Independent NBN conduit installation · Not NBN Co, not an ISP
NBN says the conduit on your property is yours to arrange. P20 NBN conduit installation, laid to their spec.
The house is built, the appointment is booked, and nothing runs from the pit to the wall. NBN's part stops at your boundary and the builder has moved on. One NBN conduit installation quote covers the pipe from your boundary to the wall, laid to nbn's guide, ready for their cable. Quotes are free within 5 km of our Sutherland Shire office. Phone or photo estimates are free where the job allows.
Get a quoteBook a site visit Play the 1 min SECURE A COM film (opens in a new tab)
Trusted by 1,000+ businesses
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Sarah Pieresko
★★★★★We were really impressed with Jason from Secure A COM! Our building was a tricky one, and the installation kept hitting roadblocks. Jason’s “can-do” attitude and problem-solving skills meant he was able to find a suitable solution without compromising on quality. He was professional, provided excellent customer service, and went above and beyond to get the job done. We highly recommend Secure A COM to anyone looking for a reliable and professional service!
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Luci Torres
★★★★★The man from Secure a com was friendly and efficient. The job was to extend the lead in cord for the NBN box so that it could go to the upstairs flat. He was on time and very proffesional and making the appointment was easy. Securacom came out the next day after I phoned them so no wait time. Excellent service.
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Andrew Tax
★★★★★On time, priced exactly as quoted over the phone, friendly service
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Ian Zucker
★★★★★Very easy to work with - provided meaningful quote - resulting in not moving forward, which is fair - given the constraints of the job. I appreciated the honest and thoughtful evaluation of what the job might be.
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Dean C (Cosmic)
★★★★★We've had 2 jobs recently with Secure a Com and both have been completed to our total satisfaction. The first one involved a failed NBN installation due to the inability of the NBN technician to find the original Telstra lead-in cable. Jason sorted the cable issue out within an hour and wired a new connection in the house to make it NBN ready for us. This meant the second NBN installation went off without a hitch much to our relief. Our second experience was rewiring some LAN ports to connect our security system's cameras to the new NBN router to allow us to access the cameras online. Jason was great to deal with and did both jobs very professionally. We highly recommend Secue a Com's services.
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Lesley Pavlis
★★★★★Thank you for the inspection, recommendation and installation of NBN cabling to our property. I highly recommend your quick response, reliability and great service
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Peter Dunn
★★★★★NBN couldn’t get a lead cable down our conduit. But secureacom were able to get this done in less than an hour. Great professional job which saved us from NBN having to dig up 20 meters of our yard which would have been a nightmare. Thank you so much,
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Jim McVey
★★★★★Excellent communications and service. Jason found a difficult job and managed to get the primary need finished in a quite short timeframe, with a second visit arranged to finish off.
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Sound familiar?
“The conduit between the street and the house needs to be provided”
NBN's installer has been and said the pipe between the street and your house is yours to provide.
That's this job: P20 conduit laid to nbn's guide from your boundary to the wall, with a draw rope in it, so their installer can pull the cable straight through. We do it across Sydney.
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NBN’s installer said they can put the boxes in the street and on the building, but the conduit between the street and the first entry point is ours to provide. The newly built house has the cable wired inside and nothing connecting it to the pit. The builder ran the conduit to a hub on council land instead of next to the pole. The plumber went through the old conduit inside the boundary. There is no cable from the street, no box on the house, nothing.
Nobody says “lead-in conduit” until NBN has said it to them. Owners, builders and agents ring about it, and one in three has already had the installer out. We are independent of NBN Co and your provider: we lay the pipe on your side of the boundary to their spec, and their installer pulls the cable through. We work across Sydney from the Sutherland Shire, and we take jobs further out. The extra travel is charged, and the rates are in our terms and conditions.
Free advice
Before you book: what we tell people for free
Every one of these is something we say on the phone, for nothing, on the calls that come to this page, and one call in ten ends right there with no job at all. Most of them are worth doing before anybody quotes, which is why the list is at the top of the page rather than the bottom of it.
Keep this list handy
Get all twelve checks as a two-page PDF before anyone digs.
