Beware Lebara local calls while roaming

rmervart

I have unlimited UK calls, texts,15GB data and 100 international minutes. While roaming in Czech republic I should have calls from Zone1 to Zone1 , i.e. local calls in Czech republic as UK calls which means they should be  included in my unlimited minutes. However,  I discovered that while making local calls my International minutes were being used up !  When I questioned this by email several times I had no answer. When I raised it by calling Lebara customer service they claimed that it behaves as it should be but could not answer the question what would happen if I used all my 100 international minutes while still in Czech republic. I am still pursuing the matter.

TishoG

rmervart said:

I have unlimited UK calls, texts,15GB data and 100 international minutes. While roaming in Czech republic I should have calls from Zone1 to Zone1 , i.e. local calls in Czech republic as UK calls which means they should be  included in my unlimited minutes. However,  I discovered that while making local calls my International minutes were being used up !  When I questioned this by email several times I had no answer. When I raised it by calling Lebara customer service they claimed that it behaves as it should be but could not answer the question what would happen if I used all my 100 international minutes while still in Czech republic. I am still pursuing the matter.

Any outcome? They are taking my International minutes too while in roaming.

PHK

Just trying to understand why calls in another country would count as UK calls and not roaming?

bengalknights

I used lebara in brussels, warsaw and amsterdam over the past 3 weeks and all showed as AIO International when making a call both local and to UK.

The reason is quite clear on the website which states roaming for data only.

https://mobile.lebara.com/gb/en/can-i-use-my-plan-in-roaming

d123

PHK said:

Just trying to understand why calls in another country would count as UK calls and not roaming?

Agreed, conventional roaming has always entailed calls outside your home country billed as roaming calls, we aren't in the EU anymore so it isn't roam like home in the EU (thanks, another Brexit benefit).

eDicky

PHK said:

Just trying to understand why calls in another country would count as UK calls and not roaming?

Some networks still abide by the EU 'Roam like at Home' regulations, but Lebara seems to limit this to data and not calls, according to this thread.

JPR

I understand from the Lebara website that they will calculate the average usage for the previous 120 days and then only allow you that amount of calls, data etc when roaming?
I have 3 GB but tend to only use a few hundred MB each month.

I think I will need more when roaming.  Do they enforce this or is there a way of upping the average use quickly?  I travel next week!

Neil49

JPR said:

I understand from the Lebara website that they will calculate the average usage for the previous 120 days and then only allow you that amount of calls, data etc when roaming?
I have 3 GB but tend to only use a few hundred MB each month.

I think I will need more when roaming.  Do they enforce this or is there a way of upping the average use quickly?  I travel next week!

Where does it say that? 

This is from the Lebara faq section on EU roaming. 

Within the European Union (incl. Switzerland and the United Kingdom), you can use your bundle to make calls and send texts to other EU countries or use mobile data at no extra cost. We will always send you a text message when you reach 80% and 100% of your calling minutes, text messages or data usage.

JPR

This is under a section called "Important Bits to Know"

This scheme is designed for customers who primarily live in the UK and ideal for short trips to other places in the EU. To safeguard against 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.

I think I've used 4 minutes of International Calls in the last 4 months -  4 minutes free when roaming?  Hope I'm reading it wrong.

rmervart

eDicky said:

Some networks still abide by the EU 'Roam like at Home' regulations, but Lebara seems to limit this to data and not calls, according to this thread.

That is exactly right.  Lebara does not make it immediately obvious that their "Roam like at Home" only applie to data. 

sevenhills

JPR said:

I understand from the Lebara website that they will calculate the average usage for the previous 120 days and then only allow you that amount of calls, data etc when roaming?
I have 3 GB but tend to only use a few hundred MB each month.

I think I will need more when roaming.  Do they enforce this or is there a way of upping the average use quickly?  I travel next week!

I just ran out of data(UK) on my 21Gb Lebara, topped up with £5 and it ran out again within around an hour.
Not sure if it was a fault or just really expensive, I believe the former.