How to restart your modem and NBN box, in the right order

A restart is the first thing anyone tells you to try, and done properly it clears a stalled modem or NBN box in a few minutes. Done in the wrong order, or swapped for the reset button, it can leave you worse off than when you started. Here is the order, the waits and the one button to leave alone, and when it is time to book an internet technician when a restart doesn’t fix it.

Restart or reset: what’s the difference?

A restart turns the equipment off and on and changes nothing. A factory reset wipes the settings and puts the equipment back to how it left the factory. People use the two words for the same thing, and that is how a modem that only needed a restart ends up with no settings in it.

Restart and factory reset, side by side

	Restart	Factory reset
How you do it	Off at the power point, wait, back on	Hold the reset button in, usually with a pin, while it is on
What it changes	Nothing	Wipes the provider's settings, the WiFi name and the WiFi password
When to do it	Any time it stops working	Only when the settings are the problem, and you can put them back
What you need after	A few minutes	The settings from your provider, and a computer to put them in

Which box is the NBN box, and which is the modem?

The NBN box is the one the line from outside plugs into. The modem, the box your provider sent, plugs into the NBN box with a network cable and makes the WiFi. Which one you have depends on your type of NBN:

• Fibre to the premises: the NBN box is on a wall inside, with a thin fibre cable going into it, and sometimes a second box outside.
• HFC: the NBN box is usually black and screws onto a round TV-style socket in the wall.
• Fibre to the curb: the NBN box is a small white box plugged into the phone socket. It can click while it starts.
• Fibre to the node or fibre to the building: there is no separate NBN box. The modem plugs straight into the phone socket.

If you are not sure what you have, the lights on each kind of NBN box shows them side by side. On fibre to the node or fibre to the building, everything below still applies, with only one box to restart.

How do I restart my modem and NBN box?

Turn both off, wait a minute, turn the NBN box on first and let it connect, then turn the modem on. Step by step:

1. 1

   Turn both off at the power point

   Switch off the power point, or pull the power plug out, for the NBN box and for the modem. Leave the cables between them where they are.

2. 2

   Wait a full minute

   A quick off and on is not always enough for the equipment to clear. For HFC, NBN's own advice is to wait at least one minute.

3. 3

   Turn the NBN box on first

   Its lights flash while it starts and connects, then lock in solid one at a time. Wait until they stop flashing and stay solid.

4. 4

   Then turn the modem on

   Give it about five minutes. Its internet light is usually the last to come on, once the modem has connected through the NBN box and your provider has let it in.

5. 5

   Test it on one device

   If one phone or laptop still will not connect while the others do, restart that device too.

The order matters because the modem can only get online once the NBN box has. Turn the NBN box on first and wait for it, and you only do the whole thing once.

If a fibre NBN box has a battery backup unit beside it, the box can keep running on the battery after the power point is off, so it does not restart, and NBN says switching the power on and off often shortens the battery’s life. Ask your provider how to restart it.

If you have mesh units or WiFi extenders around the house, turn them off with the modem and back on after it. They connect to the modem when they start, so they need it to be up first.

Pick a step

1. Both off 2. NBN box on 3. Modem on If the NBN box won't settle

1. Off
2. 1 minute
3. NBN box on
4. Lights solid
5. Modem on
6. About 5 minutes

NBN box

Modem

1. Both off

Turn the NBN box and the modem off at the power point. Leave the cables where they are, and wait a full minute.

2. NBN box on

Turn the NBN box on first. Its lights flash while it connects, then stay solid. Wait for that before you touch the modem.

3. Modem on

Now turn the modem on and give it about five minutes. Its internet light is usually the last to come on.

If the NBN box won't settle

If the NBN box's connection light stays flashing, off or red, the restart has done what it can. Check for an outage, then ring your provider. Do not press the reset button unless they ask.

How long should I wait after restarting the modem?

Give the NBN box a few minutes to go solid, and the modem about five more after that. The NBN box usually settles in a couple of minutes, but some take longer, and an HFC box that is updating itself flashes its upstream and downstream lights for up to ten minutes. NBN says to let that finish.

So do not pull the plug again while the lights are still flashing. A box that is part way through starting, or part way through an update, needs to be left alone. If the lights are still flashing well after that, ring your provider rather than restarting again, because another restart will not change it.

A Telstra Smart Modem that comes back blue after a restart is on mobile backup; what the blue light means and how to get off it.

Should I press the reset button on the NBN box?

No, not unless your provider asks you to. On its fibre connection box, NBN says to use the paperclip reset button only when your provider asks, and that a press of more than about five seconds puts the box back to its factory state (NBN’s guide to the fibre connection box (opens in a new tab), checked 18 October 2026).

