Is typical evening speed the same as an average speed?

Yes, in a sense. The typical evening speed is the average speed you can expect to see during the busiest period of the day. In general, an average speed can be calculated over a shorter or longer period of time, but a typical evening speed reduces this window to between 7pm and 11pm each day. If you want to know more about average speeds you can see a breakdown by state.

What is considered a good typical evening speed?

A good typical evening speed is one that closely matches the maximum speed available on a specific plan. For example, with NBN 50, you’d want to see speeds near 50Mbps during peak usage times to ensure a smooth experience. You can check how your connection holds up by running an internet speed test.

What is the difference between download and upload speeds?

Download speeds measure how long it takes for your computer to receive information from the web, while upload speeds are a measure of how long it takes to send that information. Download speeds are quoted more frequently and are often higher than upload speeds.

What if my plan isn't reaching its advertised typical evening speeds?

Your plan may not reach its advertised typical evening speed for a range of reasons including hardware issues. If your plan isn't reaching its advertised typical evening speed, you can contact your provider for an explanation. It may be able to help resolve the issue. In a case where you find your provider unwilling to help, you can contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). The TIO can escalate the situation and provide dispute resolution to help you get things sorted with your telco. You may also want to compare NBN plans and switch to a new provider that may offer a more reliable connection.

What are NBN typical evening speeds?

Providers show typical evening speeds on NBN plans, indicating the upload and download speeds you can expect during peak hours (7pm–11pm).
Beyond price, typical evening speeds help compare NBN plans within the same speed tier, like NBN 50 or NBN 100.
You’ll find several providers offering the fastest typical evening speeds across different NBN speed tiers.

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 indicate 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?

You’ll want to aim for speeds as close as possible to the maximum for each NBN speed tier.

For instance, an NBN 50 plan offers up to 50Mbps download speeds, so you’ll want a plan that gives you typical evening speeds around 50Mbps, or close to it.

Here’s a quick look at the 8 major fixed-line NBN speed tiers, along with the average typical evening speeds we’ve found, plus the minimum and maximum speeds available across all the plans in our database.

Speed tier	Average typical evening speed on Finder	Minimum speed	Maximum speed
NBN 12	11Mbps	10Mbps	12Mbps
NBN 25	24Mbps	20Mbps	25Mbps
NBN 50	49Mbps	40Mbps	50Mbps
NBN 100	96Mbps	73Mbps	100Mbps
NBN 500	496Mbps	443Mbps	500Mbps
NBN 750	725Mbps	600Mbps	750Mbps
NBN 1000	845Mbps	600Mbps	967Mbps
NBN 2000	1725Mbps	1600Mbps	1831Mbps

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 10 broadband providers in the country.

As part of the report, it checks how providers fare during the peak hours of the day.

You can read our guide for the most up-to-date information of which providers are topping the charts at any given time.

Which NBN providers have the fastest typical evening speeds?

There are heaps of NBN providers on Finder that offer the maximum available typical evening speeds across the majority of speed tiers.

You’ll find the likes of Southern Phone, Telstra, SpinTel, Dodo and Optus advertising solid speeds across some of the more popular speed tiers such as NBN 50 and NBN 100.

Compare NBN plans on Finder to spot exactly which providers have the fastest speeds at any given time.

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%

Source: Finder survey by Pure Profile of 1006 Australians, December 2023

Frequently asked questions

Yes, in a sense. The typical evening speed is the average speed you can expect to see during the busiest period of the day. In general, an average speed can be calculated over a shorter or longer period of time, but a typical evening speed reduces this window to between 7pm and 11pm each day.
If you want to know more about average speeds you can see a breakdown by state.
Your plan may not reach its advertised typical evening speed for a range of reasons including hardware issues.
If your plan isn't reaching its advertised typical evening speed, you can contact your provider for an explanation. It may be able to help resolve the issue.
In a case where you find your provider unwilling to help, you can contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). The TIO can escalate the situation and provide dispute resolution to help you get things sorted with your telco.
You may also want to compare NBN plans and switch to a new provider that may offer a more reliable connection.

Sources

Thank you for your feedback!

Written by

Mariam Gabaji

Senior Utilities Editor & Tech Expert

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Mariam Gabaji is a journalist with 13 years of experience, specialising in consumer topics like mobile services and energy costs. Her work appears in the ABC, Yahoo Finance, 9News, The Guardian, SBS, 7News, A Current Affair and Money Magazine. Mariam holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and was a finalist for the 2024 and 2025 IT Journalism Award for Best Telecommunications Journalist. See full bio

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Mariam has written 603 Finder guides across topics including:

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10 Responses

LynFebruary 6, 2025

How do you know if NBN is connected to a unit I am purchasing.

Finder

MariamFebruary 6, 2025Finder

Hi Lyn, if you pop in your address on NBN Co’s website (https://www.nbnco.com.au/) it’ll let you know if the property you’re purchasing can be connected to NBN. Hope this helps :)

DeloDecember 15, 2024

I am person household and always use hotspot tethering but due to recent problems I wish to now get an NBN connection. I stream movies in the afternoon and night and hotspot for pc and phone use. What speed should be sufficient for my need?
Thanks

Finder

MariamDecember 16, 2024Finder

Hi Delo, it sounds like an NBN 25 plan should sort you out: https://www.finder.com.au/broadband-plans/nbn/compare-nbn-25-plans. You’ll find some great value plans from providers like Tangerine, Dodo, Southern Phone, Flip, and Buddy Telco. Hope this helps :)

KenSeptember 6, 2024

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.

Finder

MariamSeptember 6, 2024Finder

Hi Ken, the maximum speed on NBN 100 is 100Mbps. On NBN 50, it’s 50Mbps and so on. Hope this helps!

LeoMay 25, 2023

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

Finder

MarkMay 26, 2023Finder

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.

BillDecember 31, 2019

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?

NikkiJanuary 4, 2020

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

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What are NBN typical evening speeds? (And why they matter)

Typical evening speeds are one of those things you’ll want to get familiar with when shopping for an NBN plan.