The short answer
What an NBN refer-a-friend deal really is
A refer-a-friend credit looks like free money: your provider hands you and your mate a credit, say $50 each, just for signing up. It is tempting to treat that bonus as the reason to pick a plan. That is the trap. A referral credit is not a gift, it is a customer-acquisition cost: paying you to bring a friend is simply cheaper for a telco than buying the same customer through advertising, which is the only reason the offer exists. The danger is letting a one-off credit anchor you, or your friend, onto a plan with a poor Typical Evening Speed or a high price once the intro period ends. A $50 credit is quietly eaten by overpaying $10 a month on the wrong plan, so the honest question is never "how big is the bonus", it is "how many months until the bonus is gone". This page explains how NBN referral schemes really work, why the credit is the smallest number that matters, and when a referral bonus is genuinely worth taking.
Here is the core takeaway in one line: a refer-a-friend credit is a customer-acquisition cost dressed up as a reward, so it should be a bonus on a plan you would have chosen anyway, never the reason you choose it. The credit is a one-off; the plan is a recurring cost. Run the numbers and a $50 bonus disappears after roughly five months of overpaying $10 a month on a plan with a worse Typical Evening Speed or a higher price than the best alternative. Choose the plan on its evening speed and ongoing price, confirm your connection can reach the tier, then take the referral credit if it happens to be there.
Reframe the assumption: the referral bonus is not the provider being generous, it is the provider buying a customer more cheaply than an ad would. That is fine, but it means the credit is the smallest number in the decision. The Typical Evening Speed and the price after any intro discount ends are what you actually live with.
The blind spot
Why most refer-a-friend guides steer you wrong
Most "best NBN referral deals" articles do one of three unhelpful things, and each one talks you into the bonus and away from the plan.
First, they rank the schemes purely by the dollar value of the credit. A $50 bonus beats a $25 one on the page, so the $50 provider wins, as if the credit were the whole transaction. It is not. The plan you then live on for a year or more is the transaction; the credit is a rounding error against twelve months of monthly bills.
Second, they ignore the revert price and the evening speed. A glowing write-up lists the bonus and the intro discount, then goes quiet on what the plan costs once the discount ends, and never mentions the Typical Evening Speed at all. You can be lured by a credit onto a plan that congests at 8pm or jumps in price after six months, and the bonus will not come close to covering the difference.
Third, they frame it as free money for both sides. The pitch is that you and your mate both win, but a referral does your friend no favours if it anchors them onto your plan rather than the plan that suits their household and connection type. The kindest referral points a friend at the right plan first, and only mentions the credit if your provider happens to be the right answer.
How referral schemes are built, piece by piece
Expert analysis: the economics behind the bonus
A referral is the cheapest customer a telco can buy
Start with why the offer exists at all. Every retailer (the industry calls them RSPs, or Retail Service Providers) spends money to win each new customer, whether through Google ads, billboards or comparison-site commissions. A referral short-circuits all of that: an existing happy customer does the selling for the price of a small credit, and referred customers tend to stay longer and churn less. So a $50 referral credit is not a gift from a generous telco, it is a marketing line that is cheaper than the alternative. Once you see the bonus as an acquisition cost, you stop treating it as a reason to switch and start treating it as a discount on a plan you were already going to pick.
The credit is a one-off; the plan is a recurring cost
Here is the part that decides everything. A referral credit is paid once, but you keep paying the monthly bill for as long as you stay. That asymmetry is the whole game. If the referred plan costs $10 a month more than the best alternative, a $50 credit is wiped out in five months and you keep overpaying after that. With no price cap on internet (unlike electricity, which has the Default Market Offer to rein in prices), the spread between a sharp plan and a stingy one is wide, often wider than any single referral bonus. The credit is the smallest number in the decision, and the monthly gap is the biggest.
Caps, timing and eligibility quietly shrink the headline
The advertised credit is rarely the amount you actually pocket. Many schemes cap total earnings: Belong caps you at $200, Vodafone allows up to five credits a year, and percentage or recurring schemes like Exetel and SpinTel cap the discount at the value of your own plan, so a cheaper plan earns you less. Timing matters too, with some credits landing on the first bill and others, like Vodafone, only after the third, so a friend who churns early may trigger no reward at all. The eligibility fine print, new customers only, specific plans only, correct code at sign-up, is where bonuses quietly evaporate. Always read the referral terms before you bank on a figure.
