Internet dropouts ยท symptom
The internet is slow but never actually drops out
Slow and dropping are different faults with different causes, and mixing them up is the fastest way to get nowhere. If the connection holds and the speed is wrong, there is usually a ceiling somewhere that you can find.
Last reviewed: 15 August 2026 · by Alien IT Solutions
Which connection type are you on?
Slow and dropping are different faults with different causes, and mixing them up is the fastest way to get nowhere. If the connection holds and the speed is wrong, there is usually a ceiling somewhere that you can find.
The answer to this symptom is genuinely different on each of the five nbn technologies, because the physical thing that fails is different. All five are written out below. Jump to yours, or read the lot.
Jump to your connection type
Not sure which one you have?
Look at the box your router plugs into. A separate nbn box with Power, Optical and Alarm lights means fibre to the premises. Four lights reading Power, Downstream, Upstream and Online means HFC. Blue lights on a small unit means fibre to the curb. An antenna on the roof means fixed wireless. And if there is no nbn box at all, only a modem from your provider plugged into a phone socket, you are on fibre to the node.
The light decoder walks you through it, or read the longer explanation of the connection types.
FTTP: Fibre to the Premises
Check the UNI-D light colour. It catches a cap most people never find.
There is a specific and badly under known trap on FTTP. nbn documents that the UNI-D port light shows orange when the connected device is running at 1Gbps Ethernet, and green when it is running at 10 or 100Mbps.
So a green UNI-D light on a 250Mbps or 1000Mbps plan means the link between your router and the nbn box negotiated at 100Mbps, and you can never exceed that no matter what you pay. It is not a fault your provider will spot, because from their side the service is delivered correctly. The usual cause is an old Ethernet cable, a damaged one, or a router with a 100Mbps port.
What to try yourself
- Look at the colour of the UNI-D light your router is plugged into. Green on a fast plan means you are capped at 100Mbps by the cable or the router, not by your plan.
- Swap the Ethernet cable for one marked Cat5e or Cat6. Old and damaged cables are the most common cause, and a cable is cheap.
- Check your router's WAN port specification. Some older and cheaper routers have a 100Mbps WAN port, which caps everything behind it.
- Test speed on a wired computer, not over Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi will hide the result either way.
What to say to your provider
Say: I am on FTTP on a PLAN plan. My UNI-D light is orange and a wired speed test still gives me X. Please check the speed profile provisioned on my service.
If the light is green, fix the cable or the router before you call. That one is genuinely yours, and no provider can fix it from their end.
FTTN: Fibre to the Node, and Fibre to the Building
Your sync speed is the ceiling. Find out what it is.
On FTTN your maximum speed is set by the copper between you and the node, and mostly by how far away that node is. That maximum is your sync speed, and no plan can exceed it. If you are paying for a 100Mbps plan and your line syncs at 45Mbps, you are paying for something the line cannot deliver.
This is worth checking before anything else, because if the ceiling is the problem then the answer is a cheaper plan or a different technology, not a fault report.
What to try yourself
- Find the sync speed on your modem's status page and write it down. It is the number that matters.
- Compare it to what you are paying for. If sync is well below your plan speed, you are being sold capacity your line cannot carry.
- Test wired, not over Wi-Fi, so you are measuring the line.
- Check whether your line has been speed limited for stability after a period of dropouts.
What to say to your provider
Say: I am on FTTN. My sync speed is X and I am paying for a Y plan. Please tell me my attainable rate, and whether I should be moved to a plan my line can actually deliver.
Australian providers are expected to tell you when your line cannot reach your plan speed and to offer you a cheaper plan or an exit. Ask for that directly. If they refuse, that is a complaint.
FTTC: Fibre to the Curb
Short copper, so the ceiling is usually higher. Check it anyway.
FTTC uses only a few metres of copper, so its ceiling is normally much higher than FTTN's and most FTTC lines can carry the common plan speeds. If yours is slow and stable, check the sync rate first, then look at the same Ethernet trap that affects FTTP: an old cable or a 100Mbps router port will cap you regardless of the line.
