The Little Black Box Causing Big Problems

So you’re moving house. You pack up everything into boxes. Including the internet stuff like the cables, router and the little black box – the NBN box…

Therein lies the problem that so many people are experiencing these days when they move into their new home that they just rented or purchased. The previous owner or tenant has taken the little black NBN box with them. Now they didn’t do this on purpose, they just packed up and didn’t realise that you were supposed to leave it behind. You are.

What you won’t discover until you move in somewhere only to find the little black box not there, is that each NBN Connection Box is specifically coded to each home. So it’s not just a matter of replacing it with a new one, a technician has to come out and code the new NBN Connection Box to your home specifically. Which can mean, that upon moving into your new home, you may find yourself with no home internet for several weeks or even months upon moving in.

Unfortunately, NBN Co and the technician’s when installing these in the first instance, are not making it abundantly clear that they are supposed to remain with the home forever. Further exacerbating the issue is that they look like a portable little thing that is just part of your internet set-up. Surely its part of your router and you will need it at your next house? Again no. Due to the individual coding it actually won’t even work at your new home.

As we’re in the business of helping people move, we see this regularly. A buyer or tenant calls us asking if we can make contact with the seller or previous tenant to return the little black box. Now this previous occupant may have; moved overseas, moved interstate, be no longer contactable, or have it buried at the bottom of moving box somewhere. If the box can’t be returned, the only option is to contact NBN Co and pay a fee for a technician to come out and install a new one. Costing money, causing you to have no internet for weeks, and the pleasure of having to wait at home all day waiting for the NBN technician to come.

We don’t know why NBN Co hasn’t made a better system, or communicated about this issue better to the community at large, but we felt it was our duty to get the word out, to try and make our lives easier, and the lives of our buyers and sellers a bit less stressful when they move into their new home.

So. Please leave the little black NBN Connection Box when you move!

Written by Adam Scott