Compare Internet Plans: Best Broadband Offers for NBN, ADSL, and Wireless and Mobile Broadband

Choosing the best broadband plan can be a tough choice. Out of all the internet providers on the market, and all the plans they offer, how do you know which is the best choice for your household and lifestyle? Whether you want the fastest NBN, mobile broadband with the biggest data, or the cheapest ADSL plan on the market, Selectra will help you make a decision below.

Compare NBN offers: The best, the fastest, and the cheapest NBN offers on the market

As NBN becomes the standard across the country, Australians are looking to find the best NBN plans for their lifestyle. Whether this is the cheapest, fastest, or most optimized, here is a selection of NBN plans to help find the best plan for you.

Cheapest NBN Providers

NBN prices vary due to factors such as download speed and data limits. They can also vary depending on additional features included in the plan, such as an included modem or fixed-line rental. To compare NBN prices, we’ve compared some of the cheapest ISPs across the country, including any additional features the plans might include, to help you get an idea about the cheapest NBN prices for your needs.

TPG is one of the cheaper NBN providers on the market, and plans include a free NBN wifi modem with pay-as-you-go calls. If you opt for an 18-month contract there is no setup fee, but a no lock-in contract comes with an additional $99.95 setup fee.

Cheap Plans for Small Data? On an 18-month contract, TPG offers 10GB of data on NBN12 for $29.99 / month with no additional fees

iiNet offers flexible NBN contracts on either 6-months or no lock-in, both of which come with $0 set up or activation fee. If you already have an NBN modem you can bring your own or purchase one through iiNet for a one-off charge of $59.99. Unlike TPG, iiNet does not offer unlimited data with their NBN12 plan but does offer NBN25 speeds which is a feature many other ISPs are doing away with.

Tangerine’s flexible NBN plans with no lock-in contracts and $0 setup offer unlimited data options at comparable rates. Their NBN plans are some of the cheapest around for the first 6 months, while still offering competitive pricing after 6 months. They also offer a 14-day risk-free trial to make sure you’re satisfied with their NBN services. In addition, you can bring your own modem if it’s NBN-configured or purchase one of three available through Tangerine.

Fastest NBN providers (by download speeds)

NBN plans come at a number of speeds, with the slowest being 12Mbps, and the fastest being 100Mbps at peak performance. However, these are the maximum possible speeds and very often a number of factors, such as the number of NBN users at one time, mean that average speeds are slower. While it is the case that all ISPs average NBN speeds are significantly less than the maximum possible speed, some NBN providers still offer comparably faster, and more consistent speeds, than others. Here, we outline some of the fastest NBN providers and plans available.

NBN 250?Certain NBN providers, such as AussieBroadband, offer maximum speeds above 100Mbps, such as 150Mbps or even 250Mbps for certain types of NBN connections. However, the average broadband-connected household probably won’t need speeds above 50Mbps, while most serious gamers will find NBN 100 speeds equally fast for high-def online gaming.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Measuring Broadband Australia report for February 2020 the top three fastest NBN providers, as shown as percentage of maximum plan speed, are:

1. Optus - 90% of maximum plan speed overall, and 89.9% during busy hours
2. TPG - 88.3% of maximum plan speed overall, and 86.6% during busy hours
3. Exetel - 87.8% of maximum plan speed overall, and 86.6% during busy hours

Below, however, are three of the fastest NBN100 plans available, shown with their average evening download speeds.

*Based on average evening speeds as stated by the ISP. Actual speed might differ based on connection type and other factors.
**For unlimited data with no other additional features included, with $0 set up option

Gamer?Heavy-duty gamers don’t just depend on superfast download speeds to ensure optimized gaming performance. For fast download speeds and low latency, MyRepublic offers their Gamer Pro NBN plan with max speeds of NBN50 (average evening speeds of 43Mbps) or NBN100 (average evening speeds of 83Mbps) and an optimized network for low latency as well as live latency tracking.

