Independent NBN box pre-wiring · Not NBN Co, not an ISP
The installer puts the NBN box where the cable comes in. Pre-wiring gives them a path to where you want it.
The fibre upgrade is booked and the box is headed for the garage, because that's the wall the fibre reaches first. On the day, the installer takes the easy path. One NBN box pre-wiring quote puts a roped conduit to the room you chose, so that becomes the easy path. Quotes are free within 5 km of our Sutherland Shire office. Phone or photo estimates are free where the job allows.
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Dianne Brown
★★★★★Jason did a great job in relocating our NBN and various boxes today. He was of great assistance in setting the boxes up in the new location and was polite and very knowledgeable and fixed up your issue with the NBN location. Thanks Jason
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Bruce Ashton
★★★★★Easy to book online and Jason turns up on time and listens to what you want done and does the job using quality components. Recommend this company highly.
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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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Andrew Katramados
★★★★★All I can say is if you need a job done correctly, call Jason at Secure A Com. As I am working from home like many these days, and in preparation for the NBN cut over in my area I needed some connection issues and advice on the best way to set my home up to enable me to work and also have my young family connected with all their wifi needs. Jason provided professional and unbiased advice, whilst also finding the most cost effective solution for me. I highly recommend Secure A Com and Jason - 100%
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Rosie Argiropoulos
★★★★★Excellent service from Jason, very polite. I required the NBN connection to be moved from the front of the house to the office in the back room upstairs. Ensured that everything was up and running before leaving. Very professional, I would highly recommended Secure a Com.
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Kerry Mullins
★★★★★A neighbour recommended Secure A Com after watching some of its YouTube posts regarding installations. On calling Jason, it didn't take too long for me to realise Jason knows what he's talking about. On assessing our internet requirements onsite, he provided us numerous alternatives even if it meant less work opportunity for him. Also, very professional website, easy to understand scope of works with pricing and booking/confirmation service. I recommend Secure A Com for all your internet/network installations.
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LUKE MCMAHON
★★★★★Quite possibly the only positive thing when doing NBN , I rang these guys after 7 months of drama with Telstra I was in a desperate need and the owner commented that he could tell I needed someone to do their job.... he then moved a bunch of work around and made me an appointment the very next day. I rang at 4pm and the appointment was set for 12pm and to my amaze the technician was 2 hours early. the technician "Jason" was a true blue good guy and was really knowledgeable and helpful when I was asking his opinion on the location of the item. this will not be the only review I write I cannot recommend Secure A Com more highly
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Adrien Paul
★★★★★Great service, they provided me with a lot of advice prior to the job, arrived right on time, extremely friendly and very proffesional. I highly recommend Secure A Com
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Sound familiar?
Can you choose where NBN puts the box? Yes, if the path is already there
Everyone's heard the story: the installer looked for five minutes and the box went on the garage wall.
Some will put it where you ask; it depends who turns up. A path that's already there decides it. Pre-wiring is that path, in before the appointment, across Sydney.
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Everyone has heard the story. The installer arrived, spent five minutes looking, and the box went on the garage wall because that was where the cable came in. Some installers will put it exactly where you ask; it depends who turns up. What decides it on the day is not goodwill but effort, and a box in the study at the far end of the house is a lot of effort if there is no way to get the fibre there.
Pre-wiring takes the effort out. Before the appointment, a conduit goes in from the wall where the cable will arrive to the room you have chosen, with a draw string through it. The installer pulls the fibre along a path that already exists, and the box goes where the house needs it. This page is that one job. The whole upgrade, from the letter to the last cable, is on the FTTP upgrade page; a box that is already installed in the wrong place is NBN box relocation; and what the box is and what its lights mean is in our guide to the NBN connection box. We take this work across Sydney and further out; the extra travel is charged, and the rates are in our terms and conditions.
Free advice
Before you book: what to check first
Six decisions and a photo. Make them before you get in touch and the quote is quick; make them before the installer comes and the day goes your way.
Keep this list handy
Get all seven checks as a one-page PDF before the installer arrives.
Send me the free guide- Pick the spot, and mark it. A pencil cross on the wall, at the height you want the box. Central in the house is better than tidy in a corner, because the router will sit beside it.
- Check there is a power point within reach. The box needs one and so does the router. No power point there means an electrician first.
