Life in the twenty-first century is often incomplete without several devices to keep you constantly connected to social media, your favorite websites, and streaming services. Often times, one person alone can have over four devices that all connect to the internet, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and smart TVs.
The world is more connected now, and in Australia alone, 93 percent of its population has access to the internet. With so many people accessing the internet, data usage has skyrocketed. In a statement by Telstra, Australia’s leading telecommunications company, Australians consumed enough data in July 2018 to equal over 9000 years worth of watching Netflix.
As appetites for data grow, so does the necessity for switching to a different internet resource with faster connections that match the speed of data usage.
Your options
There are several ways to stay connected in Australia, including dial-up, asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), ADSL2+, and fibre optics.
Dial-up uses the public telephone network and is much slower than any of the current technology that’s out there today. ADSL uses copper telephone lines that deliver internet to your home, but the connection slows slightly as it travels down the wire. That means the closer you live to the telephone exchange, the faster your connection will be.
With ADSL2+, your connection can be three times faster than ADSL with 24 megabytes per second (mbps) versus eight mbps respectively. Lastly, there are fibre-optics, which uses a fibre optic cable that runs in the ground or in power lines to give you high speed internet.
Australia’s National Broadband Network
The National Broadband Network (NBN) is a large Australian project that uses fibre optics to provide high speed internet to the population in hopes of meeting the demands of data consumption. The average Australian household is expected to increase its data usage threefold when it switches from ADSL to NBN.
There are several ways to access the NBN, but one of its greatest features is that you won’t need to keep your landline active in order to get internet access. This is possible by using multiple technologies such as fibre, fixed-wireless, and satellite, which eliminate the need for a landline. Since there are several types of technology that deliver broadband in the NBN, there are several plans that are available for different needs.
You can visit iSelect to compare NBN plan to suit your needs, but they all revolve around speed and type of data usage. Plans range from basic to premium, with speeds of less than 15 mbps to 60 mbps respectively.
You can also choose from fixed-line connections and wireless, such as fixed wireless and satellite. If you’re looking to skip to the absolute fastest connection, look for the fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) option. This option will let the fibre optic cable travel straight to your home, eliminating any slowing along the wire from a longer distance.
However, if you live in a rural area where placing fibre optics would be more difficult, the fixed-wireless option may best be suited to your area. While there is still special equipment placed in your home, radio waves from a nearby tower transmit your broadband data, eliminating the need for wires to be run to your home from a modem.
There are many more options to consider when looking into transferring to NBN or even switching plans within NBN. However, one thing is certain, and it’s that Australians are in need of faster internet service to meet the needs of the modern age. With the new NBN project goal to reach ninety-three percent of Australians and deliver faster and more reliable service, the digital divide will decrease and staying connected will be commonplace.