Labor's national broadband network is more popular than the Coalition's cheaper version, according to the first national poll on the policies.

About 63 per cent of Australians support Labor's NBN compared with 41 per cent who support the Coalition's alternative, the Fairfax-Nielsen poll of 1400 people shows. Support for Labor's NBN was consistently high across the states, most registering support between 60 per cent and 70 per cent.

The poll was taken from last Thursday to Saturday, two days after Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and his communications spokesman, Malcolm Turnbull, launched their policy.

Labor's version of the network will cost an estimated $37.4 billion in capital expenditure and involves running fibre optic cables to 93 per cent of homes around the country.