Finding a mobile network that offers decent international call plans can be tricky. While most networks offer budget-friendly deals for local texts and calls, their price shoots up abruptly when it comes to international calling. That’s where Lebara comes in.
Lebara specializes in international SIM-only deals and provides plenty of cheap minutes and data options to cater to the users’ needs. At present, Lebara mobile operates in over 40 destinations around the world. Whether you are looking for rolling 30-day Sim-Only plans or flexible Pay-As-You-Go options, Lebara has something for everyone.
its fuss-free prepaid SIM plans always prove to be a safe choice for those with family and friends overseas. Lebara mainly focuses on international class and text inclusions without compromising local connectivity. While there’s a scope for improvement in their plans, it’s still tough to challenge the company’s bang for the buck schemes.
Curious to know more and want to know if Lebara is good? Keep scrolling the page and walk through the detailed Lebara Mobile review before switching to this network.
Pros and Cons
In comparison to other telco giants, Lebara manages to attain the highest scores, and the credit goes to its most comprehensive range of budget-friendly prepaid plans, regular promotional discounts for newcomers, and valuable long-expiry plans.
Moreover, Lebara offers competitive pricing for unlimited national calls, which is an added plus. Customers can save around 10% on their monthly bill by switching to auto-recharge if your plan costs £18.95 or more per month.
Before digging deep into the Lebara Mobile Review, let’s find some pros and cons here.
Pros
- No contract
- International calls are included in all plans
- You can keep your current number
- Tons of support channels are available
- It offers great-value long-expiry plans
- Free tether(hotspot) on multiple devices
- No credit check
- Free Lebara to Lebara calls
- It provides extra credit if you top up with £20 or more
- Lebara offers a chance to earn £50 cash in the referral scheme
- Free wifi-calling
Cons
- Low data allowance
- Extra tariffs and Bolt-ons are expensive
Lebara Sim Only Deals
How can we forget to mention mobile plans while describing the Lebara review. This telco company offers 13 different mobile plans, out of which are 30-day plans and 12-month plans. Customers can pick any of the options that fit their requirements and budget.
The 30-day plans are available at £5, £10, £15, £20, £25, and £30. You can activate a 12-month plan at £4.50, £9, £13.50, £18, and £22.50. Find more details about these plans here:
30-Day Plans
| Data | UK minutes and texts | International minutes | Plan | Learn more |
| 5GB | 1000 | 100 | £5 | View Plan> |
| 25GB | Unlimited | 100 | £10 | View Plan> |
| 40GB | Unlimited | 500 | £15 | View Plan> |
| 50GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | £20 | View Plan> |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | 100 | £25 | View Plan> |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £30 | View Plan> |
12-Month Plan
| Data | UK minutes and texts | International minutes | Plan | Learn more |
| 5GB | 1000 | 100 | £4.5 | View Plan> |
| 25GB | Unlimited | 100 | £9 | View Plan> |
| 40GB | Unlimited | 500 | £13.50 | View Plan> |
| 50GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | £18 | View Plan> |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | 100 | £22.50 | View Plan> |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £27 | View Plan> |
For the same data allowance each month, you can choose to pay each month for a 30-day plan, however, if you pay for 12-month, the price is cheaper with 10% off compared with 30-day plan..
All of the plans offer better value for money and come with 5G coverage. Best of all, you won’t be locked into any contracts or nasty bill surprises.
Don’t worry if you run out of your allowance, as Lebara allows you to add more data or minutes to your existing plan. The add-on rate is as follows:
| 1GB Data | £3 |
| 200 UK mins & texts | £3 |
| 50 International mins to 41 countries | £3 |
| 5GB 5G Data | £10 |
Depending of different plans, each Lebara mobile plan includes some or unlimited international call to 42 countries list: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, India, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United States.
Lebara Pay As You Go
| Metrics | Price |
| Mobile Data | 9p/ MB |
| Calls to UK voicemails, mobiles, landlines | 25p/ minute |
| Tests to UK landlines and mobiles | 19p/ text |
| Calls and texts to Lebara numbers | Free |
| Pictures and video messaging | 45p/ message |
Usually these are Included as part of your plan. However , if you use up or if you are not on a plan and just using us as Pay As You Go, it will cost you the national tariffs above.
Lebara Network Coverage
Network coverage is an essential factor for a phone service provider. Since this mobile network is a Vodafone MVNO, it offers the same coverage as Vodafone. It means that Lebara Mobile features 99% 4G coverage, 99% 3G coverage, and 99% 2G coverage across the UK.
