One NZ Mobile Review

Updated 2 July 2023

What is One NZ like for the average mobile customer? Our research team has taken a closer look to find out the plans, coverage, pros, cons, pricing and roaming options to see what’s what. Is One NZ the best mobile network choice, and what's going on with its customer service? Our guide covers:

Want to share your experience with One NZ? Email our research team.

One NZ MyFlex Prepay Plans

One NZ (previously Vodafone) prices its prepay offering using 'MyFlex', which means you pick exactly how much data you want, the number of minutes and the number of TXTs. Data options range between 250 MB and 40 GB, with minute allowances between 100 and 500. They now also provide unlimited minute and text option. The cheapest prepay plan is $13, and the most expensive is $80; all allowances are valid for 28 days.

Benefits:

Rollover: Customers can carry over up to 500 unused mins and 3.5GB of unused data every 28 days, but you must have enough credit to renew, otherwise you'll lose your leftover balances.
Add-ons: One NZ offers one-off bundles of data and minutes should your MyFlex plan not be sufficient.

What to watch out for:

Casual rates: Once data and minutes are used up, customers are charged 'casual rates' - $0.40/minute for calls to New Zealand mobiles and landlines, $0.20 per New Zealand text and $0.30 per MB of data. These rates can quickly chew through a credit prepay balance.
28-day limit: MyFlex Prepay plan will last for 28 days - if you don't have enough credit, your plan won't renew.
No TXT rollover: While unused minutes and data carry over, TXTs do not.

Prepay (MyFlex) Summary:

Overall, if you’re looking for an affordable pay-as-you-go deal that matches your data and calling needs, is flexible and reliable, One NZ has you covered.
The rates and plans are standard and mirror those offered by Spark and 2degrees, although for irregular phone use, the packages from Skinny Mobile and Warehouse Mobile can deliver better value.
The MyFlex offering lets you manage your account online to upgrade or downgrade your data and call allowances at any time.

compare one nz Prepay plans

One NZ Monthly Account Plans

One NZ offers a number of monthly plan options, with something to suit anyone who regularly uses their phone for data and/or calls. The plans are all open, meaning there is no fixed-term contract. Better yet, the 'to share' plans let family members use data allowances collectively. If you have outgrown prepay or want better value for money on data, one of One NZ's monthly plans could provide the solution.

Benefits:

Basic individual plans now offer endless data allowances with price starting from $45/month but with corresponding data speed reduction per plan. Reduced speed starts at 5GB for their lowest plan to 12GB max speed for their $60/month plan. Once Max Speed Data allowance is reached, data speed will be capped at 1.2Mbps only. They also introduced their One Plan at $80/month with unlimited max speed data.
Hotspot is now included in all Endless Data Pay Monthly plans without extra cost.
You can roam overseas with your monthly plan data and minute allowances in 100+ countries for a fixed $8 per day, paid in addition to your monthly account fee.
If you're part of a family looking for better value monthly plans, a new plan called 'Companion Plans' allows customers to share endless data plus unlimited calls and texts to NZ and AU numbers for only $35 per month. A family member paying for $60 Medium or above Pay Monthly Mobile plan can add up to 3 more for $35 per Companion plan per month. All companions must be on the same billing account and plan type as the Primary Plan. One NZ explains the package in more details here.
The fixed-limit data plans allow tethering/hotspot use, meaning you can use your phone (and the data allowance) to connect other device(s) to the internet.
Minutes and TXT allowances include both New Zealand and Australia numbers.
Plans currently offer a 12-month free trial of the One NZ Social Pass, which gives customers unlimited data when using Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Pinterest.
You can buy a new phone and spread the cost over 1-3 years, interest-free. Our Phone selection summary below explains the options in detail.

What to watch out for:

Roaming outside of the included countries listed by One NZ won't be covered by the $8/day add-on rate, but since 11 July 2019, 16 more countries were added for monthly plan holders - read our roaming guide.

compare One NZ Monthly plans

Network coverage

One NZ promotes that their mobile network "covers over 98.5% of the population, with 4G extended coverage to over 95%". This is quite a claim, but independent data, which we present below, confirms this. If you're in Auckland or any other main city or town, chances are you'll receive a constant 4G signal.

But, before going any further, the best idea is to see if where you live, where you work and other places you spend regular time in are covered by 4G. Visit the One NZ coverage map and insert your address, and cross-check using this tool to make sure you're covered.

