Mobile Phone, Web and Mail in New Zealand!

Also very important, access to the Internet is vital for the young traveler who drive on the roads of New Zealand.

Without an internet connection, searching for a job or accommodationhas become virtually impossible these days.

As for the good old mail service, it is now almost exclusively used to send basic postcards.

But an excellent postal service allows to store the parcels you ordered on the Internet or the important messages from the tax administration.

How to pass phone calls without paying an exorbitant price, to connect to the Internet or retrieve a parcel from your family for the New Year... Here are some useful tips to begin your stay with your Working Holiday Visa.

If the coverage is excellent in the North Island (the most populated one), it remains uneven in remote areas of the South Island. This should not be a problem in the vast majority of cases, especially if you live in large built-up areas.

You could almost randomly choose your mobile operators because they all use the same network...

Vodafone, 2 degrees, et Spark NZ (the national operator) all offer standard subscriptions, and you can also get a just a SIM card without a mobile device. And 2 degrees even allows you to use the Wi-Fi from many phone booths all over the country!

And if you can use your own phone in New Zealand it's even better. Opening a non-subscription mobile line at Vodafone costs about$35, including $10 of communication. The number assigned to you will start with 021, 025 or 027.

The guarantees and papers required by the operators are similar to those demanded almost everywhere in the world. Therefore, subscribing to a real mobile subscription may depend on your ability to first find an accommodation and open a bank account.

Under these conditions, there is a solution that can be used from time to time during the entire stay: the prepaid phone cards. Note: There are also pre-paid SIM cards which are really interesting.

Sold in post, tobacco and in small shops, prepaid cards offer credits of $5, $10, $20 or $50.

The most popular cards are Kia ora, Talk'n Save, Go Call, Talkplus, Easy Call and Kiwitalk.

The mode of operation has remained unchanged for decades.

Dial the phone number on your prepaid card and enter your PIN.

You can then enter the phone number of the friend to call and your account will be debited depending on the time spent online.

You will need to use the landline of a hotelier or a particular to call with these cards.

If it is possible to call from a cabin or a mobile device, your credits will be burnt faster (except with the Kiwitalk's cards which we recommend precisely for this reason). Note that prepaid cards do not recharge and end up in a trash (or as a trimmed guitar pick for the most creative ones among yourselves) when communication credits run out.

Public booths are still very numerous in New Zealand.

They are sometimes painted red (as in Dunedin) but mostly painted in blue and adorned with yellow ferns. Attention, they do not allow to receive calls (your family from abroad can't call you) but only to pass calls.

Models that accept coins are becoming scarce, and using your credit card would not be a very good idea because of overseas fees.

Too bad, because an unlimited local call costs only fifty cents ...

Depending on your operator, you can benefit from unlimited calls to New Zealand if you use the fixed network phone from your home country.

But most operators charge you 22 cents per minute!

The use of a mobile phone actually increases the price even more!

Check the details of your subscription to estimate your expenses, but it is certain that you will not stay hours online if the call is not free.

Our recommended solution for not being ruined is called Skype.

If your correspondent is connected to the Internet, you will not spend a penny and potentially take advantage of video conferencing (do not expect a high-definition quality if you are on the other side of the globe).

Note that Skype can also call a genuine phone number in New Zealand.

The price of $ 0.03 per minute is ridiculous but it climbs to 30 cents if you call a mobile number (they can be easily recognized because they begin with 021, 025 or 027).

Let's consider we are in Wellington. We want to call the embassy of France which is in the same city, whose phone number is: (04) 384 25 55.

We must remove the area code (04) from the beginning of the number and call directly: 384 25 55.

Then, let's imagine a situation where we are in Auckland and want to call the embassy in Wellington.

Since this is a call to another area, we keep the area code and dial: (04) 384 25 55.

At this point you may believe you have understood everything, but it remains a small subtlety to understand...

The area code is to be deleted only if you are calling in the city where you are located. To call another city (even in the same area), you will need to keep your area code.

This allows to propose very short numbers for local calls in the same city.

New Zealand has many small villages and this arrangement simplifies life. But for Working Holiday Visa travelers who are not used to it, it's pretty confusing.

New Zealanders are nevertheless addicted to the Internet and almost all the population is connected. Rest assured, the low bandwidth will not prevent you from consulting Kiwipal, because we have made the necessary to have a local server in New Zealand.

Subscribing to the Internet only applies to people who have a fixed address in New Zealand. Note, however, that rentals (or shared apartment) usually include an Internet connection in the rent price.

But if you absolutely must take an Internet subscription, the procedure is identical to that applied all over the world. You must provide guarantees and wait for the activation of the line few days later.

It is normally forbidden to share (or rent) a Wi-Fi access with a neighbor.

Therefore, there is no need to meet other tenants to suggest sharing the Internet fee for a shared access. It would be so bad to save money (can you read between the lines?).

Cyber cafes are on the decline, but they survive thanks to tourists and young people with a Working Holiday Visa.

Expect to pay 4 to 6 dollars per hour for surfing with a variable quality depending on the location.

Backpackers (ie youth hostels) generally charge Internet access for a low fee. The download speed is unfortunately often greatly reduced by the multiple attempts to connect on Facebook at the same time.

Taking advantage of your employer's Internet access is certainly a possibility. Guests can also enjoy free Wi-Fi in the libraries, cafes and public squares such as the Dunedin's Octagon.

Do not expect to use Skype under these conditions, but you will be able to send your emails and consult the job search websites.

But if you do not have a postal address you will need to use the very efficient New Zealand's Poste Restante service.

Every post office in the country do not offer a poste restante service, but they are 45 to provide this service throughout the country.

You are guaranteed to find at least one remaining post restante in each city with more than 10,000 inhabitants.

The whole process is a child's play. Let's take a concrete example with Ms. Smith who wants to send a package to her son John who lives in Rotorua. Ms. Smith will use the poste restante service.

John can even call Rotorua's post office to find out if his package has arrived. A period of three weeks is granted for the withdrawal which only required to present a piece of identification at the counter.

Of course, this assumes that Ms Smith and her son has previously agreed to use a specific poste restante in New Zealand.

The service is free for letters and parcels less than three kilos. It is even possible to transfer the parcel from one post restante to another, for a $7 price.

Be careful, however, not to confuse the poste restante service with the PO boxes services, which are to be paid and do not allow the transfer of the mail.

Keeping in touch with trusted people can be crucial to take the right decisions. The prepaid phone card will be your faithful friend if you do not find a home during the first few weeks in New Zealand.

Before you leave your own country, you may have to cancel your telephone or Internet subscriptions.

Make sure that the closing fees are not equal to or greater to what you would pay in the meantime. Otherwise, keep your subscriptions to find them intact and functional when you'll return.

I hope to have answered most of your questions about the subject and I invite you to consult our other guides about the Working Holiday Visa.

You will discover many tricks to make a success of your stay. Meanwhile, I give way to Ben the Kiwi for the usual Question & Answer session.