Before you throw your router out the window, let's play detective together and get you back online. Follow these 4 simple steps!
Step 1: Is it just you, or is it everyone?
Two quick things before you go unplugging every cable in sight.
Try another device. Grab a phone, a tablet, someone else's laptop. If everything else is happily online, the problem is that one device rather than your connection, and restarting it usually does the trick. You can stop here.
Then check our status page.
đ [Check Plio Status Page] (link here)
If you see an active outage listed in your neighbourhood, our network engineers (and likely a crew from your local fibre company) are already on it. Time to grab a book, take a breather, and let us handle the heavy lifting.
One thing that helps us help you: "no Wi-Fi at all" and "connected but nothing loads" are different problems. If your devices can see your Wi-Fi network and join it but nothing opens, carry on through these steps. If your Wi-Fi network has vanished from the list entirely, skip to Step 2 and check your router has power.
If everything looks green on our end, move to Step 2!
Step 2: Check your Plio router
Take a look at your Plio router. It's the device broadcasting your Wi-Fi signals around the house.
Power Light: Is it on? If not, check whether someone accidentally unplugged the power cord while vacuuming (it happens to the best of us).
WAN / Internet Light:
đ˘ Solid Green: Great news! Your router thinks it's connected to the world.
đ´ Red or Off: Uh oh. Your router isn't getting a signal from the wall box.
If your router light is red or off, it's time to inspect the fibre box on your wall!
Step 3: Check your fibre box (the ONT)
Your fibre box, properly called an Optical Network Terminal or ONT, is the small white box on your wall that your fibre company installed. Depending where you live that's Chorus, Enable, Northpower or Tuatahi. It's where the actual fibre magic enters your home.
Take a look at the lights on the front:
(Upload your ONT graphic right here!)
Here's what you're looking for:
Power Light: Should be Solid Green. If it's off, double-check the power switch on the side or test a different wall outlet.
PON Light / Optical Light: Should be Solid Green.
If the Optical light is Off or flashing Red: Your fibre cable line from the street might be interrupted.
LAN1 Light: Should be Green or Amber (and might flicker a little).
This light shows that your fibre box and your Plio router are actively talking through the ethernet cable. If this is off, make sure the cable is firmly clicked into the LAN1 port!
Been a power cut recently? Fibre needs mains power to work, so both of these boxes go dark when the power does. If the power has only just come back on, give them a good five minutes to wake up and find each other before you worry.
Step 4: Still nothing? Time for the classic restart
If all the lights on your fibre box look healthy but your internet is still playing hide-and-seek, it's time to give your router a fresh start.
Unplug the power cord from the back of your Plio router.
Wait 30 full seconds (a great time to do a quick stretch).
Plug it back in and give it 3 to 5 minutes to boot up and say hello to our servers.
â ď¸ One thing to avoid: there's a small recessed reset button on the back of the router, usually needing a pin or paperclip to press. Please don't. That wipes the settings your connection needs, and turns a five-minute fix into one that needs us involved. Unplugging the power cord is all you need.
One last thing worth ruling out
If every light is green and a restart hasn't helped, it's worth a quick look at your account before you go any further.
If a payment has failed recently, your service may have been suspended, and from your side that looks exactly like an outage. Sign in at your Plio account and check for anything flagged under Billing. If something's overdue you can sort it there and you'll usually be back online within a few minutes.
No judgement here. Cards expire, banks reissue them, and it catches people out constantly.
Still stuck in the dark? Talk to us!
If you've tried all of the above and you're still getting nowhere, don't panic. You don't have to fix this alone.
Message our human support team via the chat bubble in the bottom right corner of your screen, or drop us an email at [email protected]. If you're reading this on your phone because the house is offline, that's completely fine, both work just as well on mobile data.
Pro Tip: When you message us, let us know which lights are glowing on your fibre box. Even better, send us a photo. It helps us fix your problem twice as fast!