As a comparison, 4.5G is offered by Spark and available in 30+ locations around New Zealand. It is reported to be 3X the speed of 4G. One NZ has not announced any concrete plans about 5G other than trials with Nokia - you can read more about 5G here.

One NZ's 4G Network as at April 2019

Phone selection

One NZ recognises that the majority of New Zealanders looking for a new phone want an Apple, Samsung or Huawei. This is reflected in on One NZ's website and its 100+ stores around New Zealand. One NZ also offers low-cost home-brand called 'Vodafone Smart'. As is the case with any mobile network, new phones come with the following terms, conditions and optional extras:

Interest-free terms (most of the time): One NZ offers 12, 24 and 36 months interest-free deals. What you pay is the total cost of the phone, the plan and an initial $49 deposit, divided by the number of months you select for the plan. For example, if your phone was $1,200 and you selected a plan costing $50 per month, your monthly cost would be $150 ($1,800 total cost, divided by 12 months).
Cancel a plan and you'll owe the balance left to pay on the phone: If you downgrade your plan, transfer it or leave One NZ altogether, you will have to repay the balance of the phone. For example, if you are 6 months through a 12-month plan and the phone originally cost $1,200, you'll need to pay $600 immediately to terminate.
Netflix offers: Many plans offer 12-month free services, saving over $200 based on today's Netflix prices.
Phone insurance: One NZ offers optional insurance cover which costs $15.50 a month. Broken screens are covered, but excesses for any claim apply: $200 for your first claim, or $250 for a second claim within 12 months (where a phone is valued below $1,801) or $350/$400 if the phone's value is $1801-$2,100. Read our phone insurance guide.

In a single test, One NZ Support took 7 days to respond to a simple question.

Customer service

Like Spark and 2degrees, One NZ has a comprehensive online support system, which includes 24/7 phone support, live chat and an Auckland number if you're calling from overseas. Yet, despite the support centre availability, 92% of One NZ Trustpilot.com reviews are rated 'bad'. Bearing in mind that Trustpilot reviews can mainly be negative, since annoyed customers are much more likely to complain online than satisfied customers, there is some merit in the complaints. Adding to this, a Stuff article recently saw the CEO of One NZ New Zealand responding to hundreds of complaints and accepting there are many issues at the company.

While many of the Stuff and Trustpilot comments and reviews refer to One NZ's broadband services, specific complaints about mobile services include:

Billing concerns - monthly account customers speak of being invoiced higher amounts than what their plan states, prompting them to contact the call centre, with mixed results.
Long waits for customer service (30+ minutes), and many calls to resolve a single issue.
Overseas-based support team members
An administration fee of $5/month being deducted from prepay balances with credit if a phone is inactive for over 6 six months, which customers were unaware of.
Confusion over promotional offers which are sold over the phone, leading to customers running up large bills by not understanding the terms and conditions of what they signed up for.
Late fees being added to disputed bills.

The Trustpilot reviews shouldn't be a deterrent, but within the numerous 1-star reviews there are some legitimate concerns. The best way to avoid problems with One NZ, or any service provider in general, is to get your quote or package inclusions in writing, make sure you understand the package in detail and put a limit on your account so bills can't get out of control.

There isn't any information on One NZ's website about how to raise a formal complaint, and we have contacted their executive team about this issue.

One NZ Roaming options

One NZ offers a selection of roaming options. For further details, read our mobile data roaming comparison guide.

Australia: Australian data roaming for On Account and Prepay customers are covered in the plans below.

On Account plan (for existing monthly One NZ customers):

$8/day (monthly customers only), using your current New Zealand plan's data, as well as minutes and TXT allowances.

If you reached your maximum speed limit, One NZ offers Max Speed Data Boost:
$7 for 1GB on Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large plans
$25 for 5GB on Large and Extra Large plans only

More details, including the 100+ countries are outlined here.

Prepay data plan options:

$6 roaming add on - $6 for 200 MB (valid for 24 hours)
$22 roaming add-on - $22 for 1 GB (valid for 7 days)

One NZ in the news

One NZ appears in the media frequently, but rarely for anything to do with mobile plans, prices and services. Instead, media reports mostly cover its broadband and home phone division.
In saying, this, the NZ Herald reported that One NZ was due to announce a wide-reaching redundancy round in mid-2019. Layoffs were to include customer support, accounts and technology positions. Whatever happens, this news cannot be read as an enhancement to One NZ's service. A Stuff article in March 2019 saw the One NZ New Zealand CEO respond to frustrated One NZ customers directly, accepting there were issues with its customer service.

