Is the NBN down, or is it just you?

When the internet stops, the first question is whether it is the NBN or just your house. Two checks on your phone answer that in a couple of minutes, and they decide what happens next: wait it out, or find the fault. If the checks say it is just you, that is when to book an internet technician to find where it stops, and not before.

How do I check if the NBN is down?

Check NBN’s network status page with your full address, then your provider’s outage page, both on your phone’s mobile data. Do it in this order:

1. 1

   Turn your phone's WiFi off

   Your home WiFi has no internet behind it, so the phone needs to use mobile data to load anything.

2. 2

   Check NBN's network status page

   Type your full street address, not just the suburb. NBN says a suburb search may not be accurate for some services. The page shows any outage it has detected at that address, any planned work coming up, and a map.

3. 3

   Check your provider's outage page or app

   Most providers list their own outages, and some show them in the app you pay your bill with. If you cannot find one, ring them and ask whether there is an outage at your address.

4. 4

   Ask a neighbour

   If the people next door are down too, it is almost certainly the network, listed or not. If theirs is working, the problem is more likely to be on your own service.

NBN’s page is the network status and outages checker on NBN’s own website (opens in a new tab) (checked 18 October 2026). Some providers’ own help pages send you there before you report a fault.

The neighbour check is the one people skip, and it is often the quickest answer of all. On fibre to the curb, a handful of houses share the same unit in the pit out the front, so a fault there takes the whole group down at once.

NBN’s checker or your provider’s page: which one do you trust?

Both, because each one sees a different part of the connection. NBN’s checker only covers NBN’s part: in NBN’s own words, the portion of the network that connects your home to your provider’s network. Your provider’s page covers its own network, which NBN’s page cannot see. Neither one can see a fault on your line alone.

What each check can and cannot show

The check	What it shows	What it misses
NBN's network status page	Outages and planned work on NBN's network at your address	A problem in your provider's own network, and any fault on your individual service
Your provider's outage page, app or phone line	Outages in the provider's network, and usually NBN outages it has been told about	A fault on your line, your wiring or your equipment, until you report it
A neighbour on the same street	Whether the street is down, even before anything is listed	Nothing on your side of the house
Outage maps built from people's reports	Where other people are reporting problems	What NBN or your provider has actually confirmed

The last row is why the NBN outage map people search for is best read on NBN’s own page. Maps built from user reports show where people are complaining, which is useful for a big outage and misleading for a small one.

For a large outage, the rules now require providers to say something. Since 31 December 2024, under the ACMA’s rules for major outages (opens in a new tab) (checked 18 October 2026), a provider must put information on its website about what has happened, the areas affected, the likely cause and when it expects it fixed. A major outage there means one affecting 100,000 or more services, so for a fault across a few streets, a neighbour is still the quickest check.

What does an NBN outage look like on the NBN box?

During an outage the NBN box, sometimes called the NTD, has its power light on, but the light that shows its connection to the network stays off, flashing or red, and it stays that way after a restart. While the box is searching, its lights flash; when it connects, they lock in solid one at a time. Flashing needs to stop and the lights need to go solid before anything plugged into the box can work.

Which light is which depends on the box you have. Fibre, HFC and fibre to the curb each use a different box, and what the lights on your NBN box mean goes through each one, light by light.

Two things look like an outage and are not:

• The NBN box has no lights at all. That is power, not the network. Check it is plugged into a working power point, not a power board shared with everything else. If there is still no power light, NBN’s own advice is to contact your provider.
• The modem’s lights are on and the internet crawls. Some providers’ modems switch to a mobile connection by themselves when the NBN drops, Telstra’s Smart Modem among them. The modem looks fine, the NBN box shows the outage, and everything runs slowly on the mobile backup until the NBN comes back.

There’s an outage. What should I do while I wait?

Wait for it to clear, because nothing in your home can fix a fault in the network. Restart the equipment once, in case it stalled, and then leave it alone.

• Do not book a technician for an outage. A technician on your side of the boundary can test your cabling and equipment, but cannot touch NBN’s network. Paying for a visit during a listed outage buys you nothing.
• Do not buy a new modem. A new modem plugged into a box that cannot see the network gets no further than the old one.
• Use your phone’s hotspot for the things that cannot wait, and keep an eye on your data.
• Check the status page again every few hours. The listing changes as the work goes on.
• Remember the home phone. If your landline plugs into the modem, it stops with the internet. Use a mobile for anything urgent, and for triple zero: the ACMA says (opens in a new tab) a 000 call from a mobile is carried on any available mobile network, not only your own carrier’s.

If the power is out as well, the NBN box and the modem have stopped with it. What keeps working in a blackout on the NBN covers the backup options, and which phone services survive.

Some outages are local and have an obvious cause. If NBN’s contractors have been in the pit out the front, or working on cables in your street, and your internet stopped when they left, report it to your provider straight away and say so. If it stopped after heavy rain, a pit full of water is a common reason, and it is still the network’s to fix.