Cheapest ADSL & ADSL2+ plans and bundles

While NBN is becoming the standard for internet access across Australia, many still have broadband connections through ADSL and ADSL2+. Continue reading to see some of the cheapest ADSL plans and bundles in Australia

Cheapest ADSL with unlimited data

In today’s world, with how much we use the internet, unlimited data is the standard choice for most households. Working or studying from home, video calling friends and family across the globe, streaming videos and movies, and playing video games all require a broadband connection. Here, we compare some of the cheaper ADSL plans with unlimited data available, as well as whether or not they come with a lock-in contract, and any additional features they might include such as a modem, or whether setup is free. These plans, however, don’t come with a bundled phone service, which is a requirement for ADSL. If you don’t have a phone line with another provider, you might need to look into a bundled ADSL plan.

Outside of the city?Depending on if you live in the city or regionally, the price of your ADSL services might change.

ADSL + phone bundles

ADSL requires an active phone connection to connect you to the internet. Most of the time, this doesn’t need to be with your ISP but choosing to bundle your ADSL with a home phone line can save you money in the long run. Below, we’ve broken down some of the ADSL + phone line bundles available, as well as what they include in their plans. While ADSL + phone bundles are often available on a month-to-month contract in addition to long-term contracts, it should be noted that setup and activation costs and/or modem costs will be higher.

Wireless broadband: The cheapest plans with the most data

Home wireless broadband lets users connect to the internet through the same network as mobile phones. Wireless broadband is great for people who rent, who don’t have NBN available and are too far away from the ADSL connection for decent speeds, or move frequently and don’t want to worry about the wires, installation, or setup that traditional modems require.

Unfortunately, wireless broadband often comes with capped data plans and, depending on where you live, your connection might not be as strong as NBN or ADSL. In addition, you will still need a plugged-in wireless broadband modem (unlike mobile broadband) and unlike other broadband options you won’t always get to choose your download speeds. However, for those who like the flexibility it offers, wireless home broadband can be a great choice. Continue reading to discover some of the wireless home broadband plans available on the market, including some of those with the biggest data offers available, as well as some of the cheapest.

Cheapest wireless broadband

Home wireless broadband is a great choice for those who don’t want to deal with setting up a wired modem to ADSL or NBN, or for those where ADSL or NBN isn’t possible or practical. For small households, the standard 200GB of data per month is usually more than enough for all internet needs and is priced around the same amount as standard NBN or ADSL plans. Unlike NBN or ADSL, however, there is often a steeper cost for the necessary wireless modem.

Wireless broadband is only available through a few select providers, and data is generally capped at 500GB per month.

5G wireless home broadband with Optus

Are you interested in connecting your home to 5G wireless broadband? Optus is one of the first broadband providers to offer the 5G network to Australians in select locations. With the Optus 5G network, Optus guarantees 50Mbps download speed satisfaction and currently is offering the first month of 5G broadband free.

Best mobile broadband plans

Unlike wireless broadband, which generally requires a modem that plugs into an outlet, mobile broadband allows you to bring bigger data with you wherever you go. Ideal for tablets, hotspots, or wifi dongles, mobile broadband can follow you anywhere you get mobile service. Data allowances range from 1GB per month to 250GB per month, with just about every amount of data in between.

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Small-data mobile broadband

Sometimes you don’t need much data for your mobile broadband device, and don’t want to spend the extra money on big data plans. Here, we outline some of the smaller data-only mobile broadband plans available, at 25GB and under, with both contract and no-contract options.

Contract or no contract? While most people agree that choosing a no lock-in, or month-to-month plan, is best, it can often be more economically friendly to choose a 12 or 24-month contract for your mobile or broadband service. With contracted plans, you often get more data at a lower cost per month than you would with a month-to-month or prepaid plan.

Mobile broadband with lots of data

Small data mobile broadband might be good for a tablet or other 4G enabled personal device, but mobile broadband can also be great as an alternative to fixed broadband or wireless broadband, especially for those who tele-work or travel frequently and need to connect to the internet while on the move. With big-data mobile broadband plans, the whole family can connect to a mobile hotspot or dongle while out and about and continue to stream movies, tele-work, and connect to social media.