If you’re looking for a WiFi plan, we’re assuming you just need access to the internet via your home’s WiFi network, or possibly an internet plan that comes with a new WiFi modem.
The terms ‘WiFi’ and ‘internet’ aren’t interchangable. Knowing the difference between them can help you find a good internet plan, while potentially saving money on hardware you don’t need.
We’ll also run you through some cheap internet plans on various connection technologies with an included or optional WiFi modem.
No such thing as a ‘WiFi plan’
Paying a monthly fee for WiFi would be like doing the same for using Ethernet cables to connect your devices to your router. WiFi is a short-range, wireless connection technology and it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the internet.
Nonetheless, you’ll see the term ‘WiFi plan’ around the web (including here) because it’s used by many shoppers who are looking for new internet plans, with or without an included WiFi modem.
You can read more about the difference between WiFi and internet below.
Cheap fixed-line NBN plans with WiFi
The cost of an NBN plan comes down to three main things: its speed tier, monthly data allowance, and the provider. There can be other factors, such as special features and bundling opportunities, which the provider may or may not make optional.
- Speed tier – your internet bandwidth needs won’t necessarily match anyone else’s. Lucky for you, we have a detailed guides to help you figure out what NBN speed tier you need.
- Data allowance – your data allowance is simpler to figure out. Most providers focus on unlimited NBN plans, so if you use more than 100GB per month, you’ll likely go with unlimited. We have an internet data usage guide if you’d like to know more.
- Provider – NBN speed and reliability can vary depending on provider. However, ISPs are required to prominently display the average peak speeds for each of their plans, which can give you a good idea of expectations.
Watch out for timed discounts, which are listed in the deal text of our tables below, depending on the length of the deal period. Most providers now offer a cheaper price for the first 6 months, after which they bump up the monthly fees.
NBN 25 plans with a WiFi modem
NBN 25 offers relatively quick internet speeds at a lower monthly cost (even lower than NBN 12). While maximum download speeds of 25Mbps and uploads of 5–10Mbps aren’t anything exciting, small households can sometimes get away with it.
These are the cheapest NBN 25 plans with WiFi modem options in our database at the moment:
NBN 50 plans with a WiFi modem
NBN 50 speeds will suffice for a lot of homes, but given their pricing is in line with NBN 100, you might as well skip straight over them. Some providers have even stopped offering NBN 50 all together.
That said, you might still find the occasional cheaper price for NBN 50. And if you look past the first-six-month pricing, it’s sometimes still cheaper in the long run than NBN 100.
Here are the cheapest NBN 50 plans with WiFi modem options in our database right now:
NBN 100 plans with a WiFi modem
NBN 100 is no longer the premium-priced product it once was. NBN Co brought in discounts for it a while back, bringing its pricing in line with the once-cheaper NBN 50.
It’s also lost its place as the fastest plan available for some fixed-line NBN technologies, thanks to the faster NBN 250 and NBN 1000 speed tiers.
These are the cheapest NBN 100 plans with WiFi modem options on our system right now:
NBN 250 plans with a WiFi modem
NBN 250 plans offer up to 250Mbps download and 100Mbps upload speeds, though not every NBN connection technology can benefit from (or even be eligible for) these plans.
The real-world download speeds of NBN 250 plans can vary between about 200Mbps and 250Mbps. But providers are required to prominently display the average peak-hour speeds of their plans, so you shouldn’t be caught out.
These are the cheapest NBN 250 plans with WiFi modem options on our system right now:
NBN 1000 plans with a WiFi modem
NBN 1000, also known as ‘Ultrafast’, is currently the fastest NBN speed tier available to consumers. While its name suggests its fastest possible download speed is 1000Mbps (1Gbps), NBN only expects you to get 750Mbps at best the majority of the time.You also won’t exceed 750Mbps unless you have a fibre to the premises (FTTP) connection.
NBN Co is more closed lips about expected real-world upload speeds for NBN 1000, but its wholesale maximum cutoff is 400Mbps.
Here are the cheapest NBN 1000 plans with WiFi modem options in our database right now:
Paying for NBN speed
The pricing for NBN speed tiers isn’t as simple as ‘faster is more expensive’ anymore.
NBN Co discounts the wholesale pricing of some speed tiers, but not others. NBN 25 is usually cheaper than NBN 12, which is why we don’t recommend the latter. And NBN 100 is often the same price as, or barely more expensive than, NBN 50.
4G and 5G home wireless plans with WiFi
‘Home wireless’ is not the same as WiFi – it’s a home internet connection that uses the 4G or 5G mobile networks of the major telcos. You generally get more bang for buck than a mobile phone plan, but you can’t cart it about with you.