A short press on that button only restarts the box, which is what turning it off at the power point already does. So there is nothing to gain from it on your own, and a press held a little too long resets the box instead, which NBN leaves to your provider to ask for. The HFC box has a reset button too (NBN’s HFC connection box page (opens in a new tab), checked 18 October 2026), and the same rule is the sensible one: power point, not button.

When should I factory reset my modem?

Only when the modem’s settings are the problem, and only once you know how to put them back. A factory reset wipes the username and password your provider set, every setting you changed, and your WiFi name and WiFi password. The modem then needs setting up again from scratch before it will get online.

There are a few times it is the right move:

• You have changed provider and the modem still holds the old provider’s settings.
• You have a new modem and the mesh units still look for the old one. The mesh units are reset, not the modem, and set up again on the new one.
• The modem’s settings are scrambled and your provider has asked you to start again.

When you do it, do it properly:

1. 1

   Get the settings first

   Ring your provider and ask for the details to set the modem up again, or check the email they sent when you signed up. If the modem came from them already set up, tell them you are about to reset it.

2. 2

   Write down the label

   Underneath most modems is a label with the login address, the admin login and the WiFi name and password it goes back to. Take a photo of it.

3. 3

   Hold the reset button in while it is on

   Use a pin or a straightened paperclip, and hold it until the lights flash and go off. How long varies by maker, often ten to twenty seconds, so check the instructions for yours.

4. 4

   Set it up from a laptop on a cable

   Plug the laptop into one of the modem's network ports, and the modem's WAN or internet port into the NBN box. A phone on the modem's WiFi is harder going.

5. 5

   Put the provider's settings back

   Log in, follow the set-up wizard, and enter what your provider gave you. Then reconnect every device with the WiFi password.

Logging in is the step that stops most people, and how to log into your modem walks through it, including changing the WiFi name and password afterwards.

What if restarting doesn’t fix it?

Look at the NBN box lights, because they tell you which half of the connection to chase. If they are all on and solid, the NBN line is up and the problem is between the NBN box and your devices. If they will not settle, the problem is the line, the box or the network.

After a restart: what the lights say

What you see	What it points to	What to do next
NBN box lights solid, modem shows no internet	The lead between them, the modem or its settings	Try another network cable. Ask your provider to check the modem from their end
NBN box lights solid, a laptop on a cable works, WiFi does not	The WiFi	The modem's WiFi or its coverage, not the line
NBN box connection light flashing, off or red	The line, the NBN box or the network	Check for an outage, then ask your provider to test the line
Fibre box optical light red after the restart	The fibre connection has been lost	Check the thin fibre cable is not bent or pulled, then ring your provider

A few things are worth trying before you ring:

• Check for an outage first. If the box lights will not settle, checking for an NBN outage at your address takes two minutes on your phone.
• On HFC, check the screw-on connector. The cable into the black box should be screwed on firmly by hand. A loose one drops the connection.
• Ask your provider for a port reset. Your provider can reset your connection at their end, which no button in your house can do. It is worth asking for by name when a restart has not helped.
• On fibre, leave the fibre cable alone. It is glass. If it has been bent sharply or pulled out of the box, a red optical light is the result, and that needs fixing rather than restarting. Repairing a damaged fibre lead inside the house is a job for a technician.

If the NBN box lights are solid and there is still nothing, why the modem lights are on but there is no internet works through it from there.

Why do I have to restart my modem every day?

Because something is wrong, and the restart is only clearing it for a while. A restart fixes equipment that has stalled once. If the internet drops and comes back every time you turn it off and on, the fault is still there: a lead, a power board, a socket, the wiring, the modem or the line itself.

That is worth chasing rather than living with. Is your NBN dropping out goes through the usual causes in the home, in the order to check them. If those are clear and it still drops, the line needs testing while it is happening, which is what NBN fault repair does. And if it is an old modem that has started to fail, our modem picks for each type of NBN cover what to replace it with.

When to call a technician, and when not to

You do not need us when one restart fixed it, when there is an outage at your address, or when the modem needs its settings back after a reset. The settings are your provider’s to give you, and if a modem your provider supplied has failed, ask them about a replacement.

Call a technician when you are restarting it every day, when the NBN box lights will not settle and your provider says the fault is your side, or when a fibre lead in the house has been damaged. Our internet technician tests the line, the box, the cabling, the modem and the WiFi in turn, fixes what it can on your side on the day, and tells you in writing when it is not. If the WiFi is the only thing failing, a WiFi technician fits better. And if the hard part is setting the modem up again, that is home tech support, not a line fault.

Not sure which it is? Send us a message saying what the lights are doing, or ring 02 9188 1577.