026 valid for mobile ?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › 026 valid for mobile ?

xpd

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#324441 10-Apr-2026 10:42

Have bumped into someone recently arrived in the country, having issues getting their number recognized by online systems that require mobiles - says their number is not valid, yet they claim they can call and SMS fine on it.

Got their number and its an 026 - thats the old Telcom/Spark paging network isnt it ?

Is it now being used for standard mobile plans ?

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

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#3479739 10-Apr-2026 10:56

Must be using one of the MNVOs rather than Spark/One/2degrees. They often use the other ranges e.g. 020, 029, etc.

The only real solution may be to get a $1 prepay SIM from one of the big ones to get a standard 021/022/027 number and port the number across to a new account with their preferred MNVO. In theory the online systems should update to recogniose 026 but in practice this will proably take years to happen especially with the larger companies/govt agencies/etc.

But I guess this person has alerady started using their 026 number already so this would be a added hassle (not to mention porting in a number may need a new account with their MNVO).

If they really want to keep their 026 they will need to follow up with whoever is rejecting the 026 numbers and tell them to fix their systems.

TBH any number starting with 02 followed by at least 7 digits should be recognsied as mobile (or the technical term is non-geographic). Seems a silly hassle to whitelist specific mobile prefixes when it chanegs all the time as more MNVOs are established.

Groucho

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#3479740 10-Apr-2026 10:59

I don't have any current intel but 026 was definitely Telecom's old pager network.

My Mum had two, the first you dialled the 026 number then entered your number which she would call back from a landline. Second was flash - a call taker would answer the phone, take your message and essentially send what we'd now say was an SMS to the multi-line LCD pager.

Linux

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#3479741 10-Apr-2026 11:01

All information around number panning is online

The Number Administration Deed - NAD

Linux

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#3479742 10-Apr-2026 11:02

Better link for mobile ranges

Number Register - NAD

Behodar

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#3479749 10-Apr-2026 11:58

0260 is "active and in use" and was previously allocated to TeamTalk, now 2degrees. 0261-0264 plus 0268-0269 are assigned to Spark.

richms

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#3479752 10-Apr-2026 12:05

I didnt know this was still a problem. I did have a friend came over and got some bastard range that didn't work plenty of places when they got some traveller deal sim. Was not able to use the number with uber here at the time and had to replace it with a skinny sim.

Richard rich.ms