How to complain about an NBN fault: your provider first, then the ombudsman

An NBN fault that goes on for weeks wears people down: the same story on every call, a technician who never turns up, and a provider who says it is fine at their end. There is a proper path out of that, it costs nothing to use, and it works best when the complaint carries evidence. If part of that evidence needs to be a test of your line, see what an independent NBN technician puts in writing.

Who do I complain to about an NBN fault?

Your phone and internet provider, the company you pay the bill to. NBN is a wholesaler, and its own complaint process sends faults, outages, slow speeds, dropouts, appointments, connection delays and missing equipment to your provider (NBN’s complaint handling process (opens in a new tab), checked 18 October 2026).

There is a short list of things you can take to NBN itself: the conduct of NBN or its contractors, their workmanship or an installation, damage to your property, and land access. For anything about your service not working, the provider is the one who has to fix it, because only the provider can send an NBN technician.

This guide sets out how the process works, from the TIO’s and NBN’s own pages and from what we tell people on the phone. It is not legal advice. Where your complaint turns on your contract or your provider’s terms, your provider and the TIO are the ones to ask.

Step 1: How do I make a complaint to my provider?

Tell your provider plainly that you are making a complaint, say what you want done, and ask for a reference number. The TIO’s advice for this step is short: explain what you would like to happen, ask when you will get a resolution, and ask for a reference number (the TIO’s guide to working with your provider (opens in a new tab), checked 18 October 2026).

You can complain by phone, letter, email, online or in a store, and you do not need special wording. In writing is better, because it is easier to prove later. The TIO’s page says your provider must acknowledge a written complaint within 2 working days and try to offer a resolution within 10 business days.

If you need the service for medical or safety reasons, say so and ask for the fault to be treated as a priority. The TIO’s own suggested wording is: “I need my service for [medical/safety/work] reasons. Can you treat this as a priority?”

From the moment you first report the fault, keep a record. Write down the date and time of every call, who you spoke to, what they said they would do, and the reference number. That record is what the TIO will ask for if it gets that far.

Ask one more question on every call: how do they know? A provider can test the line remotely, but a test from a desk cannot tell your wiring apart from the network on its own. If you are told the fault is on your side, ask whether anyone came out, where the line was tested from, and for the result in writing.

Step 2: How do I escalate a complaint inside my provider?

If the date they gave you passes and nothing has changed, ask for the complaint to be escalated: to the provider’s complaints team, a supervisor, or a more senior technician. Quote your reference number, give the dates from your record, and say again what you want.

A few things help at this step:

• Ask for a more experienced technician. If one NBN technician after another has been out and found nothing, ask your provider for a senior or second-level technician rather than the same visit again.
• Use any contact you have. If the service is a business one, ask for your business support contact. Whoever you speak to, ask them to escalate it, and write down who they passed it to.
• Say you will take it to the TIO. Telling the provider that you will go to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman if it is not resolved is fair, and it often moves a complaint up a level.
• Do not change provider to escape a line fault. Every provider uses the same NBN line to your home, so a fault in the line or the building goes with you.

Where is your complaint up to?

Just reported it Not fixed by the date they gave Still not resolved

1. The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman
2. Your provider's complaints team
3. Your provider

• Reference number
• Call log
• Photos of the NBN box lights
• Tests on a cable
• An independent test, in writing

Just reported it

Make the complaint to your provider. Say what you want, ask when, and get a reference number. Your provider must acknowledge a written complaint within 2 working days.

Not fixed by the date they gave

Ask for it to be escalated to the complaints team or a more senior technician. Quote the reference number and the dates from your log, and say you will go to the TIO if it is not resolved.

Still not resolved

Take it to the TIO. It is free and independent, refers the complaint to your provider, and usually gives them 10 working days to offer a resolution.

Step 3: When and how do I go to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman?

Go to the TIO once your provider has had a fair chance to fix it and has not. The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman is free and independent. It handles complaints from people and small businesses about their phone and internet providers, including faults, billing, customer service, and property or land problems.

It is an ombudsman, not an emergency service: if anyone is in immediate danger, the TIO’s own advice is to call 000. It takes your complaint, puts it to your provider through a formal channel, and steps in if they cannot agree.

The TIO asks you to raise the problem with your provider first, and says skipping that step adds five extra days to your case. If you could not get through to your provider at all, tell the TIO what you tried. When you are ready, you can start a complaint on the TIO’s website (opens in a new tab) (checked 18 October 2026), which it says takes 10 to 20 minutes, or by phone. It asks for:

• What happened and when.
• What your provider said or did.
• What you would like as a resolution.
• Your contact and account details, and the name of your provider.
• Any documents or evidence, which it calls optional but helpful.

