All about fibre coverage and fibre networks

We partner with Fibre Network Operators (FNOs) to deliver fibre internet services to homes and businesses. We can only offer services where there is a live fibre network that we are partnered with.

You can check which FNOs we partner with and check which fibre network covers your area on our fibre internet coverage page.

Can I pre-order fibre if my area is not live yet?

If your area is marked as under construction or in progress with one of the Fibre Network Operators (FNOs) we work with please feel free to place an order on our website. We will then place a pre-order with the respective FNO.

In some instances more than one FNO will plan to lay fibre in an area and in most cases whichever FNO finishes laying fibre first will cause the other FNO to delay their installation. If there is more than one FNO planned or laying fibre in your area please place an order with us for both FNOs and we will only follow through with the FNO that goes live first.

What about Fibre in a complex, office building or apartment block?

If you want fibre in a complex, office building or apartment block you need to be in a live fibre area AND the Fibre Network Operator (FNO) needs to have linked up the building.

The way this works is the FNO will require permission to install fibre from the landowners. This is known as “Land Owners Consent”. The FNO will have to design the system to link up all the units, have it approved, then complete the “central build”. Only once a central build is completed can a fibre line in a complex, office building or apartment be installed to a unit.

If you want to check if fibre is in your building contact us.

How long does a fibre installation take?

If you are in a live fibre zone, and, if you are in a complex where the fibre is live, then fibre installation + delivery of a WiFi router should take 1-2 weeks.

Please note there are exceptions that can cause delays:

• There are builders holiday 15 December through 15 January so expect delays in the lead-up and after the holidays due to the backlog of orders
• Orders can sometimes get delayed in the system – nudging and reminding your ISP (us 😇) is a good idea
• For some homes there might be no fibre between your home and the nearest OLT (manhole fibre splitter), this can cause big delays if they need to trench to your home. This is quite unusual
• For some apartment/office units there might be no physical route for the fibre to go from the central splitter to your unit. It can take some time working with the building owner/body corporate to find a suitable fibre route
• Your apartment/complex/office block fibre splitter is full! This will require a new splitter to be installed.

If your area is not planned or under construction, consider placing an order with the Fibre Network themselves so that they can potentially prioritise your area, then when you see Fibre vans installing fibre in your area then place an order with us.

Once your Fibre Installation is booked, it normally takes about 2 hours for the installation team to complete running the drop cable into your property, and installing the Fibre ONT. Once the installation is completed, you should be live either immediately, or it could take a couple of days to activate the line if there are snags with the installation. FNOs give themselves up to a week to provision a line from the installation taking place.

As the saying goes, “Your Fibre is only live when your Fibre is live”. Please ask your ISP for guidance and friendly reminders are welcome.

How does switching Fibre ISPs work?

If you want to switch to Atomic – congrats and thank you! You are rad.

This process is called a “migration”.

The first thing you want to do is understand the process of cancelling your existing fibre contracts. You’ll want to find out your:

• Contract notice period
• When your contract ends
• Look out for any auto-renewal clauses

Once you know when your contract ends you will then need to cancel the contract with your old ISP and ask them to log the cancellation with your Fibre Network Operator (FNO) if needed. Then you can place a “migration order” on our website and you can add in the date you want the switch to happen.

Migrations can be placed with as little as 2 working days notice but are usually processed at the end of the month.

If you migrate during the month you will get billed a pro-rata amount for the partial month, not the full month.

When the migration is complete you will need to update the settings on your WiFi router to work with Atomic, or swap out the WiFi router that we supplied.

What About Fibre During Loadshedding?

Yes, you can! Providing backup power to your Fibre Box (ONT) and your WiFi router will mean you can keep your internet on during load shedding. Read more about how to have access to the internet during loadshedding.

What’s the story behind Atomic?

We like the idea that everything should be an “atomic transaction” and complete in under 150ms. Goes back to our idea that everything needs an API, to be open, scalable and fast. Read our full story on our about page.

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