Since 2020, almost every aspect of life, work and social norms has changed dramatically. Covid-19 has ushered in a world in which working from home, online classes and telemedicine appointments have become as commonplace as in-person visits. NBN Co’s latest research report reflects this – and, more broadly, finds increased satisfaction levels among everyday Australians using the internet.
NBN Co’s third annual Social Impact Research report, conducted by Ember Advisors, found that 77% of NBN users surveyed reported that having an NBN network at home had a positive impact on their life satisfaction in FY25. This extends to virtual meetings and attendance, revealing:
- 43% of users regularly attend telemedicine appointments (up from 34% in FY23)
- 21% of users regularly study at home (up from 12% in FY23)
- 38% of users work from home at least once a week (up from 31% in FY23)
What’s more, Australians appear to feel more connected to society, with 91% of users using the internet to connect with family and friends (up from 88% in FY23). The report explains this as “digital inclusion”, which is the ability of everyone to access, afford and effectively use digital technologies (the internet, devices and services) to participate in modern society.
Easy access to high-speed internet has clearly been a key factor in improving digital inclusion and achieving these positive results. According to the results, 53% of participants surveyed reported feeling more productive at work while working from home, and about 72% felt more connected to friends and family thanks to their high-speed internet plans.
NBN Co’s Accelerate Great initiative introduced high-speed NBN tiers to the Australian market in September 2025 – NBN 500, NBN 750 and NBN 2000. These tiers have already proven to be effective, with 41% of customers on plans of 100Mbps or higher by the end of last year, and 31% on plans of at least 500Mbps. What’s more, these faster levels have lifted Australia’s median global broadband rating, according to Ookla, to a whopping 164.98Mbps, up from 94.89Mbps in August 2025.
Along with this, the average monthly download speed per client across all technologies in the country increased to 557 GB, which is a modest 13% increase over last year.
Enjoying faster internet speeds
Despite all the benefits listed above, many Australians are still stuck with slower internet plans. According to the ACCC’s latest quarterly report, despite significant growth in the number of active services at 100Mbps and above, the most popular NBN speed tier remains NBN 50 with 3.12 million active connections.
While this could provide sufficient speed for many Australian homes, the fact remains that now is the perfect time to take advantage of NBN Co’s free fiber rollout. Moving to a full fiber connection not only brings the obvious benefits of increased speed, as superior fiber optic technology (FTTP) has been proven to suffer from fewer outages and downtime. If you connect to the NBN using fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) or fiber-to-the-node (FTTC) technology and are experiencing frequent outages, it may be time to upgrade to full fiber.
All you have to do is enter your address into NBN Co’s eligibility checker to see if your area is next in line for an FTTP upgrade. Next, you’ll need to place an order for an NBN plan with speeds of 500Mbps or higher. This is because slower plans usually don’t require the fiber to be fully functional, so if you decide to get a free FTTP upgrade, you should sign up for a plan that can take advantage of this.
Once you’ve confirmed your eligibility, you can order a new NBN plan from your participating provider. This in itself can be a bit of a challenge, especially if you don’t know what NBN speed you and your family need. As someone who writes about NBN plans almost every day, let me offer a little advice.
For families of four or more people, I recommend choosing a 500 Mbps plan. Most of the options in this new tier advertised maximum download speeds of 500Mbps and upload speeds of 50Mbps during typical evening hours between 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm, meaning you’ll experience minimal to no outages if you’re all online and using multiple devices at once.
When it comes to NBN 500 plans, I most recommend the Exetel One Plan at AU$80 per month, which has the cheapest current price for this tier. Exetel’s offer really pays off in the long run – although it doesn’t have an introductory discount, the low monthly fee means you’ll make up for it in the long run.
If you’re interested in other NBN 500 plans, you can view them in the widget below.
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