- Find the wall the cable will arrive at. Usually the one nearest the pit or the pole in the street. If there is already a small grey box outside, that is it.
- Look at what lies between the two. A manhole into the roof, a hatch under the floor, or neither. That one fact decides the route more than the distance does.
- Do it before the appointment, not on the day. A path that is already in place is the difference between asking and getting.
- In a unit, ring the strata manager first. Any new hole through a shared or fire-rated wall needs approval, and approval is slower than cabling.
- Send two photos and a distance. The marked wall inside and the arrival wall outside, with a rough number of metres between them.
Sound like you?
Which pre-wiring job is yours, and what you end up with
The fibre upgrade is ordered, or about to be
The appointment is booked and nobody has asked where the box will go. Left to the day, it lands inside whichever wall the cable reaches first.
Usually points to: a roped conduit to your chosen room, and a note of the route for the installer.
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The letter has come, or the appointment is booked, and the question nobody has asked is where the box will go. Left to the day, it tends to land on the inside of whichever wall the cable reaches first, which in most houses is the garage.
The time to change that is now. A path put in this week can wait as long as it needs to; a draw string in a sealed pipe does not go off.
What you end up with. A conduit from the outside wall to your chosen room with a labelled draw string in it, and a short written note of the route to hand the installer when they arrive.
The frame is up and the walls are still open
The frame is up and the walls are open, so every route is cheap. In a month the same run means fishing down a finished wall.
Usually points to: the pipe in before the plaster, ending at the cupboard you chose.
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A new house, an extension or a rebuild, with studs you can see through. Every route is available and none of them costs much. In a month the same run will mean lifting insulation and fishing down a finished wall.
Builders leave what the plans show. If the plans do not show a path from the outside wall to a comms cupboard, there will not be one.
What you end up with. The pipe in the frame before the plaster, ending at a cupboard or wall you chose, with the cables to the rest of the house run from that same point.
Pre-wiring a new build ›Data points while the walls are open ›
The cable arrives on the wrong side of the house
The pit is on the left of the block and everyone who uses the internet is on the right. The outside box isn't yours to move; the inside one is yours to place.
Usually points to: a path through the roof or under the floor to the far side of the house.
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The pit is at the left of the block, so the outside box will go on the left wall. The study, the television and everyone who uses the internet are on the right. Nobody chose that; it follows from where the street's cable happens to run.
The outside box is not yours to move. The inside one is yours to place, as long as there is a way to get the fibre from one to the other.
What you end up with. A path through the roof or under the floor from the arrival wall to the far side, with sweeping bends the fibre can be drawn through, so the inside box goes where the house is used.
What the outside box is ›If the box is already in the wrong place ›
An apartment, where the path crosses common property
The fibre comes up a riser that belongs to the building, and only the last stretch inside your door is yours. Strata approval usually takes longer than the work.
Usually points to: a route agreed with the building, and the path inside your unit ready.
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In a unit the fibre does not arrive at your outside wall. It comes up a riser or along a corridor ceiling that belongs to the building, and the only part that is yours is the last stretch inside the door.
That makes it two conversations: one with us about the route, and one with the strata manager about any hole through a wall that is fire-rated or shared. The second one takes longer than the work.
What you end up with. A route agreed with the building, approval in hand before anything is drilled, and the path inside your unit ready for the installer.
Buildings on fibre to the building ›What to check before you book ›
The usual suspects
What makes an installer say no to your spot
When a box ends up somewhere other than where the owner wanted it, the reason on the day is nearly always one of these.
- There is no path.
Nothing runs from the arrival wall to the room, and building one isn't the installer's job.
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Nothing runs from the arrival wall to the room, and making one is not what an installer is there to do.
- The path has a tight bend in it.
Fibre won't go round a sharp corner, so a pipe with a hard elbow is no pipe at all.
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Fibre cannot be drawn around a sharp corner, so a pipe with a hard elbow is the same as no pipe.
- The pipe is the wrong size.
Too narrow for the cable and its connector to pass.
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Too narrow for the cable and its connector to pass through.
- There is no draw string, or nobody can tell which end is which.
An empty, unlabelled pipe in a roof space is a guess, and guesses get skipped.
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An empty, unlabelled pipe in a roof space is a guess, and guesses get skipped.
- No power point at the spot.
