The short answer
What an NBN outage actually is
When the internet drops, almost everyone says the same thing: "the NBN is down". But an NBN outage is not one event, it is three completely different problems wearing the same symptom. The fault is either inside your own home (your modem, Wi-Fi, power or cabling), on your retailer's side (the RSP that bills you), or on the NBN Co network itself (the government-owned wholesaler that runs the lines). Which one it is decides who is responsible for fixing it, how long it takes, and whether you are owed anything at all. This page shows you how to tell the three apart in a couple of minutes, who pays when, and the trap nobody warns you about: with the old copper phone line gone, your VoIP home phone and many medical or security alarms stop working the moment power or the internet drops, because battery backup is now your responsibility, not the telco's.
Here is the core takeaway in one line: an NBN outage is not one thing, it is a fault in one of three layers (your equipment, your retailer or the NBN Co network), and which layer failed decides who must fix it and whether you are owed a credit. That single idea fixes the two things people get wrong: they blame "the NBN" for a fault that is actually their own modem or Wi-Fi, and they assume a network outage automatically lands a payout in their account when in fact a rebate flows from NBN Co to your retailer, and your own credit is something you have to ask for. Work out the layer first, then act on it.
Reframe the assumption: "the NBN is down" is a diagnosis, not a symptom. Before you call anyone, three quick checks (other devices down, modem lights, neighbours affected, mobile data working) sort your gear from your retailer from NBN Co. Get the layer right and you stop wasting an hour fixing the wrong thing.
The blind spot
Why most outage guides leave you stuck
Most "what to do in an NBN outage" articles do one of three unhelpful things, and each one leaves you fixing the wrong layer or missing money you were owed.
First, they treat the outage as a single mystery. They reel off a generic list (restart the modem, check the cables, wait it out) without ever helping you work out whether the fault is your gear, your retailer or NBN Co. That list only solves the first layer; if the fault is upstream, you can reboot the modem all night and nothing changes.
Second, they imply compensation is automatic. They mention rebates as though the money lands in your account when the network goes down. It does not. NBN Co pays a wholesale rebate to your retailer, not to you; your own credit comes from your retailer, under your contract, and only if you ask. Confusing the two is why people feel cheated when nothing arrives.
Third, they never mention the phone and alarm trap. The single most dangerous thing about an NBN outage barely rates a sentence: because the copper dial tone is gone, a VoIP home phone and many medical or security alarms stop the instant power or internet drops, and battery backup is now your responsibility. A guide that skips this can cost far more than a slow Netflix night.
How responsibility is split, layer by layer
Expert analysis: who owns the fault and who pays
The NBN is wholesale, so the fault lives in one of three places
The NBN is a wholesale monopoly. NBN Co owns the network and does not sell to you; it sells access to retailers (the industry calls them RSPs, or Retail Service Providers) such as Telstra, Optus, Aussie Broadband, TPG and dozens of smaller telcos, who then sell a plan to you. That structure is exactly why an outage has three possible homes: the gear inside your house, the retailer that buys wholesale access and runs its own core network, and the NBN Co lines themselves. The reason you must always call your retailer first, never NBN Co, is that as a residential customer you have no contract with NBN Co at all; your retailer is the only party who can raise a fault on the NBN line.
How to tell an NBN Co fault from a retailer fault from your gear
The symptoms separate cleanly if you know what to look at. Only one device down is almost always that device or your Wi-Fi, not an outage. Every device down but the modem still syncs (the connection light is steady, yet nothing loads) points at your retailer's core network. The modem cannot sync at all and the whole street is dark points at NBN Co. Your mobile data is the cross-check: if it works, the problem is your fixed line specifically, not a regional event. Getting this right matters because it sets who is responsible and how the fault is escalated.
Why a rebate is not the same as your compensation
This is the part that trips everyone up. When NBN Co misses its service standards (a missed technician appointment, a fault left too long), it pays a wholesale rebate to your retailer. That money is a business-to-business credit between two companies; it does not automatically reach you. What you can claim is a credit from your own retailer for the time you had no working service, under your plan and the Australian Consumer Law. It is not paid out by default, you generally have to request it, and if the retailer unreasonably refuses, you can lodge a free complaint with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). The regulator that sets the consumer rules in the background is the ACMA.
