Moving into a new home with no NBN: new estates, new builds and missing addresses

The keys are in your hand, the boxes are unpacked, and the address will not come up when you try to order the internet. A new home with no NBN is nearly always waiting on one of three things: the paperwork, the pipe, or the address. The pipe and the box’s place are far easier to sort before the plaster than after it, which is why pre-wiring a path for the NBN box before the installer comes is the first job on a new build.

Why does my new home have no NBN?

Because NBN has nothing to connect to yet. In almost every case, one of three things is missing.

• The application. NBN says an approved application is needed before any new home can be connected. On a new estate or a duplex, the developer or builder makes it. If nobody did, nothing has been planned for your home.
• The pipe. The cable from the street has to reach the house through a conduit the builder lays. If it was never put in, or stops short, the installer has no path to pull the cable through.
• The address. NBN keeps a record for every location it can connect, its location ID, and a provider can only order against an address that has one. A new address, or one that was split or renamed, may not have it yet.

You do not need to work out which on your own. The next two checks usually tell you.

How do I check whether NBN can find my address?

Type the address into NBN’s address checker, which is the map on our NBN rollout checker. If the address comes up, the result says which type of NBN it is and whether you can order. If it does not come up, NBN has no record of it yet, and no provider can order a service until it does.

When it comes up, note the technology it shows: fibre to the premises, fibre to the curb, fibre to the node or HFC. That decides what cable the house needs from the box on the outside wall, and it is the first question any technician will ask you.

If the address is missing, work through it in this order. Every step but the council one is from NBN’s own page for a missing address (opens in a new tab); the council step is our technician’s advice.

1. 1

   Try a neighbour's address or a landmark

   On the map, search for the house next door or a nearby landmark. If the street shows and your lot does not, the problem is your address record, not the network.

2. 2

   New subdivision? Ask the developer

   NBN says a newly subdivided property should check with the developer that the title was lodged correctly with council. An address that is not registered properly does not reach NBN's system.

3. 3

   New house on a single block? Ask the builder

   NBN tells owners of a newly built home on its own block to talk to the developer or builder about registering it. Ask whether a new developments application was made, and get the reference if it was.

4. 4

   Ask the council what it has

   If the address is not registered, or is registered but not showing, ring the council and ask. Our technician's advice on these calls is to ask whether there is a form that gets the address into NBN's database. It can take weeks, so start early.

5. 5

   Then ring your provider

   Ask them to raise it with NBN as a missing address. NBN says the provider may ask for the property's coordinates and proof that it is occupied, so have both ready.

Sometimes the house has been standing for years. A duplex in Tullimbar had fibre in the pit and no NBN record for four months, and the lot numbers on its title were what got it fixed.

A granny flat on the same lot as the house is its own case: it usually needs its own registered address before anything else happens. Granny flat NBN: your own service, or share the house’s sets out both roads.

How do NBN new developments work?

The developer applies to NBN, builds the underground pipe to NBN’s design, and NBN then brings its network in and connects each home. NBN’s answers to common questions about new developments (opens in a new tab) set out who does what.

• Who applies. Usually the developer. On smaller projects it can be the builder, and the developer can name someone to act for them. The application goes to NBN’s New Developments team through its online portal. That is different from a fault or an order for a service, which go through a provider.
• When. NBN asks for at least three months’ notice before anyone moves in for a small development, such as a lot split into two, and at least six months for others.
• What gets built. It depends on the kind of development, below.
• What it costs the developer. NBN charges developers a contribution for each new home it connects. Its pages set out when the charge applies, and your provider may have its own charges when you order.

What gets built for the NBN, by kind of development

The development	Who applies	What the developer or builder builds	What NBN does
A new estate with new roads	The developer	Pit and pipe: underground conduits to shared pits, built to NBN's design and handed over to NBN	Brings its network into the estate and connects each home
A duplex or a few homes on an existing street	The developer, or the builder	A lead-in conduit for each home, from the front boundary to the house	Connects each home through its conduit
One house knocked down and one rebuilt	Often no new application	A pipe from the boundary to the house, if the old one is gone	Connects the rebuilt house, ordered through a provider
A new granny flat with its own address	The developer or builder, once the flat has its own address	Its own lead-in conduit	Connects it as a separate home

The knock-down row is the one people get wrong. NBN says rebuilding one house in place of one does not attract a new developments charge, and may not need an application at all. Create new addresses on the same land, and each new address does.

What is pre-provisioning, and when should it be done?

On the phone we call it pre-provisioning: telling NBN about the new homes before the build starts, so the street can be made ready for them. The formal version is NBN’s new developments application. It belongs at the very start, before the brickwork and the concrete.

The reason is in the street. The network outside was built for the homes that were already there. Where one house becomes two, or four townhouses, there may not be a spare line, a spare port or a spare connection point for the new ones.

• On fibre to the curb, the unit in the pit out the front serves a small, fixed number of houses, often the house in front and its neighbours. Extra homes can mean extra units in the street.
• On HFC, the coax in the street has a connection point for each house already there, and a new home may need another one added.
• On fibre to the premises, the street fibre still has to be extended to each new home.

