{"id":30765,"date":"2026-08-31T11:55:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T01:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/mate\/?p=30765"},"modified":"2026-08-31T11:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T01:55:20","slug":"melbourne-fttp-free-fibre-upgrade-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/mate\/melbourne-fttp-free-fibre-upgrade-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Your Melbourne Suburb Getting FTTP? Free Fibre Upgrade Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Full fibre is quietly replacing copper across Melbourne, and 2026 is the year most households are noticing. If you’re on Fibre to the Node (FTTN) or Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) and wondering whether your street is next, here’s what’s actually true about the free FTTP upgrade, what “free” really means, and how to check your own address rather than relying on suburb gossip.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the NBN FTTP upgrade?<\/span><\/h2>\n

FTTP, or Fibre to the Premises, runs fibre optic cable all the way to your home instead of stopping at a street cabinet (FTTN) or a nearby pit (FTTC) and finishing the last stretch over old copper. That copper is usually the reason for slower speeds, inconsistent evening performance and a lower speed ceiling. A FTTP upgrade<\/a> replaces it, and it’s been NBN Co’s main focus as it winds down the remaining copper network.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is the FTTP upgrade really free?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Yes, but with a condition that depends on your current connection type.<\/span><\/p>\n

For most FTTN premises, the upgrade is triggered by ordering an eligible high-speed plan, generally NBN Home Fast (500Mbps) or above, through a participating provider. There’s no separate installation charge for standard upgrades, but you do need to be on the right plan tier to set it in motion.<\/span><\/p>\n

For FTTC premises, NBN Co has been progressively relaxing this requirement through 2026, and eligible FTTC addresses can now trigger a free upgrade on a standard plan, without needing to step up to a high-speed tier first.<\/span><\/p>\n

Either way, “free” refers to the infrastructure and standard installation. It doesn’t mean you get bumped onto a faster (and pricier) plan for nothing, it means the fibre gets run to your home at no extra cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

Which Melbourne suburbs are part of the FTTP rollout?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Melbourne’s inner and middle-ring suburbs, including areas like Box Hill, Richmond, Fitzroy, Werribee and Dandenong, sit within NBN Co’s expanding fibre footprint. Some pockets in these suburbs are already eligible, others are being progressively added as the rollout continues.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s the part that trips people up: eligibility isn’t suburb-wide. Two homes on the same street can land on different outcomes depending on which FTTN node or FTTC pillar they’re actually connected to. A friend three streets away being eligible tells you very little about your own address. The rollout has already made more than five million Australian premises eligible nationally, and it’s still expanding, but the only way to know your own status is to check your specific address.<\/span><\/p>\n

What speeds can you get after upgrading to FTTP?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Once you’re on FTTP, the copper bottleneck is gone, so your speed depends on the plan you choose rather than how far you sit from a node. FTTP connections also tend to deliver speeds closer to the advertised maximum during busy evening periods, since they don’t suffer the same congestion and distance-related drop-off as FTTN.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most households moving from FTTN to FTTP see a noticeable difference simply from more consistent evening speeds, even before considering a plan upgrade. From there:<\/span><\/p>\n