Cheap-but-good NBN provider Buddy Telco is giving away a free month on all its plans
There’s up to AU$99 in Black Friday savings to be had, plus a super competitive NBN 500 plan
The Black Friday sales in Australia are running rampant right now. While the official date is still a couple of weeks away, several of the country’s biggest retailers are dropping their deals early, and that includes some of my most-recommend NBN providers, such as Buddy Telco.
The internet service provider is only a year and a half old, but it's caused quite a shake-up of the NBN landscape since it launched back in July 2024. In fact, in my opinion, it’s consistently offered great value, and regularly appears in my guide to the best NBN plans.
Don’t believe me? Well for Black Friday 2025 Buddy’s offering new customers one month of free NBN – so now’s your chance to try Buddy out at no cost. To get the deal, simply use the code FREEMONTH at the checkout. This offer will be available well after Black Friday too, as it expires on January 13, 2026 (that feels odd to write) so you do have some time to take advantage – but with the Christmas holidays fast approaching, now seems like the perfect opportunity to do so.
While the month of free NBN applies to all of Buddy’s plans – the telco has options from 25Mbps through to 1,000Mbps – it’s the NBN 500 plan that has caught my attention in particular.
How so? Firstly, with discount applied, Buddy’s NBN 500 plan becomes the second-cheapest over the first year at AU$880, roughly AU$60 more expensive than Tangerine, which incidentally also has Black Friday deals on for the next few weeks. The ongoing cost is also among the lowest on this tier at AU$1,020 – though outside of introductory discounts, no provider seems to be coming close to matching Exetel’s low ongoing yearly cost of just AU$960.
Buddy NBN 500 | TES unavailable | AU$0 first month (then AU$85p/m ongoing)
<p>Buddy’s AU$85p/m flat fee for its NBN 500 plan is incredibly competitive, with the current average for this tier coming in at roughly AU$94p/m. It’s already alarmingly great value then, but with a cool AU$85 saved when you use the code <strong>FREEMONTH, you’ll get an extremely cost-effective and speedy broadband plan that’s hard to beat.<p><strong>• AU$0 minimum cost<br /><strong>• AU$880 first year cost<br /><strong>• AU$1,020 ongoing yearly costAs for Buddy’s NBN 1000 plan, again, it was already great value at just AU$99 a month. And with a AU$99 saving applied, it represents astonishingly good value considering the 875Mbps download speed claim. One of the fastest NBN plans for one of the lowest prices? You can’t say no to that.
Buddy NBN 1000 | 875Mbps | AU$0 first month (then AU$99p/m ongoing)
<p>Buddy’s NBN 1000 plan has been among my favourites ever since it launched a year ago, so to see it come down in price even further makes it a no brainer if you ask me. The telco’s 875Mbps typical evening speed claim is one of the fastest in the country, and I’ve read real customer reports confirming they often achieve speeds in excess of 900Mbps. If lightning-fast internet is your jam, this is a great plan. <p><strong>• AU$0 minimum cost<br /><strong>• AU$1,089 first year cost<br /><strong>• AU$1,188 ongoing yearly costBuddy Telco also offers plans on other speed tiers, including NBN 25, NBN 50 and NBN 100 (the latter is only available for households that don’t connect via FTTP or HFC, and therefore can’t get NBN 500). You can compare all the available plans in the price comparison widget below.
Buddy has undergone some changes since it first launched. Firstly, the only way you could get technical support was via an AI chatbot and secondly, the telco didn’t offer any hardware such as routers or modems. Both of these have been overhauled, with Buddy now offering an Amazon Eero6+ router to eligible customers – those with a fibre to the building (FTTB) connection aren’t eligible – for either a AU$180 upfront payment, or a payment plan of AU$15p/m for 12 months.
The telco has also introduced an Australia-based live chat support team, should you need any technical help with your service. If you need assistance outside the hours of 11am to 7pm AEST, the AI chatbot is still on standby to help answer questions.
And one more thing to note, Buddy has recently been sold to Tangerine, with the deal expected to be finalised in January next year. The telco will continue to use the Aussie Broadband network, however, and all customers of Tangerine and More NBN will also move over to Aussie's highly-rated network.

➡️ Read our full guide to the best NBN plans
1. Best overall:
Exetel One Plan
2. Best NBN 50:
Tangerine Value Plus
3. Best basic:
Flip Premium
4. Fastest:
Superloop Hyperspeed
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Max is a senior staff writer for TechRadar who covers home entertainment and audio first, NBN second and virtually anything else that falls under the consumer electronics umbrella third. He's also a bit of an ecommerce fiend, particularly when it comes to finding the latest coupon codes for a variety of publications. He has written for TechRadar's sister publication What Hi-Fi? as well as Pocket-lint, and he's also the editor of Australian Hi-Fi and Audio Esoterica magazines. Max also dabbled in the men's lifestyle publication space, but is now firmly rooted in his first passion of technology.
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