A multi-million-dollar deal between Telstra and NBN will see the FTTN network switched on for a trial before its commercial rollout.

It marks a milestone for NBN and the Coalition government, and will be the first big test for assets bought back from the private sector, like Telstra’s copper and HFC networks.

Reports say the FTTN trials have produced good results so far, with some customers saying they now get download speeds of 100Mbps and upload speeds of 40Mbps within 400 metres of a node.

But both upload and download speeds drop off further away from a node.

The download speed in one trial site came in at 49Mbps, with an upload speed of 15.7Mbps. The premises was 728 metres from a node.

NBN data says about 90 per cent of the Australia’s premises are within 700m of a node, and 70 per cent are within 500m.

NBN FTTx architect Stefan Keller-Tuberg has told News Corp reporters that most users would receive the 100Mbps promised by the company.

“There’s a misconception around the lengths of copper loops in Australia. If you look across the entire country, there’s around about 60 per cent lines at less than 400m from the current pillar. So the vast majority of lines are expected to be in the range where 100mbps is decent,” he said.