NBN Technician Appointment for FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) Upgrade

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

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 below is an attempt to smooth out a messy NBN upgrade process in an attempt to set the correct expectations as to what will most likely happen on the day…when they finally turn up:

What NBN are doing:

1. Setting a massive 4 hour window and telling you that you have to be there the entire time
2. Inflexible with these timeframes
3. Spam you with many SMS messages and calls before the appointment date leading you to believe they will be there
4. 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:

1. 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
2. They do not ask you what time will suit you
3. There is no communication from their technicians giving an approximate time of arrival
4. Including not providing any communication if they are running late
5. 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 not turning up:

The NBN Technicians have not been turning up to the 1st appointments, in some cases missing 3 appointments in a row with the same customer. In some of these cases we have received creative stories where the technicians have said it was weather impacted (even on a sunny day) and other examples of the technician reporting the customer not being there when in fact the customer was definitely there.

To make matters worse, if they cannot make their appointment, they do not notify you or us until after the appointment window, meaning you sit around waiting for at least 4 hours only to have no one turn up or let you know what is going on.

Our recommendation is that if you have to make special plans to be there at the provided appointment timeframe, then please reconsider the date and let us know. We do have the option of requesting a date change. We cannot provide a specific date/time, however we can request more options and we would rather change the appointment to a day when you will be home anyway.

As mentioned we cannot always get the exact time you need, so please provide a few options. The timeframe will always be 4 hours (morning or afternoon).

The first appointment we provide is usually the earliest appointment option available.

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

When the technician arrives (unfortunately this could be after a number of appointment reschedules), the technician will do everything they can to avoid the installation. If the installation seems a little tricky at all or if there is a little rain they will often imply that you need an electrician to proceed.

In other words, an electrician would do all the hard work and make the NBN technician’s installation very straight forward.

In some cases you may indeed need an electrician, however it is the NBN’s commitment to offer you at least one installation option.

To achieve a successful outcome we recommend doing the following:

Ask the technician where he can install it?

i.e. do not tell him where you want it installed!

Please note that when you ask him, he will probably not give you a straight answer. Instead he will most likely ask you again,

“Where would you like it?”

However, please do not fall for this tactic as the only reason they ask this is to find a way to tell you it is not possible where you want it. They will then tell you the installation cannot proceed until you have organised your own electrician to run conduit.

So please rather tell him that you are happy with his recommendation.

What happens if you really aren’t happy with his recommendation?

In this case you will need an electrician to run conduit from where you want it to where the NBN Technician says the outside box will be installed. Remember to ask him where the outside box will go.

Ask him exactly where the external NBN device will go (also known as a PCD, Premises Connection Device)?

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 even better, you could upgrade to a Mesh system.