Despite the official launch being scheduled for this Sunday, September 14, NBN 500 plans are already ripe for the picking, with three providers — Tangerine, Exetel and SpinTel — debuting top offers well ahead of time. All three plans are equally competitive in speeds, but one provider has the others beat in the price department: SpinTel.

Stepping in as the cheapest 500Mbps plan, SpinTel has dropped its introductory rate to just AU$64p/m for the first six months. This knocks an impressive AU$137.70 off the first half year, before the price increases to a still competitive AU$86.95p/m ongoing.

This new introductory outlay makes SpinTel’s Home Turbo plan the most affordable in the first year, costing AU$41 less than the next-best option from Tangerine at only AU$905.70. The plan also works on a no-lock-in contract basis and comes with unlimited data.

So, if you want to get hands on with faster internet before the rest of Australia does, this SpinTel deal is hard to pass up.

SpinTel is a Tom’s Guide preferred partner (What does this mean?)

If you didn’t know, the new 500Mbps plans come in the form of a 5x speed boost to the existing NBN 100 FTTP/HFC tier, rather than being an entirely new offering. According to NBN Co, this tier will likely become Australia’s most popular, beating out the current victor, NBN 50.

If the speed upgrade benefits aren’t already obvious, breaking down the costs makes them abundantly clear. NBN 500 plans average AU$84.62p/m or AU$1,015.44p/y. To put this in perspective, the current NBN 50 average is AU$86.90p/m — making it AU$2.28p/m more expensive, while offering 10x slower speeds.

SpinTel’s plans don’t come with a modem included in the monthly fee; however, you can add one to your plan for an upfront cost. Ranging from AU$139.95 for a TP-Link EasyMesh Gateway to AU$359.95 for a bundle with two mesh extenders, you can choose depending on your needs. When it comes to NBN modems, we always recommend BYO hardware, especially if you’re keen on having one of the best Wi-Fi mesh systems or jumping ship to another provider if a better value plan comes along.

If you don’t require a high-speed plan, you can check out other great NBN deals in the widget below.