The best New Zealand SIM cards for travellers
One of my most idiotic travel mistakes was not switching off my mobile data before landing in Morocco.
I was living in France at the time, so had a French mobile plan — which covered a lot of Europe but didn’t extend to Morocco.
In the few minutes my data was enabled, before I frantically switched it off, I managed to rack up 80 Euros in data costs.
Ouch.
Ever since then, I make sure my data is switched off when I arrive into a new country, and I usually buy a prepaid local SIM card so I can get online.
Getting a SIM card for New Zealand is a good idea, as it will make it easier to get online and stay connected.
jump ahead.
Key takeaways
I recommend getting a Skinny SIM card — $19 for 1.5GB of data plus texts and calls. You can also get 4GB of extra data free when you use the code LBQLUPE
Airalo eSIM offers good data deals, if you’re confident you won’t need to make any calls when you’re here
If you want a local SIM, they are cheap and easy to find at airports, supermarkets and convenience stores.
Data plans for local SIMs start at $17 (around $10 USD) for 1.5G of data, plus texts and calls
Getting a SIM card in New Zealand
Even if you’re only visiting for a couple of weeks, you probably need a sim card while travelling in New Zealand.
Having date to check directions is really helpful. Road signs in New Zealand aren’t always that clear and a lot of places are down side roads.
There is free wifi in places like malls, airports, cafes, libraries, hotels and sometimes town centres, but in a lot of places you won’t be able to find a network to join.
A lot of New Zealand tourism businesses are very old school and either have no website, or just a bad website — lots of people prefer a phone call. If you want to rent a car on Great Barrier Island for example, it’s easier to just pick up the phone. So being able to call (and take calls) is really handy.
Make sure your phone is unlocked before you travel. Both physical and eSIMs will only work with unlocked phones.
If you’re planning on using an eSIM, you also need to check that your phone is eSIM compatible.
The best eSIM for travelling New Zealand
eSIMs are a great option if you want data only (you won’t be able to make calls while you’re here).
One NZ is the only local mobile provider to offer an eSIM — it’s more expensive than a physical SIM, but it looks like a good option if you like to have it set up before you arrive.
Where to buy a local New Zealand sim card
You can buy a SIM card as soon as you land in Auckland Airport (the airport also has free wifi, so you can jump online as soon as you land).
If you’re too tired to think about buying a SIM in the airport, it’s really easy to buy a SIM card pretty much anywhere in New Zealand, though.
You can find them at supermarket checkouts, in dairies (our little corner stores), and in dedicated telco stores in malls and shopping centres.
Some campervan rental companies also include SIM cards with your rental, so you can also enquire in advance about that.
The main mobile phone plan providers in New Zealand
There’s not a lot of difference between the prepaid mobile plan providers in New Zealand in terms of network coverage, so I recommend just grabbing the cheapest option, which is Skinny (this is the one I use).
Skinny — $17 for 1.5GB of data plus texts and calls (+$2 for a SIM card). Skinny uses the Spark network so you’ll have good coverage. You can also get 4GB of data free when you use the code LBQLUPE
One (formerly Vodafone) — $20 for 1.5GB of data plus texts and calls (+$2 for a SIM card)
Spark — $20 for 1.25GB of data plus texts and calls (+$5 for a SIM card)
2degrees — $19 for 1.5GB of data plus texts and calls (+$5 for a SIM card)
One and Spark are the two main operators. Their network coverage is pretty much the same, although in the part of the Coromandel where my mum lives, Spark is stronger.
Both have some patchiness in their networks though, it’s just part of being in a country with large areas of remote wilderness.
I almost never have any coverage while I’m hiking, for example. Most national parks are off grid, and even in some popular places like Milford Sound you won’t have mobile reception.
Because of this, I recommend downloading Google Maps, your favourite playlists, and PDFs for hikes (like the ones DOC provides), so you won’t be left directionless or music-less.
Setting up your Skinny SIM (or any other SIM)
The Skinny app
My Skinny dashboard
I recently got back to New Zealand after some overseas travel and had to buy a new SIM after losing my old one somewhere in the world.
I just ducked into a shop in a mall in Auckland to grab a SIM, and then set it up in about 5 minutes at home.
It’s easy to set up your SIM once you have it. Here’s how.
Activate your SIM by calling 456 (that’s it, you don’t need to do anything else)
Install the Skinny app, for iOS or Android.
Through the app you can buy a 4-weekly plan
Make sure you check that payments aren’t set to auto top up.
This only took a few minutes to do, and my data was working within about 15 minutes of setting this up.
How much data do you need?
I use Skinny’s cheapest plan — $17 a month for 1.5G of data, plus texts and calls. I make this (minimal) amount of data work by using free wifi when I can, downloading playlists on Spotify.
Skinny also have free data weekends over summer (December-March) which helps it go further.
So, you could probably get around for 10 days to 3 weeks on less than 2GB of data. That should be enough to check directions and quickly search for activities.
You might want more if you’re planning on camping, although a lot of campgrounds are off the mobile data grid anyway. It depends how online you want to be.
DOC visitor centres usually have free wifi so they’re a great place to stop in and check the weather as well as your emails.
Thanks for reading this far! I hope this helped answer some of your questions about setting up a SIM card for New Zealand.
If you’re getting deeper into planning your trip, you might also find these articles helpful:
