NZ mobile data

[arnica]

Hi Guys,

I will be travelling to NZ in a few weeks and wanted to also have access to the internet. This is so I can make skype calls to the Wife and Kids, FB, general surfing whilst I'm away from from home.

Has anyone purchased a prepaid data sim card (or equivalent) over there? I'm not sure how much data to purchase. I will be in NZ for 15 days.


Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[junqbox]

It was our intention to do this when we there last year, even the people in the Telstra shop here recommended this process. What they didn't tell me was you need to have your phone 'unlocked' before you go. Easy to do, just ask them to do it, but you then need to sync your phone before you swap cards.

[Old Skool]

Depends where you are going, most Tourist areas, pubs, restaurants, CBD areas etc have free wifi. I just used that where ever we went, so didn't have to use any data at all from my phone. I made sure any places we stayed at had free wifi as well.

[arnica]

It was our intention to do this when we there last year, even the people in the Telstra shop here recommended this process. What they didn't tell me was you need to have your phone 'unlocked' before you go. Easy to do, just ask them to do it, but you then need to sync your phone before you swap cards.

Yes that's a very important factor .. having an unlocked phone. Otherwise You're not going to get anywhere.

Depends where you are going, most Tourist areas, pubs, restaurants, CBD areas etc have free wifi. I just used that where ever we went, so didn't have to use any data at all from my phone. I made sure any places we stayed at had free wifi as well.

Yeah, many of the places we're staying at should have free wifi. So maybe 1.5Gb worth of data should do me for the 2 weeks?

[davros]

Not sure where you are flying into, but I know there is a Vodafail peddler in the Christchurch airport. They will sell you a local SIM card. Make sure you get a data SIM account and not a voice account. The voice account comes with a small amount of data, but the cost per meg is higher than the data only SIM. Outside of that, as others have mentioned, there is free wifi EVERYWHERE!

[arnica]

Thanks davros,

I will be flying into CHC (land just before midnight). So chances are I will be picking one up in CHC town.

Thanks for the heads up on purchasing data only,I'll do that.

Free wifi is good wifi ... Looking forward to it


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[ameerat42]

If it's not too late: Macca's. Buy something to assuage your conscience, then enjoy a burger of bandwidth

[arnica]

Thanks for the headsup! I might give maccas a miss hey ...

However in saying that, I rarely see macas in NZ. I've only seen in it CHC and QT. The other towns don't seem to have the Golden Arches - maybe not paying attention. That's the trouble with having too much natural scenery to feast my eyes on .... Hahaha


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[arnica]

Alright, looks like I will be heading into a NZ Telecom shop to grab a prepaid sim.

Seeing that there are so many free wifi places, 500Mb - 1Gb should do the trick.


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[CapnBloodbeard]

I bought Vodafone when I was over there, that seemed the most competitive. I believe O2 have a bigger network, but much more expensive. That was a few years ago though.

[arnica]

Ended up paying $30 for 3gb worth of data. Plenty of allowance over the 2 weeks.


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