Aussie Broadband throws 1Gbps speeds at full fibre and HFC users
Aussie Broadband has said that from Friday, May 29, it will begin offering a 1000/50Mbps plan on the National Broadband Network (NBN) to its customers.
Customers will be able to take up the service with unlimited data for AU$150 a month, with prices for the telco's 250/100Mbps unlimited plan falling by AU$10 to AU$210, and its 250/25Mbps plan falling by AU$40 a month to AU$130.
Friday will also be the first day that NBN's new wholesale pricing and plan structure lands.
"Not surprisingly, we are keen to offer 1Gbps plans as soon as NBN introduces the product," said Aussie Broadband managing director Phil Britt.
"The new plan will initially be released for all FttP premises and some of the HFC network, and we anticipate the footprint will grow with time."
Britt added that peak evening speeds for the plan are yet to be determined, and at this stage, it will be a best-effort service.
"We think that the plan should achieve off-peak speeds of up to 80-90%, depending on the technology type," Britt said.
Until the company has enough data, it will be advising customers of the peak evening speeds that customers on its 250Mbps plan receive.
The telco also said users will need a router capable of handling the speeds available on the plan.
At the end of April, Aussie Broadband announced that it was dropping the price on its 1000/400Mbps plan from AU$700 to AU$430 a month.
Along with the wholesale pricing changes to arrive on Friday, NBN will begin to overprovision services by up to 15% of extra layer 2 capacity so that the tests the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) run at layer 7 can match the speeds claimed by internet service providers.
However, 1Gbps plans will not receive the ill-conceived boost, with 1Gbps plans expected to hit 900Mbps on a layer 7 test due to "framing overhead".
"NBN Co has chosen to not apply the additional bandwidth to our highest speed tier because it is already dimensioned to provide the highest possible speeds," NBN said in March.
In its latest Measuring Broadband Australia report released last week, the ACCC again complained that its layer 7 tests could only each up to 95.6% of advertised speeds.
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