Any of that can take months, and our technician’s advice to every developer and builder who rings is the same: lodge it first, and chase it. Find out what NBN wants before the slab goes down, because a pipe in the wrong place under new concrete is a pipe that gets dug up.

Near the end of the build there is a second, separate step. NBN offers what it calls pre-installation for eligible homes: it fits the box on the outside wall and the NBN box inside while the house is still being finished, so the internet can be ordered before you move in. It needs the conduits in first. NBN’s pre-installation guide for builders (opens in a new tab) lists what it expects.

What does the builder have to leave for the NBN?

A pipe from the front boundary to the house, a second pipe inside from where the outside box goes to where you want the NBN box, a draw string in both, and a power point beside the spot for the box. Miss any one of them and the installer may not be able to finish.

From NBN’s pre-installation guide and what we tell builders on the phone:

• The lead-in conduit, rigid white telecommunications conduit from the front boundary to the wall where the outside box will go, at the depth NBN’s guide sets. NBN takes it from the boundary to its pit. NBN conduit installation has nbn’s depths, bends and sizes.
• An internal conduit from the outside box to where the NBN box goes inside. Without it, the installer has no way to get the fibre in, and some houses have been left with a cable stopped at the outside wall.
• A draw string in each, tied off and taped at both ends, so the cable can be pulled straight through.
• Gentle, sweeping bends. Fibre is glass. A conduit full of tight right-angle corners may take a copper or coax cable today and break a fibre cable later.
• A power point beside the box. The NBN box and the modem both need one, and NBN’s guide asks for a double power point close to the spot.
• The right cable for the type of NBN. On HFC, the NBN box is fed by coax. We have had new houses where the electrician ran data cable to the box’s spot instead, because nobody checked the type first.

Two calls come up over and over. The builder leaves the conduit at the boundary, and the installer says the gap to the pit is the builder’s job. It is not: from the boundary to the pit is NBN’s, so ring your provider, and if they will not act, take it further with the ombudsman. And the conduit goes in on the wrong side of the driveway, which is cheap to fix before the concrete and dear after it.

Pick a stage

The pipe from the street The path inside The cables to the rooms

StreetNBN pitNBN'sFront boundaryDraw stringOutside boxNBN boxPower pointGarageLiving roomStudyBedroomBedroomBedroom

The pipe from the street

The builder lays a conduit from the front boundary to the wall where the outside box goes, with a draw string in it. NBN takes it from the boundary to its pit.

The path inside

A second conduit runs from the outside box to where you want the NBN box, with sweeping bends and a power point beside it, so the installer can put the box there.

The cables to the rooms

With the walls still open, the data cables to the rooms start from the same cupboard, so the NBN box, the modem and the network all live in one place.

Where should the NBN box go in a new home?

Where your home network starts: a cupboard or a wall near the middle of the house, with a power point, where the data cables to the other rooms can all come back to one place. That is rarely where the installer would put it if left alone.

Left alone, the box goes close to where the cable comes in, which in a lot of new houses is the garage. It depends who turns up, but a path that already exists decides it. So:

• Decide at frame stage, with the plans on the table, where the NBN box and the modem will live.
• Run the internal conduit to that spot, not to the nearest wall.
• Run the data cables to the rooms from that same spot, while the ceiling is open. Data cabling to a new build is easiest before the plaster.
• Mark the wall. If an installer tells you where the box will go, have it marked on the wall, so the box ends up where you agreed.

If the box has already gone in the garage, getting the internet from the garage to the rest of the house covers the options.

What if it is an older house that never had the internet?

Then the question is what is already in the ground. Check the address first. If it shows fibre to the curb or fibre to the node, there is usually an old copper phone line to the house already, even if nobody used it. If it shows HFC, the house needs a coax cable, and unless it once had pay TV it may not have one.

Find the pit out the front, often near the water meter, and the box or cable where the line reaches the house, and photograph both. If there is no pipe and no cable, the house needs a lead-in from the boundary, which is lead-in cable installation and the conduit work above. If the address shows fibre to the premises is available, or you want it, the fibre upgrade is its own job with its own path to the box.

While you wait, a 5G home internet plan or a satellite service can get you online in the meantime. Starlink vs 5G vs NBN compares them.

When do you need a technician, and when don’t you?

You do not need us for the paperwork. The new developments application is the developer’s or the builder’s, the address is the council’s and your provider’s, and the connection is NBN’s, booked through your provider. We cannot lodge any of those for you. You do not need us for the gap between the boundary and the pit either: that is NBN’s.

You do need someone like us for the work on your side of the boundary:

• The conduit from the house to the boundary, laid to NBN’s guide with a draw string, ready for the installer.
• The path inside from the outside box to the room you want, so the box goes there on the day.
• The data cabling from the box to the rooms you use.
• A walk-through at frame stage, before the concrete and the brickwork, so the pipes go in once. The application asks for a plan of where the lead-in conduit will run, and on a job we do, we draw it.

Not sure which of these your house needs? Send us a message with the address, the plans or photos of the front of the house, and where you want the box, or ring 02 9188 1577.