Best-rated Monthly Mobile Plans

Compare Monthly Mobile Plan Providers in New Zealand at Canstar Blue. Skinny, 2degrees, Spark and One NZ were compared on Overall Satisfaction, Accessibility of the Provider, Assistance Managing Data, Billing, Customer Service, Network Coverage and Value for Money.

See our Ratings Methodology.

Most Satisfied Customers | Skinny

Skinny is rated No.1 by Kiwi phone users as the country’s best monthly mobile provider.

 

 

How we rate mobile plan providers

Our review compares mobile providers on customer satisfaction, so you can discover what other Kiwis think about our compared plan providers before you sign on with one of them. Think of it like asking hundreds of your closest family, friends and colleagues which mobile plan provider they think is best!


Canstar Blue surveyed 2455 Kiwis who have a monthly payment plan with a mobile provider and asked for their feedback on their provider.

  • The outcomes reported in these ratings are measured via PureProfile’s accredited online research panel.

Respondents rate their satisfaction with their providers from zero to ten, where zero is extremely dissatisfied and ten is extremely satisfied. Brand satisfaction was rated by respondents on the following criteria:

  • Overall satisfaction: measures consumer satisfaction with a provider as an individual score NOT a combined total of all criteria.
  • Accessibility of the provider: it’s easy to contact the provider to make a query or for help, either online, in person, in-store, or over the phone.
  • Assistance managing data: the mobile plan provider provides tools and data to allow customers to easily manage their data usage, and to ensure they’re on the plan best-suited to their data needs.
  • Billing: bills provides accurate details of phone usage and costs, so it’s easy to work out if you’re on the correct plan for your phone needs.
  • Customer service: the customer service provided by the mobile provider is helpful, prompt and of a high standard.
  • Network coverage: the mobile phone provider’s network offers good access to 4G signals in both urban and rural locations, and is making progress expanding its 5G coverage.
  • Value for money: the provider’s plans offer great value for money when comparing services and extras with price.

The winning brand is the one that receives the highest Overall Satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall Satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.

  • Overall Satisfaction is asked as a specific question and represents an individual measure, not a combined total of all criteria.
  • When we cannot determine a clear winner from the criteria for the Overall Satisfaction rating, we will then look at the other criteria measured in the rating.
    • The brand with the highest number of five-star ratings within the supporting criteria will become the five-star recipient in overall satisfaction, and thus win the award. If a clear leader still cannot be determined from the supporting criteria, joint winners will be declared.

Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included, so not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The brands rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.

  • Skinny
  • 2degrees
  • Spark
  • One NZ


Find more information on our Most Satisfied Customer methodology.

Best mobile plan providers in New Zealand

  1. Skinny
  2. 2degrees
  3. Spark
  4. One NZ

Skinny mobile phone

Skinny

Ratings Results

Skinny wins our Monthly Mobile Award on the back of a perfect set of 5-Star ratings from its customers across all our award categories.

It’s a superb result that sits alongside Skinny’s decade-long dominance of our Prepaid Mobile Award.

Editor’s Notes

Skinny Mobile is a division of Spark. However, instead of offering all the extras that Spark bundles with its plans, like free and half-price Spotify, Skinny concentrates on the basics – calls, texts and data – at a reduced price. Skinny offers the following four-weekly plans:

$8 Plan:

  • Features: 100 minutes & unlimited texts in NZ & OZ – 250MB data
  • Extras: N/A

$17 Plan:

  • Features: 200 rollover minutes & unlimited texts in NZ & OZ – 1.5GB rollover data
  • Extras: Unlimited minutes to other Skinny mobiles

$27 Plan:

  • Features: 300 rollover minutes & unlimited texts in NZ & OZ – 4GB rollover data
  • Extras: Unlimited minutes to other Skinny mobiles

$40 Plan:

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ ­– endless data (speeds reduce after 10GB)
  • Extras: Hotspotting

$50 Plan:

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ ­– endless data (speeds reduce after 40GB)
  • Extras: Hotspotting

$70 Plan:

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ ­– endless data (no reduced-speed cap)
  • Extras: Hotspotting

2degrees logo

2degrees

Ratings Results

2degrees places second on our awards table with a great set of consumer ratings. It achieves 5 Stars for Accessibility of Provider and Network Coverage, and 4-Star ratings across all other categories.