Send me the free guide- Find out NBN’s plan first. Their installer puts the outside box where the lead-in comes up; ask before anyone digs. Old narrow conduit with right-angle bends will likely not take fibre, and NBN will likely want new.
- To the boundary is your bit; from the boundary to the pit is NBN’s. Our advice on these calls for years: public land means council permits and reinstatement.
- Dig the trench yourself if you want to. Underground services plans first; nothing dug around the power pole.
- Sweeping bends, never right angles. Fibre will not go round a sharp elbow.
- Aerial or underground: look at the neighbours. Boxes on the poles means aerial; none means underground, and the conduit goes to the boundary at the letterbox.
- Aerial can be the cheaper route where the old lead-in is under the footpath.
- NBN pulls their own cable. We leave a draw rope; their installer ties the cable to it.
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- Can’t find where the conduit enters? A torch under the house, the pit by the water meter, photos to us; a new trench last.
- Sometimes the right advice is not to lay conduit at all. Where a new run means boring or cutting concrete, we have advised a socket on the existing line and waiting for the fibre upgrade, or a 5G home internet plan. NBN’s upgrade terms are theirs: check your address with NBN (opens in a new tab).
- Granny flat or new build: conduit before the slab, and ring your provider about the address. The most repeated advice in this category; the sequence is in NBN for a granny flat.
- Developers: pre-provisioning. Apply to NBN before the build.
- Send photos and a distance. Most conduit is quoted from photos; some needs a look first.
Sound like you?
The four conduit jobs left, and which one is yours
The house is finished and nothing reaches the street
The house is wired inside and nothing reaches the pit. Or the builder laid a pipe, and it runs somewhere other than your boundary.
Usually points to: a continuous, roped conduit from your boundary to the wall.
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The new house has the NBN cable wired inside it already and there is nothing connecting it to the pit. Or the builder did lay something, and it runs to a hub on council land instead of to the boundary where the pit is.
One property in five on this page is a new build, and the same thing has usually happened: the pipe was the cheapest item on the build and the last one anybody thought about, so it was left out, or put in wherever was convenient on the day.
What you end up with. A continuous conduit from the boundary to the entry point on the wall, with a draw rope in it the full length, ready for their cable on the day the installer comes.
The flat out the back has no lead-in of its own
The house works and the flat out the back has no lead-in. The catch isn't the digging: your provider has to ask NBN to add the flat first.
Usually points to: the pipe in before the slab, in the right order.
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The main house works fine and the granny flat's connection is missing its lead-in. It is the other property in five on this page, and the part people are caught by is not the digging.
NBN links each connection to a unique address, and it is your provider who asks NBN to add the flat, not the council, so no amount of pipe in the ground brings a service any closer. The order goes: ring your provider, then the conduit goes in before the slab if the slab is still to come, then a provider can order once the flat is added.
What you end up with. The pipe in the ground before the concrete is, and a sequence that does not strand you with a trench you cannot use for another six months.
The whole granny flat sequence ›What to sort out before you book ›
Something went through it
The plumber, a core drill or a tree root went through the conduit inside your boundary. It's almost always one section, and one section is what gets opened.
Usually points to: the broken length replaced and roped, the rest left alone.
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The plumber went straight through the telecom conduit inside the boundary. The core drill for the new gate found it four metres from the pit. Tree roots have popped the old conduit to the surface and bent it where it comes up.
Inside your boundary that is yours to put right, which is the part nobody enjoys hearing. The good news is smaller than it sounds cheap: a strike is almost always one section, and one section is what gets opened.
What you end up with. The broken length opened, replaced with P20 at depth and roped, and the rest of the run left alone. The whole run comes out only when the damage is along its length.
The fibre upgrade is coming and the old pipe may not take it
The old pipe has been in the ground fifteen years and nobody knows if fibre will go through it. Measure it before anyone quotes.
Usually points to: a new run the fibre can take, or a straight answer that it isn't worth it.
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There is conduit in the ground already, it has been there fifteen years, and nobody knows whether the fibre will go through it. Measure it before anyone quotes: the older, narrower size with right-angle bends will very likely not take fibre, and a new run is what gets asked for.
