NBN house and granny solution

[kkaushik90]

Hi,

I am getting a house built in Schofields, with attached granny. The lot has nbn FTTP.

Since the granny will be occupied by my parents, I want it to be able to share the same internet connection from TPG. Extending the wifi is not a good solution, so maybe we should run an ethernet cable from the house to granny?

Another thing to consider is that we may rent out the granny in a few years and the tenants should get their own connection and not share mine.

What's the best solution to be able to use nbn in house and granny, considering that the granny may or may not share the same internet account?

Thanks.

[Will]

Hi @kkaushik90

Welcome to the Community!

We need a specific location ID that will be used to place an order. NBNCo provides the location ID for each address. Unfortunately, it's one location ID per address only. Hence, some customers need to register the granny flat to the council to ensure that they can place an order. However, for FTTP, there are cases wherein NBNCo can allocate a location ID for granny flats. This will require raising it to NBNCo and asking for them to assign a location ID.

If you can send us a PM providing the address, we may be able to check if there's already a location ID for the granny flat or not.

Regards,

Will

[Will · Accepted solution]

Hi @kkaushik90,

Thanks for providing the address via PM.

There's only one location ID for your address at the moment. It's your prerogative if you're going to register the granny flat to the council or not. As mentioned earlier, a ticket can be raised to NBNCo to check if they can allocate a location ID to the granny flat. If they provide one, then an order can be made at that location ID.

Since your address will be provided FTTP service, the NTD box that will be installed in the main house will have 4 ports that can be used for placing the order. Should you decide to place 2 orders in the same location ID, then you can utilize 2 of those ports. So as an alternative option, you can run an ethernet connection from one of the allocated ports in the NTD going to the router in the granny flat. However, you will have to do it on your own since NBNCo will only install the NTD to the main house. This is in contrast to having 2 separate NTDs if there's an allocated location ID for each houses.

Another option is to use just one account which means that you'll get the connection from the main router connected to the NTD. Since you've already ruled out the use of WIFI extenders, then a possible setup would be to connect another router (which is located in the granny flat) to the main router (in the main house) via ethernet cord. So basically, you're making the 2nd router an Access Point.

Let me know if you still have queries or concerns.

[kkaushik90]

Thank you @Will, this info is super useful.

I'll use the access point thing until my parents are living in the granny, so we'll have just one account.

Then when it is occupied by tenants, I have an option to:

1) either use a different NTD for granny (which is possible if I register separate address for it with council OR by talking to nbnco about a separate location ID)

2) or have just a single NTD and use 2 ports.

If I go with option 2, you said I'll have to place two "orders". Can you confirm that the other "order" will enable the tenants to choose their own ISP, have their account in their own name and will have nothing to do with my TPG account? Just trying to understand if there are any disadvantages in having a single NTD and using its 2 ports for separate households.

[Will]

Hi @kkaushik90,

If you go for option 2, the tenant can choose their own ISP for that matter. The main disadvantage of having 1 NTD for 2 houses (apart from the ethernet wiring that you have to do) is that the granny flat will be at the mercy of the main house. If someone turns the NTD box off, then both houses will lose the connection. In addition, if there's an issue with the NTD, then both will be affected as well.

Another problem will be the homephone. If the tenants in the granny flat want to use the homephone, they'll need to connect the handset to another port in the NTD box (called UNi V1 or V2). You can of course try a phone cable wiring similar to what you have done with the ethernet connection as a last resort.

Also, in the event that the granny flat encounters a technical issue, one way to test if the problem is with the NBN or not is to test a computer direct to the NTD. So it's going to be difficult to accomplish the said task.