Skinny Broadband & Fibre Plans Review

We review Skinny Broadband's plans and weigh up the pros and cons of the service

Updated 28 September 2023

Summary:

Owned by Spark, Skinny Broadband offers the best aspects of a full-service provider with the benefits of being a low-cost service.
Offering both 4G plans (capped) and unlimited fibre (with download speeds as fast as 900 Mbps), Skinny Broadband has something to suit the needs and budgets of many New Zealanders. Best of all, all plans are offered in either open or fixed-term versions, making Skinny Broadband more affordable.

Our review:
In this guide, we detail the pros and cons of all of Skinny's plans, compare them side-by-side, and outline how to choose the right broadband plan for you. We cover:

Christopher Walsh, Founder of MoneyHub, shares his views on comparing broadband providers:

Broadband plans have never been cheaper or faster, thanks to a nationwide fibre rollout, more competition and better technology.
That being said, we believe what matters is reliability, speed, price and support.
Our best broadband providers guide and this review help you make an informed choice. Our research team is committed to keeping everything up to date so you can easily find the best deal.
We don't publish complicated tables or tools for comparing broadband. Instead, we focus on making you aware of the best deals where the pricing is fixed for at least 12 months.
If you have something we need to know about, please contact our research team - we would love to hear from you.
Unlike other broadband comparison websites, we have no relationship with any broadband company, and we're proud that our guides are 100% independent.

Christopher Walsh
MoneyHub Founder

Skinny Broadband Plans, Setup Charges and Add-ons

Plan	Monthly Price	Download Speed (Mbps)	Contract Type
ADSL Unlimited	$75	9	Open / Fixed
VDSL Unlimited	$75	42	Open / Fixed
Wireless 120 GB [4G]	$50	30	Open / Fixed
Wireless Unlimited [4G]	$55	30	Open / Fixed
Fibre Unlimited [UFB]	$75	322	Open / Fixed
Fibre Ultra Unlimited [MAX]	$90	881	Open / Fixed

Setup costs: All of Skinny’s plans offer the option of joining on an open-term contract or committing to a fixed term of 12 months. For fixed term subscribers, there are no installation or modem costs. For open-term subscribers, there is a charge of $199 (for Wireless plans the modem is $199 and no connection fee, for Fibre or ADSL/VDSL plans the modem is $150, connection fee $49). A shipping fee of $10 applies. You are not able to bring your own 3rd-party modem to connect with Skinny's Broadband plans.
Exit Fees: If you are on a fixed-term plan and terminate it early, a fee of $249 is payable if there are more than 6 months left on the contract, $124 is charged if there are up to 6 months left on the contract.
Data caps: If you are on a capped plan, you can check how much data you have left of your monthly allowance by logging into your account. You can buy 10GB of data for $20, or re-purchase your plan at any time to renew your data allowance.
Discounts:

If you have a 4-weekly Skinny Mobile plan that costs $27 or above, you can get $10 off per month on your broadband bill.
Sometimes, Skinny offers 1 or 2 months free when you commit to a 12-month broadband contract. At the time of writing, all plans were offering 1 month free, and the 4G wireless plans were offering 2 months free.

Skinny Broadband Customer Service and Outage Support
Despite its comparatively low price, Skinny offers a 24/7 chat service (via its website) or a call centre (8am to 7pm, Monday to Friday, and 9am to 5:30pm Saturday and Sunday).

Skinny's Wireless 4G Broadband Plans

The Skinny Wireless 4G Broadband plans use Spark's 4G network. In general, depending on where you live, the speed should be higher than ADSL broadband but, in most situations, slower than Fibre.

We break down Skinny's 4G Plans:

Fixed data: Other than the Uncapped plan, the other Wireless plans have a fixed amount of data, as outlined in the table above.
No contract option: You don't have to choose a 12-month term if you don't want; Skinny customers can pay monthly.
Skinny's 4G connection is simple: Customers plug in the modem and turn it on for instant 4G connection. There are no wires, connect fees or technicians, and there delivery of the modem is free of charge. If you switch from Skinny, you get to keep the modem.
A fair use policy applies to the Uncapped plan: Basically, you can't use overly excessive amounts of broadband or use the service unreasonably.

Skinny's Fibre Broadband Plans

If you have fibre connection, you may want Skinny's Unlimited Fibre Plans. You'll get a base fibre connection speed of 30Mbps download speed / 10Mbps upload speed. You also have the option of upgrading to higher speeds if the base fibre speed is not enough for you.

Skinny's Fixed Line Plan:

Unlimited data: Each plan has a fixed amount of data, as outlined in the table above.
No contract option: You don't have to choose a 12-month term if you don't want to; Skinny customers can pay monthly.
Choice of connection speeds: Choose between various fibre speeds.

Broadband, TV, Phone and Mobile Bundles

Unlike most ISP and telecommunications companies, Skinny doesn't offer add-ons like phone or TV. The maximum you can pay is the plan price.

Our view: Skinny's focus on a no-frills broadband and fibre service means what you sign up for is what you'll pay. Unless you need a 24/7 sports channel or a home phone with unlimited calls, Skinny offers some of the best broadband and fibre deals within New Zealand.

Skinny 4G Broadband and Fibre Review: Coverage

Fibre is progressively being rolled out around New Zealand, and currently is in every city. To find out if you can access Skinny's Fibre service, click on the broadband map and enter your address. Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch are extensively covered, but there are instances where fibre cables are yet to be laid in some neighbourhoods. If you don't yet have Fibre, then the 4G plans are the next-best-thing.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Skinny 4G Broadband and Fibre

Advantages:

Attractive Pricing - Skinny positions itself as a value-for-money provider. We believe Skinny delivers value with reliability.
Phone Support - Despite no-frills pricing, Skinny's 0800 number answers between 8am and 7pm; Monday to Friday, and 9am to 5:30pm Saturday and Sunday. It also offers a 24/7 chat support service..
No risk of big bills - If you exceed your data on a 4G plan, there are no overage rates or charges on the account either so you will not be charged any extra. You can top up or re-purchase the plan to get back online. All fibre plans are unlimited, so there's no issue with additional bills.
4G alternative to fibre - If your location isn't fibre-ready, or you are living outside of an area with fibre, Skinny offers fixed-price 4G data plans that are affordable and operate from the (reliable) Spark 4G network.

Disadvantages:

4G broadband isn't portable - once you've registered your modem at an address, you won't be able to use it in another location.
4G broadband requires you to use the Skinny modem - you won't be able to bring your own modem, as Skinny 4G modems are made specially for Skinny (wireless) Broadband. This means you'll need to pay an additional charge upfront.

Skinny Broadband and Fibre Review: Verdict

Skinny Broadband brings a competitive 4G broadband and fibre connection with the unique selling point of offering a no-contract fibre plan.
Skinny Broadband is competitive when it comes to value for money.
Skinny's Wireless 4G Unlimited plan is only marginally more expensive than the capped plan, so we believe this is better value for money, especially for large families wanting to stream high quality videos.
Skinny Broadband keeps things simple - there are no TV add-ons, no music packages, no contracts.
We believe the technical support offered is reasonable given the no-frills pricing. It's arguable that Skinny Broadband offers some of the best-value fibre plans in New Zealand.

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