nbn FTTP and HFC Speed Upgrades - Do You Notice a Difference?

LanceVance on 17/09/2025 - 22:05
Last edited 17/09/2025 - 22:47 by 1 other user

Hi All,

My Aussie Broadband 100/20 plan just got upgraded to 500/50. I wasn't expecting a difference, but I'm suprised that I'm struggling to notice any change whatsoever. I'm just talking about browsing, streaming, usual work stuff etc. Not downloading large files as I rarely do that.

Is this the same for everyone else, has anyone noticed a difference in day to day usage?

I'm also using an older WiFi 5 router, could a newer router take more advantage of the speed upgrade in my use case?
To be clear my internet does not feel slow, I'm perfectly happy with it I'm just suprised how inconsequential this upgrade is.

Thanks!

Poll Options

  • 68
    Yes
  • 93
    No
Internet Broadband FTTP HFC nbn

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Comments

  • Hybroid on 17/09/2025 - 22:10
    +14

    You need to make sure router and devices are capable of using the extra bandwidth speed. There's going to be a noticeably bigger difference when downloading large files like 100 GB games, than loading OzBargain pages.

    Streaming services have quite low bitrate. Netflix 4K only needs 25 Mbps, so it won't make a difference for one user. But 5 people streaming 4K each at same time, will make a difference.

    • kiitos on 18/09/2025 - 07:51

      How would you determine if your router can use the extra bandwidth?

      • soan papdi on 18/09/2025 - 08:00
        +2

        If your devices are reasonably new, switch them to the 5GHz Wifi and consider turning off 2.4GHz (or put it in a different SSID). You can check peak speeds using services like fast.com or speed.cloudflare.net. If you can use ethernet, that's even better to check if the bottleneck is the wifi or the router.

      • reactor-au on 18/09/2025 - 08:28
        +1

        Download ookla speedtest app, or speedtest.net.
        With Wi-Fi 5 you not going to get much more than 100Mbps on a basic router

      • kiitos on 18/09/2025 - 16:12

        Great, thank you both

  • Axelstrife on 17/09/2025 - 22:21
    +11

    Honestly what were you even expecting?

    The point of faster speeds is to download things faster and stream things better/More users at the same time.

    • Kanosha on 19/09/2025 - 10:55

      Exactly, for just browsing and minor stuff you are not going to notice a difference at all really.

  • jv on 17/09/2025 - 22:25
    +2

    Do You Notice a Difference?

    My upload speeds increased slightly.

    • BewareOfThe Dog on 18/09/2025 - 00:16
      +3

      So we get to see your onlyfans videos in 4K now? ;)

  • Far Cough on 17/09/2025 - 22:41

    error 404 poll missing

  • BewareOfThe Dog on 18/09/2025 - 00:17

    Too early to tell. We are on ABB 1000/50.

    • chops on 19/09/2025 - 04:40
      -1

      My ABB 750/50 is producing 600/50 at best … I have emailed support and no reply

  • Clear on 18/09/2025 - 00:51

    Time to upgrade to ABB 10000/10000mbps to see if there's a difference.

    • Axelstrife on 18/09/2025 - 01:45
      +3

      $1000 a month take it or leave it $990 for black friday sales - ABB probably

  • apsilon on 18/09/2025 - 05:28

    For your usage you'd likely be fine on a 25/10 plan or a 50/20 at most so of course you're not going to notice a difference.

  • onetwothreefour on 18/09/2025 - 05:44
    +1

    Not much different for me. I am now supposed to be on a 500 plan but the max speed I have seen is 250 and that was once. If I'm lucky and right next to my modem I might get 180 but when I am using my work laptop in a room directly above where the modem is downstairs I usually get around 30.

    • sandman20104159 on 18/09/2025 - 08:34
      +1

      reboot your NBN and router boxes, mine needed that to get full speeds.

      • onetwothreefour on 18/09/2025 - 09:25

        I did restart my router, will maybe try the nbn box and see if that works. Not sure if my router is the best one for these high speeds too.

