Frequently Asked Questions

No, not at all. The National Broadband Network, aka nbn^®, is provided by an Australian government department known as nbn co. Whilst the nbn network provides great options in many locations, some people or places still need a bit more. That’s where we step in!

A Busselton Wifi connection can be used instead of, or along side, an nbn^® connection depending on your use case. All websites and functionality that you would have with an nbn^® connection will function just the same, as you’re still connected to the same public internet, just better!

Unfortunately not. In much the same way that the NTD and ODU that gets installed as part of your nbn connection but remains property of NBN Co, the hardware installed by Busselton Wifi to provide you with our services remains our property, and will be removed if the service is ended.

To make sure we have options that suit everyone, we have a $0 installation cost for 36-month contracts, OR, if you already have an nbn connection!

As a great shortcut, and to future-proof yourself in case of technology changes, you can get a $0 nbn connection – well, one month fee which is normally $79 – and then cancel it, in order to receive the Busselton Wifi free installation.

Only if you don’t want to pay a setup fee! But you’re not locked in to much, as you’ll just pay the minimal prorate value of the installation if you terminate early.

It certainly shouldn’t!

The Busselton Wifi network uses the 5GHz band, in the higher outdoor frequency ranges, so that no indoor or otherwise typical Wi-Fi is affected.

Should you feel that it might be causing an issue, please let us know, and we can check the interference patterns for your connection. If need be, such as if you have a unique outdoor wireless setup, we can make changes to accommodate this for you.

We are an Australian proprietary limited company (Pty Ltd) owned an operated by technology enthusiasts who just wanted better internet in this beautiful part of the world we live in!

Essentially, it a project supported by multiple local system and network engineers from multiple local ICT companies who all like fast internet and doing great things.

If you already have an existing nbn Fixed Wireless connection, then we will just need to book an appointment to mount our hardware on your roof, and connect the indoor power source in your house. This typically takes less than an hour as it uses the existing nbn installation in a non-destructive manner.

If you do not have an nbn connection yet, we recommend getting one else we can arrange an electrician to perform the installation which may incur additional fees depending on the building style of your premises.

Lastly, you will need to supply your own router. Whilst most people will have these already, if you do not have a router, please contact Computer West to obtain one as they keep local and supported stock.

We are neither!

An RSP, or Retail Service Provider, is essentially an ISP (see below) who is reselling nbn. The National Broadband Network, aka the NBN, is a wholesale internet connection facility provided by the Australian government, which companies such as Aussie Broadband can resell under wholesale agreements.

An ISP, or Internet Service Provider is what NBN Co would be if they sold directly to the public, and is what we referred to internet connection providers such as iiNet back in the day, when they operated their own national network and provided access to subscribers.

In the case of Busselton Wifi, we fall under a category that is referred to as a ‘Carrier Service Provider’, which means we are not the carrier, as we do not operate the physical infrastructure or routing to the public internet, but we provide a service that allows access the internet over our chosen carriage. You can find more information on what these terms mean here.

Unfortunately for both you and us, residential connections are just not feasible for a company or project such as Busselton Wifi. residential connections would require additional core infrastructure, after-hours support, and different sets of Terms and Conditions that are not feasible.

Maybe one day we’ll grow big enough to put on 24×7 support staff, but that day is not today.

We quite like the TP-Link NF range, such as the NF20 that Computer West usually has in stock, however, routers are really matters of personal preference these days!

The only requirement for a Busselton Wifi connection is that your router supports “ethernet WAN” as it’s commonly known. If you are unsure, feel free to send us the make and model and we can check.

Please also note that configuring your router does not fall within the scope of the services provided, and can be done, but may incur additional once-off charges.

Busselton Wifi is the company behind the scenes that provides a solid core network for end users, such as yourself, to access the internet over. We’re simply not kitted out to provide support for every issue, where as Computer West is.

The reality of the situation when providing support for an internet connection is that the vast majority of the time a fault or outage is actually an subscriber issue, such as faulty wiring, a bad router, or just configuration issues, with the network and connection itself operating normally.

By partnering with Computer West to provide the support for customer connections and equipment, it allows us to focus on ensuring that the network is fast, reliable and scalable, not to mention cost effective!

