Source: Australian Ministers for Regional Development
Most households are receiving internet speeds close to those promised in their NBN plans, however some problematic high-speed and fibre to the node services (FTTN) continue to fall short, the ACCC’s latest Measuring Broadband Australia report has found.
During December 2025, average download speeds across NBN fixed‑line services reached 98.5 per cent of plan speeds in the busy hours of 7pm to 11pm on weekdays.
“While slightly lower than previous reports, it’s still encouraging to see Australians on NBN fixed-line connections typically receive the speeds they have paid for.” ACCC Commissioner Ian Oppermann said.
In September 2025, NBN Co increased the maximum wholesale plan speeds on selected plans for FTTP and HFC connections. This included increasing the plan speed on the NBN Home Fast plan from 100/20 Mbps to 500/50 Mbps, which is now the most popular plan among services monitored in this report.
Services on this Home Fast plan recorded an average download speed of 493.7 Mbps during busy hours. While this result was close to 100 per cent of the plan speed, 6.3 per cent of services on this plan were classified as underperforming – failing to reliably achieve speeds close to 500 Mbps or even exceed the previous plan speed of 100 Mbps in many cases.
Underperformance on high‑speed plans can often be caused by in‑home equipment and setup issues rather than the NBN network itself. For example, consumers may be using an older home router that cannot support download speeds above 100 Mbps after migrating to the new 500/50 Mbps plan.
“We encourage consumers to contact their retailer if their broadband speeds do not reach the maximum speeds of their selected plan, so any issues can be promptly diagnosed and resolved,” Mr Oppermann said.
“High-speed plans can deliver big benefits for households with high internet usage, but many consumers may receive better value from cheaper, lower‑speed plans depending on their needs.”
FTTN connections continued to underperform, with 11.8 per cent of FTTN services underperforming in the latest report.
NBN classified almost all underperforming fibre to the node services (FTTN) services as impaired, meaning that NBN Co has measured a maximum attainable download speed for those connections that is lower than the plan speed purchased by the consumer.
“Retailers need to inform customers if their FTTN connection cannot achieve their selected plan speed so the customer can consider if they would be better off on another plan.” Mr Oppermann said.
The fastest plan download speed available to purchase on FTTN and Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) connections remains 100 Mbps, and these technologies cannot access the upgraded 500/50 Mbps NBN Home Fast plan.
“Consumers on FTTN or FTTC who are seeking faster speeds should speak to their preferred internet provider to check whether their connection is eligible for an upgrade to fibre to the premises.” Mr Oppermann said.
Figure 1. Underperforming services per fixed-line technology, split by plan download speed
Background
Data for the Measuring Broadband Australia program is provided by UK-based firm SamKnows using methodology based on speed testing programs delivered in the UK, US, Canada and New Zealand.
The report defines an underperforming service as one that records a speed above 75 per cent of the plan speed in fewer than 5 per cent of download speed tests.
“Busy hours” refers to tests measured between 7 and 11pm on weekdays, when networks experience higher user activity that may affect service performance.
NBN services may exceed their maximum plan download speed due to overprovisioning. This is where NBN Co provides a slightly higher data rate than the wholesale plan download speed to accommodate for the portion of a connection’s data rate lost in retrieving information that enables a download to occur.
NBN Co does not currently overprovision the uplink for NBN fixed-line connections.