While these figures might look impressive at first, these put Lebara mobile behind EE. Like Vodafone, Lebara offers excellent network coverage in metropolitan areas, while the signal might fluctuate in rural regions and small towns. To check the exact coverage where you live, use the Lebara network coverage map checker and find the network strength.
Lebara has also launched a 5G service, and it is available in the same places as Vodafone’s 5G. To be more specific, users can enjoy 5G on Lebara in parts of at least 124 towns and cities. This network offers standard 4G, which is around five times faster than a typical 3G network.
According to the Open Signal data, Lebara’s average download speed is 21.6Mbps, while its average upload speed is 7.4Mbps. This mobile network uses Vodafone’s spectrum bands of 800Mhz, 1400MHz, and 2600MHz of 4G.
However, it’s not great at handling large numbers of connections, which is a strength of the 2600MHz. Lebara is largely reliant on Vodafone and hence, is continuously improving.
Lebara International calling
With various unlimited plans, calling family internationally is simple with Lebara mobile. It is widely applauded for offering cheap international calls worldwide. Make phone calls to mobiles or landlines from 1ct/ minute and stay connected with your near and dear ones without putting a hole in your pocket. International premium numbers will be charged at the above international rate + 60ct€/ min. The inclusion of international minutes within its deals is what sets Lebara mobile review apart from other providers.
All of the 30-Day and long-term plans include international call value. Some of the mobile plans also offer unlimited calls to selected countries, with the various price points stating the countries where you will have unlimited access.
If you have friends and family in China, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, the UK, or the USA, you’ll have the most choice in these countries among others. This telecom network offers free international calls to 42 countries:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, India, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United States.
For calling other countries from UK, you can check the international calling rates by click the International calling rate checker.
Lebara international roaming
Free Roaming in EU
Lebara does a great job in retaining EU roaming, especially when major networks are charging users for connecting a call from abroad. Roaming in the EU(EEA) is absolutely free on the Lebara network; however, different rates and roaming plans are available for non-EU locations.
Countries that belong to the EEA include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
However, please note that in order to avoid abuse, If your roaming usage is greater than 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.
Roaming in India
Lebara users can use your UK plan allowances in India like in the UK. You will have up to 10GB data, 200 minutes to call in India or back to the UK, 200 minutes of incoming calls and up to 200 SMS to India or the UK completely FREE. For Pay As You Go users, standard UK calls and data charging rate will apply.
Roaming outside Europe & India
For roaming outside Europe & India you can check the rate below.
Making calls when roaming outside Europe & India
| Destination | To Zone 1 | To Zone 1 EEA | To Zone 2 | To Zone 3 | To Zone 4 |
| Calling from Zone 1 | National Tarrif | National Tarrif | £2.99 | £1.99 | £2.99 |
| Calling from Zone 1 EEA | National Tarrif | National Tarrif | £2.99 | £1.99 | £2.99 |
| Calling from Zone 2 | £1.99 | £1.99 | 99p | £1.49 | £2.99 |
| Calling from Zone 3 | £1.49 | £1.49 | £1.49 | £1.49 | £2.99 |
| Calling from Zone 4 | £3.49 | £3.49 | £2.99 | £3.49 | £1.99 |
Roaming Voice (Incoming Calls)
| Destination | Rate |
| Receiving a call in Zone 1 | National Tariff/ Free |
| Receiving a call in Zone 2 | 99p |
| Receiving a call in Zone 3 | £1.49 |
| Receiving a call in Zone 4 | £1.49 |
Data Roaming
| To Zone1 | To Zone1 EEA | To Zone2 | To Zone3 | To Zone4 | |
| Data roaming /perMB | UK rates | UK rates | £14.99 | £14.99 | £14.99* |
Roaming Zones Explained
- Zone 1: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, UK; EU outermost regions: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Reunion, Mayotte, Saint-Martin, the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands
- Zone 1 EEA: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Gibraltar and the Aland Islands.
- Zone 2: Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, San Marino, Taiwan, Thailand.
- Zone 3: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia, Canada, Faroe Islands, Monaco, Switzerland, USA, Vatican City, Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey.
- Zone 4: Bahrain, China, Egypt, India, Kuwait, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates and others.
You can go to Lebara’s rates page to find more information about roaming and other rates.