What happens after you lodge a TIO complaint

The steps are set out on the TIO’s page about its process (opens in a new tab) (checked 18 October 2026):

1. 1

   The TIO refers it to your provider

   Through a formal channel, not the one you have already tried.

2. 2

   Your provider proposes a resolution

   Usually within 10 working days, or 2 working days if the TIO treats the case as urgent. It is 15 working days if the provider has not yet had a chance to resolve it.

3. 3

   You tell the TIO if it is not resolved

   If you are not happy with what the provider offers, you contact the TIO again.

4. 4

   The TIO gives its view

   It looks at what happened, may ask both sides for more information, and says what a fair outcome looks like.

5. 5

   A decision, if it comes to that

   If your provider does not accept the TIO's view, the TIO may make a formal decision. If you accept that decision, it is binding on your provider.

The TIO lists the outcomes it can reach, from fixing the fault to compensation for loss, and it is plain that it cannot promise any particular outcome or amount. What it does is make the provider answer to someone. If the complaint is about damage to your property or access to your land by an NBN contractor, you can raise it with NBN itself, and NBN says that if you are not satisfied with how it handled the complaint, you have a right to take it to the TIO.

What evidence makes an NBN complaint stick?

Evidence that shows when the fault happens and which side of the boundary it is on. A complaint that says “my internet is bad” is easy to close. One that has the dates, the tests and the photos is not.

Evidence for an NBN complaint, and what each piece shows

Evidence	What it shows	How to get it
A record of every call	How long it has gone on, and what you were told	Dates, times, names and reference numbers, kept as you go
Photos of the NBN box lights	What the box was doing when it failed	Take them at the time it drops, not afterwards
A speed test on a cable	The speed reaching the home, without the WiFi	A laptop on a cable, straight into the NBN box where you have one. If it will not connect there at all, say so: the box can stay locked to the old router until the provider clears it
The same test on a second laptop	That it is not one computer	Borrow one and run it the same way
A dropout log	When it drops, and whether it starts inside the home or out in the network	Run PingPlotter on a cable for a day or two
A neighbour with the same problem	That it is the street, not your house	Ask next door, and say so in the complaint
Photos or video of damage or bad work	What was done, and where	Photograph it before anything is touched
An independent test at the boundary	Which side of the boundary the fault is on, in writing	A registered cabler tests where the line arrives at your property

The speed test is quick to do with our NBN speed test, and the dropout log takes longer but proves more. How to prove your NBN dropouts with PingPlotter goes through the set-up and how to read the trace.

The boundary test matters most when you are told the fault is yours. In our study of 324 filmed fault jobs, in 56% of them we proved the fault was not in the customer’s cabling, and in 36% the customer had already been told the fault was on their side before we attended.

To keep it all in one place, use our free fault log. It turns your dropouts, speed tests and reference numbers into a one-page report.

On a Tullimbar job where NBN had no record of the house at all, a written technician’s report, two videos and a title search were what the provider, the ombudsman and NBN all worked from. The plan fees, the investigation and the backup service’s set-up were paid back.

What if my provider says the fault is my wiring?

Ask how that was established, then have the line tested where it arrives at your property. A remote test cannot see the difference between your wiring and the line outside, and the line coming in from the street to your house is part of NBN’s network, not yours, as who owns the NBN lead-in sets out by connection type.

If the test shows the fault is in the network, the result goes back to your provider in writing with your complaint. If it shows the fault is yours, it gets fixed. Either way the argument is over. Telstra complaints: told it’s your wiring? tells the longer story of how network faults get recorded as internal wiring in the old copper network, and the same steps work for any provider.

When to call a technician, and when not to

You do not need us for most of a complaint. Billing, contracts, missed appointments, connection delays and an outage in your area are between you, your provider and the TIO, and no test at your house changes them. If the internet is down right now, start with checking for an NBN outage at your address.

Call a technician when the complaint turns on whose side the fault is on. If your provider says it is your wiring and you do not believe it, an independent NBN technician tests to the boundary, fixes what it can on your side on the day, and puts the rest in writing. Our full escalation report, with photos and video of the testing, is written for exactly this: a complaint to your provider or the TIO. If the line keeps dropping out and nobody can catch it, NBN fault repair starts from your evidence, and an internet technician tests the modem, the cabling and the WiFi as well.

We cannot make the complaint for you, because the account is yours, but we can give you what you need to make it. Send us a message or ring 02 9188 1577 if you are not sure a test would help.