Internet

nbn® 500 Mbps plan: Do you really need the need for speed?

nbn® 500 is the answer to a household that has finally outgrown everything else.

September 28, 2026

Aline Rivas, Head of Content & Social Media

Families are starting to look a little different now. No more white picket fences with two kids, a dog breed ending in oodle, and a full dining room that no one ever uses.

Today, it looks like a sharehouse where six people split the bills, clamber over fridge space and have developed strong opinions about whose turn it is to buy the dish soap.

Shows like New Girl and FX's Adults didn't become culturally relevant by accident. They capture this idea of a chosen family, the group of people who ended up living together and somehow made it work.

The one thing these households have in common (other than a dining table nobody eats at) is that they need serious internet. The gamer in the back room. The content creator who's always rendering. The remote worker on their fourth call of the day. The housemate who is simply always streaming Criminal Minds and will not apologise for all the disturbing things playing on the TV.

nbn® 500 is the answer to a household that has finally outgrown everything else.

TLDR

nbn® 500 delivers download speeds of 500 Mbps (TES: 500/40 Mbps), fast enough for 5+ simultaneous 4K streams, massive game downloads and working from home.
A 100GB PS5 game downloads in approximately 27 minutes on nbn® 500. On nbn® 100 plans, that's over two hours**.
nbn® 500 requires FTTP or HFC connection technology. FTTN/FTTC customers can upgrade via Superloop's Flip to Fibre program.
Superloop's Family Max nbn® 500 plan (Typical evening speeds 500/40 Mbps) is available from $65/month for the first 6 months, then *$95/month.

What actually is an nbn® 500 plan?

The background…

Australian households now download an average of 423GB per month, up more than 50 per cent in three years.

And that usage is climbing…

The two biggest download spikes coincided with Fortnite update drops, with each one being 10 per cent higher than the year before.

Peak internet hours run from 7pm to 11pm, with the busiest single hour between 9pm and 10pm. After the kids are in bed, everyone gets online simultaneously.

The solution…

An nbn® 500 plan is a high-speed residential internet tier with maximum download speeds of 500 Mbps and an upload speed of 50 Mbps (TES: 500/40 Mbps) .

During peak hours, Superloop’s Family Max nbn® 500 plan runs at typical evening speeds of 500/40Mbps, among the closest to advertised speeds in Australia. Humble brag.

Real-world speeds: nbn® 100 vs nbn® 500

See the real difference between 100 Mbps and 500 Mbps

Game Downloads**

Game Size	nbn® 100	nbn® 500
100GB (PS5 / Xbox Series X)	2 hours 13 minutes	26 minutes 40 seconds
50GB (mid-size update)	1 hour 6 minutes	13 minutes 20 seconds
150GB (Call of Duty)	3 hours 20 minutes	40 minutes

**Actual download time might vary pending on servers and other configurations.

Setting the scene…

On nbn® 100, a Call of Duty update downloads at almost the same time as the run time of James Cameron’s disaster epic, The Titanic.

On nbn® 500, the download finishes right when Jack and Rose meet properly for the first time. The ship hasn’t even hit anything yet. But unlike The Titanic, this story ends well.

It’s not just about practising patience. A 100GB download on nbn® 100 actively rocks everyone else's connection for hours…and is known to cause a few roommate scuffles.

On nbn® 500, everyone stays friends with each other.

What about streaming in 4K simultaneously?

4K streaming requires approximately 25Mbps per stream. On nbn® 100:

4 simultaneous 4K streams max out the plan entirely. There’s nothing left for your gaming, video chatting or background apps.
Add a fifth device and something, somewhere, buffers.

On nbn® 500:

10 simultaneous 4K streams, with 250Mbps to spare for everything else.

A household of 5+ people can all do exactly what they want, simultaneously, without the copious amounts of swearing.