Lebara vs Voxi vs Smarty vs Giffgaff
Doing a comparison is hard for different mobile services, but I have broken the option down based on data and prices as follows:
| Lebara | Voxi | Smarty | GiffGaff | |
| Network | Vodafone | Vodafone | Three | O2 |
| 5G | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| £5 | 3GB | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| £6 | N/A | N/A | 4GB | 1GB |
| £8 | N/A | N/A | 12GB | 3GB |
| £10 | 15GB | 15GB | 30GB | 15GB |
| £12 | N/A | 25GB | N/A | 20GB |
| £15 | 30GB | 30GB | 50GB | 30GB |
| £20 | N/A | 60GB | Unlimited | 100GB |
| £25 | Unlimited | N/A | N/A | Always On*(80GB) |
| £35 | N/A | Endless Data | N/A | Unlimited |
| £41 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Learn more | View more | View More | View More | View More |
I personally like Lebara and Smarty, because both phone services provide cheapest price overall for data.
Smarty gives you the lowest price for unlimited data plan, if you just need a basic mobile plan with more data for your money (if you don’t mind Three network), it is the best choice.
Voxi is also very popular since it provides endless free social media and free video streaming data to facilitate the younger generation, for details, you can check the article Voxi review.
Customer service
Need some help with your Lebara plan? Visit the Contact Us page on Lebara’s official site and click on the “Live Chat” button to contact their friendly advisors. They are available online every day from 9 am to 9 pm.
- Dial 5588 with your Lebara Sim
- Connect with Lebara at +44 207 0310791 if you are using another network or you are outside the UK. The cost will depend on your operator.
Users can also send emails at care@lebara-mobile.co.uk, including your Full Name, Email Address, and Date of Birth. It might take up to three days to respond via email. For a faster and quick response, use Live Chat or speak with their agent between 9 am to 9 pm.
Customer services hold a great significance while describing Lebara review UK. All and all, this network provider offers excellent customer service and resolve your queries instantly if you connect with them via live chat or call.
What are the alternatives to Lebara?
Frequently Asked Questions
Lebara mobile is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), that doesn’t use or operate its own network or infrastructure. Lebara primarily operates on Vodafone’s network and offers excellent coverage. This telecommunication company provides services in many countries around the world using the MVNO business model.
Voxi is a co-venture of Vodafone; hence it is powered by the same network at home and abroad. Like Yes. Lebara is widely appreciated among users for its affordable international call values and pretty decent customer service. Since it uses the Vodafone network, it enjoys excellent 3G, 4G, and 5G coverage. It ensures that users get 99% of network coverage across the UK with an average data speed of over 20Mbps. Moreover, it offers plenty of mobile-only plans, thus offering a variety of options to choose from.
Lebara mobile operates on the Vodafone network. Since Lebara is a virtual provider, it requires another provider’s infrastructure and network to run. It offers both 3G and 4G coverage.
Yes, absolutely. Since Lebara runs on the Vodafone network, it offers 5G coverage to ease the customers. However, the 5G network is available only in the same places as Vodafone’s 5G. Also, users must own a 5G-enabled device to run the 5G network. At present, Lebara’s 5G coverage is available in 129 cities and towns across the United Kingdom.
Yes. Like Vodafone, Lebara also supports a Wi-Fi calling facility so that users can stay in touch with their near and dear ones. Wifi calling can be used in conjunction with all Lebara plans, so choose whatever plan fits your pocket and enjoy this facility. Keep in mind that you can use this function only on internet-enabled smartphones with Wifi calling feature.
No, Lebara does not charge for incoming calls in UK. And besides, Lebara Mobile also supports free EU roaming, you roam across the EU at no extra cost and no charge for incoming calls in EU. However, if you receive calls from outside UK and EU, there is extra cost, you can find the rates here.
Final Verdict
That’s all about Lebara Review. We hope our unbiased and in-depth research will help you learn more about the network to make a wise decision. Overall, Lebara is an ideal network provider for those whose family members live abroad or who travel a lot.
This telco provider mainly focuses on the international call values and offers a variety of flexible packages to choose from. All plans included in the Lebara list are competitively priced, so everyone can easily afford them without thinking much.
Although Lebara operates on the Vodafone network, it has undoubtedly made a name by offering exclusive prepaid phone deals with cheap international call inclusions. Speaking of Lebara mobile review, it offers good value for money when it comes to calling, text, and data inclusions. A majority of Lebara plans provide unlimited calls and SMS.
What’s more, Lebara has no lock-in contracts, which means that you can ditch their services or switch to another plan if you are not satisfied with the selected option.
Whether you have family and friends overseas or you’re after general call and data inclusions, Lebara is definitely a bang for your buck and worth your consideration.