What are some NBN alternatives for home internet?

Whether you’ve not been satisfied with your NBN speed, or your home is not yet in a location with appropriate infrastructure to support the NBN, it’s worth exploring some alternatives to the NBN for your home internet. 

In recent years, the National Broadband Network (NBN) has become synonymous with home internet service. It has become essentially mandatory to seek an NBN plan for your home internet, and it’s easy to understand why when top residential NBN speeds offer 100Mbps downloads compared to 8Mbps from ADSL and 24Mpbs from ADSL2+.

However, there are still several alternative options available for those experiencing lacklustre network performance, those without access to the NBN, or those who are just not interested in this connection type.

Alternatives to the NBN for home internet

The three most popular alternatives to NBN for home internet are home wireless broadband, mobile broadband, and portable modems.

• Home wireless broadband 

Home wireless broadband is designed as a no-fuss alternative to NBN. Once you receive your modem you can generally just plug it in and hop online without a technician appointment. Plus, it is portable, so you can take it with you if you were to move homes as long as there is a power source to plug into.  

This home internet option however typically comes with data and/or speed caps, unlike most NBN plans. Further, it may be a more expensive option than some NBN plans, so be sure to compare prices carefully.

Due to the potential data caps or speed caps, if you need high-speed internet for, say, gaming, home wireless broadband may not be the best-suited option for your household. But if this is not a concern, then it may be worth considering as a wireless alternative to the NBN.

• Mobile broadband

Similar to the way your mobile phone internet works, mobile broadband connects your devices to 4G or 5G cellular networks. There are three ways you may access mobile broadband:

1. Device and data plan – Choose your ideal device and add it to a data plan
2. SIM only data plan – BYO device, such as a tablet, and choose a data plan linked to a SIM you simply plug into the device.
3. Pre-paid plans – Pay upfront for your data plan for mobile broadband.

Mobile broadband may offer a greater data allowance for users than home wireless in some instances, with some providers offering up to 1TB of data. However, both options may cause issues for users looking for unlimited data and the highest-quality speed, due to capping across both services.  

• Portable modem

Another option to consider is looking into a portable modem for your broadband connection. This option involves using a USB modem, or dongle, to connect a single device to the internet. 

A portable modem may be competitive when on the go and unable to connect to WiFi, or if you are working remotely, such as on the road or in a café. Alternatively, you may opt for a portable WiFi Hotspot modem. This option creates a private WiFi network that allows multiple devices to connect at the same time.

Both portable options may offer the benefit of not draining your device’s battery or your data plan. Some modems also provide built-in batteries and USB ports to allow the recharging of multiple devices while in use, so it may be worth factoring this into your comparison if this feature is important to you.

How can I boost my NBN connection? 

If you’re looking at alternative options to the NBN due to connection or technical issues, it may be worth attempting one or more of these steps to boost your speeds:

• Upgrading your plan to a higher speed.
• Assessing your hardware and connection for faults.
• Reaching out to your NBN provider for technical assistance and/or a technician appointment to perform diagnostics on your service.
• Considering changing providers – an alternative provider may be able to offer you greater speeds.

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