What to try yourself
- Check the sync rate reported for your connection.
- Replace the Ethernet cable between the nbn connection device and your router with a Cat5e or Cat6 cable.
- Test wired rather than over Wi-Fi.
- Confirm the LAN light is showing activity, which nbn describes as blue or amber, solid or blinking.
What to say to your provider
Say: I am on FTTC on a PLAN plan and getting X wired. Please confirm my sync rate and the speed profile provisioned on my service.
HFC: Hybrid Fibre Coaxial
Usually contention or signal levels rather than a hard ceiling.
HFC can carry high speeds, so a slow but stable HFC service is usually either sharing capacity with the street at that hour, or running with signal levels that force the box to work inefficiently. Both are visible to your provider without a technician visit.
What to try yourself
- Test at the worst hour and again late at night. A big gap points at contention, a flat result points at a ceiling or a fault.
- Remove any splitters between the wall outlet and the nbn connection box.
- Test wired rather than over Wi-Fi.
What to say to your provider
Say: I am on HFC on a PLAN plan. Wired I get X at peak and Y overnight. Please tell me my signal levels and whether my segment is congested.
Fixed Wireless: nbn Fixed Wireless
Signal level and cell load set your speed. Both are measurable.
On fixed wireless your speed depends on how good your link to the tower is and how many other people are using that tower. A service that is slow but never drops usually has a weaker signal than it did at installation, or sits on a busy cell.
What to try yourself
- Test at different times of day and record the spread. Cell load shows up as a large difference between peak and off peak.
- Check whether trees or new buildings have appeared in the path since installation.
- Test wired rather than over Wi-Fi.
What to say to your provider
Say: I am on fixed wireless on a PLAN plan. I get X at peak and Y off peak, tested wired. Please tell me my current signal level, how it compares with installation, and whether my cell is recorded as congested.
On this connection type
- Checking the path means looking from the ground. It does not mean going up to the antenna.
Then, whatever they tell you
Providers work from a script, and the script assumes you have not checked anything. Say this early and you skip most of it.
- Ask them to raise a fault with nbn, and ask for the fault reference number. A fault that was never raised cannot be tracked, and this is where most calls quietly end.
- Ask what the line is actually doing at their end right now, and whether they can see dropouts in their own logs. They usually can.
- If they close it without fixing it, ask for the complaint to be escalated internally, and get the complaint reference in writing.
If it stays broken and they stop being useful, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman is free for you to use, and providers do respond to it. Here is how that works.
Before you touch anything
- Do not go up a ladder or onto a roof. That includes fixed wireless antennas and dishes. nbn's own fixed wireless guide tells you to contact your provider rather than touch an outdoor unit mounted more than 2 metres off the ground. There is nothing you can fix up there that is worth a fall.
- Do not open the nbn connection box, and do not touch the pit or the lead-in cable. That equipment belongs to nbn, not to you or your provider. Fibre terminations carry laser light that you cannot see and should not look into. Opening it can also end your service and leave you liable for the repair.
- Leave the backup battery alone beyond what your provider's own script tells you. If you have the optional Power Supply with Battery Backup, follow your provider's instructions for it and nothing more.
- Burning smell, scorch marks, or a modem too hot to touch: stop. Switch it off at the wall, unplug it, and do not plug it back in. Tell your provider it needs replacing. There is no troubleshooting step that comes before this.
Where this comes from
Every light state and every figure on this page comes from the sources below, each checked on 15 August 2026. Where a provider's guide disagrees with nbn's, the provider is describing their own hardware and you should follow theirs.
While you are on the phone to them anyway
Most people only look hard at their telco account when something has gone wrong. Since you are already dealing with them, send the bill over. The audit is free, and we will tell you plainly where you are overpaying and what is worth challenging.
Get a free bill audit