Why fast internet is a must-have for new-home buyers

We’ve all experienced internet issues at inopportune times, whether in the middle of a Zoom meeting, while streaming the finale of our favourite show, or mid-way through a battle in Fortnite.

As annoying as it is to have your Saturday night entertainment interrupted, freezing in the middle of an online presentation to your colleagues is arguably worse.

With many of us now working and learning from home, at least part of the time, being connected to a fast and reliable network is no longer a nice-to-have but a must-have. 

“Everyone’s getting used to using the internet more and more. It’s the new essential utility – the digital plumbing everyone needs in their home,” says the executive general manager of new developments for nbn, Andrew Walsh.

When it comes to video conferencing, online gaming or streaming high-definition content for work or play, an internet connection with high speed and low latency (also known as lag) makes for the best experience, Walsh says.* 

Today, a full-fibre connection is widely considered the way to go.* Unlike 4G or 5G, which use radio waves to transmit data, and are shared among users in the area which is covered by that tower, a fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connection delivers internet directly to the home via a fibre-optic cable, typically providing faster speeds and lower latency, and is not subject to the same levels of interference or signal loss. 

Considering the increasingly important role the internet plays in our home lives, it’s perhaps no surprise that an FTTP connection is creeping up the list of must-haves for home buyers.

Research commissioned by nbn and conducted by Fifth Dimension in 2022 found that 73 per cent of property buyers consider an nbn full-fibre connection as adding value to their property, while 68 per cent of people prefer nbn for fixed-line connectivity. It also found that renters are willing to pay more per year for a rental with FTTP.

“It’s a feature of a property that people are beginning to look for,” Walsh says. “I think the experience that the country had during COVID really brought a lot of attention to the benefits a fast and reliable broadband network connection brings.”

Walsh’s team works with developers around the country to embed broadband infrastructure into new communities and he says 91 per cent are now being built with full-fibre connectivity, with around 2.2 million properties around Australia currently benefiting from the technology.

“As well as meeting residents’ current needs, a full-fibre connection helps to ensure homes are equipped to handle future and emerging technologies, from virtual reality to smart-home devices,” he says. 

While it may be possible to add an FTTP connection to an existing home (find out whether your home is eligible here), considering it early in the construction of a new property, before landscaping is done and the driveway is poured, could save you time and money.

“Having a discussion with your builder and/or developer as early as possible is important,” Walsh says.

Once a full-fibre connection is in place, there are some steps you can take to make the most out of it.

“Be sure that you’ve got your Wi-Fi router positioned somewhere central in the home. Don’t position it next to thick walls or behind fish tanks or furniture,” Walsh advises. “The other thing people should consider is what speed or what plan they want to buy.” 

Walsh recommends visiting nbnco.com.au/learn/speed to learn more about the plans available to suit varying needs.

For online security, nbn chief security officer Darren Kane advises changing the default password on your wireless router as soon as you set it up. “These are notoriously easy to crack for an experienced hacker,” he says.

Kane recommends stringing together multiple words with at least 14 characters, including upper and lowercase letters, with some numbers used as a substitute – a 5 in place of an S, for example. He says it’s also important to change the service set identifier: the name assigned to your wireless router. 

“This default name can alert a potential hacker to which company manufactured your wireless router, making their task much easier.”

To learn more about nbn full-fibre internet connections, visit nbnco.com.au.

*nbn provides wholesale services to phone and internet providers. An end customer’s experience, including the speeds actually achieved over the nbn® network, depends on the nbn® access technology and configuration over which services are delivered to their premises, whether they are using the internet during the busy period, and some factors outside of nbn’s control (like their equipment quality, software, chosen broadband plan, signal reception, or how their provider designs its network).