My New NBN Connection Won't Work — Modem's Green but No Internet

The single most common misconception we meet: ‘if the modem's light is green, then it must be my router settings.’ It sounds logical, and it's often wrong. We've seen plenty of connections where the box's physical lights (PON/LAN) are solid — meaning the line is physically up — but there's still no internet, because the service hasn't been authenticated / provisioned on the ISP's side. When a brand-new connection won't come online, resetting your router for the tenth time won't help. Work through the checks below instead.

The lights tell you whether the problem is the line or your setup:

• PON / LAN solid (FTTP): the fibre line is up. If there's still no internet, suspect activation or router config — not the line.
• DSL light off / flashing forever (FTTN/FTTB): no line sync — check you're on the right socket (see below) and the line is provisioned.
• LOS red (FTTP): no optical signal — check the thin fibre lead isn't pinched; if intact, it's an outside/line issue for the ISP.

For the full light-by-light guide across all connection types, see reading the box lights.

In older apartments on FTTN/FTTB (phone-line based), there are often 2–3 phone sockets scattered across the unit — bedroom, living room, kitchen. Usually only one is the ‘master’ socket that actually carries the signal; plug into the wrong one and you get weak signal or no sync at all. A real case in Camperdown: we tested each DSL socket with a line tracer and found the live port in the living-room corner, then the TP-Link router synced and hit the full 50M. If you're on VDSL and nothing works, try each socket before assuming the line is dead.

Across many student jobs, a ‘won't activate’ new connection usually turns out to be one of these — all from real cases:

• Activation SMS/email never sent: the app shows ‘service active’ but you never received the config details, so PPPoE can't be set. One Superloop (ex-Exetel) case: support had to re-send the activation SMS before it worked.
• Account not enabled in the backend: the ISP-issued PPPoE username/password kept erroring as ‘wrong’ — the real cause was the account hadn't gone live in their system until their tech team pushed it through (an Occom case).
• Address data not clean: a newly-built apartment whose address was ambiguous in the system — the port showed lit but wasn't truly activated (a Superloop FTTP case). Only a call to support, submitting the right info, moved it forward.
• Wrong socket in an old apartment: only the master phone socket carries signal (see above).
• Config confusion, not a fault: in Adelaide, a student had paid and bought the ISP's ZTE router but couldn't configure it — 10 minutes of guided setup and it was online at full plan speed.

Before you assume the hardware is broken:

1. Confirm you actually received the activation SMS/email with your connection details (look for ‘service active’ and any PPPoE username/password).
2. Rule out your own router: if you can, try a second router or computer to prove it isn't one faulty device.
3. Check you're using the right socket (old apartments) and that the box's PON/DSL light is solid.
4. If the line lights are healthy but there's still no internet, call the ISP and ask them to verify the account is provisioned/active and re-send the config if needed — this is the step most people skip.
5. Language barrier on the call? See our English phone scripts, or we can call on your behalf.