Lebara (fair useage §h!t£) (1 Viewer)

[berni109]

Never had a problem before now but data stopped working.
I am a very low usage customer never ever getting close to data limit.

First " your phone settings are wrong"
Then after email to them: "you have used more data than you have used in the UK over the last 120 days you need to now pay per call, text and Mb".

 

[jongood]

Mines working great in India, but Ive been careful to use as much data as possible before I came out here and not thrashing it now. ( Im using it right now)

 

[treblid]

: "you have used more data than you have used in the UK over the last 120 days

It's all down to this fair usage clause. We had the same. Happened once and we have now switched to IQ Go and use a TP-Link Mi-Fi type device.
I just keep a small 5Gb package Lebara SIM in the phone.

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[Richard n Ann]

you have used more data than you have used in the UK over the last 120 days

That's really sneaky of them, obviously we use more data abroad as we're away from WiFi.. Even after 1 week it will be more how long have you been away?

 

[Barti Ddu]

We've used multiple Lebara Sims (including some of the 1penny deals) on two extended European trips (one 12 weeks the other 10 weeks) without falling foul of the roaming fair use terms. We did make sure that the two months prior to going away each time we maxed out the data in the UK to get a good baseline UK usage - (downloaded and then deleted iPlayer films, etc.).

 

[Minxy]

Never had a problem before now but data stopped working.
I am a very low usage customer never ever getting close to data limit.

First " your phone settings are wrong"
Then after email to them: "you have used more data than you have used in the UK over the last 120 days you need to now pay per call, text and Mb".

You need to read the T&Cs, I know it's difficult to menfolk but sometimes has to be done!

We have been hammering the 4 x 15gb Lebara sims we've got so that they are maxed out before we go on Wednesday that way we can use 60gb a month when in the EU without a worry, we've also got 2 x Asda 5gb sims which we've done the same with although they don't stipulate you need to do so.

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[jongood]

Jus

That's really sneaky of them, obviously we use more data abroad as we're away from WiFi.. Even after 1 week it will be more how long have you been away?

T turn the wifi on the phone off, doesn't matter if you use more data at home.

 

[Carpmart]

Popit is the answer

OR

Starlink

 

[Richard n Ann]

Can Minxy or anyone point me to the Lebara terms and conditions please.
Their website just explains that you can use your data just like at home, I'm thinking the fair usage will only kick in if (in their opinion) you are unfairly abusing data allowance ie over 30GB

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[Richard n Ann]

Might change to ID Mobile before we go away they have a 30GB cap on roaming.



Other operators data caps:
Giffgaff 5GB
Talkmobile 5GB
Smarty 12GB
Lyca 12GB
Lebara 15GB

 

[Carpmart]

I don’t get why people aren’t using Popit?

 

[Richard n Ann]

I don’t get why people aren’t using Popit?

I did look briefly but when I saw 10GB was £13 I moved on.

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[Barti Ddu]

Can Minxy or anyone point me to the Lebara terms and conditions please.
Their website just explains that you can use your data just like at home, I'm thinking the fair usage will only kick in if (in their opinion) you are unfairly abusing data allowance ie over 30GB

View attachment 861849

See -

Rates

www.lebara.co.uk

This is the relevant bit-

Important bits to know -
This scheme is designed for customers who primarily live in the UK and make short trips to other European destinations. To safeguard against abuse, if your roaming usage is greater than your usage in the UK over any continuous 120-day period, you will be subject to a surcharge of 0.20p/MB (equivalent to £2/GB) for data, 0.04p/sec (equivalent to 2.4p/min) for outgoing calls, 0.01p/sec (equivalent to 0.6p/min) for incoming calls and 0.8p for sending an SMS. The surcharge is deducted from your Pay As You Go allowance. You will need to top up if you don't have any Pay As You Go credit on your account.

 

[Richard n Ann]

See -

Rates

www.lebara.co.uk

This is the relevant bit-

Important bits to know -
This scheme is designed for customers who primarily live in the UK and make short trips to other European destinations. To safeguard against abuse, if your roaming usage is greater than your usage in the UK over any continuous 120-day period, you will be subject to a surcharge of 0.20p/MB (equivalent to £2/GB) for data, 0.04p/sec (equivalent to 2.4p/min) for outgoing calls, 0.01p/sec (equivalent to 0.6p/min) for incoming calls and 0.8p for sending an SMS. The surcharge is deducted from your Pay As You Go allowance. You will need to top up if you don't have any Pay As You Go credit on your account.

