NZ roaming vs a travel eSIM: what One NZ, Spark, 2degrees and Skinny charge

RoamMore wrote this page, and we sell travel eSIMs, so read it knowing that. To keep it fair, everything we say about One NZ, Spark, 2degrees and Skinny comes from their own websites, read on 2 October 2026, and every carrier links to the page we read. Carrier prices are in New Zealand dollars, as the carriers show them. Where roaming is the better buy we say so. If anything is wrong or out of date, email [email protected] and we will fix it.

What each carrier charges to roam

Read on 2 October 2026. Each carrier's name links to the page the prices came from.

A few details change the sums:

• Spark's packs start the first time you roam and run for 14 or 30 days after the next New Zealand midnight, or until the data is used. When a pack runs out, Pay Monthly moves to NZ$10 Daily Roaming and Prepaid moves to casual rates. On Pay Monthly with the data only pack, a call or text starts the NZ$10 day.
• One NZ's Prepay Add-Ons start the moment you buy them, so buy them on landing. The same prices apply in every Add-On country.
• Skinny has no daily roaming. Its packs start when you buy them, do not renew and end when you return to New Zealand.
• 2degrees does not list on the pages we read which Prepay plans count as "selected".
• One NZ gives NZ$5 of Phone Dollars for each Daily Roaming day, if you save the offer in One Wallet before you travel. That is a reward to spend later, not money off the bill, so it is left out of the totals below.

What happens if you do nothing

Roaming without a pack or daily option can cost far more than any of the above:

• One NZ Prepay charges casual data at 57c per MB in Australia and NZ$11.50 per MB in the USA, the UK, France, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Fiji.
• Spark Prepaid charges NZ$11.50 per 200MB, up to 14 times a day, then per MB.
• Skinny data does not work at all without a pack.
• On Pay Monthly with One NZ, Spark or 2degrees, the daily charge starts on its own the first time your phone uses data, makes or takes a call or sends a text.

A 7 or 14 day trip with your carrier

Australia, the USA, Japan, the UK, France, Indonesia (Bali), Thailand and Fiji are all in the cheapest roaming zone for every carrier, so each carrier charges the same in all eight. Daily options are counted once per day of the trip, and packs as the fewest that cover it.

Daily roaming counts New Zealand calendar days, so a trip can touch one more NZ day than you spend away. The plan's own monthly fee is not included.

"Europe" is not one zone. France and most of Western Europe are in the cheapest zone for all four carriers, but some European countries are not, and Skinny's list of 50 countries has no Scandinavia, Poland or Hungary. Check the exact country on the carrier's page.

The same trips with a RoamMore eSIM

Our prices are in US dollars and come straight from our live catalogue (updated 27 Sep 2026), so they change when the catalogue does. The site does not convert currency, and we do not either: carrier prices here are in NZ dollars and ours in US dollars, so compare them at the day's exchange rate, ideally the rate your bank charges on card payments.

One shortcut needs no exchange rate. A US dollar costs more than a New Zealand dollar, so if our figure in US dollars is higher than a carrier's figure in NZ dollars, the carrier is cheaper. If ours is lower, convert it before you decide.

Fixed data plans, which start counting days when the eSIM first connects in your destination:

Endless, our unlimited eSIM, at 1GB a day at full speed and then a cruising speed shown on its page, priced for the whole trip:

Which carrier option is the nearest match for each column:

Fiji is the exception to watch. Our Fiji plans cost more than our plans for the other seven destinations, and for 20GB Spark's NZ$50 Roaming Data Pack costs less than our Fiji 20GB plan at any exchange rate.

Price per gigabyte

The fairest single number for packs, read on 2 October 2026:

Daily options that use your plan's data have no price per gigabyte: you pay for the day and the data comes from your plan. On 2degrees, NZ$8 buys at most 1GB at full speed, so NZ$8 a gigabyte at best. For our plans, divide the price in the tables above by the gigabytes. Spark's 20GB packs are the carrier deal that comes closest to a travel eSIM on price per gigabyte. The small 1GB packs are where carriers charge the most for each gigabyte.

When roaming is the better buy

• You need your own number for calls and texts. Our eSIMs are data only and come with no phone number. A carrier pack keeps your NZ number working for calls, with minutes included on Skinny's 7 Day Roam Pack (200 minutes and 200 texts for NZ$23), One NZ's Weekly Add-On and Spark's Roaming Packs.
• A short trip and no fuss. Skinny's 7 Day Roam Pack and One NZ's Weekly Add-On give you a week of light data, calls and texts for under NZ$25, bought in a minute, with nothing to install.
• A month of heavy use with Spark. The NZ$50 Roaming Data Pack gives 20GB for 30 days, and NZ$65 adds 300 minutes each way and 300 texts. That is the best value roaming deal we found, and in Fiji it beats our 20GB plan.
• A big Pay Monthly plan. Daily roaming uses your own plan's data, so if your plan has plenty, NZ$8 or NZ$10 a day buys all of it. On One NZ Endless plans, once Max Speed Data is used, Small and Medium plans carry on at up to 1.2 Mbps while roaming.
• Australia on a business or older plan. 2degrees offers $0 Daily Business Roaming in Australia on Business Plans, and One NZ's terms say older Black and Business Black plans include data roaming in Australia. We found no current consumer plan from the four carriers that includes Australia roaming.
• Your phone does not support eSIM. Then roaming or a local SIM is the way. Our one minute phone check tells you.

