When the NBN Goes Down and Customer Support Goes Missing: My Experience With Kogan NBN and Lyca Prepaid

Friday afternoon. Storm rolls in. Lights flicker. No big deal… until the internet drops. Kogan NBN: down.

Now, normally you’d expect a quick reset, a local outage notice, maybe even some proactive communication. Nope. What followed instead was the full “customer support obstacle course.”
Turn it off.
Turn it on.
Restart the router.
Restart the NBN box.
Swap cables.
Stand on one foot and whistle.

You know the drill.

After far too long doing tech-support yoga, I finally get the real answer:
“Earliest technician appointment is Thursday.”
Nearly a week.

I had to ask: How is this acceptable in a country that has poured billions into the NBN? We can build satellite networks and export world-class solar tech, but can’t get a tech out within six days after a storm?

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Fine, I’ll Build My Own Backup Internet

No internet for nearly a week wasn’t an option, so I did what any prepared-ish nerd would do: failover time.

I grabbed a Lyca prepaid SIM off Amazon—next-day delivery, very nice—and hooked it into my existing setup:

• pfSense handling WAN failover
• Running on Hyper-V
• An old iPhone plugged into the server, USB-tethered
• Windows sees the iPhone as a network adapter
• Hyper-V picks up that NIC
• pfSense uses it as a 4G backup WAN

Honestly, it’s a neat little system.

All that was left was to activate the SIM.

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The Lyca Activation Gauntlet

Activation should’ve been simple:
PUK code → last four digits of IMEI → ID verification → done.

Except… not done.

First attempt: driver’s licence.
Rejected.

Second attempt: Medicare card + bank statement.
Rejected.

Third attempt: try again with different photos and angles.
Rejected.

At this point I try calling their “help” line: 1300 854 607.
One hour on hold.
Nothing. No humans were harmed in the making of this customer service interaction, because there were none.

After all that, I decided: SIM’s going back. Thankfully Amazon makes that painless.

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Final Verdict: Avoid Lyca Like the Plague

I’ll be blunt:
Between the broken ID system and the nonexistent support, I’d stay well clear of Lyca. Maybe it works if you already have an active service, but if you’re trying to join? Forget it.

Combine that with Kogan’s “storm hit you? See you next Thursday” approach, and this whole saga has been a masterclass in how not to treat customers relying on essential infrastructure.

Australia can—and should—do better.