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More than 2.7 million households and businesses will unlock a free broadband speed boost in the coming days in a move experts are calling one of the biggest changes to the industry in years.
But not all homes will be eligible to receive faster downloads and many more may miss out on their full benefit due to outdated equipment.
NBN Co will launch its internet upgrade program, Accelerate Great, starting on Sunday for homes connected to the network using fibre-to-the-premises and hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) technology.
The free upgrade program will boost download and upload speeds for customers on three broadband plans, affecting about 2.77 million users.
Customers on 100 megabits per second plans will see their download speeds raised to 500mbps, 250mbps plans will lift to 750mbps downloads, while upload speeds will double to 100mbps on the fastest plans.
NBN Co will also launch a two gigabit per second download plan as part of the program, chief executive Ellie Sweeney said, in a bid to boost Australia’s internet use.
“We take great pride in delivering a reliable, high-speed and high-capacity network to Australians and it is our investment in the network that is enabling us to Accelerate Great, as we say,” she said.
Most Australian households are connected to 50mbps broadband plans, however, and would have to upgrade to receive the additional speed.
The speed boosts will be delivered to eligible customers automatically, Vodafone fixed line products general manager Andy O’Connor said, and will be a significant change for broadband users.
“I call it a paradigm shift,” he said.
“It is genuinely the biggest change in the market we’ve ever seen.”
More than half of the company’s internet users would be able to receive the speed boosts, he said, although some could be short-changed if they failed to check connection options or check their hardware.
NBN users who could not access higher speeds should ask if they were eligible for a free fibre-to-the-premises upgrade, O’Connor said, while those expecting a speed boost should check that their modem could deliver it.
“Not everybody’s home modem is capable of going at that speed right now,” he said.
“Some older models are only capable of going to about 200 or maybe 250 megabits per second.”
While the speed updates will begin on Sunday, upgrades could take several days to take effect.
Australia currently ranks 63rd in the world for fixed broadband speeds, according to the Speedtest Global Index, with an average download of 92mbps.
