Mobile Phone In New Zealand

I am wanting to either take a pre-paid mobile to NZ or buy a sim card over there to ring back to Australia to check on family.

What have you found to be best for this. Other option might be to purchase a phone card

Who is your current Mobile Phone provider?

If you can swich sim's in your phone, then all you would need to do when you get to your first nz port of call is look for a 2degrees shop (http://www.2degreesmobile.co.nz) and get a pre-paid sim.

I am on Virgin Mobile but pre-paid

Make sure your phone isn't sim locked to the Virgin Mobile network. If it is, you'll need to have it unlocked before going otherwise any other sim cards won't work. :)

I am on Virgin Mobile but pre-paid

Virgin Mobile does Global Roaming, it is 'turned on' once for your phone (as long as it it a prepaid) and anytime you travel overseas it activates. All you need to remember is that charges are higher but a quick phone call home can be just a minute or two and therefore keeps the cost low. I have used this many times and its really simple. Just contact Virgin to set it up on your phone.

My phone isn't locked and we just bought a $20 sim at the supermarket in Dunedin( it was the 1st port). Card worked great even on board during the night.

Di

Tip when travelling Overseas with the Mobile phones input the phone numbers in International format in the directory of your used numbers and save a lot of hassles in dialling . That format also works fine in Australia .

For Australians travelling Overseas to ring home to Australia this is the International format to use 1. for landlines & 2 . for mobile numbers .

1. To Australian landlines : +61area code less0,8 digit number.

So Sydney 02 5225 4466 becomes +61252254466

2. To Australian mobile numbers (whether the phone is in Australia or Overseas) : +61first four digits less the 0 then rest of mobile number.

So Australian mobile 0417 522 575 becomes +61417522575

The symbol + automatically dials the STD code from Overseas to Australia.

NB: You drop the 0 in the area code, or the 0 at the start of the mobile number .

For other countries you enter + then Country code, then City code, then the number . Your Telstra phone directory has a listing of Country codes, and city codes for most countries.

For New Zealand country code is 64 Auckland is 9 and so on.

So an Auckland number will be +649 then the number .

Other tip if your phone locks onto a supplier O/S and then you find you can not make calls, select Manual Network Selection and try other providers till you find one that works (i:e: one that has an agreement with your Australian provider. )

we just bought a $20 sim at the supermarket in Dunedin( it was the 1st port). Card worked great even on board during the night.

 

Di

I did similar when we went to NZ on Radiance in January - In the first port I grabbed a telstra SIM for $20 NZ I think it was. It was only for my iPad and I got 500meg of data but I'm sure if I put it in a phone I would have got $10 or $20 worth of calls as well. But we had email and web access all day in Port; and for a fair bit of the evening too.

I was still sort of at work while onboard so I could send the odd email and keep the wheels ticking back home over while at sea.

But even during the shore tours while we were on the bus we could send the odd email and pictures home and let everyone know we were OK etc.

So it was worth every cent of the Australian $15 !!

I am travelling from the UK and know I need to get a phone unlocked - but I was wondering if there is a pre pay SIM that would work in both New Zealand and Australia as we will be visitng both countries.

Many thanks

J

I don't believe there is a pre paid card that will work pin both countries as we have different county codes (+64 NZ +61 AU)

I don't know of any prepaid services that allows global roaming.

I have a Prepaid US - Virgin Mobile USA phone which is not compatible with the AUS/NZ networks.

I am doing a Cruise to NZ in December and another in Feb and plan on picking up a prepaid phone/data package on my first day in Auckland so I don't have to use the ships service.

I checked the coverage maps and for most of the time I should be in range for phone but not for data.

When I did the Sydney-Brisbane cruise earlier this year I had coverage at various points along the coast but only where I could see land and only when we were passing LARGE coastal communities.

Tip when travelling Overseas with the Mobile phones input the phone numbers in International format in the directory of your used numbers and save a lot of hassles in dialling . That format also works fine in Australia .

 

For Australians travelling Overseas to ring home to Australia this is the International format to use 1. for landlines & 2 . for mobile numbers .

 

1. To Australian landlines : +61area code less0,8 digit number.

So Sydney 02 5225 4466 becomes +61252254466

 

2. To Australian mobile numbers (whether the phone is in Australia or Overseas) : +61first four digits less the 0 then rest of mobile number.

So Australian mobile 0417 522 575 becomes +61417522575

 

The symbol + automatically dials the STD code from Overseas to Australia.

NB: You drop the 0 in the area code, or the 0 at the start of the mobile number .

 

For other countries you enter + then Country code, then City code, then the number . Your Telstra phone directory has a listing of Country codes, and city codes for most countries.

 

For New Zealand country code is 64 Auckland is 9 and so on.

So an Auckland number will be +649 then the number .

 

Other tip if your phone locks onto a supplier O/S and then you find you can not make calls, select Manual Network Selection and try other providers till you find one that works (i:e: one that has an agreement with your Australian provider. )

I know this is a posting from 12 months ago but it is very useful. Also, I am hoping you can also answer my question regarding my Samsung Smartphone. Is it best that I turn off "data-auto rotation" on my phone so I don't receive any emails etc. whilst I am on our cruise in November 2013 Sydney-Auckland. I believe that leaving this one can incur huge costs. Also, do I need to contact my Provider (DoDo) and ask them to turn on Overseas Roaming so that I can actually receive and/or make urgent phone calls. Have I got this right or completely wrong ??

You must turn off data roaming ESP if you have any apps. They can "ping" your network several times a day even with you doing nothing and this is where the $$ mount up. NZ is ridiculously expensive. Only use emails where you have free wifi.

And yes, ensure you have global roaming. We use text messages to keep in touch and they are very cheap.

