If your nbn service keeps dropping out, or is much slower than your plan, we can ask nbn to investigate. nbn calls this a Performance Incident, and it only accepts one when your service meets certain thresholds. This page explains those thresholds in plain English, and what we need from you to raise one.
Before going further, work through improving slow internet speeds. Most slow speeds are caused by Wi-Fi or devices at home, which nbn won’t investigate.
What is a Performance Incident?
A Performance Incident is when your nbn service is connected, but not working properly. For example:
- speeds well below what your plan should deliver, or
- frequent dropouts, where the connection cuts out and comes back by itself.
We work with nbn to test and fix these problems. nbn only investigates when a problem meets the thresholds in its Wholesale Broadband Agreement, so that it can focus on faults in its network rather than issues with Wi-Fi, home wiring or routers.
When nbn will investigate
Frequent dropouts
nbn will investigate if your service drops out 4 to 7 times in a single day, on the current day or in the previous two days.
These dropouts don’t count:
- dropouts caused by something in your home, like a power cut, internal wiring or your router (nbn calls these customer events)
- planned maintenance or outages, unless it was an emergency outage caused by a fault you’d already reported
Slow speeds
Plans of 25/5 Mbps and above: nbn may investigate if your service is consistently well below what your line should achieve. For example, on a 50/20 plan, regularly getting about 25 Mbps or less when you test with a cable, one device and outside busy hours.
Lower-speed plans (12/1 Mbps and up): nbn may investigate if your average speeds are:
- below the normal range for your type of connection, or
- less than 80% of the best speed your line has achieved before, once the network in your area has settled in.
Fibre services: speed at a point in time
On fibre services, nbn can run its own test of your speed at that moment. nbn may investigate if:
- the test shows your speed is consistently below 80% of your plan speed on plans up to 100 Mbps, or below 70% on plans above 100 Mbps, and
- nbn finds no other cause, like temporary congestion or an existing network fault.
| Plan | nbn may investigate if speeds are consistently below |
|---|---|
| Home Fast (500/50) | 350 Mbps down / 35 Mbps up |
| Home Superfast (750/50) | 525 Mbps down / 35 Mbps up |
| Home Ultrafast (1000/100) | 700 Mbps down / 70 Mbps up |
| Hyperfast (2000/200) | 1400 Mbps down / 140 Mbps up |
When nbn won’t investigate
nbn won’t accept a Performance Incident if:
- your service is on nbn Fixed Wireless, Satellite or FTTB
- your service already has Enhanced Fault Rectification (a faster repair level)
- the problem is outside nbn’s network, like Wi-Fi, router settings, power or the cabling in your home
Slow in the evenings in an apartment building?
Speeds on every network dip a little in the busy evening hours, roughly 7pm to 11pm, when the most people are online. Each plan’s typical evening speed allows for this.
In some apartment buildings on private networks, like the Vision Network and VostroNet, everyone in the building shares the connection into it. When it’s busy, evening speeds can drop well below that typical speed, even though the service is fine during the day. That isn’t an nbn Performance Incident, but it’s still worth telling us about: we can raise it with the network that serves your building.
Send us speed test results from a computer plugged into the router with a cable, run at a few different times, including the evening, with the times you ran them.
How to raise one with us
Report a problem or call us on 1800 663 977. It speeds things up if you can tell us:
- for dropouts: roughly when each dropout happened, over the last three days
- for slow speeds: speed test results from a computer plugged into the router with a cable, with nothing else connected, and the times you ran them
- that you’ve restarted your router and nbn box
What happens next
- We test your service, and check whether it meets nbn’s thresholds.
- If it does, we raise a Performance Incident with nbn.
- nbn tests the line, finds any problem in its network, and repairs it.
- We keep you updated until it’s fixed.
If your problem doesn’t meet the thresholds, we’ll still help you troubleshoot and improve your connection. nbn just won’t treat it as a network fault.
Summary
| Problem | When nbn will investigate |
|---|---|
| Frequent dropouts | 4 to 7 unexpected dropouts in one day |
| Slow speeds, plans 25/5 and above | Consistently well below what the line should achieve, e.g. about 25 Mbps or less on a 50/20 plan |
| Slow speeds, lower-speed plans | Below the normal range, or less than 80% of the line’s best previous speed |
| Fibre plan speeds | Below 80% of plan speed (100 Mbps or less), or 70% (above 100 Mbps) |
| Wi-Fi, home wiring or router problems | Not investigated by nbn |
Not sure whether your problem qualifies? Contact us. We’ll run tests and, if the results meet nbn’s thresholds, raise it with nbn for you.
