Speed test your Exetel internet

Exetel has been around for more than 15 years and is Australia’s largest independent provider, which offers internet plans across NBN, non-NBN fibre and SIM Only mobile plans. The Exetel internet plan you sign up for will determine your download speed, upload speed and latency potential.

Let’s take a closer look at speed testing Exetel internet (and what those test results mean).

If all you care about is download speed, click the ‘Start Speed Test’ button above. After 10 seconds, you’ll see a megabits-per-second (Mbps) result for your download speed. Additionally, click or tap on ‘Show More Info’ to see your upload speed (also in Mbps) and latency, shown in milliseconds (ms).

Your download speed result is useful for measuring against the self-reported typical evening download speeds of Exetel’s NBN and “Fast-fibre” plans. If the results are outside of expected speeds, it’s worth performing the test again. Where possible, run the speed test with an Ethernet connection to a computer. Alternatively, use a newish WiFi device that’s placed still and close to your router or modem-router. If you have a 5GHz WiFi band, use this instead of the 2.4GHz one.

Ideally, you also want to run this test while other people aren’t using the internet in your home. If the speeds aren’t up to snuff, chat with Exetel. (This speed-test tool works with any kind of internet connection, Exetel or otherwise.)

Download speeds should be in line with what’s advertised with Exetel, while upload speeds should be noticeably lower than the download speeds. Unfortunately, providers don’t tend to advertise upload speeds, but you can get an idea of what they should be below. While you ideally want as large a number as possible for upload and download, relative to your Exetel plan, you want as small a number as possible for latency.

Exetel is one of 10 providers tracked by the ACCC as part of its ongoing Measuring Broadband Australia program. In December 2022, the ACCC data showed 102.9% of download speeds during busy hours for Exetel NBN plans (second best), 89.2% upload (best) and 8.9ms latency (second best).

Check out the breakdown below for an idea of the maximum achievable download and upload speeds for NBN speed tiers (note that latency should be relatively the same across speed tiers):

• NBN 12: 12Mbps download, 1Mbps upload
• NBN 25: 25Mbps download, 5 Mbps upload (or 10Mbps with Aussie Broadband and Exetel)
• NBN 50: 50Mbps download, 20 Mbps upload
• NBN 75 (Aussie Broadband only): 75Mbps download, 20Mbps upload
• NBN 100/20: 100Mbps download, 20Mbps upload
• NBN 100/40 (Superloop, MyRepublic, Aussie Broadband, Pennytel, Exetel, Mate): 100Mbps download, 40Mbps upload
• NBN 250: 250Mbps download, 25 Mbps upload
• NBN 500 (Superloop, Vodafone, Exetel): 500Mbps download, 50Mbps upload
• NBN 1000: 990Mbps download, 50Mbps upload

Regardless of whether you’re with Exetel or another NBN provider, maximum attainable download and upload speeds will vary based on your NBN plan. Also note that only those living in from what a provider self-reports as its expected typical evening download speeds. Additionally, only Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) homes or select Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) abodes can sign up for NBN speed tiers above NBN 100.

Exetel is one of those rare NBN providers that offer plans on pretty much every NBN speed tier: NBN 12, NBN 25, NBN 50, NBN 100, NBN 250 and NBN 500. It also offers Fast-fibre plans and SIM Only mobile plans. The table below will give you an idea of the max speeds and expected speeds from these different Exetel plans.

Fast-fibre is only available in selected buildings and is subject to qualification via the Exetel website. For Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN), Fibre-to-the-Building (FTTB) and Fibre-to-the-Curb (FTTC) users, Exetel cannot confirm line speed until after you’ve connected to an Exetel plan.

For comparison, check out a daily updating list of the most popular Exetel internet plans from our comparison engine.

Most homes in metro areas should be able to sign up to most Exetel plans up to and including NBN 100. For plans up to NBN 100, Exetel offers parity between maximum attainable download speeds and self-reported typical evening download speeds. This starts with Exetel’s NBN 25 plans, which Exetel offers 25Mbps download speeds for:

This is a familiar self-reported evening speed among the other NBN 25 plans we track in our database:

Again, Exetel offers parity between max speed and advertised speeds for its NBN 50 plan (50Mbps):

Similarly, expect to see a lot of 50Mbps results from other competing NBN 50 plans below:

Impressively, Exetel’s NBN 100 plans offer 100Mbps typical evening download speeds:

While there are other providers that also offer 100Mbps download speeds for NBN 100 plans, the trend is for self-reported speeds below the max attainable download speed:

For FTTP and select HFC homes that can sign up for Exetel NBN 250 plans, you can expect 225Mbps typical evening speeds:

Exetel isn’t the fastest NBN 250 provider but it’s one of the fastest in our database:

While some operators offer NBN 1000 plans, providers like Exetel, Superloop and Vodafone have started selling NBN 500 plans to FTTP and select HFC homes. Exetel’s NBN 500 plan have 245Mbps typical evening download speeds:

Exetel is one of the slowest providers for the NBN 500/1000 speed tier, which you can see in the table below:

The reason fixed-line internet plans in Australia are built around disproportionately faster download speeds than upload speeds is likely because of the importance of download speeds in most common internet tasks. Upload speed matters more for faster file backup to the cloud or streaming video via Twitch, while latency only starts to become noticeable for real-time online tasks once it gets beyond 100ms.

For a better idea of how common internet tasks improve with faster download and upload speed, the table below is worth a look:

Note that the typical evening download speeds are taken from Exetel (where available), while the approximate average upload speeds are taken from the latest available ACCC NBN broadband performance data at the time of writing. We’ve used Opensignal’s data.