The best and fastest NBN 100 plans

If you're going to sign up with one of Australia's many NBN providers, why not go all in? Most NBN connections have a maximum potential speed of 100Mbps, which is about 10-times faster than what most of us ever experienced with old ADSL2+ internet connections. If you're really lucky, you can even get up to 1000Mbps these days (if you're on Fibre-to-the-Premises). However, not every provider offers 100Mbps typical evening speeds (what are typical evening speeds?) and if you want to get as close to 100Mbps as possible, there's a small selection of providers that claim to hit the maximum potential speed.

So which NBN 100 plans are the best? We've listed the providers with the highest self-reported speeds on NBN Fast 100 and the cheapest plans and deals available on the tier.

Before we dive into our top picks for the best NBN 100 plans available, take a look at what other Australians are signing up for. Here are the cheapest NBN 100 plans available in Australia this week. 

MyRepublic's NBN Home Fast plan might take the gong for better first-year pricing (see below) but Spintel has taken the lead here thanks to reliably decent ongoing value and 100Mbps self-reported typical evening speeds. One major downside to Spintel is that they aren't currently tracked by Australia's governing consumer watchdog (the ACCC), like many others are. So you kind of have to take Spintel's word for it when it promises 100Mbps on average. Still, for $69 per month for the first six months and $84.95 per month thereafter, we think it's worth taking a punt on. After all, Spintel has no lock-in contracts so it's a low-risk trial.

Below is a daily updating list of popular NBN 100 plans.

Superloop might not be in the pole position when it comes to NBN speeds but its regular promo pricing and outstanding customer service make it an easy recommendation. This month, Superloop and WhistleOut have an exclusive deal for readers. Sign up before the 31st of May with the promo code WOEX2022 and you'll score a tidy $31 discount on a ZTE NBN router ($99, usually $130 upfront). The one downside to Superloop's Fast NBN 100 plan is that its self-reported typical evening speeds lag behind the competition, offering 93Mbps on average when many providers are beginning to confidently promise the full 100Mbps during busy hours.

Don't need a new router? Take a look at some more of the most popular NBN deals available this week.

Spintel might be our number one pick for value on the NBN Fast 100 tier but MyRepublic isn't far behind and actually offers cheaper ongoing fees overall. It's the currently the cheapest NBN 100 plan in our engine and comes with a generous 3-day guarantee so you can cancel without paying a cent if you find the service doesn't work for you.

Going cheap does have its downsides, however. Like Superloop above, MyRepublic is a little behind on its download speeds, offering a self-reported average of 93Mbps during busy hours. That's still fast just not quite as fast as some of the competition. MyRepublic also falls short when it comes to latency and ping comparisons, according the ACCC's broadband speed test results. 

Rather spend that little extra for the best results? Here's a list of NBN Fast 100 plans ranked by speed. 

Whether you work from home or you're a big online gamer, decent upload speeds are almost as important as unlimited data and fast download speeds. But only a select few providers offer the premium of 40Mbps upload speeds on Fast NBN 100. Exetel is one of those providers and its Power Home NBN plan will get you typical evening download speeds of 100Mbps and roughly 36.4Mbps upload speeds (plus low latency) according the ACCC's speed test results. 

Here's a shortlist of a few more providers that offer a 40Mbps upload speed option on NBN Fast 100.

If you've got a big family, you know the toll it takes on your download speeds when everyone under your roof is streaming, gaming and working online all at once. Sometimes NBN 100 just doesn't cut the mustard. But there is a world beyond 100Mbps. Select Australians on Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and Hybrid-Fibre Coaxial (HFC) connections can now sign up for plans with (up to) gigabit speeds. 

Currently, there are 12 different NBN providers offering Ultrafast NBN 1000 and none of them are offering a better deal than MyRepublic. 

The first thing you'll notice about the MyRepublic plan is that it only promises 350Mbps on average (even though it targets 1000Mbps) but that's a conservative estimate. Other providers, like Origin and Superloop will promise much higher typical evening speeds on average but they are also more expensive (by a long shot). The truth is, gigabit internet speeds are still quite new to the Australian market and everyone will have a different experience. That's why we've opted for MyRepublic's cheaper Ultra-Fast plan. Its only $99 per month for the first six months (then $109 every month after) and comes with a 30-day Happiness Guarantee, so you can cancel within 30 days if the speeds aren't up to snuff without paying a cent. 

If you'd like to see how MyRepublic's Ultra-Fast plan compares against faster providers, take a look at the table below, which is sorted by typical evening speeds. 

Unless you live alone or in a home with a couple of people who don’t really use the internet all that much, you will be shopping for an NBN plan with speeds between 50 and 100Mbps with enough bandwidth for a reliable connection that can sustain a heavier load. Thankfully, NBN plans are conveniently labelled with their offered speed tier. Here are those tiers, from slowest to fastest:

1. NBN Basic I: 12Mbps or slower
2. NBN Basic II: 25Mbps or slower
3. NBN Standard: 50Mbps or slower
4. NBN Fast: 100Mbps or slower
5. NBN Super-Fast: 250Mbps or slower
6. NBN Ultra-Fast: 1000Mbps or slower

NBN providers are required to self-report the real-world speeds you can expect on their NBN Fast 100 plans but the ACCC (Australian Consumer and Competition Comission) also keeps a keen eye on how most providers perform to keep 'em honest. 

For a realistic expectation of speed before you sign up, make sure you check the "typical evening speed" of each provider. Not all providers promise to hit the theoretical maximum speed. 

Once you've found a download speed that suits your needs, you will want to decide whether you need 20Mbps upload speeds (100/20) or 40Mbps (100/40) upload speeds, the latter being more expensive but also more suitable to households with a lot of online gaming and working from home. 

Once you've nailed down your needs for download and upload speeds, it's as simple as comparing providers and finding the best value. 

You can typicall save money initially by opting for an NBN provider that has promotional pricing (the trend is for reduced costs for the first six months). To keep costs low, consider using your existing NBN-compatible router or modem-router when shifting to a new provider. Alternatively, plans from providers like Telstra and Optus include a modem (albeit with potential exit fees), while other providers let you purchase them separately as needed.

Lastly, it's good to investigate what kind of bundles, discounts and NBN modems each provider offers. Some NBN providers offer strictly BYO (Bring-Your-Own) modem plans, while others supply one for a once-off fee. But a select few will allow you to bundle a modem (or mobile phone) with your NBN plan, allowing you to pay your hardware costs over a set period of time. 

We re-evaluate all of our picks for the best NBN plan categories above at the start of each month. For the most part with applicable NBN plans, we focus on first-year value by taking the average monthly price (regular and promo pricing) and pitting it against a provider’s self-reported typical evening download speeds. If promotional pricing ends close to the first half of the month, we may treat an NBN plan as though it has typical pricing.

The only exceptions to this are our best upload and best latency categories where we also consider value relative to first-year costs and either upload or latency, respectively. If two competing plans from different providers are neck-and-neck in their offering, we may also weigh up other factors such as their NBN plan reviews.

There are times when perks can help separate a contender from a winner, but the majority of NBN plans we deal with are light on meaningful perks. While we do consider picking NBN 250, NBN 500 and NBN 1000 plans, we also lean towards NBN 100 plans when it comes to speed-specific categories as they are available to more homes.

Still haven't had your need for speed satisfied? Take a look at the longer list of the most cheap NBN plans with 60Mbps or more below.