Best Prepaid Mobile Provider

About Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Prepaid Mobile Award

Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Prepaid Mobile Award reveals the mobile phone provider that delivers the best consumer satisfaction to its customers.

We ask Kiwi prepaid customers to rate their satisfaction with their providers by Overall Satisfaction, as well as important criteria such as Customer Service, Network Coverage and Value for Money.

Numbers crunched by Canstar's researchers:

• 1768 Customers Surveyed
• 11 Providers Assessed
• 6 Providers Shortlisted
• 1 Award Winner

Read our methodology

The best prepaid mobile provider in NZ

The brands rated are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.

1. Skinny

Congratulations to Skinny for once again winning Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers | Prepaid Mobile Award. The award has been running since 2015, and Skinny has taken out top honours every year, which is a remarkable feat, given the competition in the prepaid mobile sector.

This year Skinny achieves another great set of ratings from its customers. It earns a top 5-Star rating for Overall Satisfaction, and further 5 Stars for Customer Service, Billing and Accessibility of Provider. Across all other categories it earns great 4-Star ratings.

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 great-value prepaid plans. It also offers weekly plans, although they work out slightly more expensive:

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 speed cap)
• Extras: Hotspotting

Yearly plans:

The data, call and text allowances renew every 28 days.

$296 Plan:

• 4GB rollover data
• 300 rollover minutes to NZ & OZ
• Unlimited texts NZ & OZ

$439 Plan:

• Unlimited data (10GB max speed) with hotspotting
• Unlimited minutes to NZ & OZ
• Unlimited texts NZ & OZ

2. Kogan Mobile

Kogan was founded by entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan 25 years ago in Australia as an online own-brand electrical goods retailer. Since then it’s grown into a huge company, selling a wide range of products on its NZ and OZ websites.

Here in Aotearoa, it owns online retailer MightyApe.co.nz. However, despite its size, the Kogan Mobile brand is still a small player in the market. But it’s deserving of greater attention, because if you’re after a cheap, no-frills phone plan, Kogan Mobile’s pre-paid deals are some of the cheapest around.

It's worth noting that while Kogan Mobile gets a 5-Star rating from its customers for Network Coverage it uses the same mobile network as One NZ, which only receives 3 Stars in the coverage category. This is because our awards are based on customer perception, rather than actual coverage. For more on the different mobile networks in NZ see below.

Kogan keeps it simple with just four pre-paid phone plans. And just two pre-paid periods: 31 Days and 365 Days.

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

Small Plan: $15

• Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ – 1.5GB Data
• $160 per year ($13.59 per 31 days)

Medium Plan: $25

• Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ – 4GB Data
• $250 per year ($21.23 per 31 days)

Large Plan: $35

• Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ – 15GB Data
• $330 per year ($28.03 per 31 days)

Extra Large Plan: $55

• Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ – 32GB Data
• $490 per year ($41.62 per 31 days)

3. 2degrees

2degrees offers eight prepaid monthly plans, plus four two-week plans. And each, except the cheapest $8 monthly plan, comes with a great perk: a free hour of data each day to use at a time that suits your data needs:

Prepaid (calendar month)

$8 Plan

• Features: 100 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ and OZ – 150MB Rollover Data

$13 Plan

• Features: 100 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ and OZ – 600MB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data

$19 Plan

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

$25 Plan:

• Features: 250 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ and OZ – 3GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data, 7.5GB of free Rollover Data on join-up

$35 Plan:

• Features: 300 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ and OZ – 4.5GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data, 7.5GB of free Rollover Data on join-up

$45 Plan

• Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ and OZ –10GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data, 7.5GB of free Rollover Data on join-up

$60 Plan

• Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ and OZ – 50GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data, 7.5GB of free Rollover Data on join-up

$85 Plan:

• Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ and OZ – Unlimited max speed data

Prepaid (fortnightly: 14 days)

$11 Plan

• Features: 100 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ – 1GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data

$19 Plan

• Features: 150 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ – 3.5GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data

$24 Plan:

• Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ and OZ – 7GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data

$34 Plan:

• Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ and OZ – 40GB Rollover Data
• Extras: Daily free hour of data

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

4. Warehouse Mobile

Warehouse mobile offers a range of five easy-on-the-pocket prepaid mobile plans. The ability to call beyond NZ and Australia makes them a great option for those who want to stay in touch with family and friends overseas. Warehouse mobile uses the 2degrees mobile network.

Prepay (four-weekly)

$9 Combo:

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

$15 Combo:

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

$25 Combo:

• Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ (and 13 other destinations*) – 4GB rollover Data
• Extras: Voicemail, free calls to other Warehouse Mobile numbers

$35 Combo:

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

$45 Combo:

• Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ (and 13 other destinations*) – 30GB 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.

5. Spark

All of Spark’s prepaid plans come with a Spotify discount, and more expensive plans offer free Spotify data and Data Stack.

Data Stack: earn 100MB of data every 28 days when you stay on an eligible Spark Prepaid Value Pack, up to a maximum of 10GB. Unused Data Stack does not roll over.

Prepay (four-weekly)

$16 Plan:

• Features: 25 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ & OZ – 150MB Rollover data
• Extras: Hotspotting, 10% Spotify Premium discount

$21 Plan:

• Features: 200 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ & OZ – 1.5GB Rollover data
• Extras: Hotspotting, 10% Spotify Premium discount, Data Stack

$26 Plan:

• Features: 250 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ & OZ – 2GB Rollover data
• Extras: Hotspotting, 10% Spotify Premium discount & free Spotify data, Data Stack

$31 Plan:

• Features: 300 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ & OZ – 3GB Rollover
• Extras: Hotspotting, $7 Spotify Premium discount & free Spotify data, Data Stack

$41 Plan:

• Features: 400 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ & OZ – 4.5GB Rollover
• Extras: Hotspotting, $7 Spotify Premium discount & free Spotify data, Data Stack

$51 Plan:

• Features: 500 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ & OZ – 10GB Rollover
• Extras: Hotspotting, $7 Spotify Premium discount & free Spotify data, Data Stack

$81 Plan:

• Features: Unlimited calls & texts to NZ & OZ – Endless capped at 80GB max speed
• Extras: Hotspotting, $7 Spotify Premium discount & free Spotify data, Data Stack

6. One NZ

One has seven prepaid plans. There are four cheaper plans, $30 and under, two endless data plans that offer unlimited data with speed caps after data limits, and one unlimited max-speed plan.

All unused rollover data lasts up to a year. DataUp on Rollover plans offers up to 100% free data if your plan renews regularly.

Prepaid (calendar month)

$10 Starter Prepay: 100 Mins & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 250MB Rollover Data

$17 Rollover Small: Unlimited Calls/Texts to NZ & OZ | DataUp – 1GB Rollover Data

$22 Rollover Medium: Unlimited Calls/Texts to NZ & OZ | DataUp – 2GB Rollover Data

$30 Rollover Large: Unlimited Calls/Texts to NZ & OZ | DataUp – 3GB Rollover Data

$50 Endless Starter: Unlimited Calls/Texts to NZ & OZ – 6GB at max speed

$70 Endless Plus: Unlimited Calls/Texts to NZ & OZ – 50GB at max speed

$85 Unlimited Prepay: Unlimited Calls/Texts to NZ & OZ | 250 Mins + 50 texts to 20 countries – Unlimited data at max speed

All prices correct as of 26/06/2025. For further details, visit individual providers' websites.

Other prepaid providers not rated by Canstar

Not all mobile prepaid plan providers in the market qualify for our ratings (based on minimum survey sample size), but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth considering. Here are more providers to check out before making a decision.

• Kiwi Mobile
• Mighty Mobile
• Rocket Mobile

Kiwi Mobile

Kiwi Mobile's two phone plans deliver unlimited data, capped at download speeds of of 1.2Mbps once you hit one of five data caps. The plans are unique because once you hit your data cap, if you don't want your data speed slowed to 1.2Mbps, you can opt to move up to the next data tier. You can do this manually through the Kiwi Mobile app, or do it automatically. If you opt to increase your data limit, the daily cost of your plan rises accordingly for those days of additional data.

However, whatever data/price tier you end up on by the end of the month, when the next billing cycle comes around (there are 12 per calendar year), your plan automatically resets back down to your original plan.

Choice Lite Plan

Choice Plan

Kiwi Mobile's Choice plan allows you to link up to four users. If there are two linked plans, both receive a discount of 15c per day, and if you link three or four plans that saving increases to 30c per day:

Each plan features:

• Endless data – all plans have endless data till max speed limit, then reduced to 1.2Mbps
• Talk & Text – unlimited NZ/OZ
• 5G – plans are 5G ready
• Hotspot – included with all plans

Mighty Mobile

Mighty Mobile is a pre-paid telco service from online retailer Mighty Ape. It piggybacks on the One NZ network, so offers premier coverage across the country. Like Rocket Mobile's plans, Mighty Mobile's point of difference is that the data speeds on its cheaper plans come already capped, albeit at speeds that still permit video streaming.

Fast Plan: $40/m

• Unlimited data up to 10Mbps
• Unlimited standard calls and texts in NZ and AUS
• Good for 720p, HD

Faster Plan: $50/m

• Unlimited data up to 50Mbps
• Unlimited standard calls and texts in NZ and AUS
• Good for 1080p, FHD

Fastest Plan: $80/m

• Unlimited max speed data
• Unlimited standard calls and texts in NZ and AUS
• Good for 4K, ultra HD

Mighty Mobile also has year-long plans that offer considerable discounts:

• Fast Plan: $399/year ($33.25/m)
• Faster Plan: $499/year ($41.58/m)
• Fastest Plan: $799/year ($66.58/m)

Rocket Mobile

Rocket Mobile is a mobile-phone provider that offers a unique range of prepaid unlimited data plans that use One NZ's mobile network.

The majority of endless plans come with data caps. This means you only get a certain allocation of full-speed data. Once you hit your plan's cap, data speeds are wound back quite dramatically, usually to around 1.2Mbps. And while 1.2Mbps is fast enough for streaming music and surfing the internet, it's not suitable for video streaming or video calling.

What makes Rocket Mobile's plans different is that the cheaper plans come with their max data speeds permanently capped, instead of their data limits. This means that if you don't use your phone to watch a lot of video, you can get an unlimited data plan suitable for you needs for just $30 per month. And all Rocket's other plans are quite fast enough to watch Netflix in HD!

Choosing the best prepaid provider

All utilities – mobile, internet, power, electricity – only really come in one flavour: electricity is electricity, gas is gas, and access to a mobile service is pretty much the same whatever provider you use.

The only differences come down to the price and the associated packing of the phone products, for example value-added extras and customer service.

So it's not surprising to see that for the overwhelming majority of phone users in our survey (36%), satisfaction with their provider comes down to one thing: Value for Money.

Customer Service (22%) is also important, rating only slightly higher than Network Coverage at 19%. As we mention above, perceptions of Network Coverage are interesting, as there are only three main mobile networks in the country, which are used by multiple phone providers (see below). And up until the roll-out of 5G, all three mobile phone networks were pretty consistent at delivering reliable coverage to around 98% of Kiwis. However, now that 5G is proliferating, big differences in ultrafast network coverage are appearing, as all three networks update to the latest 5G tech.

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

• Value for Money: 36%
• Customer Service: 22%
• Network Coverage: 19%
• Accessibility of Provider: 13%
• Billing: 10%