In September 2025, NBN Co gave most 100 Mbps homes a free jump to 500 Mbps. If your plan is NBN 100/40, you were not one of them — and you may now be paying more for a slower plan than the one that replaced it.
On 14 September 2025, NBN Co accelerated its Home Fast wholesale product from 100/20 Mbps to 500/50 Mbps for FTTP and HFC connections, at no extra wholesale cost. Most homes on a 100 Mbps plan woke up to five times the download speed for the same bill. But 100/40 is a different wholesale product from 100/20 — and NBN Co did not accelerate it. If you are on 100/40, nothing changed, and nobody was obliged to tell you.
What actually happened in September 2025
NBN Co’s “Accelerate Great” change lifted three wholesale products for FTTP and HFC connections: Home Fast from 100/20 to 500/50 Mbps, Home Superfast from 250/25 to 750/50 Mbps, and Home Ultrafast from 1000/50 to 1000/100 Mbps. A new 2000 Mbps Hyperfast tier launched alongside. The timing of each customer’s upgrade was left to their retailer.
The catch is in the fine print. The upgrade applied to the named wholesale products — and the 100/40 speed combination is not one of them. Optus says it directly on its upgrade page: plans and add-ons that include NBN 100/40 speed (its Premium Upload / Speed Pack 4) “are not eligible for the nbn speed upgrade. This wholesale access speed is not being upgraded by nbn.” Exetel puts it just as bluntly: “When 100/20 scored that free speed bump in September 2025, 100/40 missed out.”
Who is still on 100/40, and why
100/40 was sold as the upload-friendly version of 100 Mbps: double the upload ceiling (40 Mbps instead of 20) for video calls, cloud backup, and sending large files. It appealed to people working from home and small businesses, and some providers marketed it as a distinct plan — Superloop’s “Power Home” is a current example.
Three groups are most likely still on it:
- Legacy sign-ups who chose 100/40 years ago for the upload and never revisited the plan.
- Provider defaults — customers whose provider kept selling 100/40 after September 2025 rather than steering them to 500/50.
- Business-plan customers — Exetel’s 100/40 appears in its business range, where the plan may sit alongside business features rather than being compared with residential 500/50 pricing.
One important exception: this trap only applies on FTTP and HFC. On FTTN, FTTC, or FTTB, 100 Mbps is generally the fastest tier available anyway, and 500/50 is not an option. If your connection is not full fibre or cable, 100/40 may still be a reasonable plan — check your technology type before changing anything.
The price trap: paying more for less
Here is the part that turns an oversight into a rip-off. At Superloop, the Power Home 100/40 plan costs $102 per month ongoing (typical evening speed 95/34 Mbps), while its Family Max 500/50 plan costs $95 per month ongoing (typical evening speed 500/45 Mbps). That is $7 a month more for one-fifth of the download speed — and a lower typical evening upload, too. Prices as of 13 October 2026, from Superloop’s Critical Information Summary.
The pattern holds elsewhere. Exetel’s business Start-Up 100/40 plan is $107 per month, while its residential One Plan 500/50 is $80 per month (both from Exetel’s own documents, checked 13 October 2026). The direction is consistent: 100/40 is a legacy-priced product competing against a cheaper, faster successor.
Did your provider move you anyway? It depends on the provider
Provider behaviour split after September 2025, which is why blanket advice (“everyone got upgraded”) is wrong:
- Some providers migrated 100/40 customers themselves. Swoop’s Critical Information Summary describes plans “uplifted from Home Fast + 100/40 Mbps” to 500/50 on 15 September 2025.
- Others left customers where they were. Optus’s upgrade page confirms 100/40 plans were not eligible for the automatic upgrade.
So two neighbours on 100/40 with different providers can be in completely different positions today. Do not assume — check.
How to tell if you are on 100/40
- Check your bill or plan summary. Look for “100/40”, “100 Mbps down / 40 Mbps up”, or a plan name like “Power Home” or “Premium Upload”. Your provider’s app or Critical Information Summary shows the wholesale speed.
- Run a wired speed test. A 100/40 connection tops out near 100 Mbps down and 30–40 Mbps up. A 500/50 connection should reach several hundred Mbps down on a wired test. If your download never passes ~100 Mbps on FTTP or HFC, you did not get the upgrade.
- Check your connection type. Log in to your provider account or use NBN Co’s address checker: only FTTP and HFC were eligible for the accelerated tiers.
- Call your provider and ask one question: “Am I on the 100/40 wholesale speed, and was I migrated to 500/50?” If the answer is no, ask for the switch (below).
What to switch to
If you are on FTTP or HFC and still on 100/40, the default move is 500/50: five times the download, a higher upload ceiling than 100/40, and typically a lower monthly price. You do not need new NBN equipment for the switch itself, but your router must be able to pass more than 100 Mbps — older routers with 100 Mbps Ethernet ports will cap the new speed. (See: How to Speed Up Your NBN.)
The switch itself is a plan change with your existing provider, not a new NBN installation. Ask for:
- The 500/50 plan at the current price (confirm whether an introductory discount applies and what the ongoing price is).
- Confirmation in writing of the new wholesale speed and the date it takes effect.
- Whether your contract or modem terms change — most NBN plans are month-to-month, but check before agreeing.
If upload is the reason you chose 100/40 in the first place, note that 500/50’s 50 Mbps upload ceiling already beats it. Only consider 1000/100 (or higher) if you regularly push very large files upstream — for most homes, 500/50 is the value point.
What this means for you
- If your bill says 100/40 and you are on FTTP/HFC: you missed the free September 2025 upgrade. Check what your provider did, and ask for the switch to 500/50.
- If you are paying more than ~$95 a month for 100/40: you are likely paying more than a 500/50 plan costs. Compare before your next bill.
- If you are on FTTN, FTTC, or FTTB: 500/50 is not available to you — but check whether you are eligible for NBN Co’s free fibre upgrade (Fibre Connect), which would unlock the faster tiers.
- If your provider already migrated you: confirm it with a wired speed test. An upgrade on paper means nothing if an old router is capping you at 100 Mbps.
- Re-check before ordering: plan prices move often. Every price above was verified 13 October 2026 from each provider’s own documents.