    • AlbiesDad on 18/09/2025 - 15:51

      2.4Ghz or 5Ghz Wifi? I previously had my router set up as 2.4Ghz as I only had 100/20. Upgraded to 500/50, was only getting around 200/40. Turned on 5Ghz Wifi, immediately 500/50.

    • aussieprepper on 18/09/2025 - 17:50

      What device are you using? What wireless network 5GHz?

      • onetwothreefour on 18/09/2025 - 18:49

        My router is a tp link vx220-g2v and then I have tp link deco ac1300 mesh.

        I just changed the mesh to 5GHz which has made some difference but still only around 250-300 download. When I checked my speed through the tp link app it said my download speed was 534.

        • Twix on 18/09/2025 - 19:51

          You may need to replace your old Deco's with a TP-Link Deco that has Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7.

          Do you use a VoIP phone from the TP-Link VX220?

          • onetwothreefour on 18/09/2025 - 20:12

            @Twix: They're only a year old, don't really want to spend money upgrading them.

            I don't have a phone other than my mobile.

            • Twix on 18/09/2025 - 20:21
              +1

              @onetwothreefour: AC1300 Deco's are from 2017 and 300Mbps Wi-Fi is normal with those.

              Plug in the new Deco to the nbn NTD box when you upgrade in the future.

    • chops on 19/09/2025 - 04:41

      Same and reboots have done nothing … it’s at ABB end

  • ForkSnorter on 18/09/2025 - 06:17

    At typical user, even one working from home and watching 4K TV, only needs 50/20.

    A person who uploads large video files, or a larger family who all use the internet at the same time, may benefit from a better plan.

  • mskeggs on 18/09/2025 - 07:43
    +5

    Downloading large files is part of normal usage.
    A majority of people under 40 play video games, and hitting a 60gb download from steam in the middle of a teams call sucks.
    Of course, you are moving from already fast and pretty reliable to a bit faster. Try moving the other way and I think you will see these upgrades are about trying to stay a bit ahead of the curve for once.
    But If you have modest internet needs, Tony Abbot was your guy! 12mbps all the way.

    • LanceVance on 18/09/2025 - 10:43
      +1

      I factored in playing games, which I rarely do. But it is normal when I turn the xbox on once a month that it or the games installed need an update. So I'm glad that will get quicker.

      • halo9 on 19/09/2025 - 10:47

        Exactly this, it will only be noticeable downloading large files, big updates, uploads or multiuser streaming.

        The critical factor for general web browsing and noticeable speed increases is your ISP ping and dns resolver speed, if those are fast going from 25mbps to 1000mbps would almost be unnoticeable. I live in rural WA and finally got to upgrade from fttn to fttp a couple months ago, on the same speed tier but ping dropped from 100+ms to 16-20ms on fibre, along with changing from the ISP’s DNS to cloudflare, web page loads and browsing is very noticeable more snappy. Once your on full fibre and sub 20ms pings, speed increases will become almost unnoticeable except for the use cases above where they can be dramatic.

        If you haven’t changed your DNS resolver on your router, it’s highly recommended as not all ISP’s are as fast as the good ones. Some of the best to try are Cloudflare (privacy focused, no logs, fast globally), OpenDNS (privacy, fast, parental controls), GoogleDNS (fast, global network, not as private as your searches can be logged for advertising) or Quad 9 (reliable, fast - tiny speed hit but privacy and security focused, blocks malicious sites). Try each one, ping an assortment of sites you usually visit, see what gives you the best performance and tradeoffs. Enjoy fast browsing!

  • Stealtho on 18/09/2025 - 07:44
    +1

    Getting around 540/47 on Exetel

  • original15 on 18/09/2025 - 07:45

    Didn’t notice which was disappointing but then going through mesh settings app realised I’d had it set to 100 so it was limiting
    Once rectified my HFC was firing at 460+

  • singingwolf on 18/09/2025 - 08:09
    +16

    My Teams meetings now finish in half the time. Impressed.

  • Hvrd on 18/09/2025 - 08:18

    my pc still shows the 50mbps limit but my phone goes to 300mbps??