When a travel eSIM is the better buy

• Price per gigabyte. On the small and medium sizes, carrier packs charge NZ$17 to NZ$30 a gigabyte. Compare that with our tables above at the day's rate.
• Longer trips. Daily roaming adds up: NZ$112 to NZ$140 for 14 days, NZ$240 to NZ$300 for 30. A fixed data plan or Endless is priced once for the trip.
• The NZ calendar day. Daily charges and One NZ's daily Add-Ons run on New Zealand time. In the UK and Europe the New Zealand date changes around the middle of your day, so a daily Add-On bought at breakfast runs out around lunchtime, and a week away can bill as eight NZ days. Our plans count their days from when the eSIM first connects in your destination (a few small trial plans start on install, and say so before you pay).
• Background data. On daily roaming, any data use starts the day's charge, including an app refreshing in the background, and One NZ charges each device separately. With a travel eSIM for data and Data Roaming off on your NZ line, background data never touches your NZ bill.
• No surprise rates. A travel eSIM has no casual rate to fall back on. When a fixed plan's data runs out it stops, Endless slows to its cruising speed, and you top up from your order page.

The best of both

Many New Zealanders do both. Keep your NZ SIM switched on for texts and bank codes, turn Data Roaming off for that line, and set the travel eSIM as your mobile data line. WhatsApp and iMessage keep working on your usual number over the eSIM's data. Our guide to keeping your home number has the iPhone and Android settings.

On a Pay Monthly plan with daily roaming, making or answering a call on your NZ number still starts that day's charge, and on Spark and 2degrees a call diverted to voicemail can too. If you expect to take calls, a Skinny or One NZ Prepay pack with minutes, beside an eSIM for data, is often the cheapest mix.

The fine print

• Eligibility. One NZ Daily Roaming is for current Pay Monthly plans, not Mobile Broadband, and its Prepay Add-Ons are for Prepay Plus, MyFlex and Pay & Go. Spark Daily Roaming is Pay Monthly only and not on the Kids Plan, and the NZ$30 pack is Prepaid only. 2degrees covers "selected" Prepay and Pay Monthly plans. Any Skinny customer can buy a Skinny pack.
• Residents and time limits. One NZ Daily Roaming is for New Zealand residents and up to 90 days in a row in Daily Roaming destinations. One NZ and 2degrees both apply a Fair Use Policy while roaming.
• Your plan's data is the limit. On a small Pay Monthly plan, NZ$8 or NZ$10 a day buys only what is left of your monthly allowance.
• Pacific calls on 2degrees. In Fiji, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga and Papua New Guinea, 2degrees charges an extra NZ$1.15 a minute to receive calls, even on the NZ$8 day.
• Zones and prices change. Carriers revise their country lists and prices, sometimes without notice. Check your exact country on the carrier's page before you go.
• Calls need VoLTE. All four carriers warn that with 3G switched off in places such as Australia, the USA, Japan and the UK, calls only work on phones that support VoLTE roaming. Data is not affected.
• Promotions end. One NZ's Phone Dollars offer is a promotion and can end at any time.

How we checked

We read each carrier's own pages on 2 October 2026: One NZ's roaming overview, Daily Roaming, Prepay roaming and roaming terms; Spark's roaming rates and roaming charges help; 2degrees' roaming page, roaming help and business roaming; and Skinny's overseas roaming prices and Roaming Packs help. Prices are as each carrier showed them, in NZ dollars.

We did not read the full One NZ and 2degrees Fair Use Policies, or the detail pop-ups on Skinny's pack cards, so only what the pages show is used. Nothing here comes from a third-party roundup. RoamMore prices on this page are not typed by hand: they come from our live catalogue in US dollars and change when it does.

Spotted a mistake, or a carrier changed its prices? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.

Prices for popular trips

• Australiafrom US$3.60
• United Statesfrom US$3.80
• Japanfrom US$3.60
• United Kingdomfrom US$3.30
• Francefrom US$3.60
• Indonesiafrom US$3.60
• Thailandfrom US$3.60
• Fijifrom US$5.70

Cheapest plan with 1GB or more, in US dollars from our catalogue, updated 27 Sep 2026.