The National Broadband Network is designed to improve the nation's communications, but those rolling it out are having trouble communicating with customers.
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) says the total number of complaints about general telecommunications services has dropped, but the number of complaints specifically about the NBN has risen.
Releasing the TIO's 2014/15 annual report, acting ombudsman Diane Carmody says the number of NBN-related complaints has risen 70 per cent, although the number of complaints is relatively small at 6,700.
The most common NBN issues complained about are delays in connections to the network and installation appointments that technicians have not attended.
Ms Carmody says one in four complaints about connection delays relates to NBN services.
She said it appears this is linked to the accelerated rollout of the network.
"The significant increase in the number of NBN-related complaints highlights to us a communication breakdown between retailers, the wholesaler NBN and consumers," Ms Carmody said on Friday.
"While the number of NBN-related complaints is relatively small, the issues have a big impact on consumers.
"You can imagine how upset consumers are if they have taken a day off work to attend the connection of their NBN service and the technician does not arrive."
Ninety-five per cent of NBN-related complaints were logged against 90 different retailers and the remaining five per cent against the wholesaler NBN.
Ms Carmody said that over the past year, her office had called together the main retail service provider retailers and NBN to facilitate some discussion that may lead to a reduction in the number of complaints.
The TIO also identified a 29.9 per cent increase in complaints about "third party charges" that appear on consumers' bills.
These occur when consumers are charged for services they have not requested.
The charges usually appear on consumers' bills after making in-app purchases or when signing up for competitions or games on websites.
"Again, this is an emerging issue," Ms Carmody said.
"We think that consumers really need to be alert to this."
Ms Carmody said consumers experiencing these charges should first approach their service provider, and then the TIO.
Consumers made 124,000 complaints about mobile, internet and landline services during 2014/15 - a fall of 10.5 per cent and the fourth year in a row that the number of complaints had decreased.
"However, we are still the busiest ombudsman's service in Australia," Ms Carmody said.
"One hundred and twenty-four thousand complaints is still too many and shows that the telecommunications industry still has room for improvement."
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