MATE Reviews 1,932

Having just immigrated from South Africa, I expected my internet and mobile experience to be amazing. However, deciding to go with Mate while offshore was a horrible decision. From battling to activate my new sim card on arrival, constant dropped calls, to very poor network speeds (both mobile and nbn which is often terrible during peak hours). It's only been a month of using them but I'm already searching for a different option.

Terrible service ..

Had data scan like many order new cards advise mate who gave 5 days sort out but cut service on day 1 and ignore us ??
Shockers

Poor peak hour internet speed and not that much faster during off peak neither. It would however show good speed on speed test websites. I “suspect” that they may also use some sneaky trickery which was notoriously known for and used by these cheap internet providers to give extra bandwidth to speed test website. This way, they will deny any slow speed coz those websites will show “no issue” with the speed.

Expensive comparing to the peers and somehow frequent downtime comparing to other internet providers I have used in the past.

If it’s not because I can’t be bothered resetting my wifi devices, I would have changed long times ago…

Not a good “mate”….

Customer service used to be their best selling point and I can't count the amount of times I have highly recommended it to friends. Mates' team back in 2018 in Adelaide were responsive, they cared and they knew me.

Now they are like everyone else: online chats, no published phone numbers on their website, saturated call centres and long call back times, and here this one: if you have a technical problem, such as "no internet" the recommended way to reach out to the technical service is "send us an email".

They call you "mate" but it is not true... even when I've been a customer for over 5 years, their reps don't even read my file and keep asking over and over again the same things, as if you were that first time customer with zero knowledge on how to turn something on and off.

And also, their speed has always been a big lie, I pay for a 50/20 plan but I have rarely got anything about 30/14.

1. Terrible internet coverage. I have a tiny little house and could not even get coverage from one room to the next. The router they make you buy is absolutely pathetic. I asked a Mates staff member why it was so bad and they said they knew it wasn't the best but it was the only router they could get in bulk!
2. When the internet was running it was incredibly slow and continually froze or dropped out.
3. After offering me $20 off my plan for 6 months, Mates did not actually give me the $20 off for the first two months. When I rang to query them, they agreed that they had offered me $20 off for 6 months, but said their system wouldn't allow them to apply the discount for the previous months so they weren't going to give it to me. They then reluctantly agreed to give me one lot of $12.33 off my next bill saying that it was a pro rata amount because I wasn't with them for the full first month. When I pointed out they charged me for the full first month AND didn't apply the promised $20, they again said there was nothing they could do about it. The CS rep was completely disinterested in helping and didn't care.
4. The next day I arranged to go with another internet provider. By the following day, I was all set up with my new provider so I contacted Mates via their chatbox and asked them to ensure my account was closed and that any refunds I was owed went through. The girl told me that she would process the refund straight away. (Days later I am still waiting for that!) I asked her to send me a final invoice or at least a breakdown of the final refund, credit and debits. She said it wasn't possible as the account had been closed. When I pointed out that a final invoice was a legal requirement and legally required for tax reasons, she just kept repeating that it wasn't going to happen. I then told her that I was contacting the ombudsman and she said that was fine, go ahead and do that. At that point I ended the chat. I most definitely will be contacting the ombudsman and I have screenshotted the conversation as evidence.
5. Their behaviour is nothing short of shonky and dishonest. They will be very friendly to you to get you to sign up but once you are signed up, their care factor goes out the window. This appears to be the culture of the company. I was with my previous provider for over 10 years so I am a loyal customer. I thought I'd give a smaller Australian operation a go. Biggest mistake I ever made!

i have been a customer of Barefoot Telecom (which is now Mate) for over 4 years. We hadnt had any issues whilst they were still trading as Barefoot, but in the last year we have had 3 issues. (1) they changed their IP addresses (or something like that) which meant all the streaming services thought we were outside Australia and so the services did not work (we had to hot spot from our phone to the tv for > 2weeks). (2) our internet dropped out one weekend. couldnt get through to customer support. after initially being told it was a problem at our end, eventually convinced them to get NBN to investigate. NBN confirmed loose wiring in the NBN box outside the perimeter of our house. So no internet for > 7 days and no refund of monthly fees, and (3) upgraded to FTTP. still paying for both FTTN and FTTP. suddenly on Friday night internet stopped working. didn't work on either FTTN or FTTP. more than 36 hours since emailing customer support no response. tried calling during their "office hours" at 8.30am (when they open on Saturday). automated message said they would return call in 1-2 hours. 11.30am on Sunday no contact, and their "office is closed".

