Fibre’s Coming – Be Ready for the Appointment

If you’re getting Fibre? Be ready for what happens next.

The NBN Technician is probably NOT going to turn up for your 1st appointment.

Or the 2nd!

They might even miss the 3rd!!

Yep…it sucks, but here is what you can do about it.

However, before you continue reading please rest assured your Fibre upgrade (FTTP service) is without a doubt the way to go and you have made a great decision to proceed. Once the upgrade is complete the reliability and speed are far superior to the old copper network that the previous FTTN and FTTC services relied upon.

The NBN Fibre service is fantastic, just the installation process is a little messy…

If you have the correct expectations as to what will most likely happen on the day you may be far less annoyed:

What NBN are doing:

• Setting a massive 4 hour window and telling you that you have to be there the entire time
• Inflexible with these timeframes
• Spam you with many SMS messages and calls before the appointment date leading you to believe they will be there
• SMS you to say a technician is on their way, even though they do not turn up more often than not

What NBN are not doing:

• The NBN do not respect your time or the fact you have most likely taken time-off work to be there for a 4 hour window
• They do not ask you what time will suit you
• There is no communication from their technicians giving an approximate time of arrival
• Including not providing any communication if they are running late
• And no communication (until it is too late) if they are not going to turn up at all
• It is very important to note that we have been struggling with 2 issues dealing with the NBN. They are downplaying these 2 issues and ignoring the implications.

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Issue 1 – NBN Technicians Missing Appointments:

We’ve seen a growing number of cases where NBN technicians are not showing up to their first scheduled appointments. In some instances, they’ve missed up to three appointments for the same customer. We’ve even received some questionable excuses—like blaming the weather on sunny days, or claiming the customer wasn’t home when they definitely were.

Worse still, neither you nor we are informed of any issues until after the 4-hour appointment window has passed. So you’re left waiting with no updates and no technician.

Our advice: If you need to make special arrangements to be home for the appointment, consider rescheduling to a day when you’ll be home anyway. We can’t guarantee a specific time, but we can request a different date and provide multiple options. Appointments are always within a 4-hour window—morning or afternoon.

The first appointment we offer is typically the earliest available, but if it doesn’t suit, let us know and we’ll work to find better options.

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Issue 2 – NBN Technicians trying to get out of the installation and suggesting an electrician is necessary:

Unfortunately, after several reschedules, when the NBN technician does finally arrive, many will try to avoid doing the installation—especially if it’s slightly tricky or if there’s light rain. Often, they’ll suggest you need to hire an electrician first.

This is their way of getting you to do the hard work, so the install is easy for them.

Sometimes an electrician is needed, but NBN is supposed to give you at least one installation option without extra cost.

To get the best outcome, follow this approach:

Ask the technician: “Where can you install it?”

→ Do not tell them where you want it.

They will likely dodge the question and ask you back, “Where would you like it?”

Don’t fall for this tactic—if you give a location, they may just say it’s not possible and refuse to proceed unless you hire your own electrician to run conduit.

Instead, say: “I’m happy to go with your recommended location.”

If you really don’t like their recommended spot, then yes, you’ll need an electrician to run conduit from where you want it to where they say it must go. But it’s important to note this is then your choice and not them commanding or mandating it.

Also, ask clearly where the outside NBN box (PCD – Premises Connection Device) will be installed. This is crucial if future cabling is needed.

One final thing to note:

Despite the challenges above the Fibre upgrade is a great option once it is completed.

Regarding your modem/router location, you don’t necessarily need the NBN box where your current modem is. You could get the NBN Technician to install the internal NBN device (also known as the NTD, Network Termination Device) anywhere (their recommended location) and then run ethernet from the NBN box to the study or living room, or wherever your modem/router is. Or a simpler option, could be to upgrade to a Mesh system, or a combination of cabling and mesh.