Paying Too Much for Mobile? NZ’s Cheapest Phone Plans

Are you on one of the cheapest phone plans, or are you paying too much for your mobile? Many Kiwis prefer to stay with their current provider, rather than shopping for a better deal. According to a 2023 survey by the Commerce Commission, over two-thirds of consumers had stayed with their provider for five or more years.

And, it’s costing us dearly. The Commission states that by regularly checking you’re on the best plan, you could make significant savings.

Cheapest phone plans: Canstar can help!

And this is where Canstar comes in. As part of our mission to inform Kiwi consumers of the best deals on the market, we’re constantly assessing mobile phone providers and their plans.

Our annual Most Satisfied Customers | Mobile Prepaid Plans and Mobile Monthly Plans Awards reward the mobile providers that offer the best products, value for money and customer service. In our most recent award, Skinny took out top honours for Prepaid Plans, while 2degrees won our Monthly Plans Award.

NZ’s cheapest phone plans: $50 and under

Below is our round-up of the cheapest mobile plans $50 and below currently on offer (all figures correct as of 08/01/24). Or, if you’d rather get an overview of the best endless data plans on offer, regardless of price, read our article Best Endless Data Mobile Plans.

2degrees

Pay Monthly

$35 Plan

• Features: 300 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ ­– 3GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data, shared data, hotspotting

Prepaid (calendar month)

$10 Plan

• Features: 100 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ & OZ– 250MB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data, hotspotting

$19 Plan

• Features: 200 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ & OZ– 1.5GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data, 7.5GB of free Rollover Data on join-up, hotspotting

$30 Plan:

• Features: 300 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ – 3GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data, 7.5GB of free Rollover Data on join-up, hotspotting

Prepaid (fortnightly: 14 days)*

$10 Plan

• Features: 100 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ & OZ – 650MB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data, hotspotting

$15 Plan

• Features: 150 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ & OZ – 1.25GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data, hotspotting

$20 Plan:

• Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ and OZ – 2GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data, hotspotting

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

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Spark

Pay Monthly

$15 Rollover Plan

• Features: 100 Rollover Minutes & 100 Texts in NZ ­– 100MB Rollover data
• Extras: Hotspotting, Spark Voicemail App, unlimited minutes to Spark mobiles

$27 Rollover Plan

• Features: Unlimited Minutes & Texts in NZ ­– 750MB Rollover data
• Extras: Hotspotting, Spark Voicemail App, Eligible Team Up Plan

$45 Rollover Plan

• Features: Unlimited Minutes & Texts in NZ ­– 4GB Rollover data
• Extras: Hotspotting, Spark Voicemail App, half-price Spotify Premium

Prepaid (28 days)

$20 Plan:

• Features: 200 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ – 1.25GB Rollover data
• Extras: Hotspotting, save $7 on Spotify Premium, Data Stack

$30 Plan:

• Features: 300 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ – 2GB Rollover + 2GB Socialiser Data
• Extras: Hotspotting, save $7 on Spotify Premium, Data Stack

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Skinny:

Prepaid (four-weekly)

$9 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 – 3GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Unlimited minutes to other Skinny mobiles

$40 Plan:

• Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ ­– Endless Data (speeds reduce after 5GB)
• Extras: Hotspotting

Skinny also offers similar weekly plans, although they work out slightly more expensive.

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Mighty Mobile

Prepay (four-weekly)

$40 Fast Plan:

• Features: unlimited minutes & texts to NZ & OZ, unlimited data up to 10Mbps
• Extras: hotspotting

Also available for $399/year ($33.25/month)

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The Warehouse

Prepay (four-weekly)

$9 Combo:

• Features: 100 Minutes to NZ & OZ (and 13 other destinations*) and Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 300MB Rollover Data
• Extras: Voicemail, free calls to other Warehouse Mobile numbers

$15 Combo:

• Features: 200 Minutes to NZ & OZ (and 13 other destinations*) and Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 1.25GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Voicemail, free calls to other Warehouse Mobile numbers

$25 Combo:

• Features: Unlimited Calls to NZ & OZ (and 13 other destinations*) and Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 3GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Voicemail, free calls to other Warehouse Mobile numbers

$35 Combo:

• Features: Unlimited Calls NZ & OZ (and 13 other destinations*) and Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 6GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Voicemail, free calls to other Warehouse Mobile numbers

*Other destinations include standard landline or mobile numbers in: NZ, Australia, China, England, Scotland, Wales, the US, India, Canada, Germany, Israel, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea. Exclusions apply including Alaska and Hawaii.

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Rocket Mobile

Rocket Mobile offers a unique range of prepaid unlimited data plans that use One’s mobile network:

Rocket Starter – $25/month

Features – Unlimited data at 2Mbps, unlimited talk/text across NZ/OZ

Extras – 10GB hotspotting

Rocket – $35

Features – unlimited data at 10Mbps, unlimited talk/text across NZ/OZ

Extras – 20GB hotspotting

Rocket Plus – $45

Features – unlimited data at 40Mbps, unlimited talk/text across NZ/OZ

Extras – 20GB hotspotting

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One NZ

One NZ’s MyFlex prepay plans allow you to customise your text, minutes, and data allocations. The plans below are default suggestions, provided by One NZ, but they can all be customised to better suit your needs. However, note that changing the mix of text/talk and data can alter pricing.

