With nbn Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), fibre runs all the way to an nbn connection box inside your home, and your router plugs into that box. This guide shows you how to check the box, and what to try when your FTTP service isn’t working.
First, check for an nbn outage. If there’s one in your area, there’s nothing to fix at home.
Your nbn FTTP connection box
The nbn connection box (also called an NTD) is usually mounted on a wall inside your home, often in a garage, laundry or cupboard. The fibre from the street plugs into it. Don’t unplug or bend the fibre cable, and don’t open the box.
Your router plugs into one of the box’s UNI-D ports, usually UNI-D 1. The UNI-V ports are for phones, and won’t connect your router to the internet.
What the lights mean
Most nbn FTTP boxes have these lights. When your service is working, Power and Optical are solid green, Alarm is off, and the UNI-D light for your router’s port is on.
| Light | What you should see | If it’s not |
|---|---|---|
| Power | Solid green | Off: the box has no power. Check it’s plugged in and the power point is on. |
| Optical | Solid green | Off or red: the box isn’t getting a signal from the fibre. Check for an outage, then contact us. |
| Alarm | Off | Red: the box has a fault. Restart it, and if the light stays red, contact us. |
| UNI-D 1 to 4 | On for the port your router is in | Off: the box can’t see your router. Check the cable, and that your router is on. |
Some older boxes also have a battery backup unit. If yours does, and its alarm is sounding or its battery light is on, the battery may need replacing: that doesn’t affect your internet while mains power is on.
Restart it
- Turn off your router.
- Turn off the nbn connection box at the power point, wait a minute, then turn it back on.
- Wait until the Optical light is solid green, usually a few minutes.
- Turn your router back on.
Still not working?
- Check your router. It must be plugged into a UNI-D port on the box with its WAN port, and set to the connection type in your activation email: PPPoE, with the username and password from the email, or Dynamic IP (DHCP). See routers that work on the nbn.
- Try another UNI-D port. If your service was set up on a different port, try your router in each UNI-D port in turn, waiting a few minutes on each.
- Swap the cable. A damaged Ethernet cable is a common cause: try a different one.
Still not working? Report a problem or call us on 1800 663 977, and tell us which lights are on. If the fault is in the nbn network, we’ll raise it with nbn for you.