Internet bills will be going up again for around seven in 10 Australian homes, as most of the major telcos hike prices for their National Broadband Network (NBN) plans.
When you get your NBN bill next month, don’t be surprised if it’s higher than normal. Effective 1 July, NBN Co has raised the wholesale rate for both Basic and Standard NBN plans, and internet retailers have wasted no time passing those extra costs on to you.
Anna Perrin, chief customer officer at NBN Co, acknowledged that the significant increase in wholesale price would hit households already struggling with rising costs, but said it was necessary to ensure the NBN remains fit for purpose going forward.
“We understand that any price change can be a concern for customers, particularly considering current cost of living pressures,” she said.
“Data usage on the NBN network is doubling every five years, which makes a strong case for the delivery of faster speeds and greater capacity across the network. Today, the average household uses 22 internet-connected devices, and this is expected to grow to 40 by the end of the decade.”
How much will my bills be going up by?
Most of the nation’s largest telcos – including Telstra, Optus, Dodo, iPrimus and Aussie Broadband – have lifted the price of Basic and Standard NBN plans by between $1 and $5 per month.
Figures from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) show Basic and Standard plans account for 69 per cent of all NBN accounts – delivering more price pain to a majority of Aussies.
For reference, a Basic NBN plan has the slowest speeds (usually around 12Mbps download) and is suitable for sending emails, general web browsing and streaming video on one device.
A Standard NBN connection is at least 50Mbps and can stream 4K video to multiple devices, handle online gaming and download large files in minutes. If you’re able to watch Netflix on two devices in your house at once, you have at least a Standard NBN connection.
A Standard NBN plan will now cost more than $100 per month with Telstra for the first time, which WhistleOut’s Joel Gibson says is “unfair”.
“In a cost-of-living crisis, it’s deeply unfair to ask households with smaller budgets below $100/month to pay more while giving wealthier households price cuts and higher speeds,” he wrote for Nine News.
“NBN Co is trying to incentivise Australians to upgrade their speeds, but they need to read the room. Right now, Australians simply cannot afford bigger internet bills.”
You don’t have to pay that much
Sure, Telstra’s standard NBN plans may be heading north of $100, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay that. Telstra plans are almost always the most expensive.
Even a cursory glance at competitor telcos will reveal it’s still very much possible to get a Standard NBN plan for under $100 – under $90, in fact.
Australia’s second largest provider, Optus, is offering unlimited data on a Standard NBN50 connection (meaning 50Mbps download speed) for $89, while iPrimus is offering the same for $84.
Dodo has increased its monthly price for NBN50 by $3.90 to $83.90 and Aussie Broadband went up $4 per month to $85.
And that’s without even looking at budget internet providers, the cheapest of which is Tangerine, whose new price of $59.90 per month was the cheapest WhistleOut could find.
Some of these prices make Telstra’s offering look a little out of touch, so if you’ve been sitting on the same deal for years with one of the major telcos, it’s probably worth your while to shop around.
Who is your internet with? When was the last time you compared NBN plans? Let us know in the comments section below.
Also read: This broadband hack can keep your internet costs low
It’s not as simple as looking at the basic charge, you need to also account for the inclusions and package discounts such as whether a landline is included, whether mobile discounts apply, and a variety of other offerings that may or may not be included at no extra charge.
There is also a question of reliability of the service.
We are with TPG, and on a plan that will not alter, since where we live in Tasmania, we can only get 25 MBPS speed, and am paying $74.99/month. We haven’t had notification of an increase, yet!
NBN has never been fit for purpose!
Your on the money Tood, we are in a heavy populated area and the internet here is almost as good as dial up, I’ve spoken to our provider 6 times as well as NBN a couple of times the answer I got back in the end was this problem MAY be overcome by December 2025 this came from NBN, what a joke, we cannot even stream the AFL absolutely pathetic.