The best provider for every internet technology

The best provider for your ’net needs ultimately depends on the internet technologies available to your home, regardless of whether you’re in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide or anywhere else in Australia. Most homes in Australia have access to fixed-line NBN technologies, where plans start at around $50 for entry-level internet and extend to $100+ typical pricing for the fastest NBN plans available.

Those in rural areas can likely get Fixed Wireless NBN from around $50+ per month and Aussies in remote places can sign up for an NBN Sky Muster satellite plan for a roughly $35+ monthly fee. Home wireless broadband plans start at the $50+ mark for 4G or you can pay $60+ for 5G home internet. If you’d prefer internet you can take with you, mobile broadband plans start at under $20.

Scroll on for the full breakdown, but for something simpler, here’s a look at how each of these providers look in terms of their most popular NBN 50 plans.

Promotional pricing may come and go, but Kogan Internet shows that you don’t need to necessarily factor that in when there’s great typical pricing instead. Admittedly, Kogan also does offer promo pricing from time to time, too. For this category, we’ve specifically highlighted Kogan’s Silver Unlimited NBN 50 plan, which comes with great 50Mbps download and 17Mbps upload typical evening speeds. But Kogan plans are also a great comparison starting point for other speed tiers. Save money with Kogan’s NBN 25 plan if you don’t need extra speed, or upgrade to NBN 100 and beyond. Kogan NBN plans may be light on perks, but they offer competitive pricing across the board.

For alternatives, consider NBN 50 or other speed tiers from Tangerine, Exetel, Superloop and Dodo.

If you’re not a fan of NBN, home wireless broadband via mobile network is worth considering. And while 4G wireless broadband plans are more affordable, 5G home internet plans offer speeds that can rival NBN. TPG offers a few home wireless broadband plans worth considering. If you have basic needs, start with TPG Home Wireless Broadband. The speeds aren’t particularly flash but it’s more accessible than TPG’s 5G plans. That said, if the Vodafone 5G network is in your area, we recommend going for the competitively priced TPG 5G Home Broadband Premium plan. It comes with unlimited data, plus speeds up to 100Mbps download and 12Mbps upload. All TPG wireless broadband plans come with a preconfigured modem, too, for easier setup.

Alternatively, consider Spintel if your home is covered by the Optus 5G network or Telstra for a wireless broadband plan on the Telstra 5G network.

Comparatively, most Telstra mobile or internet plans cost more than its competitors. But what you get for that extra investment is the potential for better coverage and faster speeds. Case in point, Telstra mobile broadband plans. We recommend starting comparisons with the Telstra Upfront Data Plan Small. Admittedly, it doesn’t have a whole lot of data but there aren’t any excess data fees, and you can always upgrade to the Medium or Large plans for noticeably larger data caps. Whichever Telstra mobile broadband plan you choose, you get access to the full Telstra network (including 5G), data sharing and a full suite of support pathways whenever you need help.

For alternatives, consider Vodafone or Optus mobile broadband plans.

We track a few NBN Sky Muster satellite providers in our database but none are as fully featured as SkyMesh. For those in NBN satellite areas, there are more than a dozen plans to choose from. If you shift from bush to bustle, SkyMesh offers Fixed Wireless and fixed-line NBN services, too. To help tame the NBN satellite choices, we recommend starting comparisons with the SkyMesh NBN-SB-30-140 Sky Muster plan. That inelegant plan name translates to an okay amount of peak data, 100GB+ of off-peak data and download speeds up to 25Mbps. If you want more or less data, faster or slower speeds, SkyMesh lets you change plans as many times as you’d like.

Alternatively, consider NBN satellite plans from Activ8me or IPStar. If you don’t mind paying the premium, Starlink offers the fastest speeds and lowest latency for satellite internet in Australia.

Southern Phone has long been a contender for NBN fixed-line plans, but the provider also competes in the Fixed Wireless NBN space. Take the Southern Phone NBN Fixed Wireless Plus plan, for instance. This plan offers up to three times the max speed of the slower NBN 25 plans under best-case conditions without costing a whole lot more. Southern Phone reports 45Mbps download and 6Mbps upload typical evening speeds, which is great dollar-to-speed value compared to its peers. If you have any issues or questions, Southern Phone offers seven-day tech support. Like SkyMesh, Southern Phone can shift with you, supporting an impressive range of at-home and mobile internet plans.

For contenders, consider Fixed Wireless NBN plans from Tangerine and Mate.

NBN 100 is the max speed tier that most Aussies can choose for home internet. But if you live in an Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) or Fibre-to-the-Curb (FTTC) abode, you can go even faster. NBN 250 plans offer a good mix of value and speed, and we reckon Exetel is the best place to start comparisons. Exetel has a knack of offering promo pricing to new customers; more importantly, the provider tends to offer competitive ongoing pricing across its NBN plans. Whether you choose an Exetel NBN 250 plan or another speed tier, expect solid download and upload speeds, plus very low latency, which is a great selling point if you have online gamers in your home. Exetel customers also get five free speed boosts per month.

Alternatively, check out Superloop, Tangerine and Spintel for competitively priced NBN 250 plans.

NBN 1000 plans are the fastest home internet speed tier available in Australia. But because certain NBN providers offer NBN 500 plans under the “Ultrafast” moniker, we reckon you should check in with renowned speedster Superloop for your NBN 1000 speed needs. Start comparisons with Superloop’s Lightspeed NBN 1000/50 plan, specifically. Superloop has a reputation for long-running promotional pricing for new customers, plus it offers competitive typical pricing, too. For its NBN 1000 plan, Superloop advertises an impressive 700Mbps typical evening download speed with 42Mbps upload. That’s faster than any other plan in our database. Superloop is also an ACCC-tracked NBN provider with a tendency for fast downloads and uploads, plus low latencies.

For speedy NBN 1000 alternatives, consider the great typical pricing of Southern Phone or the pricier plans from iPrimus and AGL.

The right internet provider should tick a lot of boxes. It’s not just about price and data, though those are important: it’s also about internet technologies, coverage and included features. If you want a provider that offers a wide range of internet technologies, consider Southern Phone, SkyMesh, Telstra, Optus or TPG.

It’s critical to think about what you want out of your internet, too. If you want internet that travels with you, mobile broadband on the Telstra mobile network is a great starting point for plan comparisons. For home internet, NBN is the most reliable bet, where there’s great competition between Tangerine, Exetel, Spintel, Superloop and Dodo across relevant speed tiers.

You can save money by dropping to a slower speed tier or tap into faster speeds by choosing an NBN 250 or NBN 1000 plan (if your home technology supports them) from providers like Superloop, Exetel and Southern Phone. Alternatively, shift away from NBN and consider wireless broadband on the Telstra, Optus or Vodafone networks.