Working From Home

nbn® 500's 50Mbps upload means:

Video calls stay sharp even when three other people are streaming in the background
Large file transfers run quietly without holding anything else hostage
Screen shares don't freeze at the exact moment you need to lock in and look like you know what you’re doing
Multiple people working from home simultaneously, competing for nothing

Can my address get nbn™ 500?

nbn® 500 is available on two connection types:

Technology	nbn® 500 Available?
FTTP (Fibre to the Premises)	Yes
HFC (Hybrid Fibre Coaxial)	Yes
FTTN (Fibre to the Node)	Not available
FTTC (Fibre to the Curb)	Not available

Time to flip? The Fibre Upgrade Pathway

If you're currently on FTTN or FTTC and nbn® 500 isn't available at your address, the fix is upgrading your connection technology.

But we’ve thought of that too. Superloop's Flip to Fibre program upgrades eligible FTTN and FTTC customers to FTTP at no cost for standard installations when you sign up for an eligible high-speed plan and stay connected for 12 months. T&Cs apply.

What does the upgrade involve?

Check if your address is eligible for Flip to Fibre, then the flip happens in three simple steps

An nbn® technician visits to install a new fibre connection and connection box.
In most cases there isn’t a long wait. Technician appointments are available within weeks.
Once upgraded, FTTP unlocks nbn® 500 and above, including future multi-gigabit speed tiers as they become available. You’re ready to welcome the future.

Why Superloop's Family Max nbn™ 500 Plan? (TES: 500/40 Mbps)

Straight up honest pricing

*$65/month for the first 6 months — one of the most competitive entry prices for nbn® 500 in Australia

*$95/month ongoing — with no lock-in contract, so you're not trapped if circumstances change

*Please note: All prices listed in this article are accurate at time of publication and subject to change. For up-to-date pricing, head to our nbn® plan page.

Inclusions to love

Unlimited data — no caps, no overage charges
No lock-in contract — cancel or change anytime
Typical evening speeds of 500/40Mbps during peak hours
Bundle & Save discounts available when combined with Superloop mobile plans
Wi-Fi 7 modem options to buy at a low costs
Smart 24/7 customer support with Teddy, Refreshify and real person on chat if you prefer

Bundle and save more

Superloop's mobile plans can be bundled with your nbn® plan for additional monthly savings. If your household is also paying separately for mobile plans, we’ll help you reduce your whole bill, not just the internet part.

Ready to Upgrade?

The sharehouse figured out how to share the kitchen. Your internet should be able to handle the rest.

Switch to Superloop's Family Max nbn® 500 plan (TES: 500/40 Mbps) (or discover all our nbn® plans) for unlimited data, no lock-in and speeds that actually match the way your household uses the internet.

FAQ

Yes, for two reasons:

The raw download speed means 100GB+ game updates that took hours on slower plans finish in under an hour.

A 500Mbps connection has enough headroom that a large download running in the background doesn't spike your ping or affect your in-game performance.

For competitive gaming, latency matters more than raw speed and Superloop's network is built to deliver both low latency and high throughput simultaneously.

Possibly. To experience speeds above 100 Mbps wirelessly, your router needs to support Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 7. Older routers cap out at speeds that won't take full advantage of a 500 Mbps connection.

We recommend the Amazon eero 7 (Wi-Fi 7) or the TP-Link VB433v for full performance. If you're using a modem from more than four or five years ago, try a hardware upgrade. It should make a big difference to the speeds you actually experience versus what the plan delivers.

Just three straightforward steps:

Log into the Superloop app or SuperHub

Find your plan settings

Select the Family Max nbn® 500 plan.

If your connection technology supports it (FTTP or HFC), the upgrade is processed remotely. But, if you're on FTTN or FTTC, you'll need to upgrade your connection technology first via the Flip to Fibre program before the speed tier becomes available.

*Please note: All prices listed in this article are accurate at time of publication and subject to change. For up-to-date pricing, head to our nbn® plan page.

Written by

Aline Rivas

Head of Content & Social Media

I've spent the last 4 years at Superloop making complex telco topics genuinely easy to read, driven by a mission to help challenger telcos take on the big guys.