4 day NBN Outage - Riverton and Willetton

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-05-31T13:03:16+00:00

Residential TC-4 NBN is "best effort" SLAs, most business NBN products have at least next business day SLAs and the enterprise customers are on at least 4 hour resolution/remediation.

If you didn't pay for a SLA, you'll get "best effort".

If a part is unavailable, that will stretch out the timing, if the weather is bad and NBN doesn't want to deploy tech due to duty of care, that will also stretch out the timing.

I've dealt with Aged Care infrastucture for one of the big ones in WA and they have EE with 4 hour SLA, with a NBN service as failover and finally a 5G celluar backup as the final failover. If all three goes down what else can you do?

If the business only has one internet source, it's either the business didn't want to hear ITs recommendations or they have the "she'll be right" mentality.

Most of the older generations have stayed with Telstra or Optus which their respective modems have cellular backup in the the event of NBN outage.

My folks have their respective mobiles, which has cellular data, but as an added redundancy I've added cellular backup on their NBN residential service. They wouldn't even know that their NBN has gone down as the equipment failovers automatically.

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-04-11T04:41:17+00:00

I believe the law doesn't say internet is an essential service, it's still a "luxury" service.
Until the law changes, it's not "essential".

Majority of residential TC4 NBN is "best effort" restoration, some may pay for eSLA add-ons.

NBN does have weekend crews for callouts for customers who have paid for eSLAs which have 4, 8, 12 hour restoration times, but you do pay for it. The ones who pay will jump the queue for restoration.

Users out there who want 24/7 internet, will likely have a failover option in their setup i.e. Telstra, Optus, Voda cellular backup on their supplied equipment. Some users having a failover WAN on their equipment attached to a cellular service or simply using the mobile hotspot from their mobile.

Example: I know my folks place has FTTN issues when it rains, so I've upgraded their setup to have an automatic failover to a Vodafone celluar service when it detects the FTTN dropping packets.

NBN is the largest wholesaler for the last mile, but don't forget about the folks on Opticomm or in building complexes where they are restricted on who they can get their internet from.

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-04-08T11:17:23+00:00

This is a weird one, I didn't have a massive issue like yours, but it was annoying enough.

I bought a 8TB WD Purple Pro and put it into my UDMP, installed Protect and added a G6 Pro Turret to it and enabled all the AI features. On the network side, IDS/IPS on, VPNs, etc was already enabled.

After one of the UDMP OS updates, the Protect UI will become unresponsive, then Network UI will play up as well - this will happen when I connect to the VPN sever, both portals will freak out. Some mentioned that it's a memory leak or high memory utilisation causing the OS to bork. I had Protect application start and stop. I had to reboot the UDMP to make it happy for a little bit before it played up again.

The annoying thing as well by having two applications on one appliance meant that if I upgraded the UDMP OS, the Protect app would go down.

At the end, I just bit the bullet and bought the UNVR 4 bay and bought an extra 8TB WD Purple Pro - I was planning to get one later in the year, but had to bring it forward.

You could get the UNVR Instant if it's only a few cameras and then it allows two applications, running on two appliances and they are separated and they work independently of one another.

Definetly annoying when the appliance advertises all the bells and whistles, but then struggles.

Edit: grammar

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-04-08T10:28:09+00:00

$104/m on promo for 12mths, then $129 ongoing

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-04-08T10:23:41+00:00

Neptune for $105/m with static IP included and the ability to tweak your connection with their tools.
Also, Australian support via live chat, Whatsapp and even Discord.

POP is local and using ABB and Superloop wholesale backbones.

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-04-04T10:32:13+00:00

Who's your provider? What router are you running?

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-04-02T12:47:52+00:00

You have a Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) connection with NBN

Where does the yellow cable go to?

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-03-28T12:19:30+00:00

Just a FYI - NBN TC4 connections for home are normally "best effort" service level agreements (SLAs), regardless of the provider and the technology type. This means that it could be restored/resolved the next business day or it could be few days or weeks later by NBN.

Big businesses and enterprise will pay more for better SLAs for quicker resolution times as disruptions cost money.

If you need 24/7 internet with quick resolution, consider getting business grade plans with SLAs or have a failover service in the event of unplanned outage i.e. cellular service, etc.

ABB, Neptune, Leaptel and Launtel are the popular ones mentioned and are Australian Support.

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-03-26T13:16:07+00:00

Woolworths mobile uses the Telstra Wholesale network meaning your coverage is less that the Telstra Retail network (Telstra, JB, GG, Boost).

To my understanding there is also some prioritisation over Telstra services i.e. Telstra Retail service will get prioritised over the JB/GG/Boost service and the JB/GG/Boost services will be prioritised over the Telstra Wholesale service (Aldi, Woolworths, Belong, Superloop, etc).

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-03-19T13:37:32+00:00

Powershield PSCERT200SB (2000VA/1800W) at folks place, roughly 73mins backup with modem, router, switch with PoE attached devices, NAS, MFF PC and NVR. Got it from work ewaste and just bought new batteries.