Editor’s Notes

2degrees offers four monthly plans. Plans come with a great perk: a free hour of data each day to use at a time that suits your data needs. Three of the plans also allow you to add up to five extra people at discounted rates to form a group plan:

$40 Plan: 5GB Rollover Data:

  • Features: 300 Rollover minutes & unlimited texts in NZ & OZ

$50 Plan: 10GB Rollover Data

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ; add extra members on group plan from $30/month

$65 Plan: 80GB Rollover Data

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ; add extra members on group plan from $35/month

$80 Plan: Endless Data

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ; add extra members on group plan from $40/month

All plans offer unlimited calls to other 2degrees mobiles, hotspotting, free voicemail and are 5G ready.


spark_logo

Spark

Ratings Results

Spark sits third on our table with a great 4-Star rating for Overall Satisfaction, plus three top 5-Star ratings, for Customer Service, Network Coverage and Accessibility of Provider. It earns its lowest rating, 3 Stars, for Value for Money.

Editor’s Notes

Spark offers five endless data plans:

Endless data plans:

$45 Plan: Endless Data Capped Max Speed 5GB

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ. 10% Spotify Premium discount.

$65 Plan: Endless Data Capped Max Speed 75GB

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ. 10% Spotify Premium discount & free Spotify data

$75 Plan: Endless Data Capped Max Speed 150GB

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ. $7 Spotify Premium discount & free Spotify data. Add up to four companion plans for $40/month each.

$90 Plan: Endless Data No Max Speed Cap

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ. Free Spotify Premium ($18.99/month). Add up to four companion plans for $45/month each. International talk and texts.

$95 Plan: Endless Data Netflix Plan

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ. Free Netflix Standard ($25.99/month). Add up to four companion plans for $45/month each. International talk and texts.

All Spark plans offer hotspotting and free voicemail.


One NZ

Ratings Results

One NZ rounds out our table earning mostly 3-Star ratings, which while not a top score is by no means a measure of dissatisfaction. Rather, One NZ’s 3-Star ratings reveal that its customers are happy with the levels of value and customer service they receive.

Editor’s Notes

One NZ keeps it simple, with four mobile plans, two of which are eligible to be teamed up with companion plans for a considerable discount:

$30 Plan: 4GB Data

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ.

$50 Plan: Endless Data Capped Max Speed 6GB

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ.

$70 Plan: Endless Data Capped Max Speed 50GB

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ plus 250mins & 50 texts to 20 international destinations. Add up to three companion plans for $35p/m per plan.

$85 Plan: Endless Data No Max Speed Cap

  • Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ plus 250mins & 50 texts to 20 international destinations. Add up to three companion plans for $40p/m per plan.

All One NZ plans offer hotspotting, fee voicemail, One NZ rewards and are 5G ready.


NB: All prices correct as of 26/06/2025 and don’t include any current deals. For further details, visit individual providers’ websites.

Choosing the Right Mobile Plan Provider

It’s always interesting comparing consumers across Canstar’s research. And our latest mobile awards have revealed an interesting distinction between prepaid and monthly mobile users.

Half of the respondents in our award survey who have monthly plans have unlimited data, compared to just 18% on prepaid plans. Although around the same percentage of respondent say they use apps to communicate, rather than traditional talk and texts: 69% of monthly users vs 65% of prepaid users.

However, across both sets of mobile users, Value for Money is the major concern when rating their choice of provider, followed by Customer Service.

Here’s the full rundown of what the consumers in our survey say are the main things they consider when rating their monthly mobile providers:

  • Value for Money: 26%
  • Customer Service 21%
  • Network Coverage: 17%
  • Billing: 12%
  • Accessibility of Provider: 12%
  • Assistance Managing Data: 8%

What mobile networks are there in NZ?

