NBN price hikes are coming on July 1, but you can delay them by a year if you act fast

Marathon: A close-up of the Destroyer shell looking up slightly at something out of shot. — (Image credit: Bungie)

NBN Corp has announced wholesale price changes for 2026, and as we saw last year, the prices will go up rather than down. According to NBN "the wholesale price change is between $0 and $2.34 per month" depending on a connection's speed tier, but that doesn't necessarily mean your NBN provider will increase or decrease their monthly fees: it just means your provider will be paying NBN more.

Are NBN providers likely to absorb that cost, though? Probably not.

The increases are, depending on how you look at it, pretty miniscule. If you're on an NBN 500 plan—which most people in metropolitan centres probably are, nowadays—the wholesale price of those is increasing by an average of AU$2.32 a month. For NBN 1000 it's less at AU$1.95 a month.

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"NBN’s wholesale prices will be adjusted, on average, by just under the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), measured over the 12 months to 31 December 2025, which was 3.63 per cent," the NBN helpfully elaborates. The main take away is that, with the new financial year looming, NBN prices are likely to increase on a provider-by-provider basis.

Spending more on the internet, whether a tiny bit or a lot, is annoying and you shouldn't take it sitting down. If you want to delay any inevitable increases, it's probably wise to jump on one of the many introductory NBN deals floating around at the moment. It means you'll get to enjoy between 6 and 12 months of internet at a lower price than usual, and because these offers are promotional, the provider needs to honour it for the duration.

A deal I reported on recently is one I think you should consider if you want to lock in a low monthly price for as long as possible. Kogan Internet's normal monthly cost for NBN 500 is AU$85.90 per month, which could increase to around AU$88 per month in the next financial year. But if you jump on its pretty amazing AU$71.90 per month introductory deal right now, which lasts 12 months, that's what you'll pay until May next year.

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Best NBN 500 introductory prices right now
Provider	Current intro price (12 months)	Current intro price (6 months)	Regular price	Total first year
Dodo	n/a	AU$61	AU$92.99	AU$923.94
Kogan	AU$71.90	n/a	AU$85.90	AU$862.80
Origin	n/a	AU$56	AU$112	AU$1,008
Spintel	n/a	AU$76	AU$86.95	AU$977.70
Tangerine	n/a	AU$63.90	AU$88.90	AU$916.80
Superloop	n/a	AU$69	AU$95	AU$984

That Kogan price is the best at the moment if you look at the whole year, and it's the connection I've been meaning to jump to since my previous Spintel introductory offer elapsed.

There are also some very decent introductory prices on NBN 1000 going around (though no where near as many):

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Best NBN 1000 introductory prices right now
Provider	Current intro price (12 months)	Current intro price (6 months)	Regular price	Total per year
Dodo	n/a	AU$78	AU$109.99	AU$1,127.94
TPG	n/a	AU$79.99	AU$109.99	AU$1,139.88

In other words, there are plenty of good reasons not to spend a great deal on the internet, especially in light of a looming (though still vague) price hike.

NBN 500 and NBN 1000 connections are only available on FTTP and HTC connections. If you're not on either of those, you should check on the NBN website to see if you're eligible for an upgrade.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.