The box can't go where it can't be plugged in.
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The box cannot go where it cannot be plugged in.
- The spot itself is not suitable.
Damp rooms, roof spaces and walls that take the afternoon sun are out.
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A damp room, a roof space, a cupboard with no airflow or a wall that takes the afternoon sun are all places the box is not meant to live.
- The route crosses a wall nobody approved.
In a unit, a fire-rated wall with no strata sign-off stops the job at the door.
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In a unit, a fire-rated or common wall with no strata sign-off stops the job at the door.
- It is simply further than the day allows.
A long run through a finished house takes time the appointment may not have.
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A long run through a finished house takes time the appointment may not have.
Grey box outside?
What the NBN PCD box is, and why it decides everything
The small grey box outside is where the street's cable ends, and NBN decides where it goes. The useful question isn't whether it can move. It's whether there's a path from it to where you want the inside box.
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The PCD is the small grey box NBN fixes to the outside of the house. The letters stand for premises connection device, and it is where the cable from the street ends. Its position is set by NBN’s own design, usually on the wall closest to the pit or the pole, and it is not something the owner picks.
Everything inside follows from it. The fibre has to get from that box to the one indoors, so the inside box naturally lands on the other side of the same wall unless something gives it a way to go further. That is why the outside box decides so much, and why the useful question is never “can the outside box go somewhere else” but “is there a path from it to where I want the inside one”. Pre-wiring is that path.
Still at frame stage?
Pre-wiring a new build: conduit in before the plaster
While the frame is open, every route is free. Run the pipe to the cupboard where the box and router will live, and the data cables for the rest of the house from that same point.
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A house under construction is the one time every route is free. The frame is open, the roof space is empty, and a pipe from the outside wall to a cupboard in the middle of the house is a small job rather than a slow one. Once the walls are lined the same pipe has to be fished through insulation and down a cavity nobody can see into.
So the conversation is worth having at frame stage, with the plans on the table. Decide where the box and the router will live, run the pipe to it, and run the data cables for the rest of the house from that same point while the ceiling is open. What the builder has to leave between the street and the outside wall is a separate matter, and it is set out on the NBN installation page.
How it works
NBN box pre-wiring: what we actually do
Four steps, all of them finished before the installer is due. Every version ends with a labelled string hanging out of a wall fitting, in the room you chose.
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Fix both ends first.
Where the outside box is, or will be, and the exact spot inside where you want the box: which wall, what height, how near a power point. Everything else follows from those two marks, so they are settled before a route is drawn.
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Map the way between them.
Roof space, wall cavity or under the floor. The run is measured, every hole through a wall is counted, and anything in the way is found now rather than on the day. Bends matter more than length: fibre will go a long way and will not go round a sharp corner.
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Install the conduit.
The same size of pipe NBN's own cable is drawn through outdoors, fixed along the route with sweeping bends, sealed where it passes through an outside wall, and finished at a neat fitting on the wall where the box will go. Outdoor runs are conduit work and are quoted with it.
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Draw string in, both ends labelled.
A labelled draw string through the whole run, and a written note of the route to hand the installer on the day.
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A cord is threaded through the whole length and tagged at each end, so the installer can pull the fibre through without guessing which pipe it is. You get a written note of the route to hand over on the day, and it can sit there for months until the appointment comes.
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Reviews
What people say after the job.
“Secure A Com explained the process simply to me and gave me all the options available to what I need done. If you want a technician that is prompt, reliable and puts in the hard work for your money then look no further.”
A real job from the field
Arncliffe, NSW · FTTP · Filmed on site, 3 min
The fibre was coming in at the garage, and the owner wanted the box in the office upstairs.
Arncliffe, with a fibre upgrade on the way. Before the installer's visit we ran conduit from the garage up along the balcony and under the eaves to the office wall, out of sight, and left the path ready for the fibre. The box's place moved upstairs with nothing showing outside.
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Arncliffe, a fibre upgrade on the way and the NBN box headed for the garage. The fibre was going to arrive at the ground-floor garage, and a standard installation puts the box close to where the cable comes in. The owner wanted it in the office upstairs.
Before the installer’s visit we ran conduit from the garage up along the balcony and under the eaves, where it is out of sight, to the office wall, and left the path ready for the fibre to be drawn through.
The box’s place moved from the garage to the upstairs office, with nothing showing on the outside of the house.
