3-minute read

Protecting the online lifeline 

Rising fuel costs and supply chain disruptions have driven interest in electric vehicles (EVs) soaring this year, but some Australians are already configuring their homes so these batteries on wheels can help them stay connected to the nbn network when the lights go out, as well as saving money on petrol.

Jenny Baily loves living in in the picturesque town of Porepunkah, northeast Victoria, but said it is prone to floods and bushfires.

“I work from home a lot of the time so for me, staying online isn’t just for comfort and convenience, it’s my livelihood and can be a lifeline if there’s an emergency, especially with our patchy mobile coverage,” she said. “Staying online in an emergency means I can keep getting updates from emergency services and keep friends and family updated.” 

Outsmarting outages

Jenny jumped on the EV bandwagon two years ago and set up bidirectional charging, solar panels, and a home battery 12 months ago. She also upgraded from a copper-based nbn Fibre to the Node (FTTN) connection, to the more resilient Fibre to the Premises.

 This means her solar panels can charge her EV and home battery during the day, and then sell electricity back from both to the grid in the evening. It also means her EV and battery a can help power her specially configured home and help keep her nbn service online during power outages.

“I’ve already avoided at least one outage, and only realised when a neighbour came over to check whether I still had power,” she said. “Everything was still online at my place, and I was able to share info I’d received from the power company.”

Unlike the copper-based FTTN network, full fibre is a passive technology that doesn’t carry electrical current. This means it’s far less susceptible to power outages with fewer points (like nodes) that require power on the journey to a customer’s home. A full fibre home can remain online as long as there’s power in the home, whether it’s coming from an EV, home battery, or generator even if neighbouring homes and FTTN nodes are without powerⁱ.

“Sometimes I feel a bit like a doomsday prepper, but this technology is available and it works – so why not use it,” Jenny said. “Every electricity bill has been negative so far, I never pay for petrol, and charge my car for free. You also can’t put a price on the peace of mind this set up provides.”

Setting sustainable trends

While Jenny is an early adopter of new technology, nbn research shows she’s in great company, as more than a third (34 per cent) of nbn users surveyedⁱⁱ say they connected a smart energy appliance (solar panels, EV, and/or home battery system) to their nbn broadband service in 2025, up from a quarter (26 per cent) in 2024.

Fibre to the Premises is now the dominant technology on the nbn fixed line network, connecting around 3.19 million homes and businesses, and is approximately six times more reliable than FTTN and Fibre to the Curb combinedⁱⁱⁱ.

Full fibre’s resilience compared to copper-based connections was very clear during recent floods in Townsville and Ingham. Townsville, which is largely full fibre, only had 268 services offline for an average of 1.3 hours, while Ingham and areas outside Townsville, which is mostly connected by FTTN, saw 4,900 services offline for an average of 57 hours.  

Around 5 million premises are currently eligible to upgrade to full fibre and customers can check their eligibility on the nbn website. Tips on how to prepare and stay connected during emergencies can also be found on the nbn website.

Footnotes

[i] Customers with 4G/5G back up in their router can also remain online when power is maintained in the home and mobile service is available.
[ii] nbn Social Impact Measurement FY25
[iii] This figure was calculated using nbn network data on service dropouts across these networks nationally, representing an average (with FTTN and FTTC combined) for the period 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 (note August and September are excluded due to software upgrades). Individual experience on the nbn network may vary depending on a range of factors.”