Skinny Broadband Price Change

xsolider on 24/06/2025 - 14:19

Signed up last month. The deal was Unlimited Fibre 300 for 1 month free, 12 month term, $85 per month.

Just received an email from them today:

"The price of your broadband is going up

While we do what we can to keep price increases to a minimum, there are times we need to review our plans and consider increases in our operating costs over the year, including what we pay to connect to New Zealand's fibre network. As a result, on 1 August 2025 your Skinny Unlimited Broadband - Fibre 300 plan is going up by $5 to $90 a month.
Know your options

We're stoked you're with us, but if you're not sure about the price increase, that's okay.

If you decide to cancel your Skinny broadband, just get in touch with us by 1 September 2025 and we'll sort out the rest. If you're on a fixed term contract, don't stress about the break fees - we've got you covered. Just keep in mind, cancelling your broadband might mean saying goodbye to your bundle discount too.

Want to know what other broadband options are available in your area? Easy peasy. Just pop your address into our address checker at skinny/broadband and we'll show you what's available. "

I think I'll have to start looking for another broadband deal again.

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Comments

  • CheapAzChips on 24/06/2025 - 15:18
    +13

    Personally I think it's a crock that ISPs can unilaterally break contract if they decide they want to put up prices. Contracts should be binding on both parties. If they break the contract, they should pay YOU the remaining break fee…

    • huffboy on 24/06/2025 - 15:52

      agree.

    • Alan6984 on 24/06/2025 - 16:08

      Personally I think it's a crock that ISPs can unilaterally break contract if they decide they want to put up prices. Contracts should be binding on both parties. If they break the contract, they should pay YOU the remaining break fee…

      If you are right, then I would agree, but I suspect that what you agreed to, when you 'shook hands' with your ISP, included an agreement that they could change the price mid-contract (perhaps with you then having the right to terminate).

      If so, then they haven't broken the contract at all - they have simply invoked a clause that you said you were happy with.

    • Dunno on 24/06/2025 - 18:25

      The problem is customers can be price sensitive and leave if you are $2-3 more expensive than a competitior so pricing with future wholesale costs in mind can be worse for their business.

      Most ISP's passed on wholesale prices increases when they happened in Jan, Skinny and Orcon(iirc) have not and probably paid ~$20 more per customer since Jan than other ISP's who protected their margin.

  • nzmax on 24/06/2025 - 16:20

    As far as I know Chorus haven't increased the wholesale prices. So I can't see why they are increasing prices, except for the fact that they can and competition isn't as strong as it used to be. I know spark who owns skinny isn't doing as well as they used to. I suspect there will be another price rise when Chorus increase their wholesale prices.

    • Dunno on 24/06/2025 - 17:46

      They increased Jan 2025 from 5-14% iirc depending on the service provided. Many ISP's have already passed on said costs to customers.

  • nzmax on 24/06/2025 - 16:21

    I have found the best thing to do is change ISP every year. But it can mean a day of no internet when they make errors.

    • Nythic on 25/06/2025 - 10:18

      That's why I initially signed up with One NZ to receive a 5G modem for free, to use it as a backup later.

  • xsolider on 24/06/2025 - 16:25

    I came across the same thing when I was with Slingshot two years ago. Called the customer service and they added a one-off credit to my account to offset the price change. I might try my luck with Skinny if I can't find another decent broadband deal.

    https://www.cheapies.nz/node/42852

  • Martz5 on 24/06/2025 - 16:27

    Has anyone received news of price increases for other providers? Non Spark owned ones

  • Debzsea on 24/06/2025 - 21:36

    So…I hardly ever use my laptop. Is it practical to hotspot a laptop if I do need it? I have a Large Kogan mobile plan and it's got much more data than I use externally (but not sure how much any streaming is going to gobble up).

    • Alan6984 on 24/06/2025 - 21:58
      +1

      Is it practical to hotspot a laptop if I do need it?

      Definitely, although you might struggle with buffering if you are streaming high-res / high bit-rate video, as 4G (in particular) is way slower than fibre.

      The easy option is to try it, and keep a close / regular eye on your data usage at first to determine whether it's viable for you.

  • Bargain-Hunter on 25/06/2025 - 13:24

    Skinny's general T&Cs state that if they make a change to your services, prices, or terms that disadvantages you (e.g., a price increase), they must give you 30 days’ notice.
    If you're on a fixed-term contract, you can cancel without an early termination fee if the change disadvantages you.
    According to this, it is legal.

    Personally, I think it’s a dick move on Skinny's part, and since I'm in the same situation, I’m considering complaining.

