Gaming BREAKS the NBN | Dirt Report

Planned NBN speed increases are still being assessed

NBN Co has proposed increasing the speeds available across several products. The examples discussed include moving a 250Mbps download product to 750Mbps, and increasing a 500Mbps service to 1,000Mbps. The precise changes depend on the access technology and the final arrangements agreed between NBN Co and retail service providers.

The upgrades raised a straightforward network question: if more customers receive faster services, will they use enough additional data to overload the NBN? NBN Co and the retail service providers were still communicating about the changes, with testing and preparation continuing.

New Zealand provides a useful comparison

NBN Co examined the experience of Chorus, the New Zealand network operator. Chorus had already rolled out fibre and increased plan speeds, including a move from 100Mbps download services to almost 300Mbps while keeping prices the same.

According to the discussion in the video, Chorus’s annual report indicated that data usage grew consistently rather than suddenly overwhelming the network. Customers moving to higher speeds were not described as thrashing the network. This was presented as an encouraging comparison for Australia, although NBN Co was still considering its own network conditions and requirements.

Why game updates are a special concern

NBN Co stated that the proposed speed enhancements were not anticipated to significantly affect usage trends under standard network conditions. However, it also modelled short-term bursts of traffic from heavy-use applications.

The specific example identified as a possible major impact was a widespread game update. Modern games can involve very large downloads, and the video uses Call of Duty updates of around 100GB as an example. If a large proportion of households in the same area began downloading an update at the same time, the resulting demand could create a sharp, temporary increase in traffic.

Some retail service providers cache game updates, which may reduce the amount of traffic reaching the wider network. Even so, the possibility of simultaneous downloads was the main non-standard condition highlighted in the discussion. A 13GB Fallout 4 update was also mentioned as an example of how renewed interest in an older game could lead to many downloads after the release of a related television show.

Timing and proposed plan changes

The consultation process began in March 2024 and was expected to close around April. Testing was scheduled to begin in May and continue beyond December 2024. No confirmed launch date had been set at the time of publication. Pat’s estimate was the end of financial year 2025, but he stressed that this was only a guess because the testing and preparation could take considerable time.

One proposed change applies to HFC customers. The 250Mbps download and 25Mbps upload plan is expected to be removed in the next version of the product range. It would be replaced by a 250Mbps download and 100Mbps upload plan, described in the video as being available for approximately the same price, or a few dollars less.

For the proposed migration, customers on HFC and fibre to the premises using the Home Fast plan would move to 500Mbps download and 50Mbps upload. Fibre to the node, fibre to the curb and fibre to the basement customers would move to a 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload plan. On Home Superfast, HFC and fibre to the premises customers would move to 750Mbps download and 50Mbps upload. Home Ultrafast customers on eligible HFC and fibre to the premises connections could move from 750Mbps to 1,000Mbps, with upload speed increasing from 50Mbps to 100Mbps.