Ultimately you only know how good a company is when you have a problem and see how they deal with it. With Barefoot i used to get through to customer support very quickly. Now it is days before you get a return phone call, but i do acknowledge their support staff are generally very good (when you actually get through to someone).

'we can see in our system why the internet went down on your birthday but we are not responsible' switched to exetel! forgot how good they actually are. AussieBB, Mate and TPG have all had a go at ripping me off.. exetel are top of the game.

Cheap and cheerful, but not so cheerful when you can't get internet data coverage 40km south of Perth which is still suburbia, about a 10 km black spot. They say they use Telstra network but they DO NOT have Telstra coverage

Please read this review if you're thinking of signing up to Mate, it's honestly the worst internet provider I've had and I've tried a lot of internet providers from living around the world. their service CONSISTENTLY drops out, you cannot work on a computer with this internet or enjoy streaming a video in the evening. When the internet is working and you want to stream Netflix the quality will go VERY low res, in and out of quality . DO NOT GO WITH MATE, FAKE GOOD REVIEWS. CUSTOMER SERVICE ARE ALSO LIARS ! it's almost funny how bad the service is. You will reach FASTER speeds via your mobile provider lol absolute joke. Have tried SEVERAL UPGRADES with Mate and the difference is ABYSMAL don't fall for this internet provider. Mate if you can see my review, lol you should be ashamed with such a hilariously BAD service lol my god, how do you even . YOU WOULD EXPECT THE MODEM TO START BEEPING LIKE IT WAS 1998, I DONT REMEMBER DIAL UP BEING THIS SLOW

Why can't I give mate 0 star??
No internet for 3 days. Mate advised me to get a new modem router which I did. Still no internet but mate now excuses its the NBN. I should switch to telstra or something else

No issues for me apart from being a bit slow at peak times

Constantly internet down issues every month.
Never their fault but nbm.

Been having internet issues with mate for over a year and lately its been getting worse. Random cutouts every day. We call them and all they say is "It's your modem"

Service constantly dropped out. They after 6 days they couldn't connect me to my chosen NBN plan, and that was with a brand new NBN line that was only 4 weeks old and with their latest modem, the "TP-Link Archer VR400" that had previously been connected to the same address. The thing that really annoyed me though was the constant lies the call centre staff would feed you, day after day I was told we'll have you connected tomorrow and that tomorrow eventually turned into 6 days when I'd finally I had enough and cancelled the service and still never got an explanation as to why the service wasn't connected. I would NOT recommend this Telco to my worst enemy. Absolutely disgraceful!!

I'm a long time customer joined Mate around 2015, we used to get the speed and better transparency with updates. Not anymore, see attached our speeds we get every night between 7pm and 11pm, sometimes outside these times too and sometimes worse!. We pay for the 100, we get slow speeds and drop outs too!

I have been told for months they are upgrading their systems. Its been going for over 4 months or more, I have a written message to them complaining about the speed on 25th of July 2022. We get no credit, no updates and have followed their suggestions to fix the problem but it still exists. I was told the upgrade would improve within a week but here I am 4 months later with same issue.

I read a review on here saying they got 4 months credit... why didn't we get this when we have been having issues for ages. No idea when the upgrades will be done either?? If too much longer we will have to switch providers. Other reviews are sadly similiar. Not just us going through the same thing, which means it isn't us, its mate. Least I can do is add to these reviews and help others choose a better provider!

Been having internet issues with mate for over a year and lately its been getting worse. Random cutouts every day. We call them and all they say is "It's your modem" "It's your usage" and so on. We have bought a new modem for $600 and they still say its out motem... (even though they said themself its a good modem). They haven't sent anyone out to look at it... not even once. Also takes over an hour to get incontact with them. If you want a good internet provider that actually does their job don't go with mate. Also you can't contact them after 6pm so that is fun...

I've been with MATE now for over a year and it's been the best internet provider by far. Value, speed, reliability but MOST importantly they have great customer service!! Highly recommend them.

Used mate for a few years now. Were good at the start but slowly going downhill. Internet has been slow and constant dropouts for last 6 months +. Finally, changed and got the speeds I am paying for way more consistent and reliable.

Absolutely incredible service, whenever you call these amazing people they solve your problems immediately. Since I switch to Mate I haven’t had any issues and if there is anything they are always doing above and beyond!!!
Thank you for your incredible service MATE!!!

Mate is always so helpful,if there is any issue they can’t be any more helpful