A Labor federal government would help more older Australians and low-income households connect to the National Broadband Network, the opposition has pledged.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has also promised to improve internet speed and reliability for homes who have fibre to the node technology.

“Labor will direct NBN Co to fix in-home cabling problems that degrade service quality for households on the copper NBN at no cost to those affected,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

“This will reduce dropouts and improve speeds for broadband services in up to 750,000 fibre to the node households.”

If elected, Mr Shorten has also pledged to protect small businesses against NBN downtime and review the economics of the network.

Meanwhile, after 10 years of construction and $51 billion in funding the NBN is on track to be completed by next year.

Three-quarters of Australian households can now connect to the network, including 92 per cent of regional homes.

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield says five million households are using the NBN, which has contributed $1.2 billion to gross domestic product.

But the consumer watchdog is concerned households on lower incomes are paying too much for broadband plans.

The cost of basic NBN plans are now more expensive than what most consumers pay for equivalent ADSL plans, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says.

ACCC chair Rod Sims told the CommsDay Summit in Sydney on Monday low-speed NBN plans offered to new customers are at least $10 per month higher than what consumers paid for equivalent ADSL plans.