Who owns the NBN lead-in to your house?

It is the question people ask once something has gone wrong: a trench through the front lawn, a dead NBN box after the landscapers left, or a builder who says the cable is not their problem. It has been a grey area for as long as we have been doing this, and it still is in places. What follows is what we can say for certain, connection by connection, and what to do when it is cut, whoever did the damage. If it turns out the cable is yours to replace, that is lead-in cable installation, from the boundary to the wall.

What a lead-in is

The lead-in is the single cable that runs from NBN’s pit in the footpath, or from a pole, to your house. Everything before it is NBN’s street network; everything after it is the cabling inside your home.

Two different boundaries come up in every conversation about it, and mixing them up is where most of the arguments start:

• Your property boundary: the fence line, roughly where the letterbox is. On a new or re-laid connection, this is where your job ends. You get a pipe from the house to here, and NBN takes it from here to the pit.
• The network boundary point: the end of the lead-in at the house. This is where responsibility for a fault changes hands. The lead-in is on NBN’s side of it, even though it crosses your yard to get there.

So the cable under your lawn can be inside your property and still be part of NBN’s network. Pick a connection type to see whose each stretch is.

Which NBN connection have you got?

Fibre (FTTP) HFC (coax) Fibre to the curb Fibre to the node

Cut in the yard

Street Pit Fence line House A B C

1. A Street pit to your fence line NBN's networkNBN's networkNBN's networkNBN's network
2. B Your fence line to the house NBN's network, to the box on the wallNBN's network, to the wall boxNBN's network, to where it endsNBN's network, to where it ends
3. C Inside the house Yours: the lead to the NBN box insideYours: the coax from the wall box inYours: the wiring from there inYours: the wiring from there in

The fibre from the street to the box on your outside wall is NBN's for its whole length, the stretch under your yard included. The short lead from that box to the NBN box inside is the property's own cabling.

The coax lead-in is NBN's network up to the wall box, the isolator box on the outside of the house. The coax inside, from the wall box to the NBN box, is the home's own cabling.

The copper from the pit to the house is part of NBN's network. If it fails, it is theirs to fix, booked through your provider. Your side starts where the lead-in ends at the house.

The same old copper lead-in as fibre to the curb, part of the network since NBN took it over from Telstra. Your side starts where it ends at the house.

Cut in the yard: photograph it before anything is touched, then ring your provider, not NBN. NBN is a wholesaler, so the report goes through your provider, and NBN repairs it whoever cut it.

Fibre to the premises (FTTP)

On fibre, there are two boxes. The one on the outside wall is where NBN’s fibre from the street ends, and NBN owns that cable for its whole length, the part under your yard included. Nobody else may open, join or replace it. If it breaks anywhere between the street and that box, the repair is NBN’s, booked by your provider.

The lead from the outside box to the NBN box inside, and the connectors on each end, are your property’s own cabling. That is the part we repair when the fibre lead inside is damaged. So the same accident has two answers a metre apart: a spade through the fibre in the lawn is a report for your provider, and a nail through the lead in the wall cavity is a repair.

Fibre is also the reason the pipe matters. It is glass, it needs wide, sweeping bends, and it is pulled through a conduit, never laid bare. If you are on an upgrade, what the fibre to the premises upgrade involves covers where the box goes, and if it ends up in the wrong place, moving the NBN box is a separate job.

If the upgrade stalls because the pipe is blocked, here’s what fixing it on your side tends to cost.

HFC

HFC comes in on a coax cable, from a pole or a pit, to the wall box, a small isolator box on the outside of the house. The coax lead-in is part of NBN’s network up to that wall box, and the isolator in it belongs to NBN as well. If the lead-in fails or is cut, it is NBN’s to repair, booked through your provider.

The coax inside, from the wall box to the NBN box, is the home’s own cabling. Many HFC houses still have coax runs and old splitters there from the Foxtel days, and a corroded connector or a tired splitter indoors can drop the connection as surely as a fault outside. How HFC works explains the parts.

Fibre to the curb (FTTC)

On fibre to the curb, NBN’s equipment sits in the pit out the front, and a copper lead-in runs from there to your house. That copper is part of NBN’s network. If the fault is in the lead-in, or in the unit in the pit, it is still their problem, not yours, and it goes through your provider.

Copper lead-ins are old, and water in a joint between the pit and the house is one way a fibre to the curb line starts dropping out. FTTC dropouts when it’s windy or raining is the version of this that shows up after a storm. If the provider says the fault is in your wiring and you think it is the lead-in, NBN fault repair is testing which side it is on.

Fibre to the node (FTTN)

Fibre to the node uses the same kind of copper lead-in, usually the one the house has had for decades. It used to be Telstra’s, and when NBN took over the copper it became part of NBN’s network.

Today the answer is the same as on fibre to the curb: the lead-in is the network’s, and your side starts where it ends at the house.

When the lead-in is cut or damaged

Photograph the damage before anything is touched, and then work out which kind of damage it is.

You cut it, or your own tradesperson did. Inside your boundary, the lead-in is still part of NBN’s network, so NBN repairs it, through your provider, whoever cut it. That is the same on fibre, HFC and copper. Report it to your provider with the photos, and do not try to repair it yourself or have your tradesperson do it.

Someone else cut it. A contractor, the council or another utility. The network repairs it and can recover the cost from whoever caused the damage, which is called recoverable damages. Report it to your provider and give them the details of who did it: a name, a business and a date.

Nobody cut it, it just failed. A lead-in that is already live and carrying a service is tested before anyone decides whose it is. If the fault is on your side it is quoted and fixed. If it is on the network’s side, you get the readings in writing to give your provider, which is what an independent NBN technician does.

The pipe is damaged, not the cable. A crushed or broken conduit is usually one section, opened and replaced, with the rest left where it is. NBN conduit installation explains the repair and the specification.

It is out in the street and it is a danger. Tell the council as well as your provider.

What you’re allowed to do yourself

More than most people think, on your own land:

• Dig the trench, from where the box will go to your fence line. It is the one part of an underground lead-in that needs no registration, and doing it yourself takes real time and cost out of the job. Get the underground services plans before you start.
• Use a proper conduit with a draw rope in it, at the depth NBN’s guide sets. The conduit page has nbn’s depths, bends and pipe sizes, so ask before you dig and it is dug once.
• Use your own conduit. Not the neighbour’s, even if it runs past.

And two things you should not do: work in the council strip between the fence and the kerb, or open NBN’s pit. Past your boundary the land is public and the work belongs to NBN. Where the lead-in comes in on a pole inside your boundary, that pole is private, and an installer may decline to work on it.

A granny flat is its own case, because the address has to be registered before anything can connect. NBN for a granny flat sets out the order.

Who to ring first

Your provider, not NBN. NBN is a wholesaler: it takes fault and damage reports from providers, not from the public. Tell your provider what happened, send the photos, and let them book NBN.

If the provider will not act on a cable that is part of the network, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman takes complaints about providers. Taking a complaint about Telstra further walks through the steps, and they work for any provider.