Australia is rapidly speeding into the 21st century with a fast, nationwide internet network, otherwise known as the NBN.
For homes and businesses, the high speeds and connectivity are the foundation for an innovative future, but like anything new, making the right choice can be difficult.
Luckily, the NBN has been designed with everyone in mind, including light users who occasionally check their emails, those who stream high definition video to multiple devices, and businesses who are just starting to explore the huge potential of Australia’s internet future.
Speed
For many people and businesses, the big advantage of the NBN is greater speed. Not just downloading, but uploading can be significantly faster on an NBN plan, to the point that it is finally possible in Australia to get access to an internet service that can even be too fast for your needs. So to get it right, it’s important to consider not only what you need the internet for, but how many people and devices will be using it at the same time.
If you’re just a regular home user who has been getting by with your one or two devices connected to ADSL2+, the lowest-tier packages starting at 12 Mbps are enough to do everything you are used to, including streaming normal video without any or much buffering.
But if you’re doing anything more than just uploading photos to Facebook, for example, an upload speed of 1 Mbps may not be enough – particularly for a home-based small business.
Data
Of course, the internet isn’t just about speed, it’s about data. Luckily, NBN plans are typically pretty generous, with even the lower tier plans offering 100 GB a month, which means streaming and downloading TV and movies can be done quite liberally.
The most popular NBN plans in Australia at the moment are the middle-range ones, offering up to 25 Mbps downloads and 5 Mbps uploads. The reason for this popularity is that pricing is pretty comparable to good ADSL2+ connections but offering significantly faster internet and more data.
A mid-range bundle might be suitable for a growing family that is going to use a variety of computers and devices on the same connection that will be able to cope with, for example, more than one video streaming demand at any one time.
The power of NBN
So while a mid-range plan with 25 Mbps and 500 GB will be more than enough for a reasonable family, large households and small to medium-sized businesses may want to consider going for the Big Daddy combo, with up to 100 Mbps downloads and a huge 40 Mbps upload speed that can be combined with unlimited data usage.
This sort of plan may cost a little more but it will be able to cope with almost any user demand, including a family with multiple heavy online gamers or hour upon hour of streaming HD online entertainment to multiple platforms.
Small businesses that send and receive large data files, rely heavily on cloud-based applications and want to do things like video conferencing and webinars will also benefit from going for a top NBN plan.
If you need more help with choosing your NBN plan or need some other IT support in Cairns, get in touch with The Mobile ComputerMan now.