The honest plan metrics the bonus distracts you from
Whatever the credit, the plan still has to be judged on the same things that decide any NBN plan. The Typical Evening Speed (TES) is the download speed a retailer must publish for the busy 7pm to 11pm window, and it is the honest number because it bakes in how much shared bandwidth the retailer bought per customer. The revert price is what you pay once any intro discount ends. And your connection technology, whether your address is on Fibre to the Premises, HFC or Fibre to the Node copper, caps the tier you can actually reach. A referral credit changes none of these, which is exactly why it should never be the deciding factor.
Interactive explainer
Is the referral credit worth it?
Enter the one-off credit and how much more per month the referred plan costs than the best alternative. The calculator shows how many months until the credit is wiped out, and whether the bonus is worth taking.
Referral credit break-even calculator
Indicative only. Always confirm the plan price, revert price and Typical Evening Speed before signing up.
Does the referred plan win on the merits?
Verdict
Assumptions: the credit is a one-off and the extra cost recurs every month for as long as you stay. Break-even months equal the credit divided by the monthly extra. Net position over 12 months equals the credit minus twelve times the monthly extra. Figures are indicative; confirm plan prices and the Typical Evening Speed on the provider\'s own terms. Sources: provider referral terms, ACCC Measuring Broadband Australia.
| Referral credit | Extra per month | Break-even | Net after 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50 | $5 | 10 months | -$10 |
| $50 | $10 | 5 months | -$70 |
| $25 | $8 | ~3 months | -$71 |
| $50 | $0 | Never (plan was your pick) | +$50 |
What this looks like in real homes
How the referral trap plays out for real households
The maths above is not theory. It is exactly how Australians let a small bonus talk them into a costly plan:
The $50 credit that cost $70
A renter takes a mate\'s referral for a $50 credit, onto a plan that runs $10 a month dearer than the cheapest equivalent. By month five the credit is gone, and by the end of the year they are $70 worse off. The bonus felt like winning; the monthly gap quietly won.
The friend anchored onto the wrong plan
Someone refers a sibling onto their own provider for the shared credit, without checking that the sibling\'s street suffers evening congestion on that retailer. The $25 each was real, but the sibling now stutters every night at 8pm, and the credit does nothing to fix it.
The recurring credit capped to nothing
A light user on a cheap plan chases a "$5 a month for life" referral scheme, only to find the credit is capped at the value of their small plan and the friend churns after two months, so almost nothing is ever paid. The headline was ongoing; the reality was a few dollars.
The referral that genuinely paid off
A household already on the plan with the best Typical Evening Speed for their address gets a referral code from a friend on the same plan. They were signing up regardless, so the $50 credit is pure upside, no overpay, no compromise. This is the only scenario where the bonus is unambiguously worth it.
The insider insight
The bonus is bait; the monthly bill is the hook
Here is the part the referral pages never say out loud. The credit is deliberately the most visible number because it is the smallest commitment the provider makes, and the easiest to recoup. A telco that pays you $50 to bring a friend has done the arithmetic: it expects to make that back, and more, from a customer who stays a year or two on a plan that may carry a higher revert price or a thinner bandwidth allocation than its keenest competitor. The bonus is bait that gets you to stop comparing the things that actually cost you money, the evening speed and the ongoing price.
The non-obvious truth: a refer-a-friend credit only ever creates value when it lands on a plan you would have chosen without it. In every other case it is a discount on overpaying, which is no discount at all. The households that come out ahead pick the tier from their concurrent demand, choose the retailer on its Typical Evening Speed and revert price, and treat any referral credit as a small bonus on top. Because internet has no price cap, the monthly gap between a sharp plan and a poor one dwarfs a one-off bonus.
The practical consequence: never let a referral credit break a tie, and never let it choose the plan. If the bonus is the deciding factor, the decision is already wrong.
The schemes, side by side
Indicative NBN refer-a-friend offers in 2026
Use this to see the shape of the schemes, not to choose a plan. Read every credit value as a one-off bonus on top of a plan you have already judged on its evening speed and ongoing price. Credits, caps and timing change often, so confirm the current terms on the provider\'s own site.
| Provider | Referral reward | Cap or limit | How it is paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aussie Broadband | $50 credit each, both parties | Unlimited referrals; $100 for a business referral | Account portal generates a unique code |
| Mate | $50 credit each, both parties | Per successful sign-up | Unique referral code at sign-up |
| Tangerine | $25 credit each, both parties | No referral cap while account is active | Applied to the referee's first bill |
| Vodafone | $25 credit each, both parties | Up to five credits a year | Credit applied after the third bill |
| Belong | $20 credit each, both parties | Capped at $200 total per customer | Applied automatically to the first bill |
| Superloop | 10% off (up to $10 a month) for the referrer | Discount runs for six months | Referee reward not offered |
| Exetel | 10% off (up to $10 a month) for the referrer | Stackable, six months, no referral cap | Capped at the value of your plan |
| SpinTel | $5 recurring monthly credit for the referrer | Ongoing while both stay on plan | Capped at the value of your plan |
Grounded in the analysis
What you should actually do with a referral offer
Specific moves that follow from the economics of the bonus, not generic advice.
