Spark price increases (31 July 2026)

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark price increases (31 July 2026)

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#3500631 5-Jun-2026 15:58

MaxineN:

boosacnoodle:

I don’t take issue with the price going up - that’s fair enough. It’s more that the IFP discount was advertised as off the device yet it’s actually applied as a monthly discount that I’m required to stay with Spark to keep getting. Yet if the price goes up every year it’ll be as if I never actually got any discount in the first place. That doesn’t sit right with me.

The IFP is almost always separate from the plan and the T&Cs(I haven't checked but I can't imagine they're any different from One NZ) would state that they can increase the base plan at any time.

Whilst yes it's pretty stink... The old "contract" terms are long gone. The only contract you are on is for the IFP exclusively. Not the plan. It's been like that for a good number of years.

100% - contracted plans haven’t been around for the better part of 10 years. Even $100 for unlimited data with Nextflix, a wearable plan AND 400 international minutes still runs rings around the old $140 plan (much higher once you adjust for inflation) that came with a few gb of data.

alasta

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#3500724 6-Jun-2026 11:25

So, if you quit early then you pay back the balance owing on the hardware, minus any hardware discount that would have otherwise been applied on future bills?

For example, you get a device with $400 discount and opt to pay it off over 24 months. You quit after 12 months, so you lose $200 of the discount?

MaxineN

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#3500725 6-Jun-2026 11:26

alasta:

So, if you quit early then you pay back the balance owing on the hardware, minus any hardware discount that would have otherwise been applied on future bills?

For example, you get a device with $400 discount and opt to pay it off over 24 months. You quit after 12 months, so you lose $200 of the discount?

Any and all discounts are forfeit if you pay out the IFP early and that is specific to the IFP.

Any plan discounts would have their own terms and I imagine they would be identical.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

alasta

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#3500739 6-Jun-2026 12:16

So you'd repay the sum of the remaining undiscounted hardware payments, plus the value of any hardware discount applied to date?

It must be a nightmare for customer service staff to try to explain this.

MaxineN

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#3500742 6-Jun-2026 12:33

alasta:

So you'd repay the sum of the remaining undiscounted hardware payments, plus the value of any hardware discount applied to date?

It must be a nightmare for customer service staff to try to explain this.

The amount that you'd pay for cancelling the IFP up front is exactly the amount without discounts.

Real world example.

You are a customer who pre-orders a phone with an RRP of 2499. There is a IFP deal of $1000 off if you lock in for 24 or 36 months on a specific plan.
You take advantage of this which now brings the IFP down to $1400 (you still have to pay the $99 deposit).
12 months into your 36 month deal you decide that Carrier A isn't doing it anymore so you decide to churn and port out.
You forgot about your IFP so now on the next and final bill your discounts are gone and you're left with the remainder of the IFP without.

That sweet $1400 phone over 36 months just turned into a $1600 invoice + the plan in advance up to the churn date as you had 24 months left.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

boosacnoodle

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#3500764 6-Jun-2026 14:54

alasta:

So you'd repay the sum of the remaining undiscounted hardware payments, plus the value of any hardware discount applied to date?

It must be a nightmare for customer service staff to try to explain this.

Basically this. I wasn't really aware that the discount was applied monthly. It appeared to be a device discount. It is in fact an IFP discount that so happened to be linked to a specific product.

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boosacnoodle

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#3500765 6-Jun-2026 14:55

MaxineN:

The amount that you'd pay for cancelling the IFP up front is exactly the amount without discounts.

Real world example.

You are a customer who pre-orders a phone with an RRP of 2499. There is a IFP deal of $1000 off if you lock in for 24 or 36 months on a specific plan.
You take advantage of this which now brings the IFP down to $1400 (you still have to pay the $99 deposit).
12 months into your 36 month deal you decide that Carrier A isn't doing it anymore so you decide to churn and port out.
You forgot about your IFP so now on the next and final bill your discounts are gone and you're left with the remainder of the IFP without.

That sweet $1400 phone over 36 months just turned into a $1600 invoice + the plan in advance up to the churn date as you had 24 months left.

Less that I decide the carrier "isn't doing it for me anymore", and more that the price has gone up. So my choice is to either remain paying the higher price, largely nullifying the IFP discount, or remain on.

alasta

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#3500768 6-Jun-2026 15:28

MaxineN:

Real world example.