Sometimes the honest answer is not to lay conduit at all. Where the old run is under the footpath and replacing it means boring or cutting concrete, a socket on the existing line while you wait, or a wireless plan that can be running the same day, has been our advice more than once.
What you end up with. Either a new run on a route the fibre can actually take, or a straight answer that laying one is not worth what it would cost you.
The inside run and where the box goes ›What nbn's guide asks for ›
The usual suspects
What’s usually wrong with the lead-in
From the assessments we give on the phone, a lead-in fails in a short list of ways and most of them are visible from the surface once you know what you are looking at.
- Direct-buried cable, no conduit at all.
It works until a shovel or a core drill finds it, then the trench opens again.
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New build, the builder never put one in; or an old property where the cable went straight into the ground. It works until a shovel or a core drill finds it, and then the whole trench opens again.
- Blocked, crushed or bellied with mud.
Old narrow pipe flattened under a driveway, or sagged and filled with mud.
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Fifteen-year-old narrow pipe with a section flattened under the driveway, or a run that has sagged and filled, or cable cast into concrete that snaps as the slab moves.
- The wrong pipe in the ground.
Irrigation, corrugated or orange electrical pipe. The installer won't pull through any of them, and is right not to.
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Irrigation pipe, corrugated pipe, orange electrical conduit. The installer will not pull a lead-in through any of them and is right not to.
- Too shallow.
Roots lift it, the mower finds it, and the bit that surfaces bends.
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Roots lift it, the mower finds it, and the section that surfaces is the section that bends.
- Too many bends.
Right-angle elbows that fibre can't get round.
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Right-angle elbows that fibre cannot pass, or a run that has quietly accumulated more turns than the guide allows.
- Conduit to the wrong place.
To council land, the wrong side of the house, or a wall with nothing behind it.
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To a hub on council land instead of the pole, to the wrong side of the house, or to a wall with nothing behind it.
- Not connected at the boundary.
The builder's pipe stops a metre short of NBN's, and nobody joins the two.
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The builder’s conduit stops a metre short of NBN’s and neither side will join the two.
- Struck.
A shovel, a gate post, a pool dig. Inside your boundary, it's yours to put right.
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A shovel, a core drill for a gate post, a front loader on a fence line, a stormwater dig, a pool. Inside the boundary it is the owner’s to put right.
- Can’t be found.
Rendered over, or under a deck or a new slab, so the installer can't trace it.
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Rendered over, under a deck, under a new slab, or inside a wall after a renovation. The installer cannot trace it and stops.
Two more things decide these jobs and neither is a fault. The cable in the pit is sometimes NBN’s main branch cable, which nobody but NBN may move: we relocate lead-ins, never the branch. And a run laid for underground when the street is actually fed from the poles, or the other way round, ends up at the wrong point no matter how well it was dug.
Buying it yourself?
What P20 conduit is, and what not to buy
P20 is rigid white telecommunications conduit, and it's the pipe nbn's guide accepts. The grey corrugated pipe beside it at the hardware store isn't, and neither is irrigation pipe or orange electrical conduit. Lay the wrong one and the installer won't pull through it.
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P20 telecommunications conduit is rigid white PVC with a nominal 23 mm bore, and it is the pipe nbn’s Pre-Installation Lead-In Conduit Guide (opens in a new tab) accepts for a lead-in. Everything about it is chosen for one job: getting a cable pulled through, in one go, years after the trench was closed.
The white P20 on the rack at a hardware store is the right thing if it is the rigid one. The grey corrugated pipe beside it is not, and neither is irrigation pipe or orange electrical conduit, whichever of them is cheapest that week.
Where's the pit?
Finding the pit, and who owns what from there
It's usually in the footpath or the nature strip near the letterbox. From there to your boundary is NBN's; from the boundary to the wall is yours. That line is where our quote stops, because past it is public land.
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The pit is the starting point for everything on this page, and it is usually in the footpath or the nature strip near the letterbox, with a concrete or plastic lid. If you cannot see one, look at the neighbours: white boxes on the poles means your street is fed from above and there may be no pit at all.
