The home hunter’s guide to nbn™ tech types
FTTN, FTTB, FTTC, HFC and FTTP
Moving to a new place? Finding the perfect home can feel a little like the Hunger Games — everyone fighting for that perfect property.
You’ve made it just in time for the inspection. Frantically, you’re running through your internal checklist: mould free shower, a large bedroom, plenty of cupboard space, and please, let there be air con!
But have you taken a moment to consider what sort of internet connection you might be signing up for? Let’s be real, probably not.
Did you know? No two houses are the same.
This is also true for your internet connection. There are seven different nbn™ technology types — each one affecting your new home differently.
That’s right, your internet speed is at the mercy of your property. It’s also dependent on your property’s location and the infrastructure nbn™ is building around you.
Where to start?
Start by checking if your new home is serviceable by nbn™.
Whether you’re just joining the Belong family or moving your service, it’s important to go into this relationship knowing what you can get out of it.
Fibre to the Node (FTTN)
What’s a node? It’s like a magical gateway that connects the old copper wiring to the new nbn™ network. A node takes the form of a dull, old street cabinet usually located near your house or just down the road. It’s connected to your place using good old fashion copper wiring.
There can be up to five kilometres of wiring between your home and nbn™’s fibre line. This can affect your speeds as the further your internet signal has to travel, the weaker it becomes. You can sum this up with two gross words — “transmission loss”.
With all these pesky copper connections involved, unfortunately we can’t offer our 80Mbps premium nbn™plan. But don’t stress, we’ve got your back! With Belong broadband we can offer typical download speeds of 40Mbps (short for megabits per second) during peak user periods between 7pm and 11pm.
There are a few things that can affect how fast you can surf the web, such as your modem; your Wi-Fi and the amount of devices connected to it; even the content you’re trying to download!
Fibre to the Building (FTTB)
This is the default approach for connecting apartments and office blocks. Fibre runs all the way to a central spot in the complex, usually a comms room. From there, the remaining wiring (wiring within the building) is copper. This copper can reach up to five kilometres in length, depending on the building you live in.
Copper is a fantastic material, with low resistance, but the longer your copper wiring is the more resistance your internet signal has to travel through. On top of that, if your wiring is damaged in any way, by water, degradation by natural causes or even just time — then that’s another hurdle stopping you from achieving the fastest speeds possible.
Faulty or corroded wiring may cause those dreaded internet dropouts, or return your speeds to the days of dial-up. But don’t worry, even with all this copper, we won’t leave you in the dark ages. While streaming your favourite Netflix shows, you’ll be able to chill with typical evening download speeds of 40Mbps between 7pm and 11pm.
What equipment do I need?
FTTB and FTTN are set up similar to ADSL. Good news — there is no extra equipment needed to get your internet running. All you need is your Belong modem and a DSL cable to hook up to a phone socket.
Fibre to the Curb (FTTC)
Fibre to the Curb or FTTC is the baby of the nbn™ tech family, having only entered the world in 2018.
By the end of the nbn™ rollout, it is expected that 1.5 million Australians will be connected using this technology — Wow.
FTTC is when fibre runs to a pit near your house. Inside this pit is a device which connects you and three other homes to the internet. Unlike FTTN, where you could very well be sharing one connection point with an entire neighbourhood!
From the pit to your home is copper wiring — but don’t fret, it’s not as bad as it sounds. Unlike FTTN, there is roughly a max of 150m of copper line in use, meaning you can get typical evening download speeds of 80Mbps between 7pm and 11pm.
What equipment do I need?
You’re going to need a little white device known as an NCD (Network Connection Device). But beware, this little device looks like a modem, it’s portable like a modem, but is not a modem — and it shouldn’t leave your new home.
A common problem you might face is when people accidentally pack up the NCD and take it with them — thinking it’s a part of their modem set up. Each NCD is unique to the property and doesn’t function when removed from its natural habitat.
If you’re thinking about moving into a home with FTTC, take a moment to hunt around the house just to make sure you have an NCD — they can be a little bit shy and are often found hiding in cupboards or under the sink.
Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC)
HFC or Hybrid Fibre Coaxial connects your home the nbn™ using an existing coaxial cord that pay TV or cable network uses. Does the home you’re moving to get cable TV? If so, then chances are you’ll be signing up to HFC technology.
This technology can be just a reliable as FTTP, mainly because the connection runs along insulated wiring, minimising interference caused by corrosion. Without corrosion or excessive amounts of copper you’ll be able to surf the internet with typical minimum evening download speeds of 80Mbps between 7pm and 11pm.
What Equipment Do I Need?
HFC uses similar equipment to FTTP. Instead of the NTD (Network Transmission Device) being attached to the wall of your home, it’s portable. Using a coaxial cable, your NTD is connected to a wall plate.
Depending on your situation, nbn™ may need to install an nbn™ utility box outside your house and a nbn™connection box inside your house near a HFC wall-plate or socket. We’ll let you know if you need an appointment when you sign up.
Fibre to the Premises
Fibre to the Premises, also well known as FTTP is the best nbn™ has to offer — yet it’s not very common.
With FTTP, say goodbye to all that outdated copper and hello to a shiny, brand-new fibre network. Because let’s be honest, copper is the bane of good speed’s existence.
Fibre is nbn™’s solution because it is less prone to corrosion. Instead of using sound to transmits signals, fibre uses light. Pretty cool, right?
With minimal interference and having fibre running directly to your front door (hypothetically speaking), you can be surfing the internet with a typical evening download speed of 80Mbps between 7pm and 11pm!
What equipment do I need?
You’ll need an nbn™ utility box, Network Transmission Device (NTD) and a power supply and some with a battery backup. All of which nbn™ will provide — so don’t stress. You’ll also find the utility box attached to the outside of your home, or if you live in an apartment, it might be hiding in a cupboard, while the NTD is fixed to the inside.
Pro tip: when inspecting your new home, have a glance around and see if you can find a big white box stuck to the wall. If not, you might need nbn™ to fix you up with one.
So, now that you know about the main nbn™ tech types Belong offers, what about the ones that we don’t?
If your new place needs to be connected by Fixed Wireless or Satellite, sadly we won’t be able to help you out. Fixed Wireless uses radio signals to transmit data over great distances. And if you live in regional Australia, you might even need a satellite to beam down some internet to a dish attached to your roof.
Moving to a new home is exhausting — there is so much to organise. We understand that the internet might be the last thing on your mind. But if you manage to find a moment to contemplate your internet speeds, jump over to our website and check out if your new home can Belong.
We’re all about keeping it simple. Stream, download and play the way you want to with our flexible month-to-month internet plans.
