A week and a half since plugging in our new NBN compatable modem, supplied free by Telstra, we were finally switched over to the new National Broadband Network (NBN) today. I’ll admit to being a little bit excited at finally getting faster internet, even though I knew it wouldn’t be super-fast, because we’ve only been connected via FTTN (Fibre to the Node – a cabinet on the street that utilises existing copper wire for the final link in the broadband connection) rather than FTTP (Fibre to the Premises – fibre optic cables all the way to your house).
I completed a few internet speed tests tonight using speedtest.net and saw the download speed vary considerably, the best only slightly faster than the ADSL2+ speeds we used to see. The big improvement has been the upload speed, which used to be around 0.7Mb/s, and now more than 4.7Mb/s. For someone like me who uploads a lot of hi-res photos, and a few videos, as well as backing up all my files to CrashPlan and/or OneDrive clouds, this big improvement to upload speeds is my highlight of the NBN.
We haven’t signed up to any new plan with Telstra. I see that some providers quote different internet speeds, depending on your plan. Our existing contract was for “fastest possible” ADSL2+, so I’m assuming Telstra have rolled over the same “fastest possible” deal with the new NBN connection.
As a bonus, our “landline” home phone is a lot clearer now. Despite trying many different ADSL filters, we used to always have noise on the line, now its crystal clear.
Update June 12;
I was able to negotiate a better deal with Telsta to get faster NBN speeds.
Read more on this blog post… simonyeo.id.au/faster-nbn-fttn