So a 120 day period must elapse before they can say you've definitely used more data abroad, by which time we'll be back home

 

[Barti Ddu]

So a 120 day period must elapse before they can say you've definitely used more data abroad, by which time we'll be back home

I'm not certain, but I don't think that's how it works. It's to stop people buying a UK Lebera SIM and then immediately going abroad for an extended period.

If you get a Lebera Sim and absolutely hammer it in the UK for 60 days before going into the EU you should then be ok for the next 60 days in the EU as long as your usage there is within your specified allowance. From day 61 onwards in the EU you would appear to be on borrowed time, but we've been away with Lebera Sims for upto 12 weeks without falling foul of the policy,

If you barely use the SIM in the UK in the 60 days before going into the EU you're more likely to fall foul of the policy once abroad.

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[Richard n Ann]

Thing is I only have a 5gb plan in the UK so I'd have to switch to a 20gb plan a month earlier and start downloading something... Probably switch WiFi off and play the radio app for a week. What a faff.

Maybe a data card is the answer. Only problem with ID network I mentioned above is it uses Three ... it's a few years now since I was on their sloooow network, might be ok now

 

[Barti Ddu]

Thing is I only have a 5gb plan in the UK so I'd have to switch to a 20gb plan a month earlier and start downloading something... Probably switch WiFi off and play the radio app for a week. What a faff.

Maybe a data card is the answer. Only problem with ID network I mentioned above is it uses Three ... it's a few years now since I was on their sloooow network, might be ok now

If you've only got a 5gb UK data plan, then 5gb will also be your EU monthly roaming limit.

It's not hard to burn through 5gb of data a month for the 2 months in the UK before you want to go to the EU. Just stream an hour or two of iPlayer or similar. 20gb isn't that much harder to get through either. It's a bit of a faff - but just download a couple of films and delete.

 

[bigtree]

Might change to ID Mobile before we go away they have a 30GB cap on roaming.

View attachment 861875

Other operators data caps:
Giffgaff 5GB
Talkmobile 5GB
Smarty 12GB
Lyca 12GB
Lebara 15GB

I used 75gb a month last year on IDmobile on a 150gb contract, have renewed directly with them for £8 unlimited. Will need to see how much I can use a month this year.

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[Carpmart]

I did look briefly but when I saw 10GB was £13 I moved on.

But it works! No fair usage, no stress!

 

[matbic]

Hi

This is what I have discovered so far about UK SIM cards that are best for EU travel.

Hope this is helpful and any additions or corrections would be most welcome.

I have listed them in what I consider best first order:

HelloIQ

IQ Mobile - Intelligent Mobile Services for Personal and Business Life

IQ Mobile is the intelligent mobile network for Personal and Business life, with the UK's best 4G experience and over 60% UK Population Coverage on 5G.

helloiq.co.uk

£20/year admin charge, then you purchase data as you need it. 100Gbytes is £20 and lasts for 30 days this can be used in UK and Europe. So you only pay when you need data for the month.

They say they “do not have a "Fair use policy" when abroad which is pretty unique” although one is mentioned in their terms and conditions it is missing from the website.

It is based in EE network in the UK, it is not clear what networks are available when in EU I will need to test this.

Popit

Plans - Popit

Plans Check out our packages all come with 5G at no extra cost! 10GB £ 13 per month Unlimited Calls & Texts 10GB Unlimited Calls & Texts VoLTE Wifi Calling 30 Day Auto Renewal Bring your own number Purchase Featured 30GB £ 18 per month Unlimited Calls & Texts 30GB Unlimited Calls & Texts VoLTE

www.popitmobile.co.uk

100Gbytes/month for £25 with the key feature that you can use all of it while roaming in EU.

The only catches I can see are:
1) Roaming duration of up to maximum of 6 months at a time
2) It says in the legal contract : "To cancel the contract, you must ensure the following conditions are met: a) UK Data Usage: You must use Data in the UK to meet your Roaming Compliance. b) Roaming Compliance: Your roaming usage is shown in your subscription, and this must be 100% and in green."
This second point will need testing, but it seems that if you don't use enough data in the UK you cant cancel until you have. But not sure how onerous this is.

Must be careful not to go over 100G it’s £5/Gbyte after monthly allowance is used up.

