Numobile review
Numobile is a reasonably priced telco that operates on the Telstra mobile network and can bundle a phone plan with an affordable refurbished handset.
Our verdict
While Numobile doesnāt have the most competitive pricing around, thereās value to be found in combining a plan with an outright or interest-free refurbished handset. Couple that with international talk and text allowances, plus high customer satisfaction, and Numobile ticks a lot of the right boxes.
Good stuff
- High customer satisfaction
- Interest-free refurbished handsets
Bad stuff
- Light on features
- Not great dollars-to-data value
Numobile value for money
Okay value with refurbished phones that connect to Australiaās largest mobile network.
Numobile is a telco that brands itself around a combination of SIM Only plans and refurbished phones. You can combine a Numobile plan with one of its refurbished phones to pay off on 24-month interest-free repayment terms.
The cost of the refurbished handsets varies not just in terms of how well a particular smartphone has held its value but also in terms of the condition of the phone. āGood as nuā handsets are described as well-looked-after phones that have no visible marks with scratch-free screens. āPretty goodā handsets have minor visible marks on the smartphone body or screen. Handsets come with free shipping, 30-day returns, and a 12-month warranty.
All phones must pass a 51-point test for full functionality and are data-wiped. Numobile notes that average battery capacity of its refurbished phones is 92% but may be as low as 80%.
Plans are available in three varieties: $15 Small SIM Plan (3GB), $30 Medium SIM Plan (30GB) and the $45 Large SIM Plan (50GB). All plans come with unlimited standard national talk and text, a 200GB data bank, and operate on the Telstra 4G and 3G mobile network. You can see the cheapest Numobile plan below.
Using this $15 Small SIM Plan as an example, monthly costs are still reasonable when adding a refurbished handset. For instance, pair this plan with the still-popular iPhone 8 64GB, and the monthly cost comes to $30 for a good-condition handset. Numobile offers no-contract plans, which means you can leave at any point, you just have to pay out whateverās remaining on the cost of the handset.
Boost Mobile also sells refurbished handsets, but there isnāt an option to pay them off interest-free in combination with a SIM Only plan.
For perspective, hereās a look at how Numobileās $15 Small SIM Plan stacks up next to similarly priced SIM Only competitors.
There are cheaper alternatives in that list with more data, but they tend to operate on the Optus mobile network. Still, if data-per-dollar really matters to you, Numobile only scores average marks for overall pricing value.
Numobile features and perks
Light on perks but international talk and text is a neat touch.
One thing that Numobileās cheapest plan doesnāt have that the other two do is unlimited standard text and talk to 15 countries. This is a great perk for those looking to call or message friends, family or colleagues in the following countries:
- Bangladesh
- China
- Hong Kong
- India
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Thailand
- UK (and Channel Islands)
- United States
- Vietnam
The $30 Medium SIM Plan and $45 Large SIM Plan also come with 10GB of bonus data for every renewal between 1 December 2020 and 14 February 2021. If you donāt use that data during those renewals, it can always be carried over as part of the 200GB data bank for a data-heavy later month.
Hereās how Numobile stacks up next to other competing SIM Only plans that have at least 30GB of data and include international calls.
Numobile customer support and satisfaction
High customer satisfaction according to user-review sites.
Numobileās support options arenāt as varied as other telcos. You can reach them on the phone for support (8am to 7pm AEDT, Monday to Friday) or via Facebook, though you may have to wait for a day to get a reply, and Twitter support appears to be non-existent. For those who prefer help via the ānet, thereās online usage monitoring, an online chat service, and online self-service. Email support is responsive within a couple of hours.
While support options arenāt as comprehensive as competitors, Numobile does have bragging rights to very impressive customer satisfaction. In our experience, telcos tend to cop a lot of stick when it comes to users scores on sites like Product Review and Trustpilot. While Numobile only had one review on Product Review at the time of writing (five stars), Trustpilot had a 4.3-star average from 266 user reviews.
These types of high ratings put Numobile in esteemed customer-satisfaction company alongside high-scoring telcos Moose Mobile, Mate, Pennytel and Tangerine.
How to sign up for Numobile
Click the āGoā button next to any of the Numobile plans below that catch your eye. If you donāt need a refurbished phone, opt for the SIM versions, otherwise stick with the Mobile (Postpaid) alternatives. From there, confirm your plan selection on the Numobile website, then follow the remaining prompts after continuing to the checkout.
Numobile plans
Check out the Numobile plans below.