These plans all come with a home wireless 4G or 5G modem that has a built-in WiFi router.
5G home internet has the potential to replace your NBN connection. And, like the NBN, providers price the plans based on both monthly data allowances and speed caps.
4G home internet is a bit slower, and should really only be considered if you have limited internet usage, or if your connection options are few.
4G home wireless
Most 4G home wireless plans have a speed cap of about 20Mbps, with the rare 25Mbps exception. But telcos usually report slower typical evening speeds, sometimes putting 4G home internet speeds on par with an ADSL2+ connection from the dim, dark past of 8 or more years ago.
Upload speeds are generally around 2Mbps or under, which is extremely restrictive for a modern home internet connection.
50Mbps 5G home wireless
5G plans with 50Mbps downloads aren’t that much cheaper than the 100Mbps options.
That said, if you only need 50Mbps downloads, you can save about $10 a month by going with this slower speed tier, depending on your provider.
100Mbps 5G home wireless
100Mbps is more than enough for most households. It has comparable download speeds to an NBN 100 plan, and are priced competitively in comparison.
If 5G coverage is good in your home, it might be worth considering if it’s worth a try.
These are the cheapest 100Mbps 5G plans on our system right now:
Uncapped 5G home wireless
5G home wireless plans with uncapped speeds can have very different performance, depending on where you live and the coverage in your home. We’ve seen as high as 1Gbps (1000Mbps) in Sydney, but providers aren’t promising speeds anything like this.
Currently only Telstra, Optus, SpinTel and Yomojo offer uncapped 5G plans.
The current advertised speeds are above 500Mbps for Telstra, 240Mbps for Optus and SpinTel, and 225Mbps for Yomojo.
These are the cheapest uncapped 5G home internet plans on our system right now:
Each of these home wireless plans comes with a WiFi modem, and if you’re unhappy with the service you can return that modem for free with Telstra and Vodafone, but not Optus.
If you sign up to Optus and are unhappy with the service within the life of your contract, you’ll need to pay out the remaining cost of the modem.
The only exception is if you’re unable to achieve the consistent download speeds guaranteed by Optus. These are 40Mbps or 50Mbps, depending on the 5G home internet plan. If Optus agrees you’re not getting the agreed-upon speed, you’ll have 30 days to return the modem in good working order at no additional cost. These guarantees only apply to 5G plans, however.
Telstra plans with a WiFi modem
Telstra offers a wide variety of internet plans with varying connection types, all of which can come with a WiFi modem.
Some options include a no term contract and to save a bit of cash, and bundling can also be an option on selected plans.
Telstra’s fixed-line NBN plans come with the Telstra Smart Modem, which is a WiFi modem that uses 4G as a backup if your internet goes down, capped at 25Mbps downloads and 5Mbps up.
These are Telstra’s fixed-line NBN plans with a WiFi modem:
Telstra offers just one 5G home internet plan. It comes with the Telstra 5G Modem (which has WiFi) that connects to 5G, as opposed to an NBN box or an outlet in your wall.
Here’s Telstra’s 5G home internet offering, complete with WiFi modem:
Optus plans with a WiFi modem
Optus is another internet provider that consistently performs well and offers numerous plans for both light and heavy users, many of which can include a WiFi modem.
For NBN plans, Optus gives you the option to bring your own modem or sign up to a 36-month contract and get one of its Ultra WiFi Modems for free. Probably the main reason to consider one of these modems is their 4G backup, which kicks in when your NBN goes down.
These are Optus’ fixed-line NBN plans with a WiFi modem:
Optus’ 5G home wireless plans come with a 5G WiFi modem, which you have to pay for if you leave your plan within 36 months. There’s no option to bring your own.
Here are Optus’ 5G home internet plans with WiFi:
Optus has just one 4G home wireless plan. It comes a 4G WiFi modem, which you have to pay for if you leave your plan within 24 .
Optus stands out among other 4G home internet providers because of its 25Mbps speed cap for downlaods, versus the standard 20Mbps.
What’s the difference between ‘WiFi’ and ‘internet’?
WiFi is just a way for nearby devices to wirelessly pass information back and forth. To do this, they both need to be on the same WiFi network, which is created by your WiFi ‘router’.
If you imagine data transfer as your devices exchanging hand-written notes, they first pass a note to your router, which then delivers it to another device on its network. There’s no need for an internet connection for this to work.
So how does the internet factor in? To expand the metaphor, think of your ‘modem’ as a postbox and the internet as the postal system. This time, your router puts the note in an addressed envelope and passes it to your modem, which then sends it off into the internet.
