FTTC connection box lights and checks

With Fibre to the Curb (FTTC), fibre runs to a pit in the street, and the existing copper phone line covers the last stretch into your building. Inside, a small nbn connection box plugs into a phone wall socket, and your router plugs into the box. Not sure FTTC is what you have? See which nbn connection do I have.

The box also sends power down the phone line to the nbn equipment in the street. That’s why it has to be plugged in and switched on for anything to work.

How it should be connected

The box has three ports, each marked with a letter:

1. A (black): power. The nbn power cord goes into a power point that’s switched on. A safe power board or extension cord is fine if the power point is too far away.
2. B (grey): wall socket. The nbn telephone cable goes from here to the phone wall socket. Use the cable that came with the box: a longer phone cable can slow your connection.
3. C (yellow): your router. An Ethernet cable goes from here to the router’s port labelled WAN, Internet or nbn.

Nothing else should sit between the box and the wall socket:

• Remove any ADSL filters (the small adaptors left over from ADSL). With one in the line, the connection may not work at all.
• Older sockets (the large square plug with three prongs, often yellow, called 600-series) need an adaptor that takes a modern phone plug. Hardware and electronics stores sell them.
• Unplug old devices from every other phone socket in the building, such as old phones, fax machines and alarm diallers.

If there’s more than one wall socket, the right one is usually the socket your phone or internet used before. You’ll know it’s right when the Connection and DSL lights turn solid blue.

What the lights mean

The four lights are on top of the box. When everything is working, Power, Connection and DSL are solid blue.

Light	What you see	What it means	What to do
Power	Off	The box is off	Plug it in and switch the power point on
Power	Blue	Power is fine	Nothing
Connection	Off	Not connected to the nbn equipment outside	Check every cable is connected properly
Connection	Blinking blue	Starting up	Wait up to 20 minutes for it to go solid blue
Connection	Solid blue	Connected to the nbn equipment outside	Nothing
Connection	Red, solid or blinking	Possible line fault, or a problem with the box	Switch the box off at the wall and contact us
Connection	Flashing red and blue	Possible line fault, often a phone off the hook	Unplug anything that isn’t nbn-compatible from the phone sockets. Still flashing? Contact us
DSL (may be marked BB)	Off	The broadband link is down	If Power and Connection are solid blue but this is off, contact us
DSL (may be marked BB)	Blinking blue	Syncing, or a software update is running	Wait for it to go solid blue
DSL (may be marked BB)	Solid blue	Connected	Nothing
LAN	Off	No Ethernet connection to your router	Check the cable from port C to the router, and that the router is on
LAN	Blue or amber, steady or blinking	The box and router are talking	Nothing

The lights can also flash blue for several minutes during a system update. Leave the box alone while that happens.

If the internet isn’t working

1. Check the power cord is firmly in at the box and the wall, and the power point is switched on.
2. Check the phone cable from port B to the wall socket is secure, and not pinched, kinked or sharply bent.
3. Remove any ADSL filters, and unplug old devices from other phone sockets.
4. Restart the box: pull its power cord out for 10 seconds, plug it back in, then allow up to 20 minutes for the lights to settle. The phones and internet won’t work during this time.
5. Still not solid blue? Press and hold the RESET button on the side for 1 to 2 seconds only. The lights will blink for several minutes, and the connection can take up to 20 minutes to come back.
6. Try a different phone wall socket if there is one.
7. If Power, Connection and DSL are all solid blue but you still can’t get online, the nbn side is working. Plug a laptop straight into the router with an Ethernet cable to test whether it’s your router or Wi-Fi. See internet down: first checks.
8. Still not working, or the Connection light is red? Log a fault or call 1300 049 749.

For slow speeds and dropouts, see slow or dropping out.

Lightning and power surges

Some FTTC boxes can fail after a lightning strike or power surge, especially in lightning-prone areas. If a storm has gone through and the box is dead or showing red, contact us. Don’t open it or try to repair it.

Phones on FTTC

Phone calls over nbn run over the internet. Old-style phones plugged into the wall usually won’t work. Pulse or rotary-dial phones never will. To test an existing phone, plug it into the phone port on your router, not the wall socket.

Before you call us

Have this ready:

• The colour of each light (solid or blinking), after watching the box for about a minute
• Which wall socket the box is plugged into, and whether you’ve tried another
• What you’ve tried: power cycle, reset, filters removed
• Whether the whole office is down. If it is, we treat it as urgent.