Optus just quietly raised the typical evening speeds you can expect during peak hours. Not only that, the telco is advertising congestion-free numbers.
Optus ups its typical evening speeds
This means that Optus is now stating that NBN 100 customers can expect 100Mbps down during peak hours. Similarly NBN 50 customers can now expect 50Mbps down.
Previously the telco was reporting 90Mbps down and 55Mbps during peak periods, respectively.
This is good news for anyone who gets annoyed when their internet is less than optimal during the hours of 7pm to 11pm.
Here’s what the Optus website now says:
Optus isn’t the first telco to offer congestion-free plans. Aussie Broadband did the same a few months back, as did Telstra last year.
If you’re interested in taking a look at what Optus has on offer, here are its fastest NBN 100 plans:
Here are the NBN 50 plans:
And this is how they compare to similar plans in market:
Other factors can impact speed
It’s important to remember that just because a connection is capable of a certain speed doesn’t mean that it will.
This is because a lot of different factors can impact your NBN speeds – congestion is just one of them.
Firstly, it can depend on your connection type. There are seven different NBN connections in Australia and unfortunately they’re not all created equal. For example, a Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) connection is generally going to be faster than a Fibre to the Node (FTTN) connection.
Things like proximity to your local exchange as well as CVC and backhaul will also be deciding factors in your real world speed capabilities.
This is how NBN Co explains CVC:
“Think of this as the thickness of a pipe that determines the maximum amount of water flowing through – which is why the peak time of day is considered when determining how much flow through an RSP needs to adequately serve its customers. While the amount of CVC purchased limits the total volume of data being passed between the two networks, the more practical impact of not purchasing enough will constrain the observed speed during busy traffic times.”
You can learn more about different NBN connection types here and things that can impact your speeds here.
I don’t know what type of NBN connection I have
If you’re not sure what type of NBN connection you have, don’t worry. We have a tool to help you with that.
Once you pop you address in it basically populates the best possible plans for your NBN connection, based on your home or office address.
The tiny information icon will tell you what NBN connection is available at your address:
If you don’t have NBN access, it will let you know if it’s coming to your area soon. It will also show you ADSL plan alternatives, like home wireless broadband.