Choose the plan before the bonus
Size the tier to what runs at 8pm, then compare plans on the Typical Evening Speed and the price after any intro discount ends. Decide the winner with the referral credit set to zero, so the bonus can never tip a close call.
Run the break-even, not the headline
Use the calculator above. If the referred plan costs even a few dollars more a month than the best alternative, work out how fast the credit is wiped out. If break-even is sooner than you would stay, the bonus is a loss.
Refer a friend onto the right plan
If you do refer someone, point them at the plan that fits their address and household first, and mention the credit only if your provider genuinely wins. A bonus that anchors a friend onto a poor plan is no gift.
Not sure which tier or speed you need first? Read our NBN plans guide, then run our internet speed test to see what your line really delivers.
Current figures, last updated 2026-06-16
Indicative Australian NBN referral figures for 2026. Sources: provider referral terms and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Measuring Broadband Australia programme. Credit values, caps and eligibility change often and vary by provider and plan.
The bottom line
Why the credit is the last number to look at, not the first
A refer-a-friend credit is a real saving, but only in the narrow case where it lands on a plan you would have chosen anyway. The rest of the time it is bait: a small, visible one-off that talks you, or your friend, into a recurring monthly cost that quietly outgrows the bonus. The credit exists because paying you to bring a customer is cheaper for the telco than advertising, which tells you everything about whose interest it serves. So pick the tier from your concurrent demand, choose the retailer on its Typical Evening Speed and revert price, and treat any referral credit as a small bonus on top. With no price cap on internet to rein in the laggards, the monthly gap between a sharp plan and a poor one is the number that decides 2026, and a one-off bonus is the number to look at last.
Common questions
A Selectra expert answers your NBN referral questions
Only if the plan would have been your pick on its own merits. A referral credit is a one-off, while a plan you stay on is a recurring monthly cost, so the maths is simple: a $50 credit is wiped out by overpaying just $10 a month for five months. If the referred plan has a poor Typical Evening Speed or a higher price than the best alternative, the bonus is gone before you notice. Pick the plan first on its evening speed and ongoing price, then take any referral credit as a bonus on top, never the other way round.
Because paying an existing customer to bring a friend is cheaper than buying that customer through advertising. A referral bonus is a customer-acquisition cost: the telco would otherwise spend that money on Google ads or billboards to win the same sign-up, and a referred customer also tends to stay longer. The credit is dressed up as a reward, but it is a marketing line on the provider's budget. That is not a reason to avoid it, it is a reason to treat the credit as a discount on a plan you already want, not as the reason to choose the plan.
You share a unique referral code or link, your friend uses it when they sign up for a new plan, and once their service is active and the first payment clears, the credit lands on one or both accounts. Rewards take a few forms: a one-off bill credit (Aussie Broadband, Mate, Tangerine, Vodafone, Belong), a percentage discount for a set number of months (Superloop, Exetel), or a small recurring monthly credit (SpinTel). The timing varies too, with some credits applied to the first bill and others, like Vodafone, only after the third.
Almost always, yes. Belong caps the total at $200 per customer, Vodafone allows up to five credits a year, and the percentage and recurring schemes (Exetel, SpinTel) cap the discount at the value of your own plan, so a cheaper plan limits what you can earn. Aussie Broadband and Tangerine are more generous with no hard cap while the account stays active. Read the referral terms before you bank on a number, because caps and credit values change often and the headline figure is rarely the whole story.
They can, if the bonus does the choosing. The risk is that the credit anchors your friend onto whatever plan you happen to be on, rather than the plan that actually suits their household and connection type. A $50 sign-up credit means nothing if their line congests every evening or the price jumps after an intro period. The kind thing is to point a friend at the plan with the best Typical Evening Speed for their address first, then mention the credit as a bonus if your provider happens to win on the merits.
Compare the Typical Evening Speed (the honest 7pm to 11pm speed retailers must publish), the ongoing monthly price after any intro discount ends, and whether your connection technology can reach the tier. With no price cap on internet, the gap between a sharp plan and a stingy one is wider than any referral bonus, so a single $25 or $50 credit should never tip a close decision. Size the tier to your concurrent demand, pick the retailer on evening speed and revert price, then pocket the credit if it is there.
