nbn® Alternatives

How much do you know about nbn® alternatives for regional areas? For many people, the internet is an essential part of modern life. If you live in a metropolitan area, you’ll probably have various options for connecting to the internet. However, it can be much harder to find affordable internet service providers and plans that meet your needs if you live in a rural or remote location.

Unlike your average internet service provider, Skymesh focuses 100% on providing rural Australians with fast and reliable internet plans. Whether for agriculture, off-grid living, education, businesses big and small, or whatever you and your family use the internet for, we offer alternative connection types from the nbn® tailored for regional areas to get you connected to its ever-growing and upgrading network.

In this article, we’ll explain some of the nbn® options for non-metro areas, in contrast to nbn® alternatives like ADSL, and why they might suit your unique needs.

Is nbn® the better alternative to other types of internet connections?

Not only does the nbn® give you faster, more reliable services than nbn® alternatives, but it is also constantly developing and improving itself.

Compare it to networks like the Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line or ADSL and ADSL2+, and consider when these were first introduced. You’ll realise these copper networks can be even older than many people using the internet nowadays. Some of them are over a hundred years old. The old copper infrastructure wasn’t even intended for the internet, as it was built to support analogue phone calls.

The nbn’s primary mission is to upgrade the country’s ageing phone and internet systems. Its modern infrastructure was designed and built specifically to allow rapid data transfers for the internet.

We can take the nbn’s fixed wireless development as an example of how its services continue to improve. To further enhance the quality of service provided by the fixed wireless network, the nbn® pledged an extra $800 million in 2018, which was allocated until 2022.

The capacity of fixed wireless networks has been steadily increasing since then. You can actually trace the improvements since the investment by looking at the numbers. In 2018, most people had been on a 25/5 Mbps speed tier; a year later, more than half the total users had moved up to a 50/20 Mbps speed tier. In the following year, the nbn® introduced an even higher 75/10 Mbps speed tier.

How does nbn® speeds compare to others in rural areas?

Speed is one of the primary advantages of the nbn®. Unlike the maximum rates available with nbn® alternatives like ADSL2+ (24 Mbps), your nbn® download speeds can be significantly faster, depending on your connection type and speed tier.

Depending on where you are, the nbn® may select a different technology to connect you to the internet to maximise effectiveness. A reliable wireless broadband network would be especially useful for those living in remote locations.

Broadband internet connection is now available in many rural and remote regions that were previously unreachable because of the availability of the nbn’s wireless networks. Wireless broadband permits the development of networks of varying sizes in locations where cable installation would be too difficult to implement or maintain. The nbn® employs two varieties of wireless broadband technologies.

Skymesh’s Fixed Wireless service is an nbn® co-product that provides an antenna to be installed on the roof of your premises to receive a signal from the nearest nbn® service tower. As a service retail provider, we have access to thousands of the network’s towers around the country.

With even further reach, Skymesh’s nbn® satellite internet plans, Sky Muster® for residences and Sky Muster® Plus for both residences and small businesses, can cover off-the-grid areas – from Canberra all the way to Perth, and even islands such as Cocos Islands, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island. The nbn’s ground stations send the signal way up into space so that it can be redirected to a satellite dish installed in your home.

Medium-to-large enterprises can avail of nbn® business-grade internet services with Skymesh’s nbn® Business Satellite Service for larger data allowances with no shaping, automatic top-ups, and even a dedicated account manager with Skymesh.

What is the average cost of an nbn® connection?

Your plan, connection type, data caps and allowances, service fees, and choice of provider all play a role in the cost of your nbn® service.

Newer nbn® alternatives like Starlink Australia subscriptions cost around $139 per month as of this writing, but the hardware could set you back an eye-watering $924. Moreover, as this technology is still in its beta phase, it comes with some uncertainties about how the service will develop as its user base expands.

Skymesh nbn® Fixed Wireless plans typically go around the range of $50 to $90. For satellite internet plans, costs may start at around $30 for residential plans. The general rule is that the more people you have using the Wi-Fi at your home or business, the higher the plan grade you need to avoid congestion.

Most plans offer a set amount of monthly data. In some cases, if you exceed the allotted data, you may incur overage fees and have your service shaped to preserve bandwidth for other subscribers.

That is why the Skymesh dashboard is designed with you, the user, in mind. You never have to worry about accidentally incurring hidden costs or running out of data. We have video tutorials to help you monitor and read your data summary down to individual devices’ peak and off-peak hours and metered and unmetered usage. This makes it much simpler to limit your data usage or decide on an upgrade.

As an added perk, standard installations of nbn® equipment on your premises are free of charge with us at Skymesh.

Skymesh has over fifteen years of experience helping Australians in regional areas connect to the internet. We have a fantastic customer service team of rural internet experts based in Brisbane that can help you with any questions about nbn® alternatives or home phone plans.

Instead of searching for ‘What internet is available at my address?’ check your area now on the Skymesh homepage to see what’s available at your address.