Neptune's Frequently Asked Questions

We run our own network, engineered for low latency and reliability rather than for squeezing the most customers onto each link. We keep spare capacity on every link, run redundant equipment in every data centre, and route your traffic the shortest way to where it is going.

Every plan includes features other providers charge for or don’t offer at all: Atmosphere Protective DNS, Neptune VPN, a free static IPv4 address, a /48 of IPv6, a firewall and self-managed DNS records.

Support is high touch. You talk to people who know the network, not a script, and we treat every customer the way we would want to be treated.

We have points of presence (POPs) in five states:

• Melbourne, VIC (NextDC M1 and Equinix ME1)
• Sydney, NSW (Equinix SY1)
• Brisbane, QLD (NextDC B2)
• Adelaide, SA (NextDC A1)
• Perth, WA (NextDC P2)

Your nbn® connection is aggregated by Superloop and handed to our network in your state, so your traffic starts its journey close to home. Customers in the ACT, Tasmania and the Northern Territory are served from Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide respectively.

Global Secure Layer (GSL) carries our international and domestic transit. We peer at IX Australia (run by the Internet Association of Australia), Megaport, EdgeIX and Equinix IX, and we link our state POPs with NextHop intercapital capacity.

We have peering relationships with the major hyperscalers, and access to Google through the Verified Peering Provider (VPP) program and Google Global Cache (GGC) nodes, so Google, YouTube and other large services load from nearby.

We use GSL for both international and domestic transit, and a network of internet exchanges and intercapital links to carry traffic ourselves as far as we sensibly can. Interstate traffic stays on our network until it reaches the state it is going to, and is handed off there, close to its source. This is often called “cold potato” routing. It avoids the detours a cheaper handoff would take.

You can see our live latency figures on the performance and latency pages.

Every data centre we operate in has dual-chassis redundancy, so a single hardware failure doesn’t take your service down. Network changes are automated and tested, which removes most of the human error behind outages.

All of our infrastructure services are anycast, including DNS, DHCP and RADIUS. Each one runs in several places at once behind a single address, so if one instance fails, your requests are answered by the next nearest without you noticing.

When maintenance is needed, we plan and schedule it in advance and let you know in your customer portal. Live status is always at status.neptune.net.au.

Neptune uses CGNAT by default, with a free opt-out available to all customers.

You can opt out of CGNAT during sign-up or at any time later from your customer portal. When you opt out, you’ll be assigned a dedicated IPv4 address at no additional cost, which remains allocated to your service for its lifetime.

Your IPv4 address can be delivered via DHCP (default) or provided as a statically routed address if required. Additional static IPv4 addresses are available as an add-on.

Yes, on our business plans. If you have a public AS number and address space registered to it, you can request a BGP session yourself from the BGP tab of your service in the customer portal.

Enter your AS number and the portal looks up the prefixes registered to it, along with their RPKI status. You choose which ones to announce, IPv4, IPv6 or both, and can set an optional session password. A registered contact for the AS number is emailed to confirm the request, one of our engineers reviews it, and the session is then configured and switched on. We send you a default route.

Once the session exists, the portal gives you configuration to copy for MikroTik RouterOS 7, Cisco IOS XE, Cisco IOS XR and Junos, shows whether the session is up, and lets you shut it down, bring it back up, remove prefixes or delete it.

You need:

• A business plan: 100/40, 250/100, 500/200, 1000/400 or 2000/500 on FTTP, or 100/40 or 250/100 on HFC. No ABN is needed. We don't offer BGP on the higher HFC tiers because of concerns about service stability: 100/40 and 250/100 are the best fit for avoiding session flaps, and FTTP is the better fit overall, as brief HFC dropouts reset a BGP session
• A public address with Manual IPv4 or Manual IPv6 switched on in the Advanced tab

There is more detail in our announcement.

Every Neptune service includes, at no extra cost:

• Atmosphere Protective DNS, blocking ads, trackers, malware and phishing
• Neptune VPN, with two WireGuard tunnels
• A dedicated static IPv4 address when you opt out of CGNAT
• A /48 of IPv6
• A firewall you control, for incoming and outgoing traffic
• Your own DNS and reverse DNS (PTR) records

Atmosphere is our Protective DNS service. It blocks ads, trackers, malware and phishing at the DNS resolver, before a connection is ever opened, for every device on your network.

You choose the blocklist groups and categories, and keep your own allow and block lists. Optional query logs show what your network is looking up, with a Privacy Mode that keeps only aggregate statistics.

Yes. Create a Private DNS endpoint in your customer portal, then:

• iPhone and iPad: download the configuration profile from the portal and install it.
• Android: enter your endpoint’s hostname under Private DNS in your network settings.

Each profile keeps its own Atmosphere settings, so you can filter a child’s phone differently from your own. You can also switch Atmosphere on for a Neptune VPN tunnel on any Australian endpoint and get the same protection through the WireGuard app.

Yes. Your customer portal lets you manually configure:

• CGNAT or a dedicated static IPv4 address, delivered by DHCP or statically routed
• Additional static IPv4 addresses
• DHCP lease time and custom DNS servers
• Traffic management: Recommended, Gaming or TCP bulk download profiles, or your own policer, shaper and queue settings
• Firewall rules for incoming and outgoing traffic
• Ready-to-paste configuration for your router

Yes. Choose Relocate service in your customer portal, enter your new address and pick a move date up to 30 days away, or as soon as possible. Your plan and billing move with you, and so do your IP addresses when you move within the same state.

There is no Neptune relocation fee. If nbn charges a New Development Charge or a subsequent installation fee at your new address, we show it before you confirm. If another service is still active at the new address, we’ll ask for proof of occupancy.

Your old service is disconnected when the new one goes live. If you need both addresses connected, order a second service instead.

Yes, if your address is eligible, we offer a free fibre upgrade. Just enter your address on our website and you'll see a fibre upgrade option during sign-up if it’s available.

Fibre upgrades are available on every plan from 25/10 up.

If you choose 25/10 or 50/20, you keep that plan on your new fibre connection. FTTP has no 100/20 tier, so if you choose 100/20 we'll place the upgrade order on the 500/50 plan. Every other plan, 100/40 included, stays as it is during the upgrade.

The installation is free on the condition that your service stays on an eligible plan for 12 months. See our fibre upgrade page for details.

An NBN technician will need to visit your property. We’ll automatically book the earliest available appointment, and you can reschedule if needed by contacting our support team.

During the visit, the technician will check whether any extra work is required to complete the upgrade. In rare cases, you may need a licensed electrician or cabler to prepare a suitable fibre path (for example, installing conduit).

Sometimes additional work is needed in the pit or at the kerb, which may require a second visit. Most fibre upgrades are completed in a single appointment and are free of charge.

There are no setup fees, no lock-in contracts and no Neptune cancellation fees. Cancel any time from your customer portal, and we refund the unused part of your month, less any nbn fees already incurred.

The only early termination fee that can apply is nbn’s fibre upgrade fee, if you ordered a free fibre upgrade and leave within 12 months. If nbn charges a New Development Charge at your address, it is shown before you order. Full details are in our Critical Information Summary.