02
Unlimited in UK for £20/month
O2 also seems to have a more relaxed roaming "fair use policy". When in France last year I used at least 110Gbytes of data and did not get charged extra for it - but it does not state what the rules are in their terms and conditions.

iD Mobile
Unlimited in UK for £16
They resell Three network for less than Three direct.
30Gbyte/month when roaming in EU then £1.5/Gbyte as a data add up to limit of £25/month. Must be careful as over charge is £3/Gbyte.

Vodafone UK
I get an unlimited UK data for £13.75 on my business account.
EU roaming is included in this but is limited to 25Gbytes/month.

Smarty
25G roaming in EU and £1/Gbyte after that.

Others
Most UK networks have a "fair use policy" that limits the amount of data (usually 25Gbytes/month) you can use while in the EU even if you have unlimited data in the UK.

Useful list of SIMs

2024 SIM Cards - Roaming Roundup - Motorhome WiFi

Motorhome WiFi – Roaming Roundup Updated March 2024 including roaming charges and fair usage policies As part of the ongoing service we offer to our customers, we are on hand to advise you of the best value data plans for use in the UK and abroad. We’ve condensed the top plans, particularly...

www.motorhomewifi.com

 

[chesterfield hooligan]

Thing is I only have a 5gb plan in the UK so I'd have to switch to a 20gb plan a month earlier and start downloading something... Probably switch WiFi off and play the radio app for a week. What a faff.

Maybe a data card is the answer. Only problem with ID network I mentioned above is it uses Three ... it's a few years now since I was on their sloooow network, might be ok now

Vodafone are joining up with three as Vodafone 5g network is practically unavailable they bought 5g equipment from China cheaply and had to return it through government said it had spywhere they are joining three to use their network. I've only had a poor signal a couple of times but on the whole I'm very satisfied with ID mobile.

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[berni109]

Never had a problem with Lebara in the past and my usage profile is no different this year to last.
I will just play them at their own game and hammer the data in the uk before going away.

I do have popit SIM but it's in the router on £1 month retention and can't be arsed to keep swapping between devices.

 

[Landy Andy]

We use a lebera sim. Never use it in the UK, really then go on holiday abroad and use it for all the 30gb that we have. We have found them to be very good for our situation, which is only up to 3 week holidays.

 

[Barti Ddu]

We use a lebera sim. Never use it in the UK, really then go on holiday abroad and use it for all the 30gb that we have. We have found them to be very good for our situation, which is only up to 3 week holidays.

If only away for 3 weeks you're not likely to feature on Lebera's radar or fall foul of their 120 day fair usage policy.

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[Bolti]

Hi

This is what I have discovered so far about UK SIM cards that are best for EU travel.

Hope this is helpful and any additions or corrections would be most welcome.

I have listed them in what I consider best first order:

HelloIQ

IQ Mobile - Intelligent Mobile Services for Personal and Business Life

IQ Mobile is the intelligent mobile network for Personal and Business life, with the UK's best 4G experience and over 60% UK Population Coverage on 5G.

helloiq.co.uk

£20/year admin charge, then you purchase data as you need it. 100Gbytes is £20 and lasts for 30 days this can be used in UK and Europe. So you only pay when you need data for the month.

They say they “do not have a "Fair use policy" when abroad which is pretty unique” although one is mentioned in their terms and conditions it is missing from the website.

It is based in EE network in the UK, it is not clear what networks are available when in EU I will need to test this.

Popit

Plans - Popit

Plans Check out our packages all come with 5G at no extra cost! 10GB £ 13 per month Unlimited Calls & Texts 10GB Unlimited Calls & Texts VoLTE Wifi Calling 30 Day Auto Renewal Bring your own number Purchase Featured 30GB £ 18 per month Unlimited Calls & Texts 30GB Unlimited Calls & Texts VoLTE

www.popitmobile.co.uk

100Gbytes/month for £25 with the key feature that you can use all of it while roaming in EU.

The only catches I can see are:
1) Roaming duration of up to maximum of 6 months at a time
2) It says in the legal contract : "To cancel the contract, you must ensure the following conditions are met: a) UK Data Usage: You must use Data in the UK to meet your Roaming Compliance. b) Roaming Compliance: Your roaming usage is shown in your subscription, and this must be 100% and in green."
This second point will need testing, but it seems that if you don't use enough data in the UK you cant cancel until you have. But not sure how onerous this is.