The trap nobody mentions: phones, alarms and power
The most important fact about an NBN outage has nothing to do with streaming. On the old copper network the phone was powered from the exchange, so a landline worked in a blackout. The NBN removed that. Your home phone is now a VoIP service riding on the internet connection, so it dies the instant the internet or the mains power drops. The same is true of many medical alarms, monitored security alarms, lift phones and EFTPOS terminals that were built for copper. On Fibre to the Node (FTTN) and Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) the connection also needs mains power at the home, so a simple power cut takes the internet down too. Battery backup is now the customer\'s responsibility, which is why anyone relying on a phone or alarm in an emergency should register a priority device with NBN Co and their retailer, and keep a charged mobile as a backstop.
Interactive explainer
NBN outage triage tool
Answer a few yes/no checks and it points to the likely cause (your gear, your retailer or NBN Co), the right next action, and whether a rebate may be in play. It works from the same signals an expert would read: devices, modem lights, neighbours and mobile data.
Work out who must fix your outage
Indicative only. Always report the outage to your retailer to confirm the fault and start any credit claim.
A couple more checks
Likely cause
This triage reads the same signals an expert checks: one device down points at that device, all devices down with a healthy modem points at your retailer, no sync with the street affected points at NBN Co, and a power cut explains an FTTN or FTTC drop on its own.
Assumptions: a single offline device is treated as a local device or Wi-Fi issue; "all devices" plus a synced modem is treated as a retailer fault; "no sync" plus affected neighbours is treated as an NBN Co network fault. Always confirm with your retailer. Sources: NBN Co, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).
| Likely cause | How you can tell | Who fixes it | Action & rebate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your own equipment | Only your devices are down; modem lights abnormal; neighbours fine. | You | Restart modem, check cables, check power. No claim, it is your gear. |
| Your retailer (RSP) | Modem syncs but no internet; provider status page shows an incident. | Your retailer | You may claim a credit for time without service under your contract. |
| NBN Co network | Whole street or suburb affected; modem cannot sync at all. | NBN Co (via your retailer) | A wholesale rebate flows to your retailer; pursue your credit with them. |
| Power failure | Everything in the home is off, not just internet; modem unlit. | You / energy retailer | No telco claim. FTTC and FTTN need mains power at the home to work. |
| Planned upgrade or maintenance | Notified in advance; affects a defined window and area. | NBN Co | Usually no rebate; the outage is scheduled and disclosed beforehand. |
What this looks like in real homes
How the wrong diagnosis trips real households
The three-layer split is not theory. It is exactly how Australian households waste time, miss money or hit real danger during an outage:
The hour spent rebooting a healthy modem
A household loses the internet and spends an evening power-cycling the modem and re-pairing devices. The modem never had a fault: the whole street was down on an NBN Co incident, and the only useful move was to report it and wait. A two-minute triage would have saved the hour.
The credit that was never claimed
A small business is offline for two days during a fault fix. NBN Co pays the retailer a wholesale rebate, but the customer assumes nothing is owed and never asks, so no credit ever reaches their bill. The money existed; it just had to be requested from the retailer.
The medical alarm that went silent
An older couple keep a monitored medical alarm that worked for years on the copper line. A power cut takes the FTTC connection down, the VoIP service dies, and the alarm cannot call for help. Nobody told them battery backup was now their responsibility, or to register the device as a priority service.
The blackout that killed the landline
During a storm blackout a family reaches for the home phone to report it, and there is no dial tone, because the VoIP phone runs on the internet and the internet runs on mains power. The old copper landline would have worked; the NBN one does not, and a charged mobile was the only backstop.
The insider insight
The outage that matters most is the one you never notice
Here is the part most outage guides never say out loud. Everyone treats an NBN outage as an inconvenience measured in missed streaming and stalled work calls. But the genuinely dangerous outage is the silent one: the moment the internet or the mains power drops, your VoIP home phone and any copper-era medical or security alarm can stop working without a single light or beep to warn you. On the old network the phone line carried its own power and worked through a blackout; the NBN handed that responsibility back to you and most people never got the memo. The risk is not that Netflix buffers, it is that an emergency call cannot be made at the worst possible moment.
The non-obvious truth: an NBN outage is really two events stacked on top of each other, a loss of internet and a loss of any service that quietly depends on it. The households that come through an outage well do two things ordinary guides skip: they triage the cause before touching the modem so they fix the right layer, and they treat phone and alarm continuity as a power problem, not an internet problem, by registering priority devices and keeping a charged mobile. Because the copper dial tone is gone for good, that mobile is now your real emergency line.
The practical consequence: never judge an outage by the internet alone. Check what else in the home was quietly riding on that connection, because those are the failures that actually hurt.
Grounded in the analysis
What you should actually do in an NBN outage
Specific moves that follow from how responsibility is split, not a generic reboot checklist.