There are three main mobile networks in the country, which were built by 2degrees, Spark and One NZ (formerly Vodafone). Although both 2degrees and Spark have sold their tower assets, they still use the networks they built.

In major centres, there’s very little difference between the three networks. However, in rural and remote areas coverage can vary dramatically. And then there’s 5G, which is more limited in its reach, even in major centres.

Here a rundown of the networks and which other monthly plan providers use them:

Spark

Network reaches 97.5% of New Zealanders (with 4G at around 97%). Spark’s network coverage map can be found here.

One NZ

Network covers over 98.5% of the population (with 4G at over 96%). One NZ’s network coverage map can be found here.

2degrees

Network covers 98.5% of the places New Zealanders live and work (with 4G at over 96%). 2degrees’ network coverage map can be found here.

→ Related article: Which Provider Has the Best Mobile Coverage?

Prepaid vs postpaid mobile plans

Prepaid

Prepaid plans are phone plans that require you to prepay for the telco service: i.e. you pay in advance for phone services to use within a set time period. Once that expiry period is over, you need to recharge your plan in order to continue your service. If you use up some of your data/text/talk allocations before the expiry period, you will need to either recharge your plan, wait until your next recharge (and not have certain services until then) or purchase an add-on for an additional cost, such as extra data, if applicable.

Postpaid

Postpaid plans differ in that you pay after using your phone plan allocations. Typically, you receive a monthly bill from your telco that you have to pay by a set date. If you have used more than your plan’s inclusions, you can incur additional charges on your bill.

Prepaid vs postpaid mobile plans

Over recent years the line between prepaid and postpaid mobile plans has blurred. Endless calls, texts and data and automatic monthly billing cycles are available across prepaid and postpaid, and some postpaid plans require payment midway through the billing period, making them, to some extent, prepaid.

The main difference is that if you’re not on a plan that offers unlimited calls, texts or data, a postpaid plan won’t leave you unable to make a call, send a text message, or use mobile data to chat online.

For if a prepaid plan expires, you need to spend extra money immediately to get your service back up and running. However, postpaid plans allow you to keep using your service, and simply settle the bill later.

This means that if you’re on a budget, prepaid may be the best option for keeping tabs on your spending. But when it comes to ease of use and maximum bang for your buck, it’s hard to look past postpaid plans.

About the editor of this page

Bruce Pitchers is Canstar NZ’s Content Manager. An experienced finance reporter, he has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in Australia, the UK and NZ, including ACP, Are Media, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. As a freelancer, he has worked for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority and major banks and investment companies on both sides of the Tasman.
In his role at Canstar, he has been a regular commentator in the NZ media, including on the DrivenStuff and One Roof websites, the NZ HeraldRadio NZ, and Newstalk ZB.
Away from Canstar, Bruce creates puzzles for magazines and newspapers, including Woman’s Day and New Idea. He is also the co-author of the murder-mystery book 5 Minute Murder.

More Information

Key statistics

Use apps to communicate with others, rather than traditional calls and texts: 69%

Use phone to arrange everyday finances: 62%

Access internet mainly through phone: 55%

Have unlimited data: 50%

Regularly use a card loaded onto phone to make contactless payments: 26%

Data cap is the major consideration when choosing phone plan: 20%

Have switched mobile providers to get better value for money: 17%

Canstar Blue surveyed 5037 New Zealand consumers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from respondents who have a monthly mobile plan. In this case, 2456 New Zealanders. Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criterion.

The past winners from Canstar Blue’s Monthly Mobile Plan ratings:

  • 2024: 2degrees
  • 2023: 2degrees
  • 2022: 2degrees
  • 2021: Skinny
  • 2020: 2degrees
  • 2019: 2degrees
  • 2018: 2degrees
  • 2017: 2degrees
  • 2016: 2degrees
  • 2015: 2degrees