2degrees most consumer-friendly large telco, review finds

Monday, 12 September 2022

2degrees has come out on top of a Consumer NZ review of New Zealand’s three largest mobile providers. (File photo)

2degrees is New Zealand’s most consumer-friendly large telco, a review by Consumer NZ has found.

The watchdog carried out the review, requested by the Commerce Commission, to find out how easy it was for Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees customers to monitor their phone use and spending.

The commission earlier identified how hard it could be for New Zealanders to access information about their mobile use.

That lack of information then made it difficult for customers to make informed decisions about what they needed from a new phone plan or provider.  

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Last year, the commission asked mobile providers to improve the use and spend information made available to their customers, and to provide an annual summary of this information, along with a prompt to consider alternative options.

Telecommunications commissioner Tristan Gilbertson is concerned telcos’ customer service isn’t matching the quality of the networks they provide.

Consumer NZ’s review of the work to date by the three largest mobile providers put 2degrees on top.

The telco provided easy-to-access, transparent information, which enables customers to keep track of their usage and spend, the review found.

Information on its app was clear, comprehensive and accessible, with a single tap from the home screen.

However, 2degrees was let down by its annual summary, which lacked historical spend information.

Spark ranked second, providing good information to customers, but it took three taps from the home screen to get to usage and spend information on the Spark app. 

Also, rather than sending a self-contained annual summary of usage and spend over the past year, Spark sent a text message directing customers to check their app.

Vodafone finished third, with an unwelcoming app which only displayed usage from the previous two months, as well as the current billing period.

The information on offer was not as comprehensive as that of Spark and 2degrees. However, Vodafone’s annual summary was the best of the three, and gave a useful overview of usage and spend and a prompt to consider switching, along with details of its other plans.

Telecommunications commissioner Tristan Gilbertson said the review showed consumers were now getting better usage and spend information from providers.

However, the commission noted the significant variability in performance highlighted in the review.

“There are clearly significant opportunities for further improvement across the board – including for the top-ranked provider – which we’d like to see addressed before we run this study again,” Gilbertson said.

Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy said that with the mobile market changing so fast, it was important for consumers to stay on top of their use and spend, so they were on the best plan to meet their needs.

“Our research has found that more than half of all mobile consumers have been with the same provider for more than five years,” Duffy said. 

“Telcos are now sending you better information about what you've spent and what you've used. We'd encourage people to make sure they use this information.

“Being on the wrong plan or staying with an uncompetitive deal can cost hundreds each year.”