bcom ICT diagnoses and resolves NBN and business internet problems across the Gold Coast — modem and router configuration, line testing, escalation to the internet provider with documented evidence, and 4G or 5G failover so an outage does not stop the business trading. Call 07 3041 8993.
Is it actually the internet?
Most of the time it isn't, and upgrading the plan won't fix it.
Saturated WiFi
One access point serving too many devices. Feels exactly like slow internet and is completely unrelated to your connection.
A failing cable or port
Intermittent faults that appear random. Cheap to test and frequently the answer.
Something flooding the connection
A backup running in business hours, a device misbehaving, a large upload nobody mentioned. Traffic analysis finds it.
The router is underpowered
Provider-supplied routers are built to a price. Once you have VoIP, a VPN and thirty devices, they become the bottleneck.
A genuine line fault
Sometimes it really is the service. Then the job becomes gathering evidence the provider cannot dismiss.
The plan no longer fits
Business has grown, the connection hasn't. Worth checking, but worth checking last rather than first.
Dealing with the provider
This is where most of the frustration lives. Faults get closed as "no fault found", the next call starts from scratch, and nobody at the business has the technical evidence to push back.
We run line tests, capture logs and document what is actually happening, then handle the escalation on your behalf. Providers respond very differently to a documented fault than to a frustrated customer, and you get your time back.
Failover — the thing worth doing before you need it
- 4G or 5G backup that takes over automatically when the primary connection drops
- Phones keep working — critical if you are on VoIP, where an internet outage otherwise takes your phones with it
- EFTPOS keeps working, which for retail and hospitality is the difference between trading and closing
- Automatic, not manual — nobody should be plugging in a hotspot while customers wait
- Tested, so you know it actually cuts over rather than assuming it will
The internet faults we are actually called to
Most business internet complaints are one of these six, and only two of them are solved by paying for more speed.
“It crawls every afternoon”
Usually contention. A residential-grade service shares capacity with the neighbourhood, and the neighbourhood comes home at three.
What we do Measure the drop across a week to establish the pattern, then decide whether the answer is a business-grade service with a committed rate or simply a better plan. Businesses on a residential service are usually paying for a problem they did not know they had bought.
“The speed test is fine but our calls break up”
Usually jitter and packet loss, not bandwidth. Voice and video need consistency far more than they need speed, and a speed test measures neither.
What we do Test the things that actually matter to a call — latency variation and loss over time. A connection can pass a speed test comfortably and still be unusable for a phone call, which is why the speed test keeps misleading people.
“It drops out when it rains”
Usually copper. On fibre-to-the-node services the last stretch is still copper, and water reaching a joint or a damaged section is a genuine and very common fault.
What we do Log the sync events against the weather to build a case, then escalate with that evidence. Weather-correlated faults are provable, and a provable fault is one a provider will act on.
“We pay for 100/40 and get 45”
Usually the line, the plan, or the equipment — and it is worth knowing which before anyone is blamed. Distance from the node, an ageing router, or a plan that was never what anyone thought it was.
What we do Test at the boundary and inside the network separately. If the connection delivers its rate at the wall and not at the desk, the internet service is not the problem and changing it will not help.
“We’ve reported it three times and they keep closing the ticket”
Usually an automated test run at a moment when the line was healthy. Intermittent faults are invisible to a test that lasts ninety seconds.
What we do Present continuous data rather than a description. We escalate with line statistics, drop timestamps and loss measurements, which moves the conversation from opinion to record.
“When it goes down, we stop”
Usually a single connection with nothing behind it. This is a design decision that was never consciously made — the business simply never added a second path.
What we do Add failover. A 4G or 5G backup that takes over automatically turns a full-day outage into a slower afternoon, and it costs a fraction of what the day would have.
What dealing with a provider actually looks like
Representative engagements, drawn from real work with identifying detail removed — we don’t name clients without written permission.
Three weeks of line statistics, and the provider fixed it in four days
The situation
A café group was losing EFTPOS during the lunch rush at two of its three sites. Both affected sites were on fibre-to-the-node. The provider had tested twice, found nothing, and closed both tickets.
What we found
Continuous logging showed the connection was resynchronising several times an hour at both sites, with the frequency rising sharply in wet weather. The resyncs lasted only seconds — long enough to kill a card transaction, short enough that no provider test would ever land on one. Both sites traced back to the same street cabinet.
What we did
Compiled three weeks of sync logs, drop timestamps and rainfall correlation into a single escalation rather than another support call, and added 4G failover at both sites while the fault was outstanding.
The outcome
The provider located and repaired a water-affected joint within four days of receiving the evidence. The failover stayed in place afterwards, because the cost of it was less than one lost lunch service.
The outage that cost an afternoon instead of a day
The situation
A professional services firm of fourteen people had everything in the cloud — files, email, phones and their practice management system. A single internet connection stood between the business and all of it, which nobody had thought about in those terms.
What we found
Reviewing the setup before anything went wrong, the exposure was total: an outage of any length stopped every function of the business simultaneously, including the phones customers would use to ask what was happening.
What we did
Installed a router with automatic 4G failover, tested it by physically disconnecting the primary service during a quiet period, and confirmed calls stayed up through the switchover.
The outcome
Eight months later a contractor cut the fibre in the street. The office noticed a brief pause, kept working on failover for most of a day at reduced speed, and did not lose a booking or a call. The equipment had cost less than the day would have.
Questions Gold Coast businesses ask us
Why is our business internet so slow?
In most cases the connection is not the cause — saturated WiFi, a failing cable or switch port, an underpowered router or a device flooding the network usually is. bcom ICT measures the network before recommending a service upgrade, so you are not paying more for a connection that was never the bottleneck. Call 07 3041 8993.
Can you deal with our internet provider for us?
Yes, and it is often the most valuable part of the job. We run line tests, capture logs and document the fault, then handle the escalation. Providers close documented faults far less readily than undocumented ones.
What happens to our phones if the internet drops?
On a VoIP system, calls can fail over automatically to mobiles. Pairing that with a 4G or 5G backup connection keeps both phones and payment terminals working. It's worth configuring before an outage rather than after.
Do you supply internet services?
We are not a reseller — we work with whatever provider you're with, which means our advice on whether the service is the problem isn't influenced by wanting to sell you a different one. We'll tell you when changing provider is genuinely the answer.
Is business NBN different from residential?
Business-grade services typically carry better fault response commitments and, on some plan types, guaranteed rather than best-effort performance. Whether the difference is worth the cost depends on what an hour offline costs you — which is a conversation worth having before an outage, not during one.
How quickly can you look at it?
Same-day attendance is usually available across the Gold Coast, and many connection faults can be diagnosed remotely before anyone travels.
Internet problems nobody can resolve?
We'll measure it, document it, and take the provider on for you — with evidence they can't close the ticket on.