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NOW Broadband Hub lights meaning

Three green lights on the front of a NOW Broadband Hub means it is working normally. An amber internet light is the one worth understanding: NOW says it can mean a problem at your local broadband exchange, or a problem with your NOW account — including an overdue payment. That second cause is the reason restarting the hub sometimes changes nothing at all, so check your account before you spend an evening rebooting. NOW says service should come back within 24 hours once an outstanding balance is paid. NOW does not publish any red or flashing light meanings, so if that is what you are seeing, this page will not guess at it.

Last updated: · Written by The NetSorted team

NOW Broadband Hub

NOW documents these lights inside a troubleshooting flow rather than as a table, and names no model number — so only the states NOW actually describes appear here. There are three lights on the front: power, wireless and internet.

Source: NOW — Fix issues with your NOW Broadband Hub — checked 2026-08-08.

  • Power, Wireless and Internet light: green

    All good

    All three lights on the front showing green is NOW’s own check for a healthy hub. If the hub looks like this and you still cannot get online, the problem is with the device you are using rather than the broadband.

  • Internet light: amber

    Needs a look

    NOW gives two quite different causes for this, and they need opposite responses. It can be a problem at your local broadband exchange, which you cannot do anything about except wait. Or it can be a problem with your NOW account — an overdue payment being the example NOW itself gives. If it is the account, no amount of restarting will fix it, which is why this is worth checking before anything else. NOW says that once an outstanding balance is paid you should be back online within 24 hours.

    What to do

    1. Check your account for an overdue payment first. Sign in to My Account and look for an outstanding balance. NOW says that once it is paid you should be able to get online within 24 hours. This costs you two minutes and rules out the cause that restarting cannot touch.
    2. Then restart the hub for two minutes. If the account is clear, switch the hub off, leave it off for two full minutes, and switch it back on.

  • Internet light: off

    Fault

    The hub has power but the internet light is not lit at all, so it is not getting a broadband connection. NOW’s flow treats this as a line or setup problem rather than an account one.

    What to do

    1. Plug the hub into your master socket. Move the hub to the main phone socket — the one where the line enters your home — rather than an extension socket.
    2. Take out any extension cables. Connect the hub directly, without extension leads between it and the socket.
    3. Restart the hub for two minutes. Switch it off, leave it off for two full minutes, then switch it back on.
    4. Run NOW’s technical checks. Test the phone line and work through the technical checks NOW provides, which will tell you whether the fault is on the line.

Still not fixed? What you’re owed

If the light points at a fault on NOW Broadband’s side, report it today. Under Ofcom’s automatic compensation scheme a total loss of service that still isn’t fixed 2 full working days after you report it earns £10.34 for every calendar day it stays broken — and the clock starts when you report it, not when it broke.

Frequently asked questions

What do the lights on a NOW Broadband router mean?

This page lists every light state NOW Broadband documents for 1 hub model — 3 states in total — with what each one means and the fix NOW Broadband gives, where they give one. Identify your model first: colour schemes differ between generations, so the same colour can mean different things on two hubs from the same provider.

How do I know which hub model I have?

It is usually printed on a label on the underside or back of the hub, next to the serial number and Wi-Fi details. If you cannot find it, match the shape and the number of lights against the models below — they are listed with the official page for each, so you can check against NOW Broadband's own pictures.

My hub light says there is a fault — what do I do?

Work through the steps for your light state below, then restart the hub once, properly: power it off for a full minute and give it up to ten minutes to resync. If it is still wrong after that, check whether NOW Broadband has an outage before reporting a fault, and report it today either way — the compensation clock starts when you report, not when it broke.

Do I get compensation if my router shows a fault?

Not for the light itself, but for the loss of service behind it. Sky (including NOW Broadband) is signed up to Ofcom's automatic compensation scheme, so a total loss of service that still isn't fixed 2 full working days after you report it earns £10.34 for each calendar day it stays broken. Report the fault promptly and keep the reference.

Sources

Other providers’ hub lights