Triage the layer before you touch anything
Run the quick checks: how many devices are down, what the modem lights show, whether neighbours are affected, and whether mobile data works. Use the triage tool above. This tells you whether the fault is your gear, your retailer or NBN Co before you waste an hour on the wrong one.
Report to your retailer, then note the time
You never deal with NBN Co directly, so report the outage to your retailer, who raises any NBN fault for you. Write down the start time and keep your reference number, because that is what any credit claim for time without service will rest on.
Protect your phone and alarm, and claim your credit
Treat phone and alarm continuity as a power problem: register any medical or priority device with NBN Co and your retailer, and keep a charged mobile. Once service is back, ask your retailer for a credit, and if they refuse unreasonably, take it free to the TIO.
Tired of a line that keeps dropping? Check your NBN plan and tier, run an internet speed test, or see whether home wireless broadband is a steadier option at your address.
Current figures, last updated 2026-06-16
Indicative Australian NBN outage facts for 2026. Sources: NBN Co, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), and the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). Specifics vary by retailer and by the connection technology at your address.
The bottom line
Why the diagnosis is the whole job
An NBN outage feels like one problem, but it is really a question with three answers, and the answer decides everything that follows. Work out whether the fault is your own gear, your retailer or the NBN Co network, and you know who must fix it, how it gets escalated, and whether a rebate is even in play. Report to your retailer, note the time, and ask for the credit you are owed rather than waiting for money that never arrives on its own. Most of all, remember that the copper dial tone is gone: your VoIP phone and any old alarm now depend on power and internet you have to back up yourself. In 2026, an outage is not just a slow night, it is a test of whether your household planned for the layer underneath.
Common questions
A Selectra expert answers your NBN outage questions
Working mobile data is the single most useful clue, because it proves the problem is your fixed line, not a regional blackout of all comms. Start with the three quick checks: are other devices in the home also offline (if only one device is down it is that device or your Wi-Fi), what do your modem lights show (a steady sync light but no internet points at your retailer, no sync at all points at the NBN line), and are your neighbours affected (a whole-street outage points at NBN Co). If your gear looks healthy and neighbours are down too, it is almost certainly an NBN Co network fault, and the fix is with NBN Co through your retailer, not something you can solve at home.
It depends which of the three layers failed. If it is your own equipment (modem, Wi-Fi, cabling or power at the home), that is yours to fix. If your devices are healthy but there is still no internet, the fault sits with your retailer (the RSP that bills you) or with NBN Co (the wholesaler that owns the lines). Crucially, you never deal with NBN Co directly as a residential customer: your retailer is your single point of contact and is the one who raises a fault with NBN Co on your behalf. So no matter who is ultimately at fault, you always report the outage to your retailer first.
There are two separate things and people confuse them. NBN Co pays a wholesale rebate to your retailer when it misses its service standards (for example a missed appointment or a slow fault fix); that money flows to the retailer, not automatically to you. What you can claim is a credit from your own retailer for the time you were without a working service, under your contract and the Australian Consumer Law. It is not automatic: you usually have to ask. If the retailer refuses and you believe you were left without service unreasonably, you can take a free complaint to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).
Because on the NBN there is no copper dial tone any more. Your landline is almost certainly a VoIP service that runs over the internet connection, so the instant the internet or the mains power drops, the phone goes silent too. The old copper network powered the phone itself from the exchange, which is why landlines used to work in a blackout; the NBN does not do that. If you rely on a home phone in an emergency, the only fix is a charged battery backup unit or, more reliably, a mobile phone, because battery backup on the NBN is now the customer's responsibility.
Not unless you have arranged for it. Many medical alarms, monitored security alarms, lift phones and EFTPOS terminals were built for the old copper line and will not work when the NBN or the power is down. NBN Co runs a Medical Alarm and Priority Assistance register, and you should register any life-supporting device with both NBN Co and your retailer so your connection is treated as a priority. Even then, test the alarm over the NBN, keep a charged mobile as a backstop, and never assume a device that worked on the old copper line still works on the NBN.
Always report to your retailer, never to NBN Co directly, because your retailer is your point of contact and the one who raises the fault. Before you call, run the quick checks so you can describe the symptom: which devices are down, what the modem lights show, and whether neighbours are affected. Your retailer publishes a service status or outage page, and NBN Co publishes network-wide outage information, so you can often confirm a known incident in seconds. If it is a confirmed area outage there is usually nothing to fix at home; note the start time, because that is what your credit claim will rest on.