For example, reducing the text allowance on the $15 plan to 100 texts, while increasing the data allowance to 1.25GB changes the price to $17.

Prepay (four-weekly)

$15 Plan:

• Features: 100 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 1GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Data Up (up to 100% free data if your plan renews regularly)

$20 Plan:

• Features: 200 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 1.5GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Data Up

$30 Plan:

• Features: 300 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 3GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Data Up

$40 Plan:

• Features: 100 Rollover Minutes & 100 Texts to NZ & OZ – 8GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Data Up

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Orcon

For every mobile plan that you bundle with a Orcon broadband plan, you will receive a $5 discount.

Prepay (30-day period)

$20 Basic Plan:

• Features: 200 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 1.5GB Rollover Data

$25 Value Plan:

• Features: 300 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 2.5GB Rollover Data

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Kogan

Prepay (30-day period)

Kogan offers a discount if you pay for a 12-month plan upfront, as shown:

$15 Plan:

• Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ – 1.5GB Data
• $160 per year ($13.15 per 30 days)

$25 Plan:

• Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ – 4GB Data
• $250 per year ($20.55 per 30 days)

$35 Plan:

• Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ – 15GB Data
• $330 per year ($27.12 per 30 days)

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Cheapest phone plans: things to consider

Regardless of your choice of provider, if you are paying for an expensive plan with unlimited data, calls and text, when you only need a basic, cheaper package, you are not getting true value for your money.

So before you go hunting for a cheaper mobile plan more suited to your needs, consider the following points:

Do you want a monthly plan, or to go prepaid?

If you’re uncertain about your budget and don’t want to commit to a monthly plan, then prepaid gives you the freedom to top up your account when you want and by how much. Cheap prepaid plans are perfect if you’re a light phone user who doesn’t burn through GBs of data while away from home or work wi-fi.

→ Related article: Best Endless Data Mobile Plans

How much data do you really need?

Knowing that you’ve endless data can be reassuring, but if you’re only using a couple of GBs per month, why pay for more? Review you usage over the past few months and change your plan accordingly.

Looking at how much you’re using can help you pinpoint data-hungry apps and adjust your usage accordingly. For example, disabling functions or apps that operate in the background, chewing through data.

For a clearer picture of your data usage, check out our story How Much Mobile Data Do I Need?

Do you call or text abroad?

Keeping in contact with friends and family overseas can be expensive if you rely on traditional texts and phone calls. While many NZ plans offer unlimited calls and texts to OZ, some don’t. And only Warehouse Mobile offers free calling/texts to other overseas destinations.

Remember that by far the cheapest way to talk to people abroad is to use apps such as Whatsapp, Skype, iMessage, FaceTime and Facebook Messenger while connected to wi-fi.

Do you already pay for Spotify Premium?

Spotify Premium starts at $16.99 per month. Spark offers the service for free with its more expensive plans and offers a $7 discount on cheaper plans.

Hotspotting

Hotspotting allows you to use your phone’s data allowance on other devices via wi-fi. Some plans include it, some make you pay extra for it.

Adding other mobiles to your plan

Most providers allow you to add additional plans to your own at a discounted rate.

For example, One NZ allows you to add up to three companion plans for $35 each on its $65 Pay Monthly mobile plan. Or, add up to 3 companion plans for $40 each on its $80 Pay Monthly mobile plan.

Do note that the details of group plans vary between providers. For example, some companion plans come with less data.

→Related article: Cheapest Shared Data Plans in NZ

Prepay billing cycles

If you’re going prepay, you need to be award of billing cycles. 2degrees makes a big deal of the fact that, over a year, if you’re on its prepay, you only have to buy 12 top-ups – this is because each lasts a calendar month.

But other providers have different billing periods:

• Spark, Skinny, One NZ and Warehouse Mobile’s prepaid packs: 28 days
• Orcon and Kogan‘s packs: 30 days

If you do the math, you can see different levels of value: 28 (days) x 12 (months)= 336. But there are 365 days in a year, meaning on Spark, Skinny, One NZ and Warehouse Mobile‘s prepaid plans, you’ll need to buy an extra pack to cover those missing 29 days.

However, Orcon and Kogan‘s packs renew every 30 days (30 x 12 = 360) so you’re only losing five days each year.

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For the full rundown of our mobile phone and prepaid providers, click on the buttons below.

Compare prepaid plan providers!

Compare monthly plan providers!

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About the author of this page

This report was written by Canstar Content Producer, Caitlin Bingham. Caitlin is an experienced writer whose passion for creativity led her to study communication and journalism. She began her career freelancing as a content writer, before joining the Canstar team.

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