The telco will upgrade 850,000 NBN customers from 25/5Mbps to 50/10Mbps, and provide many with a free smart modem.
Telstra will progressively upgrade thousands of its home and small business NBN customers from 25/5Mbps download/upload connections to 50/10Mbps at no additional cost.
The change will be made over the next few months, and the 850,000 customers will be notified when the higher speed is available to them.
The speed boost also applies to new Telstra home and small business bundles costing at least $79 a month.
Telstra says it aims to provide typical minimum evening speeds well above the ACCC guidelines of 60 percent of the maximum speed during peak times.
The company has also decided to provide a Telstra Smart Modem to all new customers signing up to a home internet bundle, all customers moving home and the majority of customers moving to the NBN.
Like the device offered by Vodafone, Telstra's Smart Modem includes 4G backup.
“We know moving can be a stressful time and getting utilities and internet connected can be an extra hassle. To help make the move smoother, we're providing a Smart Modem to all our customers who are moving house so they can immediately get connected via the mobile network while they wait for their fixed service to be connected,” said Telstra head of fixed products Jana Kotatko.
The modem automatically switches to 4G in the event of a NBN outage, though 4G speeds are capped at 6/1Mbps and may be less.
Telstra reminded its customers that not all factors determining NBN speed are under its or NBN Co’s control.
Other considerations include where the modem is located (this can be crucial for Wi-Fi connections, but it should make no difference where Ethernet is used), the condition of internal wiring (phone cabling for NBN network being used, plus any Ethernet cables), the quality and configuration of networking equipment (for example, if you plug a computer into an older VoIP handset's 10Mbps Ethernet passthrough port or into an old 10Mbps Ethernet switch, don't be surprised if the maximum speed is around 10Mbps), and the speed at which the server you're connecting to can send data.