The best NBN plans for upload speed

Unlike home internet in other parts of the world, even the best NBN plans in Australia don’t offer symmetrical download and upload speeds. So if you’re buying a popular NBN 50 plan, for instance, you shouldn’t expect 50Mbps download and 50Mbps upload speeds.

Assumedly, because upload speed is far less important for most online tasks, NBN Co offers all of its NBN plans with upload speeds that are slower than download speeds. If you’re in the market for an NBN plan or the best NBN provider for upload, we’ve got you covered.

Superloop is our current pick when it comes to upload speeds because of its performance in the most recent ACCC speed data. Of the NBN providers included in the ACCC data, Superloop came out on top with 92.6% of max potential upload speeds during busy hours.

According to the most recent data from the ACCC’s Measuring Broadband Australia report, here are the upload speed percentages you can expect from participating providers during busy hours:

1. Exetel (91.1%)
2. Vodafone (88.3%)
3. Superloop (92.6%)
4. Optus (89%)
5. Dodo & iPrimus (91.7%)
6. Telstra (91.9%)
7. Aussie Broadband (89.3%)
8. iiNet (87.5%)
9. TPG (87.9%)

We’ve chosen the Superloop Lightspeed 1000/100 plan specifically because it offers up to 100Mbps upload speeds, which is the fastest available to most homes in Australia.

Those who want even faster download speeds may want to consider an NBN 2000 plan instead.  Alternatively, consider NBN 1000/100 plans from Exetel, Aussie Broadband, Origin Broadband, Mate or More NBN.

The most competitively priced plans with the best value are from the NBN 100 speed tier. These NBN plans have up to 100Mbps download speed and up to 40Mbps upload speed. In terms of upload speeds, 40Mbps is plenty for almost every online task, outside of faster file backup and streaming to platforms like Twitch at high resolutions.

Of the NBN 100 plans in our comparison engine, Tangerine's Speedy Plus plan is our pick of the lot with a mix of competitive promotional pricing and good ongoing pricing. Download speeds are set at the max 100Mbps, while you can expect around 34Mbps upload speeds with this plan.

For competitively contenders, consider NBN 100/40 plans from Superloop and TPG. Those on FTTP and HFC might be able to snag an NBN 500 or NBN 750 for less per month, which may be a better deal as these speed tiers offer upload speeds of as fast as 50Mbps.

If you don't want to pay for the premium price attached to NBN 2000 or NBN 1000 plans, an NBN 750 or NBN 500 plan might be a good alternative. These plans offer upload speeds of up to 50Mbps, which is an improvement on what a NBN 100/40 plan can offer

Of the available options, we like to think that this plan from SpinTel is a great choice. Priced at $64 for the first six months, this NBN 500 plan comes with unlimited data, typical evening speeds of up to 500Mbps and upload speeds of up to 42Mbps. After the honeymoon ends, you're looking at a price of $84.95 per month.

If you want a more megabits-per-second in terms of download speeds, an NBN 750 plan might make sense. Alternatively, try any of the TPG, Moose, Dodo, Exetel, Superloop or Southern Phone NBN 500/50 plans in the widget below.

You can save money by choosing an NBN plan that matches the upload speed to your online activities.

We recommend most homes start comparisons with NBN 50 plans because they offer a good mix of pricing and speed. But if you only use the internet for common tasks—browsing, emailing, social media, gaming, video calls and streaming videos—you can also get away with a cheaper NBN 25 plan (up to 5Mbps uploads).

The 1Mbps max upload speeds from an NBN 12 plan are only appropriate for homes with very basic internet needs: basically, browsing, social media and emails. If you want to get faster uploads, you’ll need to skip the popular NBN 100/20 plans. Most fixed-line homes can opt for an NBN 100/40 plan, which is great for faster cloud backups and file transfers, using remote-access software like Parsec or streaming a screen and webcam content to services like Twitch in high definition.

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) homes can consider an NBN 250 plan, but note it’s restricted to 25Mbps max upload speeds: faster than NBN 50 and NBN 100/20, but slower than NBN 100/40.

For the fastest available upload speeds, FFTP and select HFC homes can go with an NBN 500, NBN 750, NBN 1000 or NBN 2000 plan, both of which have up to 100Mbps upload speeds.