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$1 Per Month for The First 3 Months on All Mobile Plans @ Mate Communicate

3713
MATE1

Between 15 February 2023 and 31 March 30 April 31 May 2023, sign up using the promo code MATE1 and activate a new MATE mobile plan to get your first three months of standard service for $1 per month.

Applicable for any MATE mobile plan:

  • good mates 10GB | usually $20/month
  • better mates 22GB | usually $25/month
  • great mates 32GB | usually $30/month
  • best mates 42GB | usually $35/month
  • elite mates 100GB | usually $45/month
  • soul mates 60GB 5G | usually $45/month

These are all postpaid plans (not prepaid) and use the Telstra Wholesale Network. See a coverage map.

Selected plans include a 5G network trial until 28/02/2023, while the soul mates plan is 5G enabled.

All plans include:

Offer not applicable to existing MATE service numbers. Additional charges may apply for non-included service features.

Full T&Cs.

Mod: Billing starts from sign up, not activation.

Referral Links

Referral: random (41)

Referrer receives $50 bill credit.

Related Stores

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closed Comments

        • I think you are wrong. This says that plan charges for the mobile service doesn't start until successful activation.

          https://www.letsbemates.com.au/mate/faq/when-do-i-start-gett…

          I guess it's like how you buy a SIM starter kit from a supermarket for say $10, $15, $20 or $30 etc. The plan and monthly charges from the mobile service provider doesn't actually start until the SIM card is activated even but you already paid for the SIM starter at the supermarket.

          Now what i wanted to know is. Do we have until 31 March 2023 to activate the SIM in order to still get the $1 per month for 3 months promo deal. And that the 3 months deal starts upon date of activation?.

  • +1

    Purchase via Shopback to get $9 cashback and use either visa/mastercard (0% surcharge). Amex has a 2.85% surcharge (only found out about this after being charged $1.03)

    • "Cashback is not payable on usage of codes not listed on ShopBack". Mate1 code is not listed on ShopBack website so I doubt you will get the $9 cashback.

  • Wahoo got mine! Will activate once my Optus billing is close to end !

    • Just be mindful that the mate sim billing date is day you ordered the sim, not when you activate it

      • This FAQ from MATE Communicate explains when you start getting charged for your mobile plan. It clearly explains that it's when it is successfuly activated, not when you ordered the sim. So i say again you're wrong by claiming that the plan starts as soon as the SIM is ordered, it's when the sim is successfully activated.

        https://www.letsbemates.com.au/mate/faq/when-do-i-start-gett…

        It says this:

        "Charges for your mobile plan will appear on the next issued invoice following successful activation. The initial charges will vary on a pro-rata basis, in accordance with your monthly billing cycle."

        • Well for me and someone above, billing date is from when sim was ordered. Happy to be proven wrong

          • @easternculture: When did you actually activate the sim?.

            • @hollykryten: 2 days ago.

              • @easternculture: Well it can't be right as you could be waiting up to 2 weeks for the sim delivery. So if the billing date started when the sim was ordered. Well the person has basically been robbed of 2 weeks access.

                • @hollykryten: From account

                  join date 2023-02-15
                  bill cycle 15

                  So your arguing with no basis

                  Again happy to be proven wrong

                  • @easternculture: That just shows when you created the MATE account. It's not when the plan had actually begin. It's the date when you first joined MATE by creating an account.

                    Mine shows the same even but i hadn't even activated the sim yet. There is no active service.

                    • -1

                      @hollykryten: Bill cycle is 15th day of the month.

                      If activation was 2 days ago, bill cycle should be 21

                      @rfc850 can you clarify this

                      • @easternculture: Well that's kind of crap.

                        What if the sim gets lost in the mail. And it then takes longer for a replacement sim to arrive. You have to forfeit all the access for that time that you paid for just because you didn't have an activated sim. They expect you be paying for time you paid for that you can't even use yet just because you don't yet have an active sim?. It just doesn't sound right to me. Every other mobile provider that i know of don't kick start the plan date until the sim is successfully activated.

                        Even my sim took a week to arrive interstate. That's 1/4 of an entire month.

                          • -1

                            @jackofspade:

                            don’t worry if your service isn’t active as a pro-rata credit will be applied to your account from your bill cycle date to when your service is activated with MATE.

