The couple were halfway through building their dream home when the NBN cabinet was installed in the middle of their verge on January 14.
Mr Snow said he contacted NBN when he saw the cabinet being installed as part of the fibre-to-the-node rollout across WA.
“I was caught by surprise when I saw them installing it; when I complained, it was an attitude of ‘too bad, too sad’,” he said.
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“They really need to consult the residents. We’re building a brand new house and it’s going to devalue the housing price for a start.”
Mrs Snow said they had received no notification the cabinet would be installed.
“This was going to be a beautiful verge with lawn and plants all along,” she said.
“They could put it up against the wall, behind the tree or at least on the boundary between the two properties.”
Mr Snow said a representative from NBN told him the cabinet could not be moved after consulting NBN design and engineering departments.
An NBN spokeswoman said under the Telecommunications Act, NBN was obliged to notify the legal owner of the land – the council – but not nearby residents.
“However, as part of our commitment to community consultation, NBN notifies local residents of proposed nodes via a letter or pamphlet drops,” she said.
“In this instance, our design partner sent a letter to the home in question in July 2015.”
Mr Snow said there had been no residents at the property at the time because the house was being built. He said he was told the cabinet had to be installed 30m away from a roundabout on the same street.
The NBN spokeswoman said the location adhered to NBN’s safety criteria and had to be a safe distance from a roundabout, a tree on the street and high voltage electrical equipment nearby.
The spokeswoman said the NBN would take feedback from residents on board and consider changes to locations where they could be achieved without compromising safety or network functioning.
City of Stirling urban regeneration and economic development manager Paul White said the City received queries from several residents affected by the initial rollout of the NBN.
“These residents expressed concern about the placement of the NBN cabinet and were advised that the City was unable to control the location of the cabinets,” Mr White said.
Stirling MHR Michael Keenan said he was looking into the complaint.