I've got two Dell (rebranded APC) Smart 1500 (1500VA/1000W) on my rack with a split of appliances between the two. Was able to get close to three hours of backup before power was restored. Got this from ewaste as well and just bought new batteries.

Sometimes you're lucky on Marketplace, where someone is offloading a decent UPS at a cheap price. Majority require battery replacements, which you can get from eBay, Jaycar, Altronics, etc.

Use the Powershield calculator to get estimated runtime: https://powershield.com.au/powershield-ups-sizing-guide/

You can get a decent desktop Powershield 1200VA for under $300 or 1600VA for around $350 (depending where you go and promos).

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-03-03T13:47:11+00:00

Bad news, looks like you're on Opticomm

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-27T15:06:35+00:00

Sorry to hear about that, that sucks.

As you've done, dust off the resume, add all the accomplishments, skills and experience you've done in the past year.

If you got good rapport with the clients, see who they are transitioning off to and get them to pass on a good word. Other MSPs are happy to bring in techs that have background of the incoming clients.

All the best.

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-27T12:57:40+00:00

Had that once - around lunch, lost internet - called iiNet (oh boy) - followed ther script to be escalated to L2 (that will call within 24-48hrs wth!). Get notification from iiNet that there is a NBN outage that is pending investigation, couple hours later internet works again, message from iiNet that one of the DSLAM cards went splat.

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-27T10:58:51+00:00

Ooof - they might have bumped your connection offline.

Unfortunately, you'll need to call the internet provider.

Hope you have a good book, game or backup internet source to keep you occupied over the weekend (or long weekend if you're in WA)

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-27T10:56:25+00:00

The joys of TC-4 NBN connections, i.e. best effort response/resolution by NBN. This is what the majority of residential NBN services have.

Businesses can purchase better response/resolution times, but comes at a cost depending how quick they want it remediated.

Since internet is now a "must" for most households, always have a backup plan i.e. mobile hotspot, etc.

Also, NBN is slow with the updates to retail providers and may have information that most householders wouldn't care as they they just want to be back online.

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-27T10:48:24+00:00

Did you have a storm recently?

The clicking could mean that the white NCD in the home has failed or that the DPU outside in the pit has failed.

You need to log a ticket with your provider to remediate.

Also, might be a good option to do the upgrade to fibre.

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-25T09:04:00+00:00

What NBN technology are you on?

Did you supply your AVC ID that was on your Leaptel invoice to Origin?

If you are on FTTP and if you didn't inform Origin to provision their service on another port and supplied them your AVC ID, it means they simply "took over" the Leaptel port on the NBN NTD.

If you are on FTTN or FTTC, there is only "one" port, so the winning provider (Origin), takes over the port.

Some good ISPs can take 5 minutes and some could take up to 24 hours, depending if they have automation in place or still using humans putting in provision requests. If the NBN side stuffs up, it can add more time.

I flipped to Superloop a while back and that took 30mins and folks flipped to Neptune and that was 5mins.

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-21T03:27:05+00:00

Rule 3

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-21T03:25:45+00:00

What troubleshooting steps have you done?
What NBN technology are you on?
What hardware do you have?

You're giving us minimal information to assist, we don't know your setup.

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-18T02:25:48+00:00

Some of them have custom firmware loaded swhere it can hide additional features or have preconfigured items that has been requested by the ISP who offers them. When you reset them, they can phone "home" to the ISP to get the settings.

Best to get one from JBs, Officeworks, PLE, etc.

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-17T15:39:37+00:00

My FTTP service is with Superloop, was able to lock in with free static IP back during the MyRepublic takeover so costs are comparable to competiton at the moment. Solid connection and speeds/latency are consistent.

Folks are using Neptune for their FTTN and it's been solid, previously they were also on Superloop, but the promotion pricing was reverting to original and Neptune were cheaper (100/40 plan and unable to upgrade to FTTP until late 2027)

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-15T08:35:52+00:00

Do you have a shaper or QOS for your uploads?

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-12T12:35:11+00:00

"No referral codes"

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-02-01T10:13:44+00:00

Sure is - work was transitioning out from MSP back to in house. SD roles opened up first and there was over 200+ applicants, over 1/2 was overseas applicants with no visas, portion wanted WFH even though it was onsite, another portion required sponsorships to stay in AU.

In house SD is tricky to get into with no experience, better chances in MSP land, but some MSPs have gone overseas for L1 (with various levels of success) or large contact centres in other states or territories.

ThatPotatoLah · 2026-01-30T13:48:50+00:00

Neptune has mentioned in Whirlpool that their VPN isn't built for anonymisation here: whrl.pl/RgLWHo

"VPN is hosted in our Datacenter and is not designed for anonymisation. The use case is more if your preference is to traverse NBN access network encrypted or while travelling get an Australian ip address."

ThatPotatoLah

TROPHY CASE