                            That explains why my account is in credit

                            account balance CR $0.27

                            Still not fair as the value of 7 days for me is about $12

                        • @hollykryten: It seems you don't the a full month benefit of the discounted service Unless you receive and activate the SIM on SAME day as you sign up and order. Looks like they will give you a pro-rata credit of that discounted service then charge you full price on 4th bill.

                          What a bummer of a system.

                          • @donotuse: It's impossible to activate the SIM on the same day as ordering as it hasn't even been shipped out yet.

                          • @donotuse: Yeah its a sneaky way for them to only give partial service for the first promotional month while customers wait for shipping and activation. I guess its countered by the value of getting 2.7 months for $3.

    • @ Gomo: When did you order it? Just want to get an idea how long they take to ship the sim.

  • after i sign up,and i forgot add promo code .anyone can help ?

    • Cancel and Redo

  • elite mates 100gb and soul mate 60gb capped speed at 100mbps and same rrp. why do you choose soul mate plan?

    #a sim-only, post-paid mobile service for residential use. 4g & 5g plan offering capped 100mbps download speeds. access to download speeds of 10mbps up to a speed cap of 100mbps on 4g and 5g. upload speeds will typically be 1 to 40mbps. on 3g, typical download speeds are 1.1 to 20mbps and typical upload speeds are 300kbps to 3mbps.#

  • Anyone having issues porting their number over to MATE? Gave my current mobile details but received a email saying porting was rejected. Confirmed that I’m on a post paid plan along with account number at a Telstra branch.

    • It’s best to call or chat to Mate about it

      • Called twice and even sent my latest telstra bill so they can confirm my account number. They said someone will be in touch but nothing over the last few days. Not sure what else I can do

    • I went through the process and received an SMS with an authorization code and a link. The link leads me to the member portal and there was no place to put in the code.

      • You only click the link if you do not want to authorise the transfer

        • Nah it says "click https ://…. to authorise this order".

      • +2

        My son and I have recently ported from Boost to Mate and this happened to both of us. Resolved via live chat.

        • Thanks! I shall try that tomorrow.

  • Can you cancel after 3 months without any sort of penalty?

    I have relatives that are here for (just now) under 3 months so this would be perfect.

    • My understanding is if you Port out before the end of 3 months, this will auto cancel your plan and they wont bill you again

      • What if you dont intend to port out but just cancel?

    • +1

      The tricky part is knowing when the 3 months is up? Is it date from ordering SIM or date you activate SIM? The OP is being deliberately vague about this and I can see a lot of people getting burnt at the 3 month point, as they say something like "pro rata amount will be carried forward", but pro rata of $1 is bugger all, and the full plan rate of $60 will be charged. I think I will port out 3 months from my order date just to be safe.

      • Why would it begin at the point of order?

        I don’t know of any carrier that does this. Optus sometimes activate as soon as delivery has been made but that’s technically at activation.

        So long as you activate by March 31st you will get the promo rate. If you activate before March 31st then your three months begins from that activation date.

        • +3

          Happy to be corrected by the OP but I reckon it works like this:
          Say I order today 14-March, but don't activate until 31-March, my billing cycle will start today, so when we get to 13-June, my 3rd billing month will end and on 14-June, my 4th billing month will start at the FULL plan rate of $20 per month (or up to $45 per month, depending on which plan you choose). So if I wait until 30-June to port out (3 months from activation), they will credit me pro-rata for the time between 14-June to 30-June but that pro rata is only based on the $1 I paid on the discounted plan (works out to about $0.50). So I will still get charged $19.50.

          I can see a lot of people getting burnt like this, which is why I plan to port out 3 months from order date, even if that means I lose 10 days of service, I'd rather that than get charged the extra.

          • +1

            @billy_bob:

            I can see a lot of people getting burnt like this, which is why I plan to port out 3 months from order date, even if that means I lose 10 days of service, I'd rather that than get charged the extra.

            Likewise. This has the potential to become Circles.Life 2.0 in terms of promos and billing cycles.

          • +2

            @billy_bob: This is spot on. Its a little sneaky as everything is based on the date of purchase, not activation. Definitely port out before 3 months from the date of sim card purchase.

