In New Zealand if you are making a local landline to landline call it is usually free of charge. National calls have varying costs depending upon the time of day. Most phone providers offer a range of call packages as they do in the UK and the US to offer good rates on national and international calls.

The international code for calling New Zealand is 64. There are a number of area codes for different regions of New Zealand. If you are calling Auckland and Northland the area code is 09, for Bay of Plenty and the Coromandel Peninsula the code is 07 and the East Coast, Hawkes Bay and Wanganui the area code is 06. Wellington has the area codes 04 and 06 and the South Island has the area code 06. If you need directory assistance the code for the operator is 018 and for an international number you need to call 0172. Many companies have 0800 and 0508 numbers which are free phone numbers.

There are public pay phones in most areas, particularly urban areas, although these are being used less and less due to the increased use of mobile phones. Most operate with cards although there are some in operation which accept coins. The cards can be purchased from a variety of outlets such as petrol stations, convenience stores and news agents and are usually available in denominations of $5, $10, $20 and $50. Rural areas may have limited pay phone service. Some public telephones also accept credit cards.

There are three major mobile phone companies in New Zealand. These are Telecom, Vodafone and 2Degrees. Those who are using a handset from their home country should find that this works fine in New Zealand if they have a global roaming option on their contract, but those who are in the country for any length of time can simply obtain a local mobile phone and contract if they prefer.

One of the largest phone providers in the country is Telecom. The company offers a wide range of services from landline phones to internet services and there are different divisions depending upon the service that you require. Telecom Retail is a supplier of phone services and internet to domestic and small business customers. Gen-i is dedicated to business customers while Chorus takes care of broadband and networking services. Telecom Wholesale provides the services of Telecom to other companies to provide to their customers.

In addition to these larger organisations there are smaller companies which provide services on a regional level.

In order to connect to a telephone service you simply need to call the company that you have chosen. As a newcomer to the country you may be asked to provide ID as well as proof of address and for some contracts a credit check may be carried out. Waiting for connection will vary from company to company and will also depend on the different services that you have requested.

When you pay your bill there are a variety of methods that you can choose from. Most customers opt for an automatic direct debit from their bank account each month. Other payment methods include paying over the counter at any PostShop, sending a cheque in the post, paying automatically by credit card, making one-off payments by credit card, using internet banking to make the payment or opting for telephone banking.

Useful Resources Telecom New Zealand Ltd
P.O. Box 1473
Christchurch
New Zealand
Tel: 0800 10 80 10
www.telecom.co.nz

Vodafone New Zealand
Tel: 0800 438 448
www.vodafone.co.nz