2degrees Outage: How to Check 2degrees, Orcon and Slingshot Status

Under the 2degrees umbrella you will find three broadband brands: 2degrees itself, Orcon and Slingshot. Orcon has been part of the group since the Vocus New Zealand merger completed on 1 June 2022, and since 21 November 2024 anyone signing up to Orcon is actually joining 2degrees. Slingshot still sells under its own name, but 2degrees runs the network and the support behind it. That history matters the moment your connection drops, because the right status page to open depends on which of the three brands is printed on your bill.

Is 2degrees down? Where to check by brand

Before you touch a cable, confirm whether the fault is on the network or inside your home. Each brand publishes a status page, and every fibre line also sits on a wholesale network — usually Chorus — that has its own outage map. Checking both tells you whether other people on your street are affected too.

Search your street address on the fibre company’s map as well as your retailer’s page. A fault on the underlying fibre network often shows up there first, with the affected area, the services involved and an estimated time to fix. If your bill says Orcon or Slingshot but the status page is silent, open the 2degrees page too, since all three brands share the same core network and reporting tools.

Very large outages occasionally trace back further still — to a fault on the international links and internet backbone that carry New Zealand’s traffic overseas. Those events are rare, they hit many providers at once, and there is nothing you can fix at home; the retailer’s status page and national news are your best guide until the link is restored.

What causes a 2degrees, Orcon or Slingshot outage?

Knowing what kind of event you are dealing with helps you decide whether to wait, to troubleshoot, or to pick up the phone. Broadband problems in New Zealand fall into a handful of familiar categories, and the status pages usually tell you which one applies.

Planned maintenance

Both the retailers and the fibre network companies upgrade equipment, replace hardware and reconfigure the network on a schedule. These works are announced in advance on the status pages, usually run in the small hours to limit disruption, and end at a stated time. If the page says planned maintenance, there is nothing to fix — the connection returns automatically once the work is finished. It is worth signing up for outage notifications through the 2degrees app so you hear about planned works before they affect you.

Weather and physical damage

Storms, flooding, slips and the occasional contractor’s digger cause a large share of unplanned outages. Overhead lines can come down in high wind, and a single cut to a fibre cable can take out a whole neighbourhood until a crew splices it back together. These faults are logged on the fibre company’s outage map with an affected area and an estimated restoration time, which is often revised as crews get on site. Power cuts count here too: your fibre box and router need mains power, so a local blackout looks exactly like an internet outage even when the network itself is fine.

Congestion and peak-time slowdowns

Not every problem is a full outage. In the evening peak, a busy connection can slow to a crawl or drop video calls without ever going completely dark. That is congestion rather than a fault, and it is handled differently — the fix is usually about your plan, your Wi-Fi and your router rather than a repair crew. If your connection is up but painfully slow, the slow-internet and dropping-connection guides linked below are the better starting point.

National and upstream events

Occasionally a fault sits above any single retailer — at a wholesale network, a major data centre, or on the international cables. These events affect customers across several providers at once and are outside your control and, often, your own retailer’s too. When many unrelated sites and apps fail together while your equipment looks healthy, an upstream event is the likely cause, and the only sensible response is to wait for the official updates.

2degrees mobile, wireless broadband and the end of 3G

Wireless broadband rides the mobile network

2degrees sells 4G and 5G wireless broadband — a modem that connects over the mobile network rather than a fibre or copper line. Because it uses the same cell sites as phones, a tower fault in your area takes those home connections down alongside mobile coverage. A quick test settles it: turn Wi-Fi off on your phone and try to load a page on mobile data. If that fails too, the problem is the mobile network, not your home equipment. Fibre broadband, by contrast, runs on a separate network and keeps working through a mobile outage.

The 3G switch-off is permanent, not an outage

Between 14 December 2025 and February 2026, 2degrees switched off its 3G network for good, and the industry body has since confirmed the 3G shutdown is complete nationwide. Devices that could only use 3G — older phones, some medical and personal alarms, GPS trackers, and a handful of EFTPOS terminals — lost service at that point and will not come back. This is not a temporary fault: the fix is to replace the device with 4G or 5G equipment. If an old handset or alarm stopped working around that window and your broadband is otherwise fine, the 3G shutdown is almost certainly the reason.

When no outage is listed: work through the basics

If the status pages are clear but your connection is still dead, the fault is likely inside your home or on the line to it. Work through these checks in order before you call, because most single-house drop-outs are fixed by one of the first three.

1. Read the fibre box lights

On fibre, the fibre box — the Chorus ONT (Optical Network Terminal) or the equivalent unit from your local fibre company — tells you whether the network still reaches your house. On the common ONT Type 500, a solid green POWER light and a solid green PON light are normal. A flashing PON means the box is still trying to link to the exchange, and a red LOS (Loss of Signal) light means the optical signal has been lost — a network fault your retailer needs to log rather than something you can reset away. Our guide to fibre box lights explains what every indicator means.

