You’ve heard of renting houses, but did you ever think you could rent a phone? Yes, it’s possible.
Thanks to numobile’s latest subscription offering you can lease the latest mobile phones to save both your hard-earned cash and the environment.
There are a few conditions to be aware of, however, so keep reading to find out all the nitty-gritty on numobile’s newest offering.
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Who is numobile?
numobile is a new Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) powered by Telstra. It has big plans to ease the financial and environmental burdens of owning a quality mobile phone by offering customers refurbished options at cheaper rates.
But numobile has taken it a step further by creating nu subscription – a leasing service that lets customers get the latest phones now.
How does my subscription work?
With nu subscription, customers can choose to ‘lease’ either refurbished or brand-new phones while also signing up for one of its SIM plans. Sounds easy right? numobile express ships a phone to you (for free) and you pay it off over 36 months. Unfortunately, it’s not as clear-cut as it sounds.
Does my subscription work out cheaper?
Say you want the latest iPhone 14 but can’t afford to pay for it outright. With numobile, you can pay from just $37 per month to lease the device now but keep in mind the minimum repayment over the entire period works out to be $1332. And this excludes the costs of your chosen SIM plan.
When the outright price for an iPhone 14 directly from Apple is $1399, this means customers will only save $67 overall.
For comparison, here are numobile’s 36-month lease plans for the new iPhone 14:
And here’s how Telstra, Optus and Vodafone’s iPhone 14 36-month plans stack up:
Because they have very small data allowances, numobile’s entry-level lease plans are technically cheaper than what you’ll find on Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone. As you move up in data allowance, however, there are fewer savings between what numobile offers and Optus and Vodafone.
Alternatively, if you want the latest iPhone ASAP but can’t afford to buy it outright, our advice is to look into Apple’s 0%-interest financing option. This way you can buy the phone outright and then get a cheap plan from an MVNO on whatever network you want.
How environmentally friendly is my subscription?
If you’re a serial phone collector or want to reduce waste by giving an old phone a new life, numobile could be a good option for you. But this isn’t the only environmentally friendly choice around.
When you want to upgrade, you can trade in your old phone to Apple or any other telco for money off your new device. This also works out to be more money back than what you would initially save by leasing a device from numobile in the first place.
With so many other refurbished devices on the market and trade-in options available, numobile really doesn’t come out in front here.
Who’s liable for damages to phones under my subscription?
Another surprise in numobile’s T’s and C’s is that the customer is held responsible for any damages to the device during the leasing period.
As an example, if a customer leases an iPhone 13 for 2 years and it comes back damaged, the customer will face an additional $209 in fees once it is returned. When you do the maths, this risk trumps any savings made by leasing the device, putting the customer even more out of pocket.
Once the nu subscription ends what happens to the device?
When your subscription term ends, customers will need to return the device for either upgrading or recycling. The payments customers make over the 36-month period do not equal ownership by the end of the subscription period – much like renting a house.
Over the course of your lease, you can only save a maximum of $100 on an iPhone 14 but even then you won’t own it. When you consider how much customers get for trading in old devices or reselling them as refurbished models, it doesn’t seem logical to pay for a phone you won’t get to keep.
How can I upgrade early on a nu subscription?
If you are desperate for a newer model and you’re six months out from finishing your 36-month contract, you can end it early. It sounds generous at first glance.
However, that’s still a 30-month minimum contract term and why shouldn’t you be able to leave whenever you want? It’s a lease, not a purchase. For those forever craving the latest and greatest devices, this limitation is extremely important to think about before signing up.
Is nu subscription’s leading option worth it?
Honestly, no. Free express shipping, a 30-day change of mind guarantee and warranties are tempting, that’s for sure. But if you do the maths and read the fine print, there are a lot of hidden fees and conditions that send up multiple red flags.
There are lots of other ways to help the environment and reduce the costs of owning a phone. Instead, we suggest researching finance and trade-in options before purchasing a phone and exploring MVNO plans around the same price point for a more competitive deal.
Here are some of our most popular MVNO plans:
Christie Graham is Digital Content Editor at WhistleOutAustralia’s mobile and internet comparison site.
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