Aidy and Clare

Hi guys, still in the process of applying for visa, but could you shed some light on this.
How much is the average mobile line rental, say for light use?
And can you get mobile broadband and again how much and is it good coverage.

I saw a site in UK that sells sim cards for NZ, I think it's called 0044 sims. Anyone had any ecxperience using them.
Also, what's the pay as you go like in NZ, expensive or not?

Cheers
Aidy

sirplug

It's not as cheap as the UK

Try these....Vodafone , 2 degrees , telecom , Orcon

chc4me

Mobiles are in interesting topic (for a techono like me at least!). I used to be on a plan where I paid $50 per month with some bonus minutes and bonus texts. Now Im on a "pay as you go" with 2Degrees and use less than $30 per month.
Pay As You go has higher call charges but no line rental. I buy a $10 text pack which gives 1000 texts for the month - way more than I use. I now use text and make less calls because of this.
IMHO, plans where you pay a line rental are a ripoff and outdated. Try the Pay As You Go for a while rather than signing up and locking into a plan.

kenpom

This is interesting for me as we are currently back in the UK and mobile phone usage over here is so cheap I cant believe it.
It cost me a fair amout in NZ. I had a vodafone mobile internet dongle in NZ just before we left and it ws extortionate.

LukeandJo

From the research I have done smartphones and data included in your tariff are non-existant.

chc4me

Mobile Data is ok value. On the 2degrees network, for example, they have 50mb for $6 on 3G. Enough to check emails and the odd website on the run (like the Football scores!). I can't speak for the other networks as I've not looked into it.

chc4me

To Lukeand jo,
Which smart phone are your researching? I bought the HTC Desire imported from the UK, fantastic phone!

MattandJax

Actually Vodafone actually give you 3gb a month on their smart plans. The cheapest one is Smart 1 which is $40 a month with 30 mins and 300 txts to any mobiles. That's way more than I got in the UK although it is a bit more pricey.

Perfect for me as I like to listen to LastFM at work which can really eat us those mb's!

Also with a Vodafone mobile you can save $30 a month on you broadband connection so it's pretty good value!!

This is a 24 month contract though and the termination fees are pretty steep ($315 7-12 months $185 13months+). Check it out here http://www.vodafone.co.nz/shop/plans...ey=mnit1400020

Annoyingly on this tariff you can get a whopping discount on an iphone 4 ($350) but only $100 off a Samsung S, what's that about?

LukeandJo

I am tempted to bring a HTC desire HD with me rather than purchase one in NZ. Then again I am in Hong Kong a week before NZ, might beable to get one there.
I saw the vodafone deal, that 3gb per month is tops.

chc4me

If you're looking at the HTC phones, buy before you arrive in NZ. It's a very limited offering of HTC phones here (check out the HTC website and you'll see what I mean). My wife really wants the HTC Desire Z with the pop out keyboard, which is not available here so I'll be contacting Clove in the UK again. BTW, I love Android!

irnbru14

You need to go to Parallel Imported or similar to get the phones that Vodafone or Telecome are not picking up.