            • +1

              @Hazza: I sent a message to the OP asking him to clarify this for the OzBargain community and he has not replied. If they want to get repeat business, this is not the way to go about it.

              • +1

                @billy_bob: I was told this is the case on the Mates online chat this morning, as I ported in and noticed the discrepancy straight away. I also see a 37c credit on my account for the 12 days between purchasing and activating. Of course this is no use to me, as it won't even cover half a day let alone 12, at the end of my three month period.

              • +1

                @billy_bob: I’ve come around to your concern, also had it confirmed by Mate on the phone.

                I’m pretty confident they’d be in trouble if it went to the ombudsman. OP’s stated that SIM has to be activated by March 31st to get the special rate regardless when it’s purchased which throws the whole calculated-from-purchase-date premise into tension.

                It’s a good service (faster than Belong from same location for me) but they’re clearly asshles as a company.

  • +3

    @rfc850, is it possible to get a clear answer on whether we actually 'get your first three months of standard service for $1 per month' (from the T&Cs) or whether the first month of 'standard service' somehow includes the time between ordering the sim and activating the sim?

    (Having a sim that's in transit / not activated doesn't sound like it should count as 'standard service' to me.)

    • OP is being deliberately vague about this as this is where they will make their money…..people getting burnt at the 3-4 month billing cycle…..see my comment above.
      Happy to be corrected if my understanding is wrong…..over to you OP.

  • @rfc850 - my port from woolworths failed, and when I called Mate Cusotmer Support, the agent seemed disinterested, told me there is nothing they could do, and asked me to contact woolworths customer support or just recharge with woolworths.

    • +1

      Sorry to hear this, can you send me a DM with your account number so I can find out what happened?

      • I called back, and it’s all sorted now, but it shows I only have 14 days remaining, instead of 30/31 days (full month), I have sent you a DM with my mate code. TIA.

  • +1

    thanks! i would be crazy not to take up the offer

  • There were some comments previously stating that a $10 fee (not described in the Full T&Cs or any documents linked therein), would be automatically charged if you don't activate. Where did these comments go?

  • ordered last week iffy about there being no e-sim at the moment. anyway my iffyness came to life as it's been sitting in an auspost in sydney waiting to be scanned still and my existing plan runs out today 😭

  • @rfc850, I have also been having issues with porting my number over. I sent a PDF of my latest telstra bill to confirm my account number and have confirmed with staff at a Telstra branch that I am on a post-paid plan. Despite this I have received two emails from MATE saying that porting failed. Last time I called MATE a week ago I was told to wait because I would receive further information but have not received any further updates. Is anyone able to look into this further?

    • Not what you’re asking but I’ve been told by Mate that if there are issues with porting that delay activation you are still eligible for the discounted 3 months beginning when the port succeeds

  • It says to add the promo code during checkout.. But the promo code space is actually hidden away in the plan selection page. Went through to checkout expecting it to be on the confirmation page (there was none), now I have been charged the full $30 FFS

    • +1

      Did you see a promo code box anywhere? Or does anyone know where the promo box is?

  • How does Mate handle porting OTP. Do you need to respond to SMS or enter SMS OTP online?
    Asking as I need to understand if I can port a number after my current plan has expired or before.

    • +1

      i just ported over today - the prepaid i was porting from had expired yesterday.
      no sms - they handled it all on their end. i've never experienced a port like this before so was a bit worried i wouldn't be able to reply to the text! but no need to worry

      • Thanks!

      • How long did the port take? couple hours or longer/shorter?

  • Partner signed up to this a few days ago.

    She realised she couldn't text to iPhones from her Pixel. Tech support says this is a known issue, and she needs to lock her phone to 3G to allow her to continue to use the service!

    Maybe a good deal for 2001 technology…

  • FYI. Email from company. "Please note that if we cancel this, you will lose the phone number and this can no longer be used with another provider.

    There is no holding period for mobile numbers, we suggest you move providers before cancelling your mobile service with us"

  • Submitted port this morning, from Optus, let's see how long it takes apparently upto 24hrs they say

    • +1

      Wife and I both organised ports this morning, her service has been activated now within 2hrs and working perfectly fine,

      I'm still waiting for a txt from mate letting me know my service has been swapped 🤔

      • spoke to Mate Team

        They told me the authorization link hadn't been clicked yet to allow the change over, told me its a glitch because I pressed it yet it didn't work..