I have a Telstra pre-paid mobile phone. I have travelled to NZ and also to the UK and Europe with it. For a Telstra prepaid, you don't need to have "Global roaming" setup on it - as you do for a post-paid Telsta phone. For prepaid, it automatically searches out a foreign network operator who has an "arrangement" with Telstra and connects to them.

So -- we mostly communicate with friends/rellies while away using Email/Blog, via any free wifi we encounter, or by SMS texts using 3G. The texts are obviously more expensive than they are here in Oz -- but they are so few that it is not a big deal financially.

Even when at home, I have data disabled on my phone (the 3G part) - and only turn it on when I want to specifically use the Internet for some reason. Before I enable data to connect to the Internet, I turn off "Auto-Sync" as I do not want the phone to be syncing anything using 3G data.

Another thing that users need to be aware of is that different network operators in different countries use different frequencies. Whether a phone will work in any given country - or how well it will work ( that can depend on the network operator) will depend on two things - whether the phone is locked to some network here in Oz and also what frequencies the phone operates on. For example, many "cheapie" prepaid phones sold here do not operate on the Telstra NextG network - and will only connect to the Telstra 2G network ( ie no data/ internet connection)

Barry

We were in New Zealand earlier this year and I have an unlocked phone which I put a 2degrees sim in and had no problems - you can get the sims from the shops or tourist office

This was my original post from last year. I ended up purchasing a Woolworths Global Roaming Sim Card. Cost $10 to purchase and put a $30 top up on it.

Very easy to setup and use. It is allocated an UK mobile number but I was able to be contactable on the ship and everywhere in NZ. Costs were very resonable as it used Vodafone in NZ.

I disabled my Data on my phone. Expiry is 12 months so as long as I recharge by November this year, I can keep the number

Highly recommended

As mentioned earlier, data costs are a killer @ $15/mb for Telstra customers while in NZ. Came home from a cruise in March with a $1,000 bill for around 65mb of data usage between my wife & me. 65mb isn't much data at all these days (doesn't take long to download either!). Was used for checking emails, google maps (for when we got lost) and some other tourist type info.

We are normally paranoid in turning off data roaming, but this was just some incidental use & had no idea it we racked up that much use.

Just a massive rip-off by the telcos.

What ever happened to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard's announcement of bringing in cheaper roaming costs for Aust/NZ users when we travel in each others countries?

Thank you everyone for your great information. I am now a lot clearer on what I need to do. Definitely don't want to come home to a huge Mobile Phone bill !!!

2 degrees prepaid mobile.

Will and does work in nz and au.

Can top up from au as well. Number provided via txt when you turn the phone on on arrival to au.

Take a look at their website, gives all details.

Cost of sim should no more than $5.00 nzd from a supermarket.

Tip when travelling Overseas with the Mobile phones input the phone numbers in International format in the directory of your used numbers and save a lot of hassles in dialling . That format also works fine in Australia .

 

For Australians travelling Overseas to ring home to Australia this is the International format to use 1. for landlines & 2 . for mobile numbers .

 

1. To Australian landlines : +61area code less0,8 digit number.

So Sydney 02 5225 4466 becomes +61252254466

 

2. To Australian mobile numbers (whether the phone is in Australia or Overseas) : +61first four digits less the 0 then rest of mobile number.

So Australian mobile 0417 522 575 becomes +61417522575

 

The symbol + automatically dials the STD code from Overseas to Australia.

NB: You drop the 0 in the area code, or the 0 at the start of the mobile number .

 

For other countries you enter + then Country code, then City code, then the number . Your Telstra phone directory has a listing of Country codes, and city codes for most countries.

 

For New Zealand country code is 64 Auckland is 9 and so on.

So an Auckland number will be +649 then the number .

 

Other tip if your phone locks onto a supplier O/S and then you find you can not make calls, select Manual Network Selection and try other providers till you find one that works (i:e: one that has an agreement with your Australian provider. )

Got that above thanks.

Just wondering if my son needs to call my mobile whilst cruising in NZ should he need to put the NZ country code in first...or not as I will have international roaming on?

What would you suggest ? Is there a cheap phone I could buy ?

I'm from the US and need a phone for a few weeks to call Aus from NZ and when in AUS to call locally.

The cruise starts in Auckland and my US phone won't work in AUS and NZ.

Any suggestions ? I just need voice and text.

Just wander around the shops in Auckland and you're bound to trip over a number of cellphone providers, all of which should have both cheap phones and cheap pre-paid packages. You might even be able to get something at the airport on your way in. Check both the inwards duty free area and shops in the arrivals concourse.

Just wander around the shops in Auckland and you're bound to trip over a number of cellphone providers, all of which should have both cheap phones and cheap pre-paid packages. You might even be able to get something at the airport on your way in. Check both the inwards duty free area and shops in the arrivals concourse.

Or, if you already have a phone you can just buy, and, swap out the SIM card, if its not locked to a provider.

For those with a locked mobile phone, you can get an unlock code for most phones on ebay for about AU$5. You provide the phone IMEI number and they will send the unlock code. I've done this many times for myself and family.

On cruise to NZ I purchased a Telecom NZ prepaid SIM card. You can then get free WiFi when near any public phone box in NZ. We used it at all ports on the cruise without a problem.

For those with a locked mobile phone, you can get an unlock code for most phones on ebay for about AU$5. You provide the phone IMEI number and they will send the unlock code. I've done this many times for myself and family.

 

On cruise to NZ I purchased a Telecom NZ prepaid SIM card. You can then get free WiFi when near any public phone box in NZ. We used it at all ports on the cruise without a problem.

Telecom NZ has been renamed Spark . I am pretty sure the free WiFi around the old telephone boxes only works with them.