[@emonkhan1443]

I really need help here, I just recently came to Australia to study, in Sydney. I'm looking for a network solution that will give me the lowest latency in my games, my games mostly have Asian servers. so internet speed doesn't matter to me, what matters to me is the latency or ping from my computer to let's say a server in Singapore(I'm going to get vpn but I need to optimize my net too). what should I get, 5g home, some NBN ISP, or something that doesn't use nbn.

[@michaelwthorne]

Pat, are the US prices being quoted ex sales tax prices?

[@TechManPat]

Yes as depending on which state you buy from there will be a different sales tax.

[@michaelwthorne]

Request: please disclose this in future comparisons.

[@TechManPat]

Will do

[@antikommunistischaktion]

​@@michaelwthornesales tax on Internet is a rounding error. In TN where sales tax is high a whopping 35¢ is added to my bill.

[@zc1517]

现在哪个ISP有Static IP, 家庭用的不是商用的那种. 我记得以前Internode有这个服务，但是现在找不到这家公司了

[@t4N9410oR]

Internode effectively no longer exists. Back sometime in the early to mid 2010s they out to iinet. In the late 2010s iinet sold out to TPG. And TPG is now in the process of closing down Internode, and moving the remaining Internode users to iinet.

[@Jokemeister1]

US prices usually don't include taxes which means us aussies often think prices are cheaper when in fact they're not so great after all once a true comparison is made.

[@antikommunistischaktion]

Sales tax on Internet service is a rounding error it's so small. On my 2G/2G fiber plan sales tax adds 35¢ to the bill.

[@Nerdgineer_com]

Is it just me, or have I looked at the 5 lowest priced plans for the tier that I want, and the prices are all lower than any price I could find directly on their websites?

[@TechManPat]

Sorry mate I messed up, I only checked a few rows, to make sure they match retail pricing, but the link I used was for a Opticomm Retail Service Provider community whole sale prices, where some of them have a deal between each other to get better prices.

[@TechManPat]

www.reddit.com/r/nbn/comments/1gbcb2s/nbn_retail_service_provider_pricing_updated_for/

[@Phantoma3]

@@TechManPat Is the NBN chart available in a spreadsheet? Also, is it true that once you're connected with NBN you can switch to Opticomm?

[@TechManPat]

@Phantoma3 I’m working on getting a sheet, also I’m not sure about opticomm

[@TechManPat]

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_wnaTFb_3QsdgZfKDrEO6D_Rpzt2clbB/edit?gid=1372195840#gid=1372195840

[@imitzi]

Hey Pat, Launtel plans actually start at 100/20 for NBN connections due to the price increases in Dec last year for the

[@TechManPat]

Yep I just noted, they also have IoT plans 4/4 which I thought was this one

[@Paul-L125]

AU$88 for 10Gb plan from Sunrise Switzerland. For a small country, cheap internet.

[@KurtGuy]

Small country is the reason tho. Infrastructure costs.

[@ikfc-f5z]

Hi, I'm with Telstra HFC 250/22 it's nice but $$$ 😢 $130 p/m I'm hoping from your report a few weeks ago, that Nbn Co will upgrade their speed Tier? this time next year. Thx

[@brandonchappell1535]

Same speed is 70-80 from spintel. Mine is $71, but checked site other day and was $79. Telstra are biggest scammers

[@Hansen999]

We are with Superloop, paying $109 p/m for 1000/50 and effectively getting 940/45 pretty much no matter what time on the day I do a speed test. If we used a shorter cable from the NBN output to the modem we would get 970-985 down consistently, but it's a pretty bad location for the modem.

[@seq_virtualtours]

why are you still with telstra, leave them.

[@gigantor62]

I pay $79.00 a month for no contract, unlimited 250 mps download and 50 mps upload ( FTTP ) from AGL. I live in South east Queensland.

