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FTTB, or fibre to the building, is one of the core technologies comprising the NBN's Multi Technology Mix. Unlike FTTP (fibre to the premises) and FTTN (fibre to the node) NBN technologies, though, FTTB is not used for supplying individual households with an NBN connection. Instead, FTTB is reserved for large, multi-inhabitant buildings like apartment complexes and certain hotels.
Because these buildings typically share a single Internet connection, they often distribute it through internal wiring in the walls and floors. To provide inhabitants with the ideal fibre to the premises connection, then, would require nbn completely tearing out and replacing the existing wiring with new fibre – an expensive and time-consuming task to say the least. As such, nbn has determined that this is not a viable option for the initial NBN rollout and has opted to go with FTTB instead.
FTTB provides a solid compromise between a costly FTTP installation and a much slower FTTN setup. With FTTB, a building's inhabitants can enjoy high-speed NBN without excessive delays or a painful surcharge.
With an FTTB connection, nbn technicians run a fibre cable all the way to the communications room of the building in question. From there, the building's existing wiring is used to supply individual tenants with Internet access.
This approach limits the distance that has to be covered by non-fibre cables to just the inside of the building, which is typically far less than the distance between an FTTN node and a customer's house. This increases the maximum speed the connection can support. It also enables a building's owner to install internal fibre wiring themselves down the track to provide tenants with the full speed of FTTP.
FTTB connections support all current speed tiers of the NBN, from Basic I (nbn12) to the maximum Fast (nbn100) tier. However, as NBN providers start to offer speed tiers beyond 100Mbps, FTTB may fall behind thanks to its reliance on a building's existing internal wiring. If a building is wired with copper, for instance, that copper will eventually become a bottleneck to the faster speeds available on fibre.
The NBN has passed the halfway point in its rollout across Australia, and according to nbn's estimates, this means approximately half a million premises have been kitted out with FTTB connections. All up, nbn plans on supplying one million apartment complexes, office buildings and other multi-inhabitant buildings with FTTB connections.
If you're interested in a personalised comparison of NBN plans, our NBN usage quiz offers comprehensive results for your household's needs.
All current NBN speed tiers are offered on FTTB plans, giving you the freedom to choose the speed that best suits your online needs. If the inhabitants of your building only engage in light web browsing, a Basic I speed FTTB plan will probably serve you just fine. If they want to be able to binge-watch Netflix on a regular basis, or you expect a large number of people to be online at the same time, you'll want to look at a Basic II speed FTTB connection or higher.
NBN plans can vary dramatically in cost, and this is no different for FTTB plans. Cheaper plans tend to come with lower monthly data caps and slower speeds, too, so make sure you know what you're getting before signing up to the cheapest option available.
FTTB connections require a VDSL2-compatible modem, which your Internet provider should supply when you sign up to an FTTB plan. You can then connect this modem to any existing routers or switches for distributing Internet access throughout your building.
Bringing your own modem across when you sign up to a new NBN plan could save you a couple hundred dollars.
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