Key takeaways
- Providers display typical evening speeds on NBN plans to show what speeds you can expect during the busiest hours of the day (7pm–11pm) when most people are online.
- You can use typical evening speeds as a way to compare NBN plans on the same speed tier such as NBN 50 or NBN 100.
- There are several providers in our database that display the fastest available typical evening speed across different NBN plans.
What is a typical evening speed?
As per Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) rules, internet service providers are expected to display typical evening speeds on their NBN plans.
These incidcate how fast a user can expect their internet connection to be during the busiest hours of the day, which is 7pm–11pm.
It's when most people are online around the same time carrying out activities such as streaming, gaming or browsing. This is also when you might experience network congestion, or slow internet, similar to a traffic jam on the road.
Typical evening speed is different to an NBN speed tier, which is essentially the maximum speed you can expect on a particular plan.
What are good typical evening speeds?
The NBN provides guidelines on what a reasonable evening speed should be.
This is important if you find yourself saving a few dollars each month with a provider that doesn't necessarily offer that fastest typical evening speed.
Speed tier | Average typical evening speed on Finder | Minimum speed | Maximum speed |
---|---|---|---|
NBN 12 (Basic I) | 9.8Mbps | N/A | 12Mbps |
NBN 25 (Basic II) | 21.8Mbps | 15Mbps | 25Mbps |
NBN 50 (Standard) | 45.5Mbps | 30Mbps | 50Mbps |
NBN 100 (Fast) | 89.4Mbps | 60Mbps | 100Mbps |
NBN 250 (Superfast) | 220.2Mbps | 150Mbps | 250Mbps |
NBN 1000 (Ultrafast) | 549.2Mbps | N/A | 1,000Mbps (1Gbps) |
What typical evening speed should you look for?
When you're shopping for a speed tier, you have to think about your overall usage. Most Aussie households will be fine with either a 50M or 100Mbps tier - that's more than enough for a few people to stream video, work remotely or do homework, and even play some online games at the same time. For bigger households, 100Mbps is safer.
Typical evening speeds can definitely knock down your available bandwidth in peak periods, so it's worth being mindful of the impact if can have. That being said, unless you're on a really bad fibre to the node connection, typical evening speeds on 50 or 100Mbps plans tend to be fairly close to the maximum, so you'll probably be okay. Just be ready to up your speed tier if you start to see less than ideal results.
"I'm a bit of an internet speed freak, but I know that what I pay for is rarely what my typical speed will be. When I've been on 50Mbps speed tiers, I've been more likely to get between 35Mbps and 45Mbps. Of course it totally depends where I've been living. These days I'm on a FTTP connection and a 500Mbps speed tier. But even then, my typical evening speed is closer to 300Mbps. A rule of thumb for me has been to go for a speed tier that's just a bit higher than the speed I'm after."
Which NBN providers have the fastest typical evening speeds?
There are over 20+ NBN providers on Finder that offer the maximum available typical evening speeds across NBN 25 and NBN 50. That means you can expect 25Mbps and 50Mbps respectively during the busiest hours of the day.
The list becomes slightly shorter across NBN 12, NBN 100 and NBN 250 plans but some providers do come quite close to offering the fastest available typical evening speeds.
You’ll find the likes of Southern Phone, Telstra, SpinTel, Exetel and Optus advertising solid speeds across some of the more popular speed tiers such as NBN 50 and NBN 100.
Will you always get advertised typical evening speeds?
There’s a chance your internet connection won’t consistently achieve a provider’s advertised typical evening speed – at least not 100% of the time.
Each quarter, the ACCC releases its Measuring Broadband Australia report which measures the reliability of the top 11 broadband providers in the country.
As part of the report, it checks how providers fare during the peak hours of the day.
As an example, the report from September 2023 saw Launtel hit 105.5% of maximum speeds, Exetel knocked out 101.9% and Telstra was at 100.4%.
Finder survey: How many Australians understand typical evening speed?
Response | 75+ yrs | 65-74 yrs | 55-64 yrs | 45-54 yrs | 35-44 yrs | 25-34 yrs | 18-24 yrs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No | 65.91% | 69.19% | 64.6% | 62.72% | 60% | 50.53% | 57.65% |
Yes | 34.09% | 30.81% | 35.4% | 37.28% | 40% | 49.47% | 42.35% |
Frequently asked questions
More guides on Finder
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What NBN speed tier do I really need?
Learn which NBN speed tier might be the right fit for your household.
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NBN providers with Australian call centres
Having a local support team can be helpful when you’re facing Internet troubles. We’ve compiled a list of NBN providers with Aussie call centres to help you out.
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Compare NBN 1000 plans so your internet can go zoom zoom
Get the fastest internet available in Australia from providers like Telstra, Optus, TPG and more.
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Compare NBN 250 plans
NBN 250 is the second-fastest speed tier, ideal for large households with heavy internet users.
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Best NBN plans in Australia
Our nerds (sorry, experts) go through hundreds of offers every month to bring you the best NBN plans around.
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NBN 25 plans – ideal for casual users or savvy savers
NBN 25 plans are generally more affordable if you're a light internet user and don't need fast speeds.
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Compare NBN 50 plans
NBN 50 is the most speed tier in Australia, with discounted prices starting from under $65 a month.
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Compare NBN 100 plans
NBN 100 plans are good large households, as well as enthusiastic gamers or streamers.
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Cheap NBN plans
Cut down on your Internet bill with these cheap NBN plans for under $50.
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Compare NBN FTTP plans (Fibre to the Premises)
FTTP, or Fibre to the Premises, uses fibre optic cables to deliver the fastest NBN speeds available.
Ask a question
We’re retired and use the internet during the day.
What would be the maximum speeds for an NBN100 during the working day??? They never mention this option.
Hi Ken, the maximum speed on NBN 100 is 100Mbps. On NBN 50, it’s 50Mbps and so on. Hope this helps!
There is two people in my flat and we use the internet for the operation of our $350 SHELD from Harvey Norman and we r with dodo charging us $65 month how can we get cheaper
Hi Leo,
If you’re talking about the Nvidia Shield and you use that for streaming, then it sounds like with 2 people in your flat, you should be able to get by with an NBN 50 connection. That would be a suitable speed for 2 people using the internet simultaneously for various activities.
You can compare NBN 50 plans here: https://www.finder.com.au/broadband-plans/nbn/compare-nbn-50-plans
As you can see, there are a few options that are cheaper than the $65 a month you’re currently paying, so you can compare those and see if one of them suits your needs and budget.
Hope this helps.
We want to be able to use two PCs for word processing and watch movies on SBS and iView and maybe Netflix between 7pm and 11pm. How much data would we need?
Hi Bill,
Thanks for your comment and I hope you are doing well.
If you’re watching a live stream, SBS On Demand may use as much as 1.2MB per hour. Serious streamers should opt for a plan with at least 500GB per month, but if you’re exclusively watching SBS On Demand, you could easily get away with a smaller allowance.ABC recommends a minimum Internet speed of 1.5Mbps for best results and provides the following guide for how much data iView typically uses: A 60-minute program will consume up to 300MB of data on-demand and 360MB when live streamed.
For watching Netflix, you would need about 1 GB of data per hour for each stream of standard definition video, and up to 3 GB per hour for each stream of HD video. This means you would need around 17-20 MB per day. You can multiply that amount for how much you are watching TV for 30 days and you would know how much data you would need all in all.
Hope this helps and feel free to reach out to us again for further assistance.
Best,
Nikki