Get started with Skinny. 
So you want to join Skinny? Righteous. Like everything else, we've kept things simple..

Get a phone
Every new Skinny phone comes with a free SIM preloaded and ready to go, so going shopping is the easiest way to get on board.
Check out our online store to buy, or if you want to have a look and a play first, get into your friendly neighbourhood Skinny retailer and take a look at our range for yourself.

Grab a SIM
If you already have a compatible phone, tablet or dongle, you can just grab a SIM online or in store.

You can check if your phone, tablet or dongle is compatible with our network in 3 easy steps.

1. Get your device IMEI number - dial*#06#and your phone will tell you its IMEI number all by itself. If that doesn't work for your phone open it up, pop out the battery and look on the label beneath it in the battery compartment, or look on the box your phone came in. If you have a dongle or tablet, look on the label on the box it came in.
2. Chuck the details into this little app.
3. If your phone is compatible, grab a SIM online or in store.
 Activating a phone
1. If you got a SIM, Pop it in your phone. It's not much use in the glovebox, or on the floor.
2. Switch your phone on and call 456 to activate it. Follow the prompts.
3. Call 789 set up your voicemail. Your default PIN is 1234 - you should change it straight away. You can't access voicemail while roaming or from other phones unless you change the PIN. You can turn voicemail off by choosing to use the answer service instead if you prefer.
4. Boom you're sorted.
5. To Top-up, use the Skinny Mobile Menu (just dial *888# and hit call, and follow the on screen options).

Activating a SIM to use in an iPad, tablet, dongle or other 'data only' device
Usually we activate a SIM via a call - clearly that isnt going to work for data only devices. Here's the way to do it.

1. Pop the SIM into your device, and keep the packaging including the plastic surround the SIM popped out of - you will need it. 
2. Buy a Top-up voucher from any Skinny store or the usual array of dairies, servos and the like. Buy enough credit to keep you going for a couple of weeks.
3. Give us a call on 0800 4 SKINNY (0800 475 4669) from any phone, with your SIM packaging, Skinny number and the voucher you just bought handy, and we'll help you activate your device.

Then we'll add the credit from the voucher you purchased to your account during this call, and if you also want to sign up for one of our 120MB or 600MB weekly data Add-ons we can sort that out for you as well.


Using a phone, tablet or dongle you didn't get from Skinny
If you've got a compatible phone, tablet or dongle you bought overseas or got from another network you may need to tweak a few settings so you can get it working on Skinny for stuff like mobile internet and email.
 
First you need to buy a Skinny SIM. Sounds obvious doesn't it, but you'd be surprised.....Once that's sorted, we can move on.
1. Go to your devices' settings menu
2. Find the Mobile data / cellular data settings bit
3. Enter these settings:
APN: wapaccess.co.nz
Username & password: Leave blank
4. Annnd, you're good. Hopefully ;-)

If you're stuck (because asking your techie mate and perusing our Help and FAQs didn't help) give us a ring on 0800 4 SKINNY (0800 475 4669) and we'll try to to give you a hand. 

Tweaking your plan
Every Skinny SIM comes with a $4 Loose Lips plan preloaded. That means you get a bunch of free calling, texts and data to use within the first week on us.

If you bought your SIM to use in a tablet, dongle or other data only device, give the Skinny Reps a call on 0800 4 SKINNY (0800 475 4669) and they'll switch you onto our Love Bytes plan and  help you get started.

You can check out all our plans here.  If you are more of a texter, you might want to go onto our Busy Fingers plan instead, or if you are only using your device for data, Love Bytes may be your style.  

You can make the change online via My Skinny - Your new selection will become your default plan and the free week of out Loose Lips plan will disappear at the end of the week. Until the end of the first week you still have the Loose Lips minutes, texts and data though, so don't forget to use them!

Please note that you cannot exchange the value of the free 1st week on our Loose Lips plan for credit or for using Skinny services at our standard rates.  Check this page out for more info on changing plans.
 
If you don't want to have an active Weekly Plan, that's cool too. You can deactivate it online via My Skinny now.  You won't lose any remaining included calling minutes, texts or data until it's scheduled renewal date at the end of the week, so make sure you use them! From then on you will be charged at our standard rates.
 
If you do nothing, at the end of the first week and every week after that your chosen Weekly Plan will auto renew and you'll be charged $4 from your account, unless you call us to change it or you don't have enough credit in your account.

I want to keep my old number
No Worries. You can rock a Skinny SIM with your old number - that's not a problem. First, grab a Skinny SIM and activate it. Next, register online at My Skinny here.

Then, in the My Skinny section, head on down to the Do Stuff menu and pick the Bring my Number option. You'll need your new Skinny SIM, plus your old provider SIM serial number (from the old SIM card you were using), or your old provider account info (from your bill, if you were an on account customer).

Once you have requested the switch, one of our team will contact you to confirm exactly when it will happen and check it's a convenient time. The whole thing should be sorted in 24-48 hours.

For the full details, head on over here to the Bring my Number info page.


Mobile data settings
If you've got a Skinny phone, it should be set up straight from the box.
You can see the data settings and other instrucitons on our help pages.

If you still need a little hand holding, as some of us do with techy stuff, the best thing to do is to call us on 204 from your Skinny phone, or 0800 SKINNY (0800 475 4669) and let one of the team help you out.

Use your iPhone on Skinny
Your iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, or 5 will work just fine on Skinny.

If you run an iPad or just use you iPhone mostly for data, we now offer a data only Weekly Plan called Love Bytes giving you 200MB of national NZ data a week for $4 which may be right down your street. 

We have also introduced a new, higher MB allowance data Add-on, so you can now choose from an extra 200MB a week for $4 (called Data 200) or 600MB a week for $8 (called Data 600). 

To get started, grab a Skinny SIM (for 3G / 3GS) , a MicroSIM (for iPhone 4 / 4S / iPad)  or a nanoSIM for iPhone5 and get stuck in here.

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