One NZ app

One NZ’s customer app is available for iPhone and Android. You can look at all of your account transactions, set up email billing, pay on the go, manage multiple connections, shared data, activate roaming, check data balances, minutes and TXTs and select One NZ Rewards.

Conclusion

One NZ delivers a number of options for customers looking for fast 4G data. Benefits include:

MyFlex Prepay Plans - The cheapest prepay plan is $13, and the most expensive is $80; all allowances are valid for 28 days. Helpfully you can pick the data and minutes to suit and get a price, as well as carryover allowances as long as your plan auto-renews on time.
Endless Data Monthly Account Plans - All plans provide free unlimited data and hotspot for no additional cost. Note that speed is reduced to 1.2 Mbps once the max data speed limit is reached.
New phones with $49 deposits - You can buy a new phone and spread the cost over 1-3 years, interest-free. You will be billed for your plan and phone all in one every month.
4G New Zealand-wide - One NZ promotes that their mobile network "covers over 98.5% of the population, with 4G extended coverage to over 95%. All major cities and towns are covered.
Generous roaming - One NZ offers the best roaming packages if customers travel extensively, with 70+ countries covered in the basic $5/day prepaid option. We believe One NZ offers the most flexible roaming option per our data roaming guide.

But, underlying the benefits and plan flexibility is a warning about One NZ's Customer Service:

The ongoing staff redundancy process is, according to media reports and online forums, causing issues with customer-facing accounts and support experiences.
In one experience, we waited seven days for a reply to a simple question on Facebook Messenger, which we don't think is acceptable. The reality is that a lot of support is now based outside of New Zealand, and this is affecting customer satisfaction.
The reason behind all the redundancies is because One NZ plans to list on the NZX sharemarket. Before it does this, it is cutting costs to make it an attractive investment. It may also raise its prices at a later time.

5 Must-Know One NZ Facts and Tips

One NZ's 'Endless Data' package isn't really unlimited at all

One NZ's Endless Data plan speed slows down after the max speed limit for your chosen plan is reached. You can still continue to browse and listen to music when the speed slows down at 1.2 Mbps.

Prepay credit expires, and you'll be charged a fee after 6 months if you don't use your phone

Money loaded on a Prepay account remains available for 365 days, unless otherwise stated. The minimum top up amount is $20. If you don't use your phone often, you will be charged an administration fee of $5/month. This is deducted from prepay balances with credit if a phone is inactive for over 6 six months.

One NZ offers a range of discounts and promotions

One NZ customers get access to discounted events and promotions, including $11 movie tickets and early access to selected concert tickets. There may be better deals outside of a One NZ offer, so shop around before buying anything.

One NZ accepts all forms of payments, and you can put monthly plans on hold free of charge

One NZ accepts credit cards, debit cards, automatic payments and you can pay by cash or EFTPOS at any One NZ store. You can also send cheques to their head office.

One NZ offers an option to put your mobile account on hold for up to 3 months. This means you will keep your number, but your account hibernates. You can only do this once in a 12-month period, but it offers flexibility if you are, for example, outside of New Zealand for an extended period of time.

One NZ buys old phones if you plan to trade up - their website values phones based on model and condition

One NZ allows trade-ins in a range of conditions. The highest prices are paid for a fully working and undamaged device, but they also accept broken phones. Depending on the condition, you can get anywhere up to 80% of a phone's fully working value. You can find out what your mobile is worth via the One NZ website, or get a quote from any One NZ store.

Making a Complaint about One NZ to the TDR

Telecommunications Dispute Resolution (TDR) deals with complaints from consumers about any product or service provided by their telecommunications company. As a One NZ customer, you have the right to make a complaint. It's a free and independent service, but you will need to follow their process to progress a complaint.

Before you complain, you'll need to raise the issue with One NZ directly

One NZ is a member of TDR, but you will need to raise a complaint with their customer service first.
Once you have done this, you must wait for a response.
One NZ will respond, but if you are unable to agree with their response and your complaint becomes deadlocked, after six weeks has passed you can raise a complaint with the TDR.

The process of complaining with TDR is outlined here. Their helpful FAQs outline what you can expect, and case studies about recent complaints about telecommunication companies in general. The process is impartial, and once a decision is made, One NZ will (usually) abide by the ruling should it be in the wrong.

Related guides: