Share your mobile data allowance with up to 5 others

Got gigabytes to spare? Why not dish out some data love to your nearest and dearest?

If you’re on a Pay Monthly or Business Choice plan that offers Carryover Data, you can share your New Zealand data with up to five other devices that use a 2degrees SIM.

There is no additional cost to sharing data. You can manage how much data and how frequently you want to share, and stop or start it at any time.

If you’re on an eligible plan you can share all or a chunk of your New Zealand data with up to five other 2degrees friends or family for free. Or, if you’d prefer to keep it for yourself, you can share it across up to five of your devices with 2degrees SIMs. Either way, sharing is caring.

Choose how and when you share data

You decide how you want to dish out the gigs. Go all-in and share it all or keep hold of the reins and only share a chunk of the data pie. The sharing power is in your hands.

There are three types of Sharing Controls to choose from:

• Open Sharing
• Monthly Allowance
• One-off Allowance

Open Sharing

Go wild and share all your data, every month. With Open Sharing, it's first come first served. It’s a great worry-free way to ensure that none of your sharers goes hungry for data.

Monthly Allowance

Stay in the driver’s seat and only share a chunk of your data every month. Keep control of your gigs by choosing how much you want to dish out across all your sharers. Set and forget, and the same amount of data will be shared each month, so your hungry data munchers won’t eat up all your data. Any unused data will be returned to you at the end of the month and can be used for your next month’s allowances.

One-Off Allowance

Is your mate in a pinch? Share a one-off chunk of your data just for the month, so they don’t miss any Insta-grammable moments. Anything that is unused will be returned to you the following month.

How much data should I share?

When it comes to sharing out the data love, you’ll need to mull over how much to share vs. how much to keep for yourself. You don’t want to get caught short in the data stakes, but you also want to make sure that your sharers have enough to see them through.

We recommend starting out with a smaller amount – perhaps no more than half of your total monthly data allowance – as it’s easy to share more if you need to.

Over time you’ll get a better idea of how much data you should share to keep everyone snapping, streaming and scrolling.

If you find yourself running low, you can take back data that hasn’t been used at any stage. We’ll help you out and let them know by text so you can avoid the awkward conversation.

How do I start sharing data?

The easiest way to share data is by the 2degrees App. It’s the simplest way to set up and manage your Sharing Controls.

• Open the 2degrees App
• Tap the Menu
• Hit Your Account
• Tap Sharing
• Select Add Someone
• Choose from your contacts or manually enter the number in
• Select the Data option from the list
• Choose how you want to share that data: Open Sharing, Monthly Allowance, or One-off Allowance
• Depending on what you chose on the above step, follow the prompts and you’re done. Easy.

Check out this video for the short and sweet of it. 

Can I set up data sharing by text?

You can only set up the Open Sharing option by text. If you want to keep control of your shared data and set up a Monthly or One-off Allowance, you’ll need to do this in our App. Here’s how you can set up Open Sharing by text.

• Text Share followed by a space, then the number you want to share with, to 747. Like this: SHARE 0220202020
• We’ll send you a text to confirm you want to do this
• Reply Y to confirm
• You’re done! We’ll send a text once your sharing has been set up
• You and your sharer may need to restart your mobiles to start sharing

If you want to set up multiple people by text, repeat the above steps for each person you want to share with.

How do I view and manage my shared data?

To keep things tidy, you’ll find a handy Sharing Summary in our App where you can manage, view and make changes to everything to do with data sharing.

• See the mobile number/name of who you’re sharing with
• See how many gigs you’re sharing and when they’re due to renew
• See how much data your sharers have chewed through this month
• Share more data, or take some back if you’re a bit short

Just click on Sharing under Your Account to see a list of everyone you’re sharing with. Click on a contact to dive deeper to their specific sharing summary.

What happens if one of my sharers runs out of data?

If your sharers have the megabyte munchies, there are a few ways they can get out of their data dilemma.

• If you’re feeling generous, you can share more of your data in the App
• Data Add-Ons can be purchased any time from the App. They start from as little as $10 for 500MB, and your sharer can grab one any time
• Encourage them to download the Data Clock App. Data Clock lets you buy mobile data in affordable bursts, giving you the freedom to use data whenever you need it.

What happens if I run out of data?

If your data is running on empty, you can refill the tank any time, either by buying an Add-on, or by taking back any shared data that hasn’t been used yet.

To take back any unused data, log into the 2degrees App, navigate to Your Account, click on the person you want to take data back from in your Sharers list and tap on Take Back. Here you can choose how much to pull back for yourself. We’ll even let them know about the change of heart by text, so you can avoid any awkward chats.

If you’d rather leave your gigs where they are, you can purchase a Data Add-on from our App to flick your data gauge back to full.

How do I stop sharing data?

If the situation has changed and you want to stop sharing, you can text or use the 2degrees App to stop whenever you like.

Stop sharing data in the 2degrees App:

• Select Menu > Settings > Sharing to see the numbers (or names) of the people you’re sharing with.
• Tap the person you want to stop sharing with
• At the bottom of the Sharing Summary page, you’ll see a button that says Stop Sharing – hit this.
• Confirm you want to stop sharing
• You’re done. We’ll send you and your sharer a text when we’re done.

Stop sharing data by text:

• Text STOP followed by a space, and then the number of the phone you want to stop sharing with, to 747. Like this: STOP 0220202020
• We’ll send you a text once we’ve updated your sharing details

Can I share calls and texts as well as data?

If you’re already a customer with us on our retired $55 or $70 Pay Monthly plan, then yes, you sure can. You may have already noticed this in our App, but if you didn’t know, you can keep up to three of your friends and family chatting by sharing your calls and texts with them for $25 per person, per month. So, if you want to share data, calls and texts, simply select both boxes and we’ll set everything up together. To know more about sharing calls and texts, Pay Monthly plan holders should check out Family Share, and those on Business plans can head on over to our Team Share page.

See our full Terms and Conditions.