MATE Price Increase 2026Why Has Your NBN Bill Gone Up?

Flamin' Fast (NBN 1000/100) at $126 and Scorchin' Fast (NBN 2000/200) at $166 were left untouched. Every single plan below that got the same flat $4 a month bump, no exceptions.

A flat $4 rise across six separate plans is not a rounding error, it is a deliberate line drawn just above the fastest tiers. If a mate did that to you personally, you would notice. When it is buried in a bill, most people do not, at least not straight away.

So why is my MATE bill higher when your plan and speed have not changed at all? MATE moved in mid June, a couple of weeks before NBN Co's 1 July wholesale change, so this rise can't be explained as passing that cost on. MATE hasn't published a reason, and we don't speculate on one. What we can say is the pattern matches the rest of the market: the cheapest plans took the biggest percentage hit and the two fastest tiers didn't move at all.

What makes the MATE NBN price increase 2026 worth a closer look is what it does to the gap between speed tiers, and how neatly it sets up the Loyalty Tax, the extra money you hand over simply because checking for a better deal feels like more hassle than it is worth. Ripper, MATE's NBN 50 plan, now costs $90 a month. No Worries, the NBN 500 plan, sits at $100. That is only a $10 difference between everyday streaming speeds and a connection up to ten times faster. Whatever the intention, that kind of gap nudges people who were never shopping for more speed toward upgrading anyway, simply because the extra bandwidth suddenly looks like it costs almost nothing.

If you are on the entry level MATE NBN crikey price change at $80, or you noticed the MATE NBN ripper price change pushing your NBN 50 bill to $90, you are the customer this pricing structure is quietly counting on. It is the same Loyalty Tax that shows up across the industry, existing customers quietly absorbing the increase while new sign ups get the friendly headline price, and MATE's mateship branding just makes people even less likely to go looking for something better. Independent budget providers deliver the same NBN 50 line for well under that.

MATE does not own the network any more than Telstra or Optus does. NBN Co owns the physical infrastructure, every retailer just buys access and resells it, so a cheaper provider on the same speed tier is not a downgrade, it is just one not relying on a friendly name to justify the price.

If you are looking at a cheaper alternative to MATE NBN, two things actually matter: the exact speed tier, compared like for like, and the ongoing price rather than a headline six month discount.

That is how Bill Owl works. Every plan shows both the promo price and the ongoing rate, expand any card and you will see exactly what it jumps back up to once the discount period ends. View results as "Cheaper plans (Same speed)" for a straight swap, "Cheaper plans (Faster speeds)" if more bandwidth costs less than what you are paying now, or let "The Owl's Choice" make the call for you. Sort any of those by "Ongoing rate", "First year cost" or "Best deal rate", whichever matters more to you. No commission decides what shows up first, and sometimes the honest answer is that you are already on a solid deal. That is a perfectly good outcome too.

MATE's standard plans are no lock in, so leaving is straightforward. The one exception is the customer-requested Fibre Upgrade plans: orders placed before 10 December 2025 carry a 12 month term with a $220 exit fee, so if you upgraded to FTTP through MATE last year, check your order date before you switch.

1. Line up your new plan first. Sign up with another provider on the same or better speed tier, most of this happens online in a few minutes.
2. Check whether you're inside a fibre upgrade term before you port. See our NBN 100 vs NBN 500 explained guide.
3. Let the new provider manage the transfer. They typically coordinate directly with NBN Co so you are not stuck juggling two providers.
4. Check your modem situation. Confirm whether you need to return a rented modem or if your existing one works with your new provider.
5. Expect a short handover window. A brief gap in service is normal while the switch processes.
6. Check your billing date before you switch. MATE doesn't refund or credit partial months, so if your service is still active on your billing date you pay the full month. Time the switch to land just after a billing date rather than just before it.

The MATE NBN price increase 2026 is not really about MATE being any worse than the rest of the industry, it is the same pattern dressed up in friendlier branding: raise the entry and mid tier plans, freeze the top end, and count on customer goodwill to cover the difference. Whether you are wondering "why is my MATE bill higher" or you just spotted the value compression between Ripper and No Worries 500 yourself, the fix is the same either way, check what else is out there before assuming your current plan is still the best one.

Run your MATE bill through Bill Owl and see, in under a minute, whether you are overpaying and by how much.