An unexpected aspect of traveling around New Zealand was how expensive it was to get Internet access. NZ Telecom will sell you (directly or through vendors such as hotels or Starbucks) prepaid access cards for $10 NZ/hour. Most sizeable towns have one or more Internet cafes where you can get rates as low as $6/hour in touristy places like Rotorua or down to $2/hour in Auckland. Actually, the best deal I found was at a library, which didn’t mind at all if I connected my laptop to their Ethernet, but charged me when I used one of their computers, because that was using "their Internet". One Internet cafe offered wireless connectivity, until asked what they charged, when they said they didn’t actually have it.

Home access is apparently mostly DSL or dialup. New Zealand is not very high on the OECD broadband uptake figures.