Moose Mobile signs with Optus for 4G services
Budget phone plans and refurbished iPhones for sale for the newest MVNO on the block.
In the MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) space there’s no shortage of players, with most secondary carriers opting to provide services on Optus’ 4G network. That’s the path that relatively new entrant Moose Mobile is taking, announcing today that it’s signed a five year deal with Optus to use its network for its mobile service provision.
Moose Mobile’s plans all tend towards the low-cost side of the plan spectrum, with the cheapest Moose 15 plan costing (you guessed it) $15 per month for unlimited calls, texts and 1GB of data usage. Here’s how the rest of their plan tiers work, all with the same unlimited standard national calls and texts bundled:
| Moose Mobile Plans | Monthly Cost | Data inclusion |
|---|---|---|
| Moose 15 | $15.00 | 1GB |
| Moose 24 | $24.00 | 2GB |
| Moose 33 | $33.00 | 4GB |
| Moose 39 | $39.00 | 6GB |
| Moose 44 | $44.00 | 9GB |
| Moose 49 | $49.00 | 25GB |
Moose Mobile’s other business is in selling refurbished iPhones, although they’re not selling anything more current than the iPhone 6 at this point in time. While their pricing is relatively attractive if you were after an iOS entry point, at a price point of $369 for a 16GB iPhone 6, there's a few flags to be aware of.
There’s a specific callout to battery quality on Moose Mobile’s specification page that states that "Battery performance may vary based on usage and network tower support and cannot be guaranteed to meet manufacturers warranty guidelines, the batteries on this phone have been refurbished or replaced" which is worrying, considering the generally low battery performance of even new iPhones of this generation.
Additionally, all mentions of TouchID in the specifications have been removed, which raises the possibility that the refurbishment may have modified the TouchID sensor to bypass the iOS/Error 53 issue.
Finally, with the iPhone 7 the current model and what's being speculatively called the iPhone 8 only a few months away, the iPhone 6 and earlier handsets Moose is selling are rather long in the tooth and not likely to see too many more iOS upgrades down the track.
As an Australian company, you would be covered by Australian Consumer Law in case of any egregious issues, but it’s worth making sure you know what you’re buying before making a purchase.
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