    • Alan6984 on 25/06/2025 - 13:29
      -2

      Skinny's general T&Cs state that if they make a change to your services, prices, or terms that disadvantages you (e.g., a price increase), they must give you 30 days’ notice.

      If you're on a fixed-term contract, you can cancel without an early termination fee if the change disadvantages you.

      Personally, I think it’s a dick move on Skinny's part, and since I'm in the same situation, I’m considering complaining.

      Why complain about something you agreed to?

      If I was not happy with them putting the price up, I would just move to another provider (and I have done that more than once in the past).

      • Bargain-Hunter on 26/06/2025 - 08:37

        Fair point. My concern lies with how the terms are structured and communicated upfront.
        There is often an expectation that when you sign up for a fixed broadband plan, the price will remain unchanged for the duration of your commitment.
        So yes, I will be complaining, but I also have the option to move to another provider if I’m not satisfied with their response.

        • Alan6984 on 26/06/2025 - 08:42

          Fair enough. Let us know if you get anything (rebate for example) from the complaint - others might be able to as well :-)

  • xsolider on 26/06/2025 - 10:46
    +1

    Updates:

    Set the disconnection on 29 June which is the end of my free month. Signed up Fibre 500 with 2Degrees via broadbandcompare for $80/month. It's registered under my mum's name (she lives with us). Filled up the SuperGold discount form for another $5 off per month. https://sg.2ddiscount.co.nz/

    Hope 2Degrees will honour the price during the fixed term.

    • Harebrainedkiwi on 26/06/2025 - 16:59

      I just got my Skinny increase email today, so I'm looking for options.

      On the 2 degrees website it says:

      Monthly plan price changes On 30 July 2025, the monthly price of Unlimited and Ultimate Unlimited plans will increase by $4 on standard pricing.

      Do you know if this increase applies to your broadbandcompare deal too?

      • xsolider on 26/06/2025 - 17:10

        Oh, I had overlooked that, they hide that information at the bottom of the page. I believe it will affect my deal through broadbandcompare as it redirected me to the 2Degrees site.

  • jcrob111 on 26/06/2025 - 18:49
    +2

    Anyone else found an alternative to switch to?

    Considering Simply Broadband. Seems to be $79.79/month for Fibre 500 Unlimited.

    So cheaper than Skinny.

    • sagnikd on 28/06/2025 - 16:34
      +1

      I am on the market as well, have not found anything better that the Simply Broadband prices yet.

      • jcrob111 on 28/06/2025 - 19:58

        Seems like almost no broadband offers available, really dried up.

        I ended up signing up to Simply Broadband, the no contract means if another deal comes up could move.

        • spam on 07/07/2025 - 10:22

          how did you find so far ? Considering them as well as I got the email price increase so will be $85/month. for 500/100

          • jcrob111 on 07/07/2025 - 12:30

            @spam: Yet to connect, only in a few weeks. I’ve heard they are all good though online.

        • nzmax on 07/07/2025 - 14:25
          +2

          There is less competition now as different companies have merged. Many of the brands are now owned by big companies. Prices are also increasing by more than inflation. Customers don't really have any choice but to pay the higher prices.

  • BananaMeadow on 06/07/2025 - 17:39

    I’m on Slingshot and they have increased my
    500/100 by $3

    • ace310 on 07/07/2025 - 08:51
      +1

      Got same email. Still on $65/month so below $70 is by far the cheapest right now. Wish they had increased the upload speed as well.

  • roshanNZ on 06/07/2025 - 17:50

    Slingshot is increasing our price by $10 from August 1st. Currently we are on 500/100 for $70/month

  • Bill on 07/07/2025 - 09:49
    -1

    I did find an alternative to switch to. 500/100 for $30/month.

    Unbelievable deal but unfortunately I can't share it. Would be exploited way too easily and I don't want to lose it for myself.

    For people serious about saving money I recommend switching to 100/20. I was able to switch to 50/10 and use it for 2 months before the upgrade with no complaints for a household using 1000gb/month of data. If you're using less than this a month you have no excuse to not give it a try.

    • dryburn on 07/07/2025 - 11:36

      who is that with?

    • Gwigglesnz on 07/07/2025 - 11:58
      +5

      We don't like your sort around here 😂😂

      • Bill on 08/07/2025 - 02:11
        +1

        I would share it but it would almost certainly get patched immediately, and then could cause problems for me.

        And plus, from past experience some people here aren't very supportive of deals that take advantage of loopholes.

        I'm actually in this case part of the eligible group so not actually really doing anything wrong. It's just that I found a way to bypass that requirement since I still wasn't able to sign up even though I was eligible.

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