How to connect to the NBN: A step-by-step guide | MATE

Home & Business Internet Blog | MATE | 21 February 2019

The nbn™ is quickly rolling out across Australia, and you may be wondering how and when to get connected.

The good news is it can be pretty simple!

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to connect to the nbn™.

Step one: Make sure your home is nbn-ready

The first step is to check whether nbn™ has reached you yet. The nbn™ is the largest infrastructure project in the country, and turning it on isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. Covering an entire continent with high-speed internet takes time.

We’ve set up a handy tool for checking if nbn™ is available for you. If service is available at your address, you’re ready to move to step two. If not, visit the nbn™ rollout map to get an estimate about when service will be available at your address.

Step two: Contact your internet provider

Once nbn™ service is available at your location, give your internet provider a call. In most cases they will need to organise an nbn™ technician to deliver and install some new equipment before your home will be upgraded to the nbn™ service. The pace of the rollout affects nbn™ technician availability, too, and in some cases, nbn™ may have a backlog, especially when densely populated areas are first turned on.

Side note: Understand the rollout types

We won’t go into detail in this post, but it’s important to understand that the nbn™ is being delivered over several different forms of technology. All promise high-speed internet access, but they don’t all promise the same level of speed.

The Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) service offers the highest possible speeds and is available to many freestanding homes, especially those closer to major cities. Other solutions exist for multi-unit buildings (like apartments) and more rural environments, and these max out at a lower top speed. If you want to learn more about the technologies being used, read this post.

Step three: Choose your plan

Next, you’ll need to choose your plan. Depending on the type of service you have through nbn™ (see the side note above), you’ll have a handful of plan options. The biggest differentiator for every plan is speed.

How do you know which plan you need? It comes down to your usage. Do you want to be able to stream multiple shows at once while a child plays intensive online multiplayer games? Then you’ll want at least 100mbps if you can get it. If you only use the internet for basic web browsing, email, and perhaps music streaming, the slowest plan will likely suffice.

Step four: Convert your landline

One of the quirks of the nbn™ is that your landline telephone, if you choose to keep it, will be bundled in with your nbn™ service. Providers are offering plans with and without home phone service, and the cost to add it is minimal. Take time to work out whether you still want to have a home phone – unlike ADSL services, a landline phone service is not required with nbn™.

If you choose to maintain a landline service, your internet provider can transfer your existing phone number provided you keep this active, or they can issue you a new phone number. Contact your provider for more information on how they handle this.

Step five: Enjoy your new nbn™ connection

That’s it! Once service is available, you contact your provider, choose a plan, and convert your landline (if desired). From there, enjoy sweet, sweet high-speed internet!