Challenger mobile brand 2degrees has received a near-perfect score from customers in an independent satisfaction survey, achieving a perfect score in five out of seven categories, including ‘overall satisfaction’.

The Canstar Blue survey, which canvassed 1358 people who had purchased a mobile phone and/or mobile plan in the last 12 months about their retail experience, saw 2degrees score five out of five in value for money, service, range of phone plans and clarity of advice.

Only in range of handsets and range of accessories did the provider dip below 100%, achieving three and four stars respectively.

Telecom and Vodafone both scored four out of five for overall satisfaction, with the latter slightly ahead in the range of handset and range of accessories categories.

The Warehouse offered good value for money, but was poor in every other category.

"2degrees has reinvigorated the mobile phone market,” says Canstar New Zealand national manager Derek Bonnar, "and delivered value to customers with initiatives such as rolling over unused minutes.

"That’s something that customers appear to appreciate.”

The survey also reveals that trends like relying on a mobile phone in place of a landline and using mobile handsets to make payments are on the rise, particularly among young people.

Nearly 30% of respondents reported owning multiple mobile phones.