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Troubleshooting an HFC nbn internet connection

This page contains useful troubleshooting tips if you are having issues connecting to the internet with an nbn™ Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) connection service. If you’re unsure of your technology type, you can check here.

Try our online troubleshooting tool:

  1. Log in to your Belong account using your email address and password

  2. Select Manage internet

  3. Scroll down to Manage your service

  4. Select Troubleshoot your nbn and follow the prompts.

Check for an outage in your area

To find out if planned maintenance or an outage is affecting your nbn™ service, use the nbn network outages checker.

Check your connection

Make sure your connection has been set up properly by following the steps in our article How do I set up my modem for the nbn? - Which also includes a helpful, step-by-step video tutorial.

Check your nbn™ Connection Box lights

The different coloured lights on your connection box denote specific issues your service may be experiencing.

Front of the connection box:

  • If the POWER light isn't on, it means the connection box has no power. Check your outlet to make sure your connection box is connected correctly.

  • If the POWER light is GREEN, it means your connection box has power.

  • Your ONLINE, DOWNSTREAM and UPSTREAM flash when the connection box is starting up. No need to do anything, just wait for the connection box to finishing powering on.

  • When the light is a SOLID green, everything is working.

  • When both the UPSTREAM and DOWNSTREAM light is flashing, that means the connection box is doing a firmware update. No need to do anything, just wait for the update to complete.

  • If you find your UPSTREAM and DOWNSTREAM line is FLASHING, but the ONLINE light is off, there's no connection to the network. You'll need to call us .

IMPORTANT TO KNOW: Before you get in touch with us, you'll need to have the details of your nbn™ Connection Box handy. We'll need your nbn Connection Box's Serial Number and CMAC Number to look into your issue. You'll find these details on a barcode on the back of your connection box.

Back of the connection box:

When it comes to the UNI-D1 port, If the light is GREEN, that means a connection has been detected. If the light is off, you might need to replace your Ethernet cable with either a CAT5e or CAT6 Ethernet cable.

If the light is YELLOW, that means, that while the cable is working, it has a fault or is old and you might not be getting the full speed on your network. Try replacing the cable.

A wi-fi issue

Try connecting directly to the modem using an Ethernet cable. If this works, it may indicate a wi-fi issue, see our wi-fi speed and connection issues for more help and advice.

Try another browser

Close your internet browser entirely and open a new one as sometimes the program you are using to access the internet has encountered an error.

If you’re using wi-fi, try disconnecting from the network and then reconnecting. This should re-establish your connection to the modem.

If these steps don’t help, call us on .


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