Depending on your home network setup, your modem might be connected to your router via an ethernet cable or it could be part of a ‘modem router’ (often called a ‘WiFi modem’), which is a modem and a router housed within the same device.
If that sounds complicated, check out our guide detailing the difference between modems and routers.
Tricks to make your WiFi internet better
If your internet is slow, your WiFi could be the problem. Many speed-related issues stem from modem router issues and not from NBN or other internet connections. There are a few ways to get better WiFi at home:
Check the strength of your WiFi signal
A good first step is to check your WiFi signal strength in each room of your home. If it’s not at full strength in every room you use it, you might significantly improve your internet experience by using some of the advice below. In fact, if your WiFi is the problem then switching providers might not help at all.
You can wander from room to room with an eye on your phone’s WiFi icon, but you’ll get better results using a WiFi analyser app, available on iPhone and Android.
WiFi router placement
While WiFi doesn’t require uninterrupted line of sight, you want it to have as clear a shot as possible to the areas of your home where you use it the most. If the layout of your home makes this impossible, consider getting a WiFi mesh system to extend the signal further.
Try to place it about 1.5 metres from the floor if you can. Don’t hide it behind anything and certainly don’t keep it in a drawer or cupboard.
Look for interference and signal blockers
Major electronic devices, walls, floors, and other large, dense objects can block or interfere with your WiFi signal.
An often-overlooked culprit the humble mirror. Placing a router close to a mirror can mean the signal gets reflected back to the router, interfering with itself and causing problems.
Consider a powerline adapter
Connecting a device directly to your router with an Ethernet cable is still the best and most reliable way to ensure a good signal, but you might not want to run cables throughout your home.
One workaround is to use powerline Ethernet adapters. These gadgets transfer data to each other via the power cables in your walls. But there are two serious downsides:
- They can only transfer data to another adapter on the same electrical circuit.
- Data signals can be easily interrupted by any electrical activity on the same circuit.
‘Noisy’ electronic devices like a kettle can seriously hamper data transfer while they’re in use.
Consider WiFi mesh systems
WiFi mesh networking is the new go-to for getting a WiFi signal to every part of your home.
Mesh is a system where a single WiFi router acts as the main router, but with additional WiFi points or nodes around your house that boost the signal. These points can also talk to each other, as opposed to only the router, and can blanket a wide area with strong signal.
But you can’t take any old router and add mesh points – it has to be a mesh router.
This is different to older WiFi ‘extenders’. WiFi extenders also boost your signal, and can connect to any WiFi router. But they can only talk directly to your router, and they create a new WiFi network, separate to your router’s. As such, you have to manually switch between WiFi networks as you move from one coverage area to another.
How to get an internet plan with WiFi
Pretty much every ISP can provide a WiFi modem router (sometimes a WiFi mesh system) with an internet plan. So, if you want a cheap plan with a WiFi modem router, just pick an internet plan and see what WiFi options your chosen provider offers with it.
Some providers sell WiFi modem routers as an upfront purchase. Others offer a ‘free’ modem router, as long as you sign up to a lock-in contract. Contracts aren’t the industry standard anymore, so this is an unusual commitment.
For example, Vodafone, Telstra and Optus offer a ‘free’ modem router, but only if you sign up for 24 or 36 months. You you can return Telstra’s modem router for free on its Upfront NBN plans, but Optus and Vodafone will make you pay a fee based on how long is left in your contract.
It’s also wise to look up reviews of the specific WiFi unit on offer. Many telcos have at least two options at different prices. Sometimes the cheapest one is cheap for a reason. And sometimes both are no-gos, in which case you might want to buy one separately from a retailer.
Expert tip: You probably don’t need a new WiFi modem
You can almost always use your current WiFi router or modem router with a new internet provider or plan. You might need to change a few settings, but your ISP should be able to run you through this simple process quickly.
A few ISP-provided WiFi modems do have extra features, such as Optus’ and Telstra’s 4G backup. These provider-specific features won’t work with a different ISP, but the unit’s basic WiFi and modem functions should still work.
Even if you switch to a different internet technology that doesn’t need the ‘modem’ function of your WiFi modem, you can disable its modem and just use it as a WiFi router.
Alex Angove-Plumb, Digital Content Editor at WhistleOut
FAQs
How do I get WiFi at home?
To set up a WiFi connection, you’ll first need a router or modem router (AKA WiFi modem). A lot of providers include them when you sign up for an internet plan so begin your search by comparing internet plans, while also finding out what available internet connection types are suitable for your address.
How long should it take to get internet connected?
Depending on whether you’re switching providers or setting up a new connection, and what type of connection it is (NBN, home wireless, mobile broadband etc.), connectivity times vary slightly.