Must be careful not to go over 100G it’s £5/Gbyte after monthly allowance is used up.

02
Unlimited in UK for £20/month
O2 also seems to have a more relaxed roaming "fair use policy". When in France last year I used at least 110Gbytes of data and did not get charged extra for it - but it does not state what the rules are in their terms and conditions.

iD Mobile
Unlimited in UK for £16
They resell Three network for less than Three direct.
30Gbyte/month when roaming in EU then £1.5/Gbyte as a data add up to limit of £25/month. Must be careful as over charge is £3/Gbyte.

Vodafone UK
I get an unlimited UK data for £13.75 on my business account.
EU roaming is included in this but is limited to 25Gbytes/month.

Smarty
25G roaming in EU and £1/Gbyte after that.

Others
Most UK networks have a "fair use policy" that limits the amount of data (usually 25Gbytes/month) you can use while in the EU even if you have unlimited data in the UK.

Useful list of SIMs

2024 SIM Cards - Roaming Roundup - Motorhome WiFi

Motorhome WiFi – Roaming Roundup Updated March 2024 including roaming charges and fair usage policies As part of the ongoing service we offer to our customers, we are on hand to advise you of the best value data plans for use in the UK and abroad. We’ve condensed the top plans, particularly...

www.motorhomewifi.com

You forgot Tesco Mobile runs on O2 network (but you can't use it in a router)

Home From Home | Tesco Mobile

Take your minutes, texts & data with you to 48 Home from Home destinations in the EU and beyond. Use your phone just like you do at home, at no extra cost.

www.tescomobile.com

 

[Carpmart]

I understand the desire to get the cheapest deal possible, but there has to be a point where chasing a couple of quid saving vs something that works without falling foul of fair usage, even if it cost a few quid more, is the better approach?

We left the UK at the start of Sept ‘23, flew home for 20 days for Christmas (didn’t connect to wifi once, just used mobile data whilst back) and we are away in Europe until June (currently in month six of roaming) and we have really good 5G service on a Popit subscription…

I accept it’s not the cheapest way and it’s a phone data not a data plan per se, but it’s been perfect and way more convenient than ‘SIM juggling’ to avoid roaming data T’s and C’s.

 

[treblid]

It is based in EE network in the UK, it is not clear what networks are available when in EU I will need to test this.

We have used IQ Go for 6 weeks now. UK, France, Spain and Portugal. It's been faultless all the way.

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[Richard n Ann]

I understand the desire to get the cheapest deal possible, but there has to be a point where chasing a couple of quid saving vs something that works without falling foul of fair usage, even if it cost a few quid more, is the better approach?

We left the UK at the start of Sept ‘23, flew home for 20 days for Christmas (didn’t connect to wifi once, just used mobile data whilst back) and we are away in Europe until June (currently in month six of roaming) and we have really good 5G service on a Popit subscription…

I accept it’s not the cheapest way and it’s a phone data not a data plan per se, but it’s been perfect and way more convenient than ‘SIM juggling’ to avoid roaming data T’s and C’s.

Is £6 a month more... Every month.. for 15Gb less data.
Yes suited for roaming but let's face it, I'm in the UK the vast majority of the time so to pay a premium up front for roaming I'm not using isn't for me.

 

[Carpmart]

Is £6 a month more... Every month.. for 15Gb less data.
Yes suited for roaming but let's face it, I'm in the UK the vast majority of the time so to pay a premium up front for roaming I'm not using isn't for me.

Your call… saves the endless sim juggling people seem to be happy doing when roaming. Can’t think of anything worse TBH..

You can change your tariff every month , so you could have a low data use tariff whilst in UK and bump up to 100Gb (£25) no fair usage when roaming.

Sorry my view on life is make things easy, even if it costs a few quid more.

 

[Richard n Ann]

Your call… saves the endless sim juggling people seem to be happy doing when roaming. Can’t think of anything worse TBH..

You can change your tariff every month , so you could have a low data use tariff whilst in UK and bump up to 100Gb (£25) no fair usage when roaming.

Sorry my view on life is make things easy, even if it costs a few quid more.

The 100GB is better value, if I used that much it's worth having. 20 is easily enough for me

I remember when we first used to go to Benidorm for 10 weeks I'd buy a 12GB data card and have plenty left at the end

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