Beyond the speed numbers, the case for full fibre comes down to three things.
Everyone can use the connection at once: Video calls, game downloads, 4K streaming and a dozen background devices stop competing with each other. This is the change most households actually notice — not the peak speed, but the absence of negotiation over who's using the internet.
Access to higher nbn speed tiers: On copper you're limited to 100 Mbps, full stop. On fibre, Family Max, Megaspeed, Lightspeed and Hyperspeed all open up, and you can move between them once a month at no cost as your needs change.
Stable foundation for smart homes: Cameras, sensors, doorbells and voice assistants are individually undemanding but collectively constant. Fibre handles a high device count far more comfortably than copper. If you're troubleshooting a flaky smart home setup, our guide to smart home troubleshooting is a good starting point.
Here's the part that catches people out. A faster plan doesn't help if the equipment in your house can't carry it. Plenty of households were uplifted to Family Max nbn in September 2025 and saw very little change, because their router was the limiting factor all along. Your choice of modem-router is listed in our Key Facts Sheet as one of the main things that affects the speed you actually get, alongside where you put it and how far your devices are from it.
Your modem-router
WAN port speed: This is the port your nbn connection box plugs into, and it's the most common hard ceiling. A gigabit WAN port is sufficient for plans up to Megaspeed nbn (750/50). For Lightspeed nbn (1000/100) you'll want 2.5 Gbps to reach the full speed rather than stopping just under the gigabit mark. For Hyperspeed nbn (2 Gbps) a 2.5 Gbps port is essential — a gigabit port will hard-limit you to less than half your plan speed.
Wi-Fi standard: Wi-Fi 6, 6E or 7 will get the most out of a high-speed plan, particularly with a lot of devices connected. Wi-Fi 5 hardware still works and can still deliver several hundred megabits per second in good conditions — it just won't keep up with the top tiers, and the gap widens as your plan gets faster.
Mesh coverage: In a larger home or one with difficult internal walls, a single router is often the real problem rather than the plan. A mesh system spreads coverage rather than boosting the peak.
For reference, the eero 7 available on eligible Superloop plans supports wired speeds up to 2.5 Gbps and wireless up to 1.8 Gbps, with two auto-sensing 2.5 GbE ports — enough headroom for every residential tier including Hyperspeed.
Your cabling
For wired connections, Cat 5e carries a full gigabit and handles 2.5 Gbps over typical household runs without issue. If you're cabling from scratch or running longer distances, Cat 6 or 6a is the safer choice. There's no need to replace working Cat 5e for a 500 or 750 Mbps plan.
Your devices
Run the speed test on a few different devices. If your newer phone hits 600 Mbps and a five-year-old laptop manages 180, the laptop is the limit — not your connection. That's worth knowing before you spend money changing anything else.
Also worth checking: a device connected to the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band will be slow regardless of how good your plan or router is. Most modern routers steer devices to the faster 5 GHz or 6 GHz bands automatically, but older gear and some smart home devices sit stubbornly on 2.4 GHz. And as our Key Facts Sheet notes, Wi-Fi connected devices are generally slower than Ethernet connected ones — which is why the wired test in the section above matters.
Work through these in order — they're arranged roughly by how often they turn out to be the cause.
You're testing over Wi-Fi. Test wired first to separate the connection from the home network. This alone explains most shortfalls.
Your router's WAN port is the ceiling. A gigabit port can't pass more than about 940 Mbps, and cheaper routers sometimes cap lower.
The testing device is old. Check a second device before concluding anything.
You're on the 2.4 GHz band. Check which band you're connected to in your Wi-Fi settings.
You're comparing against the wrong number. The speed tier is the maximum possible during off-peak. Compare against the typical evening speed in the table above.
It's peak hour. Speeds between 7pm and 11pm are lower by design. Test at a quiet time as well as a busy one.
Your access line doesn't support the tier. On FTTB, FTTN and FTTC connections we can't confirm your maximum line speed until the service is active. Once it is, we test it — and if your line doesn't support the tier you chose, we'll tell you, offer to move you to a lower one, and refund the difference.
Something's wrong with the line or the connection box. If a wired test at an off-peak time is still well short, get in touch — that's not something you can fix from your end.
Business connections were part of the uplift too, with 100/40 Mbps plans moving to 250/100 Mbps, and multi-gigabit Totalbiz options up to 2000/500 Mbps available for operations that need them. Upload speed is usually the bigger deal for a business — it's what determines how cloud backups, file transfers and video conferencing actually feel.
Worth noting: our residential nbn plans are intended for personal household use, so if you're running a business on one, a business plan is the better fit for both performance and support.
How Superloop can help
Flip to Fibre™: If you're on FTTN or FTTC and your premises is fibre eligible, we'll waive the installation fee when you move to a plan of 100/40 Mbps or above. Conditions and the 12-month commitment are set out in the section above. For detail, check terms and conditions.
Hardware on eligible plans. A free* Wi-Fi modem-router is available on eligible plans, and you can bundle with mobile to save more. You're also welcome to supply and manage your own router if you'd rather. *T&Cs apply
No lock-in on the plan itself. Our nbn plans have a one-month minimum term with no setup or activation fee, and you can change speed tier once a month at no cost. If you cancel, a 30-day notice period applies. Flip to Fibre and device offers carry their own conditions, covered above.
Our own network. Unlike providers who resell wholesale connections, Superloop owns and operates its own national network and connects directly to every nbn Point of Interconnect. Less time on the wholesale network means lower latency — which matters most for gaming and video calls. If gaming is the priority, see gaming nbn plans.
