Case Studies / Latest Case Everything Was There Except the Power Adapters: Getting a Flat Online the Same Afternoon With a Borrowed Supply (ABB 100M, Eastgardens)
On-site · EastgardensAussie Broadband (ABB)100 Mbps planTP-Link routerONT and router power leads missingOrdered and online the same afternoon
Nothing was broken in this flat. The ONT was on the wall, the router was on the shelf, the line was fine and the address was serviceable. The whole job came down to two power leads the previous tenant had taken with them — the cheapest items in the entire chain, and the ones that stop everything.
A power adapter is not a generic object
The customer had been to shops and come back without one, and that is not bad luck. A power adapter has to match on more than the plug shape: the voltage has to be right and the current rating has to be at least what the device draws. Get the voltage wrong and you can damage the equipment; get the current rating too low and it either will not run or will misbehave in ways that look like a network fault rather than a power fault.
That is why we checked the output rating on our spare before bringing it, rather than turning up with a box of adapters and trying them. The rating is printed on the ONT and on the adapter. It is a thirty-second check that decides whether the afternoon works.
The number to write down when you move in is the one on the label of the device, not the one on the lead you currently have.
Nothing faulty, two things absent
ABB service
not ordered yet
→
→
TP-Link router
no power lead, no cable
Missing
→
This is what makes missing-accessory faults so frustrating: there is no diagnosis to perform and no skill required, and yet you are as offline as you would be with a snapped fibre. The customer had already been to several shops. The scarce thing is not the part, it is knowing which specification you need and which of these items somebody else is obliged to replace for free.
Which missing items are somebody else's problem
This distinction saves people real money and time, and almost nobody moving into a flat knows it.
The ONT — the box the fibre or the line terminates on — generally belongs to the network, not to you or your landlord. When one has been removed or damaged through no fault of the occupant, replacement is usually handled without charge, though it does depend on the circumstances. So if the box itself is gone, the first move is to ask, not to shop.
The router is a different matter: unless your provider supplied it, it is yours, and so is its power lead. Network cables are yours too, and they cost almost nothing — buy a spare and keep it in a drawer, because a missing cable is the single most annoying way to have no internet.
From first message to online
1
Customer described what was missing
ONT lead, router lead, network cable
2
They had already tried local shops
No matching adapter found
3
Guided them through ordering ABB
Came through in under ten minutes
4
Checked our spare adapter's output rating
Matched the ONT's requirement
5
Brought it over the same afternoon
Lend now, return at UNSW later
6
Powered the ONT
Lights came up
7
Connected and configured the router
Online
8
Speed tested both routers, set SSID and password
Full 100 Mbps on the better one
Two routers on the same line, two different results
Once the flat was online we tested both routers the customer had, and the gap between them was the second lesson of the afternoon.
One of them had modest performance and no 5 GHz band at all, and its speed test was correspondingly disappointing. The other reached the full 100 Mbps of the plan over 5 GHz wireless. Same line, same plan, same room, same phone doing the testing — the only thing that changed was which box the traffic went through.
This is worth knowing before you conclude that a new connection is underperforming. A 2.4 GHz-only router in a modern block is sharing a crowded band with every neighbour, and it will hold you well below a plan you are paying for. If a new service tests slowly, test again through a different router before you call anyone.
What each router could actually deliver on the 100 Mbps plan
Older router, 2.4 GHz only
Better router, over 5 GHz
100Mbps — the plan’s ceiling, reached wirelessly once the right router was used.
What is missing, and who replaces it
| Typically replaced free | You buy it yourself |
|---|
| The ONT / NBN box itself | Usually, if it was not damaged by the occupant | — |
| Its power adapter | Ask — sometimes supplied with the box | Often faster to buy a matching one |
| The router | — | Yours, unless the provider supplied it |
| The router's power adapter | — | Yours — match the output rating |
| Network cables | — | Yours — cheap, buy a spare |
What to take from this one
- On move-in day, check the comms cupboard for the ONT, its power lead, the router, its power lead and at least one network cable. Five items, one minute.
- Photograph the label on the ONT. The voltage and current rating on it is what you need if the adapter has walked off.
- If the ONT or NBN box itself is missing, ask before you buy — replacement is often handled free when it was not the occupant's doing.
- Power adapters must match on voltage and be rated for at least the current the device draws. The plug fitting means nothing.
- Order the broadband before you need it. This one came through in under ten minutes, but that is the part you cannot count on.
- Before deciding a new connection is slow, test through a different router. A 2.4 GHz-only unit will not deliver a 100 Mbps plan in an apartment block.
Result
The ABB order went through in under ten minutes, and a spare adapter with a matching output rating brought the ONT up the same afternoon — lent for the customer to return at UNSW once their own arrived. The router was configured and online, the better of the customer's two routers reached the full 100 Mbps of the plan over 5 GHz wireless, and the WiFi name and password were set to what they wanted before we left. Nothing in the flat had been faulty.