From the pit to your boundary is NBN’s. From the boundary to the wall is yours. That line is why our quote stops where it does, and the advice we give is to leave their side to them, because work on public land comes with permits and reinstatement that are theirs to arrange and not worth taking on. One thing in the pit is never anyone else’s to touch: the main branch cable that feeds the street.
How it works
What we actually do
Five steps, and the first one decides the other four. We work on your side of the boundary and stop there, which is the point of a cabler you hire yourself rather than a gap in the job: past that line the work is on public land, and it belongs to NBN.
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Look, then quote.
Confirm the pit and who owns what from it, map the route to the entry point, count the bends, find the driveway crossing, and check whether the conduit already there can be reused. The written quote carries the length, the depth, the crossing method, the entry fitting and the reinstatement, and nothing is charged beyond it.
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Trench.
To the guide's depth in soil and deeper under any vehicle crossing, with bedding under the pipe so nothing point-loads it. Or your own trench, inspected first: the checklist above has the conditions.
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Lay P20.
Continuous from the boundary to the entry point, glued joints, no reductions anywhere along it, sweeping bends inside the guide's radius, and the above-ground section terminated in a fitting clear of the gas meter and the power.
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Draw rope, backfill, reinstate.
The rope goes the full length before the trench closes, because that is what their installer ties the cable to. Turf, pavers or concrete put back as quoted, and the route and the depth written down for whoever opens it next. No open trench overnight without prior agreement.
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Hand over to NBN.
Their installer ties the cable to our rope, pulls it through and connects it. The inside run can be quoted alongside.
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Their installer pulls the lead-in through and connects it. If you want the inside run done at the same time, the box position and the cable to the router are FTTP upgrade cabling and data cabling, quoted alongside; where the outside box moves and the conduit is re-routed with it, that is NBN box relocation.
Written by customers on Google. None are paid for, and every word here is theirs.
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Reviews
What people say after the job.
“Jason came on time, told him NBN could not find the lead in cable and I would need a new lead in cable set up. Jason found it in 5 min and save a minimum $4000.”
A real job from the field
Abbotsford, NSW · FTTC · Filmed on site, 2 min
An electrician and an NBN contractor had both been stopped by the same thing.
Abbotsford, on fibre to the curb, with no usable path from the pit to the house. The trench was dug by hand, through tree roots and a buried brick path a machine would have torn out. P20 went in continuous from the boundary to the entry point, a draw wire in it, and the turf went back over the top.
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Abbotsford, on fibre to the curb. An electrician and an NBN contractor had both been out to it, and both had been stopped by the same thing: no usable path from the pit to the house. The trench was dug by hand rather than by machine, through tree roots and a buried brick path that a machine would have taken out along with everything else. P20 went in continuous from the boundary to the entry point, with a draw wire the full length, and the turf went back over the top of it. Trench photos: none exist for this job, and none is invented.
Price
How much does NBN conduit installation cost?
Quoted not fixed
What's included
- Free quote within 5 km
- Free estimate from photos
- Written quote, valid 14 days
- 12-month cabling warranty
- Maker's warranty on parts
Free Spaces account with every job, if you want one. What's Spaces?
The ground sets the price: concrete or pavers to cut and put back, a driveway to cross, rock or roots in the way. Digging the trench yourself is the real lever, and the quote stops at your boundary.
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This work is quoted. Quotes are free for properties within 5 km of our Sutherland Shire office. Beyond 5 km a site inspection is charged at $250 inc. GST, and the written quote follows the inspection; the inspection fee may be credited against the job at our discretion.
We are a specialised service, so we may not be local to you. If you are outside Sydney or more than 40 km from our office, we can still come to you, but the extra travel means an extra travel charge. All travel charges are set out in our terms and conditions.
Phone or photo estimates are free at any distance where the job allows, so most of this work is priced from photos and a rough distance before anyone drives anywhere.
