I'm honestly take TPG's crappy DSL, which is cheaper and has unlimited plans, over high speed connection at prices like that. It's easier to simply queue up stuff overnight.
What's the current state of the NBN network in major cities? What's the availability of Fibre in cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Perth? Are there unmetered plans? Are they affordable?
NBN state is less than stellar, a vast majority of suburbs have no NBN at all, and a very small minority have actual fibre to the premise. Unmetered plans are becoming more common but are only "affordable" ($60-70 a month) at the lowest speed offering (12mbit). If you want unmetered at 25 or 100mbit, you're looking at 80 or 100 respectively, and that's looking at TPG and iiNet.
FWIW (and I know this is a single data point), but my experience with NBN has been positive.
It's also Fibre to the Node (FTTN) which is often maligned in internet/tech circles for being a poor technology choice. I'd prefer FttP, but it's not an option and I'll take what I can get.
I'm now getting close to my plan's speed (50/20), but you're right about the increased cost. It's roughly 45% more. But the speed from the old ADSL2 plan is probably 4-5 times faster.
The only complaint I would have is that speeds during peak are pretty off the advertised plan speed. They fall to around 18-20mbs down at night.
What's the current state of the NBN network in major cities? What's the availability of Fibre in cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Perth? Are there unmetered plans? Are they affordable?