With the ongoing pandemic and the rise of remote work, there is an increasing need for a reliable and good internet service provider. But how would you determine if you have a good internet speed to work from home? 

The quick answer is: it depends. If you are a big household and need several devices to connect to your network, you may want to consider signing up for an unlimited data plan on a higher speed tier. But this is not always the most budget-friendly solution, is it?

Let’s take a look at how we can find the best internet speed for your home office. 

What is a Good Internet Speed?

There are varying definitions when it comes to what a good internet speed is. It all depends on the user and how they utilise the internet for work. Some professions require faster upload and download speeds compared to others. Thus, for a smooth working experience at home, it is essential to subscribe to an Internet service suited for your work from home needs.

According to the National Broadband Network in Australia, the ideal internet speed for work from home purposes should be 25Mbps or higher. The speed is already enough to cover your browsing and video conferencing needs for work. It also offers enough allowance to accommodate other forms of internet use that you may have at homes such as online gaming or streaming.

Going for a higher plan with higher speeds and data allowance is advisable for bigger households with more than three people. This is to ensure that other internet users will not hinder the speed requirements your work requires. Other internet activities considered when seeking the ideal internet speed for your home include video and movie streaming, social media browsing, sending emails, uploading photos, and online gaming. When several people use the Internet simultaneously, there is a tendency to experience latency, thus requiring a more robust internet speed plan for your home.

So how fast is fast when it comes to your work-from-home requirements?

Browsing search engines and websites require around 1-2Mbps. Streaming videos varies depending on the quality. SD videos require a minimum speed of 3Mbps, while HD videos require around 5Mbps. If you are looking to stream and enjoy videos of 4K quality, you’ll need around 25Mbps of speed to enjoy doing so without worrying about latency. As for video conferencing and other business needs, at least 12Mbps is required to go through your day without having the hassle of slow loading websites or delayed downloads and uploads.

Fastest NBN Plans for the Australian Household

The National Broadband Network is a government-owned wholesale internet service provider in Australia. It is the largest ISP provider in the country and is also the most accessible service available countrywide. NBN offers a wide variety of internet speeds to its retail partners, which is ideal for providing Internet service for basic to advance work from home requirements.

To give you an idea of the good internet speeds available for your home, through NBN, you can continue by looking into this list.

Available NBN Speed Tiers in Australia

NBN 12 is the cheapest and the “slowest” internet speed available under NBN plans. The speed tier features a maximum speed of 12Mbps with evening speeds of 7Mbps. This is ideal for a single household that does not demand high internet use.

NBN 25 is the ideal speed tier for most households with less than four average internet users. It offers an evening speed of 15Mbps which is decent enough to handle simultaneous video conferencing needs.

NBN 50 comes with a maximum speed of 50Mbps with evening speeds of 30Mbps. Therefore, homes with several heavy internet users can already enjoy latency-free streaming with this plan.

NBN 100 is the fastest internet speed tier available from NBN. This would be ideal for bigger homes with plenty of internet users engaged in heavy-internet browsing, streaming, and video conferencing. The speed tier features 60Mbps evening speeds.

How Fast Do You Need Your Internet to Be?

To determine which NBN speed tier is ideal for you, list down the types of internet needs each of the individuals in your home requires. Add this number and multiply it by at least two to have enough buffer, in terms of speed, if you all use the Internet simultaneously. Also, it would be best to stick with an internet speed plan that is enough for your needs to get the best deals out of your subscription. Imagine paying twice the amount for an Internet speed that you do not fully utilise. That would be a waste of money and resources.