[@seq_virtualtours]

there is no 250/50 plan from AGL

[@ghostofdre]

I cant get NBN, my connection is 5G home browdband plan for $85, I get 1TB month of data and about 350/20 speeds. I would prefer a fibre connection though with 1Gbit speeds. We actually have some really good mobile plan options and speeds in this country.

[@awesomusmaximus3766]

I managed to convince Telstra to give me a second connection free of charge Aussie internet is way too expensive they only pay 20 AUD a month in Germany for a 1 Gigabit connection we're getting ripped off

[@Freestyle80]

I just switch every 6 months 6 months of superloop 250/25 at $82/month and now will start 6 months of Exetel at $81/month and I found $70 cashback offers for both when I signed up. Have to do what we can to save money these days!

[@Pringles2.0]

Those NZ fibre plans are horrible. 2Degrees Hyperfibre is 2GB/2GB $129 or 4GB/4GB $169.

[@magesnz]

he probably wrote a business address which jacked the prices.....

[@Gizmologist_]

The price is a ripoff for only 50mbps upload unless you want to spend over $300p/m

[@Squishy9387]

I live in Queensland just a few kilometres from the highway but I live 3 hours from Brisbane. I only have 3 options for internet. I will give them in order of best to worst starlink unlimited 139 a month mobile broadband last time I used was 99 for 500gb but still unlimited with Telstra sky muster 170 for 200gb in 2018. The government really screwed up when K.Ruddy wanted us to get starlink for our 47 billion and it would have been done and perfect and we could have possibly had of had TB speeds but out bureaucrats decided better to line the pockets of an Aussie and get a rubbish product than let a billionaire from the USA get it done right the first time not decades behind on delivery and some will never get the speeds you get in the city ever because of greed of the ones in the cities who don't care about the ones who need to catch up on the country out bush.

[@seq_virtualtours]

kevin rudd wanted starlink? starlink wasnt even around when he was PM

[@jordanwardle11]

skymuster was mostly unchanged from the rudd government

[@lakibadhikari7930]

I'm here in Kathmandu for the festival's and just upgraded my home internet to FTTP 300mbps symmetrical for about 150$/year. Yes Australian prices are a joke. I would t mind paying 90$ a month if we got these speeds but we don't.

[@AlwaysLearningStuff]

I noticed you didn't list Buddy Telco as they have the cheapest 1000/50 plan at $99

[@SenorNavel]

I thought prices were meant to come down at some point after removing CVC charges. I guess NBN Co. still think they can make back that money wasted on FTTN.

[@TechManPat]

They did for the highest plans, but up for the lowest...

[@Respectable_Username]

2:08 Huh, those prices for 500-1k down aren't _that_ much more expensive than what I'm paying Optus for 50 down. Now, I'm rarely actually bottlenecked by network speed, but if the cost of that much more bandwidth is such a small amount more... Hmmm, will have to think about it once starting New Job and seeing how much of a pain downloading dependencies is when WFH

[@zachb1706]

It’s what happened when the government does something on its own. NZ did it right with the public-private partnership, where the private companies had an incentive to keep costs down.

[@Respectable_Username]

What are you talking about, "private companies [have] an incentive to keep costs down"? You do realise that, with private companies, many of their greatest costs are the salaries of their CEOs and upper management, who care more about profits for themselves than making a good service for their customers? At least with a public company, all the profits are reinvested in the business or able to be recycled back into the government, instead of being paid out as absurd CEO bonuses (or even absurd CEO exit packages worth many times the average person's salary if something goes wrong and the CEO takes the fall for it after being given that golden parachute)

[@zachb1706]

@ there are no profits in a public company because there’s no incentive to turn a profit. That why AusPost loses $200m every year, NBNco loses $1b a year whilst both providing subpar service at ridiculous prices.

[@crazyprayingmantis5596]

The price of everything in Australia is way too high.