    • Aleigh123 on 18/09/2025 - 12:52

      You might have a bottleneck somewhere on your PC.

  • SlickMick on 18/09/2025 - 08:22

    I wasn't expecting a difference, but I'm suprised that I'm struggling to notice any change whatsoever

    What a strange thing to say. You were surprised that you were correct to not expect a difference?

    • LanceVance on 18/09/2025 - 10:44

      I should have said I wasn't expecting a big difference, then was surprised that I noticed nothing at all.

  • Trekky on 18/09/2025 - 08:28

    My provider didn't even pass it on…..

    • Save 50 Cent on 18/09/2025 - 21:04

      What? Are you sure? Or you mean “you” are still getting the same speed? Two different things.

  • sandman20104159 on 18/09/2025 - 08:33

    yeap, i noticed my movie & TV shows downloading at 20mb/s, very nice and fast for sailing the high seas with a skull and bone flag hoisted over my ship. im on the 500/50mb speed increase, the uploads are still around 20-30mb but download wow nice and fast.

  • kfp187 on 18/09/2025 - 09:20

    What were you expecting? Pages loading slow is more likely the DNS that you are using. Could swap to something else. I use AdGuard home but it goes through quad 9 and cloudflare.

    Perhaps you’d actually be better off with a 50/20 plan if you aren’t downloading content…

  • plmko on 18/09/2025 - 09:20
    +1

    This is the reason why I stick to legacy plans 100/20 for $79.

    Download speed is irrelevent because websites won't provide max speed. And large downloads are done asymmetrical, you schedule them or load them over night.

    On demand never goes over 40Mbps. Netflix 4K caps at 20. Youtube even throttles or gives fake HD streams so again the speed is pointless.

  • kraigg on 18/09/2025 - 09:33

    Ookla speed test definitely shows the speed increase, but the only time I notice is when I'm on video streaming sites (YouTube, Rumble, Xvideos, etc). But the only improvements are the videos loading maybe 0.5 sec quicker. Game downloads should be faster, but I still need to try that.

  • DarkOz on 18/09/2025 - 09:57

    50/20 is normally good enough for my family of 4. There is no difference between 50/20 to 100/20 or 500/50 unless someone is downloading a very large file which is rare.

    Right now, I am just happy to be pay the same price for 50/20 and getting 500/50 for another 9 more months. Happy to be paying $10 extra for 500/50 but if the premium is $20-$30 extra I think I am going to switch back to 50/20.

  • pegaxs on 18/09/2025 - 10:04
    +8

    Did a game patch last night on xbox and I usually set it to update and walk to the fridge to get a drink and it was literlly done downloading by the time I got out of the chair…

    I have a wooden leg and an eye patch on a lot of the time, and while some of my "sailing" has netted me some extra "knots" with the new "trade winds", I still find that the other "ships" I am trying to "transfer cargo" with, still have "small planks" on which to "transfer cargo" across… There is no noticeable increase in their "transfer of cargo", but some of the larger "ports" I deal with for "larger shipments", I have noticed a considerable upgrade to their ability to "load my ship" mush faster…

  • jonboy on 18/09/2025 - 10:06

    I am in Melb Vic northern suburbs on Optus 100/40 FTTP, NO speed upgrade as yet. Have just rebooted both modems.

  • Shitforbrains on 18/09/2025 - 10:52

    For me it is most noticeable when downloading games over Steam. Uploading files to Google Drive or Onedrive should be much faster too.

  • Grunntt on 18/09/2025 - 12:01
    +1

    I found the increased upload speed much more noticeable and useful. Daily backups are much faster and accessing security cameras, servers etc appears to be more responsive.
    Download speed/bandwidth seems to have made everything connected at home just run somewhat 'smoother'. (as well as the added benefit that the eyepatch doesn't need to be on for quite as long).

  • Guybrush57 on 18/09/2025 - 12:33
    +1

    When was your last Lance Vance Dance?

    • LanceVance on 18/09/2025 - 15:16

      A while! Haven't driven the white Inferno for years.

