Spark launches satellite service

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark launches satellite service

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#3477795 4-Apr-2026 07:44

gajan:

iOS 26.4 is required for Spark. Please upgrade to that and try again after that.

thanks, the toggle for Satellite has now appeared under SIM after manually updating.

not sure how to test it as when i go to the satellite bit it still says "unavailable" like before.

i'm in the city though, with 4G connection.

but yay the toggle is there!

gajan

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#3477810 4-Apr-2026 09:31

Providing you have a eligible plan, when you go out of coverage it should automatically acquire satellite connectivity. By design it won't work if you have normal network coverage.

My comments and remarks are not necessarily of my employer.

Batman

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#3477832 4-Apr-2026 10:48

gajan:

Providing you have a eligible plan, when you go out of coverage it should automatically acquire satellite connectivity. By design it won't work if you have normal network coverage.

good to know thanks

my sons are on spark and skinny prepay, do they get satellite backup too? thanks

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#3477836 4-Apr-2026 10:59

For now it's only on select Spark - postpaid plans (details on the our website). For non eligible Spark plans (including prepay) its available as an extra, but unfortunately not for Skinny at this point.

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#3477899 4-Apr-2026 14:44

Hmmm, have switched plan to business unlimited and updated

(currently on 26.5 beta) but I don’t see the satellite toggle despite restarts.

any tips? It’s an e-sim in a 15 Pro so theoretically should work?

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#3477924 4-Apr-2026 15:45

Carrier settings version?

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gajan

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#3477925 4-Apr-2026 15:47

alsta:

Hmmm, have switched plan to business unlimited and updated

(currently on 26.5 beta) but I don’t see the satellite toggle despite restarts.

any tips? It’s an e-sim in a 15 Pro so theoretically should work?

Likely due to it being on a beta release.

My comments and remarks are not necessarily of my employer.

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#3477971 4-Apr-2026 16:00

hamish225:

Only some plans appear to be supported, with other ones appearing to require you to buy an addon to use it, so I've updated our group plans to the newer ones which worked out to be a tiny bit cheaper and have more endless data, not that we ever come close to using the allowance we had before anyway!

Doesn't look like my Nokia C01 will support it, sadly.

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#3477973 4-Apr-2026 16:08

iOS 26.4 is definitely required. It should include carrier version Spark 69.1. Confirmed with my partners iPhone 16 Pro. You cannot get the updated carrier bundle on iOS 26.3.x.

It’s not clear if iOS 26.5 has support for it but it may not depending on when the beta was package and released.

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#3477974 4-Apr-2026 16:14

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#3478029 4-Apr-2026 16:51

Drove a rental car from Terrace Downs near Hororata to CHC on Friday using Google Maps navigation on Apple CarPlay with iPhone 15 26.4 and Spark fat post pay plan.
The satellite data did seem to work when out of coverage but it got a bit confused when the coverage was marginal. Seemed to try to use the barely available 4G when it wasn’t quite viable.

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#3478032 4-Apr-2026 17:14

Poll:

This is showing on my Devoli plan as well, it might have been enabled for all MVNO's. I'll need to check next time I'm somewhere with no reception.

What devoli plan are you on? did you have to do anything Special to get this going? also what hardware?

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#3478035 4-Apr-2026 17:24

At this stage it’s only eligible Spark Plans / addons for non eligible Spark plans.
re performance in car - for best experience it does need a clear line of sight to the sky. Some mounted phone holders may work depending on their position but performance won’t be as good as standing outside in the clear.

My comments and remarks are not necessarily of my employer.

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#3478036 4-Apr-2026 17:27

I admit to being a bit disappointed my $3000 Galaxy Z Fold7 isn’t in the list of eligible devices.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

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#3478038 4-Apr-2026 17:29

One has support for it. Just a matter of time for Spark I guess.

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