[@buddyjgollan8726]

Yes it kind of defeats the purpose of having the nbn roll out in the first place because Telstra and other providers were capable enough to build their own networks and services I couldn’t believe that mobile broadband is way cheaper than nbn I do think it was a mistake for both governments to build a nbn network when there’s competition from starlink and other providers so if all Australian were to move to starlink I guarantee the NBN network will become irrelevant but of course I miss the old system of adsl and cable internet as it was cheaper depending on what plan you got.

[@dalechenoweth915]

Especially since as taxpayers, we paid for the infrastructure.

[@DimasFajar-ns4vb]

peace be upon you sir from me

[@jasonschubert6828]

Why are we even surprised? Literally _everything_ is too expensive in Australia, then add that it was built by the government so we have overpaid twice. 🙄

[@SevenCostanza]

I pay $99 for Optus home 5g. I get about 280 down in peak hours. And like 500-600 down off peak. I also get free Netflix with that plan though which is $17 a month saving so it's pretty good. And I have no need for any faster speeds

[@RetroSmoo]

Mobile data plans def overpriced compared to other countries too

[@stevenbliss989]

Considering how crappy the NBN is, the price is way way too high!

[@darrylweidenhofer]

Starlink when thats the only option.

[@tldrinfographics5769]

Switch to Star link

[@ByteOfRamen]

The prices are a joke but then you need to look at nbn history and see how mismanaged it was. Now that they got their shit together the prices are slowly going down.

[@KeithHeinrich]

@@ByteOfRamen this is the correct answer. Australia has some unique challenges that made the rollout a significant investment and the owing to the NBN becoming a political football poor decisions were dumped on the program adding significant cost and delay. Against that background costs are what they for a reason outside the control of the NBN which needs to operate profitably. In time though costs should fall to a level that may cause less complaining.

[@decem_unosquattro9538]

In Russia you can get 2000/2000 for 21.98 USD per month.😂 100 Mbits for $4.40 USD per month. 😮 These plans are all unmetered and unlimited download. 😅 They have 7 companies that will install in 1 hour! How's that for service.

[@Nick41622]

SpinTel NBN is the cheapest.

[@keithdouglas8707]

And the shittest too

[@Nick41622]

​@@keithdouglas8707 I have no problem with them, better & cheaper than my last provider. TPG.

[@Nick41622]

​@@keithdouglas8707 Are you talking about yourself?

[@Nick41622]

@@keithdouglas8707 I have no problem with them, better & cheaper than my last provider.

[@Freestyle80]

@@Nick41622 Spintel only has a POP in Sydney its not that good for gaming ping either

[@debugin1227]

High price, shit plans, rubbish service..

[@umbesabro]

Meanwhile in Poland... 5Gb - 40aud/month

[@TechManPat]

Siemanko

[@umbesabro]

@@TechManPat Siema!

[@emilsecker7881]

360Net will give you 2 gig down and up for $100 a month

[@movingloz]

Hehe. So cute that your daughter gets in the video. One thing I’ve always thought as a bad thing and can’t fully get my head around is why we have such seriously crap speeds up. As you point out so many other countries have symmetrical up and down, which is what I would expect to be the norm. I’ve been sold the whole reasoning behind it but I just don’t buy it. I still think we get ripped off something fierce in this country in so many ways, starting with taxes.

[@seq_virtualtours]

in the early days NBN didnt offer it because they didnt want businesses that were spending thousands on high upload to switch to residential plans for cheaper. As time went on it changed to we cant do it because HFC cant have those upload speeds. Its all a big scam thats all

[@StingyGeek]

Paid 50 down, never reaches 40 down. Why? Because the original infrastructure isn't up to it. It's a joke. Over priced, under performing.

[@davejavu64]

I have been with belong for over 6 years. My plan has always been the same. $65 per month,when I started. Now, the same plan is $95? And it's seems slower. So what are we paying for? It's not like electricity. It costs nothing for suppliers to run.

[@KurtGuy]

All these price comparisions to other countries are dumb without looking at salaries as well.

[@TechManPat]

Yep