  • Rockets84 on 18/09/2025 - 13:25

    My upload speed doubled which was nice when I'm transferring files for work and I'm noticing it when I do it. Had to reboot my firewall to kick the upgrade in though.

  • RedPanda on 18/09/2025 - 14:40
    +1

    Sure do. Family of 5. Gives us 100Mb of speed each if we are all using it at the same time. Great for gaming, streaming, downloading big files all at the same time. Huge benefit for me will be school holidays and I’m on my zoom calls (wfh).

    The upload speed still needs to be increased. 50Mb is poor

  • AustriaBargain on 18/09/2025 - 14:41

    I had gigabit a few years ago and it's night and day. Things download at gigabit speeds from Apple/Microsoft/Sony servers too.

  • gviddy on 18/09/2025 - 14:51

    It mostly comes down to the servers you are downloading from. The only speed increase I have noticed is downloading anything from Apple. That is heaps faster (for example updating apps on MacOS). But yeah even when I was 100 down there was rarely anything that would hit that speed.

  • tenpercent on 18/09/2025 - 15:21
    -1

    Uploading all the police state surveillance camera footage, and internet of things data, and internet of bodies data to the AI overlords is now much faster. Now that's smart.

  • AlbiesDad on 18/09/2025 - 15:49
    +1

    Yes, enormous difference - having jumped from 100/20 to 500/50.

    I can now watch 80Gb Remux movies on Stremio/Torrentio/RD, as opposed to previously having to look for <20Gb files.

    I am extremely happy.

    • LanceVance on 18/09/2025 - 16:38

      Nice, I'm on Stremio too will try it out.

  • browser on 18/09/2025 - 15:58
    +1

    Guess it's a bit like the highway, if it's not already congested, widening it is not going to move traffic faster.

    Similarly, if your household is not already maxing out the bandwidth, more bandwidth is not going to transfer data faster.

  • jltantrum on 18/09/2025 - 20:32

    Who's gonna notice much of a difference just form browsing? As if 100mbps isn't already fast enough for basic browsing. Unless you have a flooded network with multiple users streaming or you are downloading large files, you obviously won't notice much if anything.

  • Leeroy Jenkins on 18/09/2025 - 21:56
    +1

    Downloading games on steam and playstation? Sure, massive difference, but normal website browsing and youtube watching? Nah.

  • jazzyman9182 on 19/09/2025 - 07:14

    Yes and no. Yes I get close to the speeds and better uploads, but I've mistakenly gone with spintel while being in Melbourne so at peak times it drops right down below 20mbps instead of getting 500. But locked in now for 12 months for the free fibre upgrade

  • petestrash on 19/09/2025 - 10:04

    No communications from Superloop, other than speed boost will be disabled over the weekend and that there may be some outages.

    I'm on superloop 100/40 and nothing changed for me.

    Apparently, you only get an upgrade to 500/50 if you were on 100/20.

    So now I am worse off than someone who was on 100/20 before the weekend change.

    After having a Winge, they have said I will likely be moved to 250/100 but can't give a date when that will be, or move me to 500/50 in the meantime.

    • spoonmugen on 19/09/2025 - 10:33

      log into the portal and you can change it yourself

      • petestrash on 19/09/2025 - 10:54

        I'm still on an intro deal at a cheaper rate, which I'm pretty sure would be cancelled if I changed plans myself.

        I'd be happy with the 250/100 as I upload a lot which is why I was on the 100/40 instead of the 100/20 in the first place.

        I'm waiting to see what they do for me, they promised to get back to me, though it's been a few days now.

        If they don't come to the party soon, I'll just churn to a new deal with someone else.

  • spoonmugen on 19/09/2025 - 10:32

    was on 250/xx now at 750/50 … cant really notice difference…

    maybe with torrents but web/daily to day its same same but improvement is still improvement

  • prodrome on 19/09/2025 - 10:35

    Anyway, it depends on how you use the internet.

  • zyj494949 on 19/09/2025 - 10:51

    You will notice if you download or stream large media files. I use stremio and now it's possible to stream extremely large content.

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