Speed test your iiNet internet

iiNet is a household name when it comes to broadband internet. Outside of being an NBN provider, iiNet also offers a range of other internet services for eligible areas, including cable, VDSL2 and home wireless internet. Most of those types of broadband internet have self-reported typical evening speeds you can expect to hit during the internet’s nightly busy period, which is why it’s handy to have an iiNet speed test tool to ensure your iiNet ’net is up to snuff.

Let’s get straight into the basics of speed testing iiNet. The handy tool above will put your iiNet internet through the paces by just clicking on or tapping ‘Start Speed Test’. This internet speed test works on any form of iiNet internet, or any other provider and internet type for that matter. Wait 10 seconds to see a download speed, measured in megabits-per-second (Mbps).

For additional speed tests, interact with the ‘Show More Info’ button. You’ll see a latency value straight away, measured in milliseconds (ms), followed by an upload speed (Mbps) about 10 seconds later. While providers don’t tend to self-report upload speeds or latency, compare the download speed result with whatever iiNet is advertising for the plan you’re on.

If you want the most accurate results, perform the test multiple times throughout the day. Ideally, run the iiNet speed test when no other devices are using the internet at your home. For the best WiFi speed test results, get your test device as close as possible to the router or modem-router and connect to the 5GHz frequency (if available). Alternatively, use an Ethernet-connected computer to run the internet speed test.

You can safely expect some variance in the iiNet speed test results, depending on time of day, age of the device used for testing, distance of the device from your router or modem-router, whether other people are also using the internet at the same time, and a few other factors. Regardless, the download number should be larger than the upload result, where bigger numbers are better. Latency, on the other hand, should have a lower number. According to recent ACCC data, iiNet latency averages out at 10ms for fixed-line NBN connections, which is great.

For an indication of the maximum achievable speeds on an NBN connection, check out the list below (main NBN speed tiers are bold):

• NBN 12: 12Mbps download, 1Mbps upload
• NBN 25: 25Mbps download, 5 Mbps upload (or 10Mbps with Aussie Broadband)
• NBN 50: 50Mbps download, 20 Mbps upload
• NBN 75 (Aussie Broadband only): 75Mbps download, 20Mbps upload
• NBN 100/20: 100Mbps download, 20Mbps upload
• NBN 100/40 (Superloop, MyRepublic, Aussie Broadband, Pennytel, Exetel, Mate): 100Mbps download, 40Mbps upload
• NBN 250: 250Mbps download, 25 Mbps upload
• NBN 500 (Superloop, Vodafone, Exetel): 500Mbps download, 50Mbps upload
• NBN 1000: 990Mbps download, 50Mbps upload

It’s worth noting that maximum achievable speeds can be different from the self-reported typical evening download speed from providers. Additionally, only Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) homes are capable of signing up to NBN 250 and NBN 1000 plans.

iiNet NBN plans include every major speed tier: NBN 12, NBN 25, NBN 50, NBN 100, NBN 250 and NBN 1000. These NBN speed tiers cover fixed-line NBN technologies as well as Sky Muster satellite NBN and NBN Fixed Wireless homes.

iiNet also sells internet plans on home wireless internet, 5G home internet, cable, non-NBN FTTB and VDSL2 technologies. For an idea of expected average download speeds on iiNet internet technologies, check out the table below:

The disclaimer to the information above is that those homes connected to the NBN via Fibre-to-the-Building (FTTB), Fibre-to-the-Curb (FTTC) or Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN) homes have their speeds confirmed after activation. iiNet also notes that its self-reported typical evening download speeds are estimates and will be updated after collecting sufficient data, which may explain why the NBN 250 and NBN 1000 speeds in particular are quite conservative.

You can check out some of iiNet’s plans below (the provider has a lot of them!), organised by popularity:

iiNet’s NBN self-reported typical evening speeds range from fantastic to conservative, but let’s pit them against the competition. First up is iiNet’s NBN 12 plan:

For almost every NBN 12 plan in our comparison engine, the norm is for 12Mbps download speeds:

We consider NBN 25 to be the true entry-level plan for homes, and you can see an iiNet NBN 25 plan below:

Again, iiNet follows the trend of offering parity between 25Mbps max download speeds for NBN 25 plans and self-reported typical evening download speeds. There’s a lot of that going around with the competition, too:

NBN 50 is the most popular speed tier in Australia, and iiNet follows the 50Mbps evening download speeds trend with its plans:

Like NBN 12 and NBN 25, the trend is for providers to offer 50Mbps parity between max and evening download speeds. You’ll see this reflected in the competing NBN 50 plans below:

NBN 100 is where things start to slow down a bit for iiNet:

While 90Mbps isn’t terrible, it’s beaten by a lot of other NBN providers in our comparison engine, which you can see below:

Those in FTTP homes or limited HFC homes can also consider an NBN 250 plan:

As you can see from the competing plans below, iiNet’s 200Mbps evening speeds aren’t the best next to the competition:

iiNet also offers conservative 200Mbps estimates for the evening download speeds of its NBN 1000 plan:

While this isn’t uncommon with other NBN 1000 providers in our comparison engine, it’s still nowhere near the fastest available:

For a practical idea of how faster download and upload speeds can help with a few common internet activities, check out the table below (which assumes you’re downloading at max potential or iiNet reported speed, where available):

Note that the typical evening download speeds are taken from iiNet (where available), while the approximate average upload speeds are taken from the latest ACCC NBN broadband performance data. We’ve used max upload speeds for iiNet’s non-NBN technologies.