New Zealand By Telephone

A calling card is probably your cheapest bet. Calls are billed collect or to your account. You can frequently call collect without even possessing a company’s calling card just by calling their access number and following the instructions. To obtain a calling card from your national telecommunications service before leaving home, contact the appropriate company. To call home with a calling card, contact the operator for your service provider in New Zealand by dialing the appropriate toll-free access number.

You can usually also make direct international calls from pay phones, but if you aren’t using a calling card, you may need to drop your coins as quickly as your words. Prepaid phone cards and occasionally major credit cards can be used for direct international calls, but they are generally less cost-efficient. Placing a collect call through an international operator is even more expensive, but may be necessary in case of an emergency.

Placing International Calls. To call New Zealand from home or to call home from New Zealand, dial:
1. The international dialing prefix. To call from Australia, dial 0011; Canada or the US, 011; Ireland, New Zealand, or the UK, 00.
2. The country code of the country you want to call. To call Australia, dial 61; Canada or the US, 1; Ireland, 353; New Zealand, 64; the UK, 44.
3. The city/area code. Let’s Go lists the city/area codes for cities and towns in New Zealand opposite the city or town name, next to a }. If the first digit is a zero (e.g., 09 for Auckland), omit the zero when calling from abroad (e.g., dial 9 from Canada to reach Auckland).
4. The local number.

Calling Within New Zealand

National directory assistance: ☎018.
National operator assistance: ☎010.
International directory assistance: ☎0172.
International operator assistance: ☎0170.

The simplest way to call within the country is to use a coin-operated phone. Prepaid phone cards (available at most convenience stores) and carry a certain amount of phone time depending on the card’s denomination, usually save time and money in the long run. You can buy a NZ$5, NZ$10, NZ$20, or NZ$50 phone card. Any local call from a pay phone will cost you NZ$0.50. The computerized phone will tell you how money you have left on your card. Another kind of prepaid phone card comes with a Personal Identification Number (PIN) and a toll-free access number. Instead of inserting the card into the phone, you call the access number and follow the directions on the card. These cards can be used to make international as well as domestic calls. Phone rates typically tend to be highest in the morning, lower in the evening, and lowest on Sunday and late at night. Toll-free numbers in New Zealand start with ☎0800 or 0508.

Cellular Phones

Prepaid cellular phones may be a good investment for travelers who are planning on staying mainly in populated areas of New Zealand. There is generally good coverage in the coastal areas, but sparsely populated or interior mountainous regions are largely without coverage. Prepaid phone packages often come with a set number of minutes (with restrictions on use such as nights and weekends), leaving the purchase of a physical phone up to you. One major phone company is Vodafone (☎09 368 4224; www.vodafone.com), which offers a prepaid phone package (NZ$40 for startup package at NZ$0.49 per min. anytime; phone not included). You can pick up a prepaid package from any Vodafone store around the country.

The international standard for cell phones is GSM. To make and receive calls in New Zealand you will need a GSM-compatible phone and a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card, a country-specific, thumbnail-sized chip that gives you a local phone number and plugs you into the local network. Many SIM cards are prepaid, meaning that they come with calling time included and you don’t need to sign up for a monthly service plan. Incoming calls are frequently free. When you use up the prepaid time, you can buy additional cards or vouchers to get more. For more information on GSM phones, check out www.telestial.com, www.vodafone.com, www.roadpost.com, or www.planetomni.com. Companies like Cellular Abroad (www.cellularabroad.com) rent cell phones that work in a variety of destinations around the world, providing a simpler option.

Gsm Phones. Just having a GSM phone doesn’t mean you’re necessarily good to go when you travel abroad. The majority of GSM phones sold in the US operate on a different frequency (1900) than international phones (900/1800) and will not work abroad. Tri-band phones work on all three frequencies (900/1800/1900) and will operate throughout most of the world. Some GSM phones are SIM-locked and only accept SIM cards from a single carrier. You’ll need a SIM-unlocked phone to use a SIM card from a local carrier when you travel.

Time Differences

New Zealand is 12hr. ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and observes Daylight Saving Time. During Standard Time, New Zealand is 16hr. ahead of New York, and 11hr. ahead of London. During Daylight Saving Time, New Zealand is 18hr. ahead of New York, and 13hr. ahead of London. Daylight Saving Time in New Zealand runs from the first Sunday in October until the third Sunday in March.