Price
What does NBN box pre-wiring 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 price follows the run: how long it is, how many walls it passes through, and whether it goes through the roof, under the floor or along a surface. The draw string is part of every quote, not an extra.
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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
Pre-wired, left to the day, or moved afterwards: three ways the same box gets placed
| Pre-wired before the appointment | Left to the installer on the day | Moved after it is installed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the box ends up | In the room you marked, because the path leads there. | It depends who turns up. A standard install puts it close to where the cable comes into the house. | Wherever you want it, as a second job. |
| Who runs the inside path | We do, ahead of time. The installer draws the fibre through it. | The installer, if a short, easy one exists. Longer runs are generally left to the owner. | We do, and the lead is extended or replaced along it. |
| What it involves | A conduit with sweeping bends and a labelled draw string, and a written note of the route. | Nothing from you beforehand, and no say once the installer has started. | Finding a route through a finished house, and working around a box that is already live. |
| When to decide | Any time before the appointment. The path can wait for months. | On the day, in the first few minutes. | After you have lived with it and know it is wrong. |
SourcesHide sources
Sources: nbn's published residential preparation and installation guidance for where the indoor box may be placed. 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.
What is your call-out fee for NBN box pre-wiring?
An estimate costs nothing. Most pre-wiring is priced from two photos, the wall the cable arrives at and the spot you want the box, plus a rough distance. The terms say when a visit to look is free and when it is charged, and the price card at the top of this page gives the one-line version.
Do you need to come out and look before you can quote?
For a single-storey house with a roof space, usually not. A double storey, a slab with a flat roof, or a unit where the route crosses common property generally needs a look, because the route is the whole job and it cannot always be seen in a photo.
Can I send photos or a floor plan?
Yes. A floor plan with two crosses on it, one where the cable reaches the house and one where you want the box, is the best start. Photos of both walls, inside and out, and of the manhole or the underfloor access if there is one, usually finish it.
Can I choose where NBN puts the box?
You can ask, and whether you get it depends on who turns up and on how hard your spot is to reach. An installer on a tight schedule takes the nearest position that works. A clear pipe with a draw string in it, running to the place you marked, makes your spot the nearest position that works.
Will the NBN installer use the conduit you put in?
It depends who turns up, and we will not promise what another company's installer does on the day. What can be said is that the pipe is the size and shape their cable is drawn through elsewhere, the string is labelled at both ends, and you have a written note of the route to hand over.
How far from the outside box can the inside box go?
There is no single limit worth quoting. A run through a roof space to the far side of an ordinary house is routine. What stops a run is tight corners, because fibre cannot be pulled around a sharp bend, so the route is planned around the bends rather than the metres.
Can I pre-wire before the upgrade is even booked?
Yes, and it is the best time. Nothing about the pipe or the string wears out while it waits, and you are not racing an appointment date. If a date is already set, say so when you get in touch and we will tell you plainly whether it can be done before it.
What does NTD mean, and is it the same as the NBN box?
NTD stands for network termination device, and it is the trade's name for the NBN connection box inside the house, the one the router plugs into. The outside box on the wall is a different thing, sometimes called the PCD. Both are explained in our guide to the NBN connection box.
Can you pre-wire an apartment?
Yes, with the building's agreement. The fibre reaches a unit through shared risers and ceilings, so any new hole through a fire-rated or common wall needs strata approval first, and that can take weeks. Start that conversation early; the cabling itself is the quick part.
Dig deeper
Guides for this job
5 guides
- 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 › - 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 › - 23Aug
Guide
Which NBN Connection Is Best, and Which Do You Have?
Which NBN connection is best? FTTP, HFC, FTTC, FTTB and FTTN compared: how to tell which one your home has, what it means, and whether you can upgrade.
Read the guide › - 18Aug
Guide
FTTN Explained: What Is NBN Fibre to the Node?
NBN FTTN explained: how fibre to the node reaches your home, why distance and old copper slow it, the faults we find on it, and the upgrade to fibre.
Read the guide › - 16Dec
Guide
How to Set Up a Wired Home Network with Ethernet
How to set up a wired home network: plan the hub, route Ethernet cable in a unit or a house, and add Ethernet ports to each room that needs one.
Read the guide ›
NBN Box Pre-Wiring
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