Cheap unlimited internet plans In Australia

Once upon a time, Internet plans all came with some kind of quota, whether it was for data usage, access time or in some cases both. Thankfully these days the vast majority of fixed line broadband plans come with unlimited data as standard.

That’s great, given just how much we rely on data-heavy services these days. Between video streaming, online gaming, apps that need multi-gigabyte install packs or updates, video conferencing and more, the gigabytes of usage really do stack up fast.

The best internet providers all tend to provide unlimited data plans, and competition means that these plans are comparatively cheaper than they’ve ever been.

Most NBN plans these days offer unlimited data, but at the very lowest cost end of broadband town, you can still find some plans with data quotas. If your budget is super-tight and your needs are very modest, those might be worth considering, though you’ve got to weigh that against the simple peace of mind of knowing you can never run out of quota.

If you’re in a smaller household, or on a tighter budget, an NBN 25 plan with unlimited data might just be ideal for you. You’re not getting the fastest Internet access, but you’re being charged accordingly.

Here are some of the lowest-cost Unlimited NBN 25 Plans you can get right now:

NBN 50 remains the sweet spot for most households bringing a good balance of speed and price for larger households. It’s exceptionally rare to find any NBN 50 plan without unlimited data; here’s some of the cheapest options right now:

Again, NBN 100 plans without unlimited data are fairly unusual, and at this speed tier most of the plans with quotas tend to make them so large that the difference might just be negligible. NBN 100 plans are great for larger families or those with particularly heavy data needs. This is also the fastest tier available to all fixed line NBN technologies. Here’s a selection of the cheapest NBN 100 plans:

Now we’re talking serious speed – and some limitations, because this speed tier is only available to customers in the FTTP and HFC NBN footprint. It’s a great option for households where many people want lots of devices online as fast as possible, and while all plans tend to be unlimited, they’re rarely low cost. Still, there can be some price variance; here’s the lowest cost NBN 250 plans money can buy right now:

The cream of the crop, the best of the best – if you crave the fastest consumer Internet speeds that money can buy, then an unlimited NBN 1000 Plan is what you need. Like NBN 250, they’re only available if you’re on FTTP or HFC NBN already, as these speeds are beyond the limits of what FTTN can deliver on the NBN.

We can’t really call NBN 1000 plans “cheap” with any accuracy, but there is still some price competition here, so there are “cheaper” options to be had:

If the NBN isn’t for you – for whatever reason – then you don’t have to live like a cave person with on online access. Unlimited wireless Internet plans are also available across the existing 4G and 5G networks in Australia.

Wireless Internet plans use the exact same 4G and 5G networks as your mobile phone does. While the reach of 5G networks is expanding day by day, more Australians are likely to be able to take up 4G unlimited home wireless plans than 5G, though the latter will be faster in most cases.

4G wireless plans are offered on a “best available speeds” basis, while for 5G plans there’s some choice, with providers either offering 50Mbps, 100Mbps or uncapped speed tiers at different price points.

Here’s a selection of plans for all use cases with either unlimited data or so much data that you’d be hard pressed to go over your cap with regular use:

Finding the cheapest unlimited Internet plan in Australia is absolutely a moveable feast kind of proposition, with new deals emerging on a very regular basis. It’s typically a plan on a promotional deal for a limited time, so if you want to chase the cheapest, the smartest play is to be ready to change providers on a moment’s notice. A good benchmark here is to look for pricing below $50/month for fixed line services. Here are the cheapest plans we can find right now:

Because Unlimited data is effectively expected as part of most Internet deals in Australia now, the big differentiating factor isn’t data, but speed. When you’re talking about the NBN, that equates out to one of six speed tiers – NBN 12, NBN 25, NBN 50, NBN 100, NBN 250 and NBN 1000. Bear in mind that the latter two speed tiers are only available to you if your fixed line NBN connection is FTTP or HFC.

NBN Speeds do vary over time, and this is why it’s important to look at each NBN ISP’s claimed typical evening speed. This is what they expect the best case scenario for a given connection is likely to be. The mechanics of this are rather complex, but if you compare typical evening speed claims against each other, and then the price you’ll pay, you should get a good gut feel comparison between services and how they’re likely to perform.

For wireless broadband it’s more of a best-case-at-the-time picture, with 4G plans sold explicitly that way for the most part, while in 5G spaces there are some speed tiers sold. Wireless Internet speeds are naturally variable over time due to environmental factors as well as the same network factors that can affect fixed line services. Most plans promise a base line speed, but for some 5G plans you can burst up to 500Mbps or more in certain circumstances.

Everyone’s online usage picture is a little bit different. One of the upsides of an unlimited data plan is that you don’t have to think about usage for the most part, though many ISPs do have fair use clauses built in there before you think about downloading the entire Internet. Where would you store it, anyway?

Still, if you’re given the choice between an unlimited plan and one with data caps, it’s a good idea to have an idea of likely usage if the capped plan is actually cheaper. Your existing ISP may reveal that data to you in their customer portal, and that’s a good place to start to see how you typically compare.

But if you can’t get that data, or just don’t want to think too much about the numbers, this chart outlines typical usage needs against different data quotas to make selection simpler: