Three ways to connect to next-generation broadband
The National Broadband Network will give all Australian homes and businesses access to faster, more reliable broadband.
With our country’s significant land mass and relatively small population, rolling out optic fibre to homes and businesses in remote areas would be extremely difficult and costly.
So to ensure we have access to broadband in the most reliable and efficient way, the NBN uses a mix of three technologies:
- optic fibre
- fixed wireless
- next-generation satellite
How you connect to the NBN will depend on your area and how remote it is. The important thing to know is that all three technologies are part of the NBN – and will deliver a faster, more reliable broadband service than what is currently available.
Optic fibre
The vast majority of Australian homes and businesses (93 per cent) will have access to the NBN through fibre to the premises technology, which can deliver speeds of up to one gigabit per second. This is possible because most Australians live and work in major cities and towns where the fibre rollout is most cost effective.
Find out more about optic fibre
Fixed wireless
NBN Co’s fixed wireless network will cover homes and businesses that are just outside the optic fibre footprint, but not remote enough to need the satellite service.
Not to be confused with Wi-Fi or wireless broadband, fixed wireless broadband is designed to meet the speed and service requirements for a certain number of users in an area.
This means the NBN fixed wireless service – even during peak times – will be faster and more reliable than for customers using mobile networks to provide broadband.
Find out more about fixed wireless
Satellite
The bulk of Australia’s land surface will be serviced by two Ka-band satellites.
Scheduled to launch in 2015, these satellites will be purpose-built to provide high-speed broadband access to Australians where NBN optic fibre or fixed wireless is not the best option.
Learn more:
