Skinny Mobile is a division of Spark New Zealand. Think of Skinny as a no-frills version of Spark mobile. It runs over Spark's 4G and 5G network, so it has great coverage. But instead of offering all the extras that Spark bundles with its plans, such as Spotify discounts, Skinny just concentrates on the basics – calls, texts and data – at a reduced price.
Skinny is the winner of Canstar Blue’s latest Prepaid and Monthly Mobile Awards. The Prepaid 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.
What phone plans does Skinny offer?
Skinny has six different monthly plans, two weekly plans, and two 52-week plans, which cater for all budgets and needs. 5G is currently included in all Skinny plans at no extra cost.
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
Weekly plans
$5 Plan
- 60mins talk NZ
- 750 texts NZ
- 100MB data
- Auto-renew bonus: 500mins talk/500 texts
$20 Plan:
- Unlimited talk NZ/OZ
- Unlimited texts NZ/OZ
- Unlimited data (10GB max speed) with 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
Skinny top-ups and extras
Top-ups start from only $1, and you can set them to renew automatically, to help ensure you never run out of credit. Skinny also offers a range of add-on data packs.
How to switch to Skinny
It's easy and simple to switch to Skinny:
- Buy a Skinny SIM
- Dial 456 to activate it
- Sign up for an online account
- Submit a request if you want to keep your current mobile number
If you are currently on prepay and already have a SIM, you'll need to provide Skinny your SIM serial number, which is printed on the back of the SIM card.
Are Skinny's pre-paid plans value for money?
Skinny offers great value monthly and yearly plans. Plus, if you've a 5G phone and live in an area that has 5G connection, the ability to tap into 5G speeds at no extra cost is a cool bonus.
Prices correct at time of writing.
To help Kiwi consumers choose the best mobile phone providers, Canstar surveys thousands of mobile phone customers and asks them to score their providers across categories including Value for Money and Customer Service. To read the results of our full research and to find out more about NZ's best mobile phone providers, just click on the button below.