        Will now take a hour or two as I have manually got them to push me through

        • Mine took all night to do, like 8pm to 4am

          just a heads up

          • @freoleo: Shouldn't take that long =/

            Was glad I bothered to make the call otherwise nothing would have happened at all !

            • @Gomo: service is now active, I didn't receive any messages from Mate to advise it's active however I did receive a message from Optus to say we are sad to see you leave,

              Popped the Sim in and worked straight away :)

              Called 101 setup my voice mail I'm all sorted now

  • Can I buy a sim in a physical store, rather than waiting for it in the post?
    Can't see anything on the website.

    • +1

      I don't think there are any MATE sim cards located in a physical store. Your only option is to get one delivered.

      • +1

        Thank you mate … 😀

  • How long are you people waiting to get the Mate sim? I am in Sydney

    I am with boost, my 12 month plan expires in 2 days and I just turned off auto debit and signed with Mate this morning.

    If I know the sim is coming this week, ill struggle for a few days without load.but I would like to be back online before the weekend.

    If its a 2 week eta, ill renew a month with boost on their low plan.

    • +1

      Took three days for me, I’m in inner Melb.

      SIMs are mailed registered envelope.

    • +1

      7 days to Perth

    • Thanks guys. I'll take the chance and wait it out then!

    • +1

      I got mine the next day. Sydney 2015.

      • Yes because the SIM card is shipped from Sydney. Mate Communicate is based in Sydney. So people who live in Sydney get it delivered the fastest.

    • Recd the following mail yesterday…

      We can confirm your SIM card is on the way.
      Your tracking number for delivery is TMPXXXXXX. You can track this via the Australia Post website.
      Please allow 2 - 10 business days for delivery, depending on your location.

      So that's perfect for me. My old plan expires at 23:59 tomorrow.night so if I know its coming this week should be sweet.

  • I finally got my SIM card running for the first time. I was waiting on a new phone to arrive before using it which took a while.

    What's weird is. While i was waiting for my new phone. I left the SIM card (even but it was activated mid last month) it was just sitting unused until today. And then when i got it my new phone going with the SIM placed in it i got a notice saying there were 6 new voice messages. And guess what every one of the voice messages was spam with a young woman with a Chinese accent speaking Chinese. So go figure it out a brand new and unused but activated mate SIM sitting idle got a bunch of spam voice mails and i gave the phone number to absolutely no one. How the heck would they have got the phone number. Unless it was scammers using some random phone number generator.

  • I notice on my TCL 20 Pro 5G phone that it comes up the name as Telstra. I thought it would have shown up as Mate. Is that normal?.

    • Yes. It shows telatra on my phone too.

  • I received the invoice for the second month today. And i notice that i was credited for the time that the SIM card wasn't yet activated. So you do get your money back as credit if you take a while before activating the sim card for the days that you've missed. So no need to panick if you've taken a while to activate.

    • The reason people are freaking out is not that they wont be reimbursed for the time before activation, it’s that they might be reimbursed for a prorata calculation of the $1 per month fee and end up paying the full cost for those days/weeks subsequently.

      • +1

        No that doesn't happen. No need to freek out. I got a 40c credit from the first month (because i activated a bit under half way through the billing month) which the credit is applied onto the second months bill so the second month for me is 60c instead. And next month will be $1 also for the third month. It's all cool.

        • I’m not suggesting this is likely, only that that is what people are concerned about.

          Your experience doesn’t appear to confirm it one way or another – until you’ve had 3 months of service and have been charged only $3 over that period (or until the Mate rep can assuage these concerns) then it’s still in question.

          I reckon they’d have some trouble with ACCC if this was how they planned to apply policy but that hasn’t stopped companies trying it on in the past.

          • +1

            @0jay: spoke to chat online, and can confirm it's definitely the billing date, which for most is the order date. I did order another sim for the next month which was on the 2nd month's bill but has the order date prorated.

            So I'm fairly sure it will only get the discount up to the order date as well. Haven't activated it yet.

            (which was not i thought is the case, as you don't get $44 credit prorated)

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