16,000 regional homes, businesses first to benefit from faster NBN

The first batch of regional homes and businesses can now benefit from fixed wireless improvements as part of NBN's upgrade program.

The NBN has announced that 16,000 homes and businesses in regional Australia are now able to take advantage of faster speeds on its fixed wireless network.

Those first to benefit from the upgrades are based in areas of the South Coast of NSW and Sunshine Coast in Queensland.

The improvements are part of the NBN Fixed Wireless and Satellite Upgrade Program, which is a $750 million investment to help "make it easier for people to work remotely, access digital services and entertainment and connect with loved one".

Key takeaways

• The upgrades will allow people to access faster speeds during the busiest hours of the day, which is normally 7-11pm when most people are online.
• The upgrades will limit regional Australia's reliance on Sky Muster satellite services which has, in the past, been under the pump for having too many people connected to it.
• An additional 3,200 homes and businesses across South Coast of NSW and Sunshine Coast in QLD that use Sky Muster satellite internet are also now eligible for an upgrade to fixed wireless.
• By the end of 2024, more than 750,000 homes and businesses will benefit from the upgrade to fixed wireless.

You can go to the NBN's website directly to see if you can access fixed wireless. All you have to do is pop in your address in the search bar.

NBN announces new proposal for higher-speed fixed wireless plans

Now this is subject to consultation, but here's what the NBN is proposing in terms of a speed boost on the fixed wireless network:

• Existing NBN Fixed Wireless Plus speeds to go up from 75/10 Mbps to 100/20 Mbps
• Introduction of Fixed Wireless Home Fast with 200-250Mpbs download speeds and 8-20Mbps upload speeds (available to 90% of those on the fixed wireless footprint)
• Introduction of Fixed Wireless Superfast with 400Mbps download speeds and 10-40Mbps upload speeds (available to 80% of premises on the fixed wireless footprint)

• Keep in mind. The actual speeds you receive will vary based on factors such as the hardware you have, network congestion and the distance of your premises to a fixed wireless tower.

Angus Kidman, Finder's editor-at-large explains why NBN's announcement is good news for some, not so great for others.

Improvements in speed for fixed wireless customers are good news - our demand for speed never goes down," Kidman says.

"Shifting more users to fixed wireless helps reduce congestion on Sky Muster satellite services, which still offer underwhelming performance for many customers.

"As always, though, the devil is in the NBN detail. 10% of fixed wireless customers won't be eligible for the faster services, which means 40,000 regional Australians still missing out on higher speeds."