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National Broadband Network (NBN)

Speeds on the NBN are affected by a variety of local and external factors, including your NBN technology, devices, network, and more. Read on to learn more about NBN performance.

Factors that affect the performance of NBN broadband

There are important factors that affect the speeds of your NBN service. These include the abilities of your NBN technology, your devices, your network, and more. Because of these factors, you should not expect to receive every download at (for example) 100 Mbps!

General factors that affect all NBN technologies include:

  • The hardware that you use to connect to the NBN.
    You will need an Ethernet/VDSL2 router that can handle NAT and firewalling at high speeds.
  • The performance of your home network.
    Devices connected by WiFi may experience slower speeds than those connected by Ethernet cable.
  • The number of devices that are connected.
    If you have a lot of users on your home network, it's possible to use all the available bandwidth at once.
  • The capabilities of your computer or device.
    Your computer's hardware, software, and protocol stack all affect speed. Applications can also run in the background, using some bandwidth.
  • External network links and servers.
    The capacity of, load on, and data access rate of global Internet links, local backhaul, and servers all affect the speeds you'll experience.

Because of these factors, NBN service speeds are described as 'theoretical network maximum speeds'. Your actual speeds may be slower due to factors outside of Internode's control.

Technology-specific factors

Different NBN technologies have different speed abilities. In addition to the general factors listed above, the specific factors below may affect the actual speeds experienced on your NBN service:

Technology typeSpeed TierTypical
business hours
download speed
(9am-5pm)		Specific Factors that affect Speed
 
Fibre to the Premises (FTTP)
Optical fibre leading all the way to your premises. Terminates at the Premises Connection Device on an outside wall.		 Bronze (nbn12) 10.7 Mbps  
Silver (nbn25) 20.8 Mbps
Gold (nbn50) 46.4 Mbps
Platinum (nbn100) 81.5 Mbps
 
Fibre to the Node (FTTN)
Optical fibre leading to a Node in your street (or a street nearby), with a final stretch of copper to your premises.		 Bronze (nbn12) 10.7 Mbps
  • Length of the copper line from your premises to the NBN node (typically in your street or a street nearby). The longer the distance, the slower the speed.
  • Weather conditions may impact the copper.
  • Quality of copper line, including overall length, condition, and joins.
Silver (nbn25) 20.8 Mbps
Gold (nbn50) 46.4 Mbps
Platinum (nbn100) 81.5 Mbps
 
Fibre to the Building (FTTB)
Optical fibre leading to a connection point (Main Distribution Frame) in the building, with a final stretch of copper to your unit/apartment's wall socket.		 Bronze (nbn12) 10.7 Mbps
  • Length of the copper line from your premises to the NBN hub (typically in the basement of your building). The longer the distance, the slower the speed.
  • Weather conditions may impact the copper.
  • Quality of copper line in your building, including overall length, condition, and joins.
Silver (nbn25) 20.8 Mbps
Gold (nbn50) 46.4 Mbps
Platinum (nbn100) 81.5 Mbps
 
Fibre to the Curb (FTTC)
Optical fibre connects to a Node in a communications pit in your street, and copper cable delivers broadband to the NBN Network Connection Device at your premises.		 Bronze (nbn12) 10.7 Mbps
  • Length of the copper line from your premises to the NBN FTTC node. The longer the distance, the slower the speed.
  • Weather conditions may impact the copper.
  • Quality of copper line, including overall length, condition, and joins.
Silver (nbn25) 20.8 Mbps
Gold (nbn50) 46.4 Mbps
Platinum (nbn100) 81.5 Mbps
 
Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC)
Optical fibre connects to an optical node, and then coaxial cable delivers broadband from the optical node to the NBN Network Termination Device at your premises.		 Bronze (nbn12) 10.7 Mbps  
Silver (nbn25) 20.8 Mbps
Gold (nbn50) 46.4 Mbps
Platinum (nbn100) 81.5 Mbps
 
Fixed Wireless
Fixed antenna on your roof receives a wireless signal from your local NBN Wireless tower.		 View information about NBN Fixed-Wireless performance