If outages keep catching you out, two things are worth having in the cupboard: a 4G router that takes over when the NBN drops, and a power bank for the phone.

We earn a small commission if you buy through our Amazon links, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Gear mentioned here, on Amazon Australia

Product	What it is for	Link
TP-Link TL-MR100	4G backup when the NBN drops	View on Amazon for the TP-Link TL-MR100 (opens in a new tab)
Anker Zolo 20,000mAh	Keeps the phone charged	View on Amazon for the Anker Zolo 20,000mAh (opens in a new tab)

No outage showing, but still no internet?

Then the fault is on your own service, and the job is to find out which side of the boundary it is on: your home, or the line coming in. NBN’s own page says as much: no outage at your address means there may be a fault on your individual service, and the next call is your provider.

Before you ring, take one minute to narrow it down. Each step rules something out:

1. 1

   Restart the NBN box and the modem, properly

   Turn both off, wait a minute, turn the NBN box on first and let its lights settle, then the modem. The order is in our guide to restarting your modem and NBN box.

2. 2

   Look at the NBN box lights again

   If they are all on and solid, the NBN line is up, and the problem is the lead to the modem, the modem or its settings. If the connection light will not settle, it is the line, the box or the network.

3. 3

   Plug a laptop into the modem with a cable

   If the cable works and the WiFi does not, the internet is fine and the WiFi is the problem.

4. 4

   Ask a neighbour

   If they are down too, it is the network even though nothing is listed. Tell your provider that when you ring.

5. 5

   Report it to your provider

   Ask them to check your service and run a line test, and ask what the test showed. Get a reference number and write it down with the date and time.

That restart has an order to it, and how to restart your modem and NBN box the right way gives it step by step. If the box lights are solid and there is still nothing, why the modem lights are on but there is no internet picks it up from there.

What did the checks show?

An outage is listed Not listed, but next door is down too Not listed, and only you are down

Your home

An outage is listed

The checker lists an outage at your address. The fault is in the network, and nothing in your home will fix it. Restart once, then wait, and check the page again every few hours.

Not listed, but next door is down too

Nothing is listed yet, but the street is out. That is almost always the network. Report it to your provider and tell them the neighbours are down too.

Not listed, and only you are down

The street is working and you are not. The fault is on your own service: your home, or the line coming in. Restart, check the NBN box lights, then ask your provider for a line test.

Whose side is the fault on?

What you found in those steps points to one side or the other. Here is how the results usually read:

What you found, and who it points to

What you found	Where it points	Who to ring
Neighbours down too, nothing listed yet	The network in the street	Your provider, and say the neighbours are out
NBN box lights will not settle, neighbours fine	Your line: the lead-in, the wiring or the box	Your provider first; a technician if they say it is your side
NBN box lights solid, modem shows no internet	The modem, its lead or its settings	Your provider, about the modem and its settings
Fine on a cable, no internet on WiFi	The WiFi	Nobody about the line; the WiFi is the problem

In a unit block the line runs through the building’s own cabling first, and a fault there can affect more than one unit. Changing provider does not move it, because every provider uses the same cabling in the building.

What if my provider says there’s no outage, but it’s still down?

Ask how they know, and get the answer in writing. A provider can test the line remotely, and a remote test that passes does not always mean the fault is in your home. People ring us who were told there was a general outage in the area when every neighbour was online, and others who were told nothing was wrong when nothing plugged into the NBN box would work.

You cannot ring NBN instead. NBN is a wholesaler: it takes fault reports from providers, not from the public, so the provider is the only way to get an NBN technician to your address. Keep the pressure on through them, with the reference number every time.

If the provider says the fault is on your side and you think it is not, that is the point to have it tested where the line arrives at your property. An independent NBN technician who tests to the boundary puts the result in writing, so you can take it back to the provider. When the fault is a line that keeps dropping out rather than one that is dead, NBN fault repair starts from the same test.

And if the provider will not act on the result, there are proper steps for that. How to complain about an NBN fault sets them out, from your provider’s complaints team to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

When to call a technician, and when not to

You do not need us when an outage is listed for your address, when your neighbours are down too, or when the problem is in your provider’s own network. That is the network’s to fix, and your provider is the one to chase. Modem settings that need putting back after a reset are usually your provider’s to give you as well.

Call a technician when there is no outage, the neighbours are online, and your service is still down or keeps dropping out. That is when the fault is most likely to be on your side of the boundary: a lead, a socket, the wiring, the NBN box connection or the modem. Our internet technician tests each of them in turn, fixes what it can on your side on the day, and tells you in writing when it is the network’s instead. If the line is fine and it is only the WiFi that fails, a WiFi technician is the better fit.

Not sure which it is? Send us a message with what the lights are doing and what your provider said, or ring 02 9188 1577, and we’ll tell you whether it sounds like a visit or a wait.