You are very welcome to! We use it at many locations too, however, it’s not always as good as you can get.

There are a wide variety of connection options out there now, such as nbn, Starlink, 5G, and more, and whilst they all suit different use cases, they also all have their own drawbacks.

Where we fit in is for regional areas that those connections just are not suitable for, instead offering a cost-effective alternative with none of the drawbacks.

At the time of writing the network is limited to 100Mbps per customer. As soon as a lodges an order for 250Mbps, that threshold will of course increase.

The core network itself allows for up to approximately 500Mbps per-customer, dependent on your location and any obstacles of course. Should the required network capacity exceed this, provisions are in-place to allow seamless upgrades to a maximum of 10Gbps backhaul with the current infrastructure, and dedicated 1Gbps+ links can be installed on a per-customer basis if need be.

It’s a huge step from the days of 12Mbps ADSL!

Not at all!

As technology enthusiasts one of our biggest pet-peeves is using a connection provided by an RSP or ISP and then seeing our traffic route through internal subnets. Not only does it lower the throughput, but also the trust, and limits what a business can do with such a connection.

Each Busselton Wifi customer is assigned a publicly routed IPv4 address with no cgNAT, double NAT, or related in the way, so you are free to use the connection for both outbound and inbound traffic as you desire.

Absolutely! Just login to your Client Portal and request the addon, or lodge a Support Request, and we’ll make the magic hapen for you.

Not usually much, but that is dependent on a few factors.

If you were on a fixed-term contract, you will be invoiced for the prorate installation fee based on the remaining term on that contract.

In all cases, we will need to either collect our equipment or have it returned. For this we will liaise with you on the best option at the time.

Yes you certainly can, with one of our Enterprise plans. These premium plans provide a minimum level of throughput on a per-subscriber basis, so if you want 100Mbps 24×7 without worrying about evening speeds or contention, we can do that.

Please contact your account manager to find out what enterprise speeds are available for your location or connection, and we can advise of the speeds and associate charges.

It is important to note that not all locations are eligible for an Enterprise plan, as we’d never do you the disservice of selling you a plan that simply is not as advertised.

We’d love for you to. You can lodge any ideas or suggestions on our contact page, however, we are always looking at ways to expand the network and willing to work with other businesses to leverage their roof height or location to further extend the network.

At Busselton Wifi we love nature – that’s half the reason we’re out here – so we like to think that where there is a will, there is a way.

For most connections, a mast can simply be installed on a part of the roof that is not obstructed by the tree. If you already have an nbn Fixed Wireless connection aiming at the Ambergate tower, they would have already done this for you. If not, we can arrange this as past of your installation.

Most certainly. We have a near-unlimited range of public IPv6 addresses on our network which we can deploy to customers such as yourself at a moments notice.

The first step though is to make sure your network is IPv6 read – is it? You will need an IPv6 capable router, which are becoming more common but at the time of writing not-yet mainstream!

If you are unsure, please feel free to send your router make and model to our team in an email or support ticket, and we can check for you.

There are additional fees for IPv6.

Whilst we’d hate to see you go, that is not an issue at all.

When terminating your Busselton Wifi service, we’d engage you for the removal of the equipment we have setup, and in doing so we’ll reconnect your pre-existing NBN connection.

If you did not have NBN prior to onboarding with us, we’d recommend reaching out to Aussie Broadband for a connection from them – they’re as good as it gets in our opinion.

Not a problem in the slightest! Just hit up our contact page, and choose ‘Custom Plans’ from the ‘Topic’ field, using message to describe what performance you need.

Our network supports up to 1Gbps symmetrical with current hardware, but there are always ways to go higher if need be!

For both your safety and ours, that is not something we provide. As is the modern trend, ISPs and RSPs are leaning away from email hosting these days, given the inherent speciality that it’s become.

If you’re after a free email account for personal use, we’d recommend getting one from Outlook.com, else for business purposes we recommend Exchange Online as part of Microsoft Office 365, which Computer West as Microsoft certified partners can provision and configure for you.

Nope, utterly unrelated! They probably don’t even know we exist.