You are a customer who pre-orders a phone with an RRP of 2499. There is a IFP deal of $1000 off if you lock in for 24 or 36 months on a specific plan.
You take advantage of this which now brings the IFP down to $1400 (you still have to pay the $99 deposit).
12 months into your 36 month deal you decide that Carrier A isn't doing it anymore so you decide to churn and port out.
You forgot about your IFP so now on the next and final bill your discounts are gone and you're left with the remainder of the IFP without.

That sweet $1400 phone over 36 months just turned into a $1600 invoice + the plan in advance up to the churn date as you had 24 months left.

I don't understand where your $1600 figure comes from. Using your worked example, I would have thought it would work like this:

Deposit Paid : $99
Hardware Repayments Over 12 Months : $1400 * 12/36 = $466.67
Balance Owed with all Discounts Relinquished : $2499 - $99 - $466.67 = $1933.33

Where am I going wrong with these workings?

MaxineN

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#3500770 6-Jun-2026 15:48

alasta:

MaxineN:

Real world example.

You are a customer who pre-orders a phone with an RRP of 2499. There is a IFP deal of $1000 off if you lock in for 24 or 36 months on a specific plan.
You take advantage of this which now brings the IFP down to $1400 (you still have to pay the $99 deposit).
12 months into your 36 month deal you decide that Carrier A isn't doing it anymore so you decide to churn and port out.
You forgot about your IFP so now on the next and final bill your discounts are gone and you're left with the remainder of the IFP without.

That sweet $1400 phone over 36 months just turned into a $1600 invoice + the plan in advance up to the churn date as you had 24 months left.

I don't understand where your $1600 figure comes from. Using your worked example, I would have thought it would work like this:

Deposit Paid : $99
Hardware Repayments Over 12 Months : $1400 * 12/36 = $466.67
Balance Owed with all Discounts Relinquished : $2499 - $99 - $466.67 = $1933.33
Where am I going wrong with these workings?

The amount remaining is what it would be with 0 discounts if you churn. So yes your figure is actually correct and I was short. But you get the point that is being made.

boosacnoodle:

Less that I decide the carrier "isn't doing it for me anymore", and more that the price has gone up. So my choice is to either remain paying the higher price, largely nullifying the IFP discount, or remain on.

You could try and argue for a discount as you were sold a plan with an IFP that had discounts applied but you’ll probably only get credit or a 12 month discount.

Best thing one can do is to try…

edit: I suck at mobile posting on an iPhone… good god that was a terrible idea.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

Aucklandjafa

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#3500774 6-Jun-2026 16:09

alasta:

So, if you quit early then you pay back the balance owing on the hardware, minus any hardware discount that would have otherwise been applied on future bills?

For example, you get a device with $400 discount and opt to pay it off over 24 months. You quit after 12 months, so you lose $200 of the discount?

yep, that’s correct. Credit is applied monthly, so you lose discount if device ifp rolled up or you port out.

HelloThere

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#3500831 6-Jun-2026 21:57

boosacnoodle: The issue I have with this is when I signed-up this included an IFP with a duration of 36-months where I receive a discount on the device (around $500, from memory).

I have the same problem with One NZ. I purchased a Samsung S25 in January for $0.99 per month for 36 months with a $99 deposit on a $80 a monthly plan so I would have saved $1464 on the phone over the course of the plan. Then in April they increased the plan by $3. If I cancel the contract now, I would end up paying $1291 for the phone. I understand prices increase and it's all in the contract but I think it's a bit unfair that they can increase the prices but if we want to cancel due to the increase, we have to pay the full amount remaining instead of returning the phone.

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boosacnoodle

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#3500840 7-Jun-2026 00:13

$108 over the term, assuming that they don't increase it again in the subsequent two years also. If it's +$3/mth each year, that's around $320.

Aucklandjafa

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#3500862 7-Jun-2026 06:48

People don’t seem to realise the discount is off the device - not the plan. If the plan increase, you’re still receiving the same monthly discount for the device.

Telcos have been increasing the cost of their services forever, not sure why it’s only now that it’s become an issue.

Linux

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#3500864 7-Jun-2026 07:39

Business costs rise and staff want pay rises so in the end the consumer pays! End of story

gmball

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#3500922 7-Jun-2026 09:49

This is the same with OneNZ, their one wallet dollars that they tout are a discount off a phone, is really just a monthly discount to lock you into a contract term. They divide whatever one wallet dollars you have over the term, and apply a monthly discount. They also dont explain this in store when you take advantage of this offer, so I suspect many are unaware they are now locked into a term, and miss out on the handset discount if they change provider early.

OneNZ have also put their pricing up recently across all Fibre and mobile plans.

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