2. Restart in the right order

Order matters. Turn off your router or modem first, then the fibre box. Wait about 30 seconds. Power the fibre box back on and let the PON light go solid green, then switch the router back on. Give the connection a full three minutes to re-establish before you test it. Restarting both boxes at once, or the router first, can leave them out of step.

3. Check cables and ports

Reseat the network cable between the fibre box’s data port and the router’s WAN port at both ends. A cable that has worked loose, been chewed by a pet, or been plugged into the wrong socket produces exactly the same “no internet” symptom as a genuine outage. If you have a spare Ethernet cable, swap it in to rule the lead out entirely.

4. Test wired versus wireless

Plug a laptop straight into the router with an Ethernet cable. If that connection works, your broadband is actually up and the real problem is your Wi-Fi. Our guide to a connection that keeps dropping covers interference, router placement and channel settings, and the slow-internet guide helps when the line is up but everything crawls.

5. Rule out account and connection changes

Not every stoppage is a fault. A connection part-way through transferring between brands, a recent house move, a plan change, or an overdue invoice can all suspend service with no network problem at all. The 2degrees app or the My 2degrees portal shows your current account and connection status, which is worth checking before you spend time on the hardware.

Reporting a fault and claiming a credit

Report the problem to whichever brand you pay — 2degrees, Orcon or Slingshot — rather than to Chorus or your local fibre company. The fibre network companies only accept fault reports from the retailers that buy access from them, so going direct will simply send you back to your provider. Log the fault through the 2degrees app, the My 2degrees portal or customer care, note the reference number, and once service is restored, ask for a credit covering the days you were offline. Our New Zealand broadband provider guide explains how retailers and network companies split responsibility, and the national outages guide lists the status pages for every other provider.

Keep a short record while the fault is open: the date and time it started, the reference numbers you are given, and what you were told on each call. That log makes it far easier to ask for a fair credit later, and it is exactly what an independent reviewer will want to see if the problem is not resolved.

If a fault drags on after you have exhausted your provider’s complaints process — or more than six weeks have passed since you first raised it without a satisfactory outcome — you can take it to the free Telecommunications Dispute Resolution (TDR) service. TDR is independent, funded by the industry, and open to households and small businesses. It can consider claims up to $30,000, the same ceiling as the Disputes Tribunal, so it is a realistic path for serious or long-running problems. You must raise a complaint with TDR within three years of becoming aware of the issue, but there is no cost to you at any stage.

What to do while you wait

• Share a phone hotspot for essential tasks — ideally from a device on a different network, such as the One NZ network, if the 2degrees mobile network is part of the outage.
• Check anything that quietly depends on the connection: medical and personal alarms, monitored security systems and EFTPOS terminals.
• Once an outage is confirmed on the status page, stop restarting the boxes — the connection will come back on its own when the network does.

Prepare before the next outage

A little preparation turns the next drop-out from a crisis into an inconvenience. Make sure at least one phone has enough mobile data to act as a hotspot, and know how to switch it on before you need it. If anyone in the house relies on a monitored medical alarm, confirm it still works after the 3G shutdown and ask the provider what happens to it during a broadband or power cut. Households that cannot afford any downtime can add a small uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for the fibre box and router so a short blackout does not knock the connection out, and can keep a note of the status-page addresses somewhere that does not need the internet to reach.

Disclaimer: This is general information, not technical or legal advice. Brand arrangements, status-page addresses, the 3G switch-off dates and the dispute-resolution figures above are current as at September 2026; always check your provider’s live status page during an outage.

Frequently asked questions

Is 2degrees down right now?

Open the 2degrees network status page and, if you are on fibre, the Chorus outages map for your address. If neither shows a fault, the problem is probably in your home: start with the fibre box lights and a restart in the correct order.

Are Orcon and Slingshot part of 2degrees?

Yes. Orcon joined 2degrees when the Vocus New Zealand merger completed on 1 June 2022, and new Orcon sign-ups have gone through 2degrees since 21 November 2024. Slingshot still sells under its own brand, but the network and support are run by 2degrees.

Why did my old device stop working on 2degrees?

If it could only use 3G, it stopped when 2degrees switched its 3G network off between December 2025 and February 2026. That change is permanent, so the device needs replacing with a 4G or 5G model.

How do I report a 2degrees internet outage?

Report it through the brand you pay — 2degrees, Orcon or Slingshot — using the app, the online portal or customer care. Fibre faults are then passed from your retailer to the fibre network company; you cannot report them directly.

Does a mobile outage affect 2degrees broadband?

It affects 4G and 5G wireless broadband, because that uses the same cell sites as phones. Fibre broadband runs on a separate network and keeps working during a mobile fault.

Can I get compensation for a 2degrees outage?

Ask your provider for an account credit once service returns. If a fault is not resolved after you complain, or six weeks pass without a fix, the free Telecommunications Dispute Resolution service can consider claims of up to $30,000.