What you get in writing
| Quote | Price | What it contains |
|---|---|---|
| Photo or phone estimate | Free | A ballpark from your photos, a rough distance in metres and your answers, before anyone drives anywhere. Free at any distance where the job allows. |
| Written quote | Free | Free for properties within 5 km of our Sutherland Shire office, after a look at the job. Valid 14 days. |
| Site inspection, further out | $250 inc. GST | Beyond that distance a site inspection is charged, and the written quote follows it. The inspection fee may be credited against the job at our discretion. |
Trusted on site by
Commercial fault and cabling work, done by the same technician who comes to your house.
Your options
The nbn conduit requirements, figure by figure, and why each one is there
| What the guide asks for | The figure | Why it is there | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover in soil | A minimum depth of cover over the pipe along the whole run, measured from the surface to the top of the conduit. | 300 mm minimum, and 500 mm is as deep as it needs to go. | Shallower than that and a spade, a mower or a garden fork finds it. Deeper is wasted digging and makes a later repair worse, not better. |
| Cover under a driveway | More cover wherever a vehicle crosses the run, including a crossover, a carport and a hardstand. | 450 mm minimum. | A car is a moving point load. At soil depth the pipe flattens under it over a few years and the cable inside is trapped in a crushed section nobody can see. |
| Bend radius underground | Sweeping bends only, formed to a radius rather than an elbow fitting. | A 300 mm radius below ground. | Fibre has a minimum bend radius of its own. It will not go round a sharp corner, and an installer who meets one stops and leaves. |
| Bend radius above ground | The same rule on the riser up the wall, where the temptation to use an elbow is greatest. | A 100 mm radius above ground. | The last half metre is where most condemned conduit fails, because it is the part fitted after the trench is closed and nobody is watching. |
| How many bends | A limit on the total number of bends and the total turn between the pit and the box. | No more than three bends, and 270 degrees in total. | Every bend adds drag on the draw rope. Past this the cable stops moving part way and the run has to be dug up to find where. |
| One continuous run | A single unbroken conduit from the boundary to the entry point, glued at every joint, with no reduction in diameter anywhere. | No reductions, no open joints. | A step down in size is a hard stop for the cable, and an open joint lets in mud that sets. Both look fine from either end of the trench. |
| The draw rope | A rope left in the conduit over its full length before the trench is closed. | The full length, every time. | This is what the installer ties the cable to. Without it somebody has to rod the run from one end, and on a long or bent run that is where it fails. |
| The entry on the wall | The above-ground section terminated in a fitting, clear of the gas meter and the power. | Sealed against water, insects and sun. | An open pipe end is how water and ants get into the conduit, and UV makes unprotected PVC brittle enough to snap at the one point that is hardest to repair. |
SourcesHide sources
Sources: nbn's own Pre-Installation Lead-In Conduit Guide, which is linked from this page and is the source of every figure in the middle column. The right-hand column is our own experience of what goes wrong when a figure is missed, not part of the guide. Our own fees and reports are in our terms and conditions.
Whoever your provider is, the answer is the same.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Something not covered? Call 02 9188 1577 and ask, or send it through the contact form and you get the answer in writing.
NBN says I have to organise the lead-in conduit on my property. Can you do that, and what does it cost to find out?
Yes, that is this page's job. Finding out usually costs nothing: photos of the pit, the wall where the cable comes in and the path between them, plus a rough distance in metres, quote most runs. Quotes are free within the distance in the terms, and beyond it a site visit is the service call, which per the terms may be credited against the job.
Do you need to come out to quote, or can I send photos?
Photos for most jobs. The pit, the entry wall, the path between and a number of metres is enough to price a straightforward run. A blocked conduit nobody can find, a driveway crossing or a long run through rock usually needs a look first, and the terms say what that costs and when it is credited.
What is P20 conduit, and why does NBN want that one?
P20 telecommunications conduit is rigid white PVC with a nominal 23 mm bore, and it is the pipe nbn's own lead-in guide accepts. The bore leaves room for the cable to be pulled without binding, the wall thickness survives being backfilled on, and it takes the sweeping bends fibre needs. Irrigation pipe, corrugated pipe and orange electrical conduit are none of those things.
How deep does the conduit have to go?
