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NBN Sky Muster vs Sky Muster Plus

It used to be that NBN Sky Muster satellite users only had access to two NBN speed tiers but, nowadays, they have three.

Nathan Lawrence
Jan 10, 2022
Icon Time To Read2 min read

We’ve got a page dedicated to a full breakdown of Sky Muster Plus, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do a speedy recap here. If you live in a remote or offshore part of Australia, chances are you have access to NBN Sky Muster satellite. And if you do sign up to an NBN satellite plan, you’ll either be looking at a standard Sky Muster option or a Sky Muster Plus upgrade.

Sky Muster vs Sky Muster Plus

It’s actually a really simple breakdown between Sky Muster and Sky Muster Plus. Standard Sky Muster plans are the cheapest ones available and they’re built on one of two NBN speed tiers: NBN 12 (NBN Basic I) or NBN 25 (NBN Basic II). Meanwhile, Sky Muster Plus plans tend to guarantee speeds of at least NBN 25 but are built to reach speeds of up to NBN 50 (NBN Standard).

In terms of speeds, you can expect Sky Muster plans to offer up to 12Mbps download and 1Mbps download for NBN 12 or 25Mbps and 5Mbps for the NBN 25 plans. Sky Muster Plus plans can reach download speeds of up to 50Mbps and upload speeds of up to 5Mbps.

Because Sky Muster plans have slower max speeds, you can safely expect them to be cheaper than Sky Muster Plus plans, with the NBN 25 versions the norm these days. That said, there are some other perks that help justify the extra cost of a Sky Muster Plus plan outside of speed. For starters, video streaming and virtual private network (VPN) services are technically the only metered content, with pretty much everything else unmetered. The only disclaimer there is certain online activities may be impacted by NBN speed shaping.

There are a couple of NBN satellite standards that don’t change between Sky Muster and Sky Muster Plus, though. For starters, expect to have a similar 600ms latency regardless of the plan, which is because the Sky Muster satellites are roughly 36,000km above the planet. Additionally, because all forms of satellite internet have finite shared bandwidth, all NBN Sky Muster and Sky Muster Plus plans have data caps, separated into an on-peak (between 7:00am and 1:00am) and off-peak (between 1:00am and 7:00am) data allowance.

The table below complies NBN Co data about the differences between Sky Muster and Sky Muster Plus:

Feature
Sky Muster
Sky Muster Plus
Data allowanceDetermined by providersPlans between 25GB (peak/off-peak) and 150GB (peak/off-peak)
Wholesale speeds12/1Mbps
25/5Mbps
"25/5Mbps (at least once per day), up to 50/5Mbps"
Metered activitiesAll online tasksVideo streaming and VPN traffic
Sky Muster speed test

Whether you’ve got a standard Sky Muster plan, a Sky Muster Plus upgrade or any other form of internet, use the internet speed test tool below to test your download speeds, upload speeds and connection latency. If you’re only interested in download speeds, click or tap on ‘Start Speed Test’ to see your results after 10 seconds. Additionally, tap or click on the ‘Show More Info’ button to also see your latency and upload speed.

 

Sky Muster Plus plans

Check out the daily updating list below for a breakdown of the most popular Sky Muster Plus plans from our comparison engine.

Sky Muster Plus vs Starlink

If you fancy a speedier connection but live in a remote or offshore part of Australia, the main alternative to Sky Muster Plus is Starlink satellite. In the Sky Muster vs Starlink battle, Starlink is more expensive and subject to availability, but it does offer unlimited data, faster download speeds (up to 150Mbps currently) and significantly lower latency.

Nathan Lawrence
Written by
Nathan Lawrence has been banging out passionate tech and gaming words for more than 11 years. These days, you can find his work on outlets like IGN, STACK, Fandom, Red Bull and AusGamers. Nathan adores PC gaming and the proof of his first-person-shooter prowess is at the top of a Battlefield V scoreboard.

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