Belong vs Telstra: NBN plans compared

It’s not uncommon for big-name telcos to have a smaller provider in their back pocket. Vodafone is a household name that’s owned by TPG Telecom, which also owns iiNet, Internode, Felix Mobile and TPG. For Optus, it’s Amaysim. And for Telstra, it’s Belong, across Belong and Belong. When it comes to the NBN side of things, let’s take a closer look at how Telstra compares to Belong.

But before we get into that, here’s a daily updating list of popular NBN plans from our comparison engine.

All Belong and Telstra NBN plans offer unlimited data. While NBN 12 is the cheapest speed tier available to Australians, neither Belong nor Telstra offer any NBN 12 plans. Instead, the cheapest NBN plan you’ll find from Belong and Telstra is NBN 25.

For comparison, below is a look at popular NBN 25 plans from our database.

Moving up the speed ranks, both NBN providers also offer NBN 50 plans.

And here’s the most popular NBN 50 plans that we track.

Next up are a pair of NBN 100 plans from Belong and Telstra, respectively.

Compare those two above with the most popular NBN 100 plans in our database below.

At this point is where Belong taps out. Telstra, though, offers NBN 250 plans to homes with Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) or Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC). Here’s a look at Telstra’s NBN 250 plan.

For comparison, here’s a daily updating snapshot of the most popular NBN 250 plans in our database.

Before we get into analysis, let’s look at how Belong’s NBN speeds compare to Telstra NBN speeds.

It’s a wash for NBN 25, with Belong and Telstra both offering 25Mbps download and 4Mbps upload typical evening speeds. There’s only a slight difference with NBN 50, with both offering 17Mbps upload speeds but Telstra offering slightly faster download speeds (50Mbps vs Belong’s 48Mbps).

For NBN 100, the download speed gap is more pronounced: Belong’s 95Mbps is good but 5Mbps behind Telstra’s NBN 100Mbps. Both offer identical 17Mbps typical evening upload speeds. Then it’s a Telstra-only affair. Telstra NBN 250 offers fast 250Mbps download speeds and solid 22Mbps upload speeds.

Overall, if you want faster download speeds, go with Telstra for any plans from NBN 50 onwards. That said, Belong isn’t that far behind Telstra for its NBN 50 and NBN 100 plans, with better overall speed-to-price value for all of its NBN plans in comparison to Telstra.

Belong and Telstra NBN plans are contract-free meaning you’re free to switch providers as you please. The disclaimer there relates to modems. For Belong, you need to bring your own compatible modem. Telstra NBN plans come with a Telstra Smart Modem 3, which pays itself off each month as long as you stay for 24 months. If you leave ahead of 24 months, you’ll have to either return the Telstra Smart Modem 3 or pay a hardware fee.

Note that Belong NBN plans don’t come with a home phone service. Telstra NBN plans include a home phone service that comes with unlimited standard calls to local, national and Australian mobile numbers.

While we don’t get into the qualitative appraisal of NBN providers—after all, individual support experiences can vary greatly between people—we can look at the quantitative side of things. Basically, the more a provider invests in support pathways, the more options their customers have and (technically) the easier it is to get help when you need it.

Telstra sets the standard for support pathways, covering all of the bases from self-paced assistance and online chat through to phone support as well as bricks-and-mortar stores. Belong, meanwhile, has phone and social media support but no live chat, stores or customer forum.

For price and dollars-to-data value, Belong NBN wins out over Telstra NBN. If you want speed, extras and more support pathways, Telstra is well worth considering.