300 mm of cover in soil as a minimum, 450 mm under a driveway or any vehicle crossing, and there is no benefit past 500 mm. Those are nbn's figures, not ours, and the table above has them with the reason for each. Shallower than the minimum and a spade or a mower eventually finds it.
Can I dig the trench myself?
Yes, and it is the one real lever on the price. A trench about a foot wide at the guide's depth, from the boundary to where the box will go, and we lay the conduit, rope it and finish both ends. Get the underground services plans before you start, and do not dig around the power pole.
Whose job is the bit between my fence and the pit?
NBN's, and our advice is to leave it that way. Get the conduit to your boundary and let them do the rest, because work on public land comes with council permits, footpath reinstatement and sometimes traffic control. Our quote stops at the boundary for the same reason. That is advice from doing these jobs, not a rule we are quoting at you.
NBN's installer couldn't find where the conduit enters the house. What now?
Before paying anybody to trace it: a torch under the house looking for a white pipe with a black cable in it, and a look in the pit by the water meter for the starter pipe. Photograph both and send them. If that does not find it, a pipe-locating service with a detector is the next step, not a new trench.
My old conduit is blocked or crushed. Does the whole run get replaced?
Usually not. A strike or a crush is almost always one section, so that section is opened, replaced with P20 at depth and roped, and the rest is left where it is. The whole run comes out only when the damage is along its length, which happens with roots and with fifteen-year-old pipe that has bellied and filled with mud.
Can the conduit go under my driveway?
Yes, with more cover over it: 450 mm rather than 300 mm wherever a vehicle crosses. Whether the driveway is cut and reinstated or the run is bored under it changes the price, and the quote says which before anything starts. Reinstatement is in the quote and you are not charged for it beyond that.
Is my NBN aerial or underground, and does it matter for the conduit?
Look at your neighbours. White boxes on the poles means aerial, and the conduit goes up to the pole. No boxes means underground, and the conduit goes to the boundary near the letterbox rather than the pole, whatever anybody has told you. Where the old underground run is under the footpath, aerial is often the cheaper answer.
We're building a granny flat. When should the conduit go in?
Before the slab, and ring your provider early. NBN links each connection to a unique address and your provider asks NBN to add the flat, not the council, so a service cannot be ordered for it until that is done, however much pipe is in the ground. The granny flat guide has the whole sequence, and it is the most repeated piece of advice on these calls.
Do I need council approval?
Generally not, for work inside your own boundary. Past the boundary is different, which is the practical reason the quote stops there and NBN does the rest. If your job is unusual, the council is the one to ask, and we will say so rather than guess.
Do you pull the NBN cable through as well?
No, and nobody outside NBN does. We lay the conduit and leave a draw rope in it the full length; their installer ties the lead-in to the rope and pulls it through. The cable from the box into the house is a different scope again, and that one is ours.
Dig deeper
Guides for this job
5 guides
- 13Aug
Guide
NBN FTTP Upgrade: Fibre to the Premises Explained
What NBN fibre to the premises (FTTP) is, how the fibre upgrade works, where NBN puts the two boxes, and the cabling you may need before or after the install.
Read the guide › - 15Sept
Guide
Granny flat NBN: your own service, or share the house's?
Can a granny flat have its own NBN? How your provider gets the flat onto nbn, sharing the house's service over a cable, and what to lay before the slab.
Read the guide › - 20Aug
Guide
NBN Box Lights Explained: Flashing Blue, Red or Clicking
What the lights on your NBN box mean on fibre, HFC and fibre to the curb: why it clicks, flashes blue or shows red, and what to do before you ring anyone.
Read the guide › - 16Oct
Guide
What Is an Internet Technician, and Who Tests What?
What an internet technician does, the cabling registration they need, and what your provider, NBN's technician and an electrician each test.
Read the guide › - 21Aug
Guide
Best 4G Router or Modem in Australia: How to Choose One
How to choose the best 4G router or 4G modem in Australia: the SIM slot, bands, antenna and ethernet ports, for a home or a caravan, and when 4G makes sense.
Read the guide ›
NBN Conduit Installation
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