Lebara WIFI calling - warning

MKTony

We recently signed up for the cheap Lebara sim-only deal on the back of the information sent out on the MSE weekly e-mail.

As we live in a rural area and have no mobile signal in the house, it's imporatant for us to have wi-fi calling so that we can make and receive calls at home.  We had this facility with our previous supplier, with no problems.

Anyway, we did all the sign-up and the new Leabra sims were sent through next day....all great so far.  We installed our new sims after porting the numbers from Vodafone and noticed that the option for using wi-fi calling had disappeared from both our handsets (Galaxy S21 and a brand new Galaxy S23).  I called Lebara and was told not to worry and that wi-fi calling would appear on the handsets withing 48 hours.

Two days later, nothing!  Fifteen 'phone calls (where we had to travel a couple of miles to the nearest town to make a call), about twenty e-mails later and we were informed that the handsets we own were manufactured for use in Hong Kong only and they couldn't install wi-fi calling onto them!  This is simply not true, so we've just given up and are looking to move once again! 

Lebara customer service was appaling.  We had to repeat our problem and information just about every time we spoke with a new person and had several e-mails from them stating that they'd tried to call, but got no answer (not surprising as we have no mobile signal and no wi-fi calling facility!!).  Promises to call back at a certain time (so we could make sure to be in an area with signal) were not kept and the generic e-mail statng that they'll respond within 24-48 hours may as well have been a picture of a banana for all the good it was.

Just a warning to anyone considering moving to Lebara who relies on wi-fi calling to make receive calls.

flaneurs_lobster

Simple warning to anyone changing mobile suppliers, don't PAC the old number until you've checked the service on the new SIM.

ProDave

For the record if you are looking for another provider, the wifi calling works on my phone with 1pmobile, where both O2 and Sky mobile had failed to get wifi calling to work.

gizz_10

I have an s21 and have been on Lebara for the last 12 months and whilst initially i did not have wifi calling, after they introduced it my handset is now enabled and it works.  I wouldnt say its without issues though - if I am mid call and the signal switches between cellular and wifi calling it always cuts off and terminates the call.  With my previous provider the call would remain and you would maybe not hear for a few seconds while it switched and then repeat the conversation, but at least it didn't cut off.  With Lebara it seems to cut off so when I am on a call I have to just not move from the position I am in so that it doesn't switch between wifi calling and cellular.  One workaround i found is to just put my phone on Airplane mode and stay on wifi calling all the time when I am indoors, however i sometimes forget to turn it back on when i go out and then wonder why calls are not coming through so its not an ideal situation.  So when my latest Lebara deal is up at the end of this month I am moving to an EE network (RWG most likely) as the signal is very clear everywhere in my home, so less need for wifi calling - which is not the case with Vodafone anymore, the indoor signal is very bad.

ProDave

gizz_10 said:

  So when my latest Lebara deal is up at the end of this month I am moving to an EE network (RWG most likely) as the signal is very clear everywhere in my home, so less need for wifi calling - which is not the case with Vodafone anymore, the indoor signal is very bad.

RWG don't yet offer wifi calling, they say they will soon.  Check back that they have started to offer it and it works before you switch.

Neil49

gizz_10 said:

I have an s21 and have been on Lebara for the last 12 months and whilst initially i did not have wifi calling, after they introduced it my handset is now enabled and it works.  I wouldnt say its without issues though - if I am mid call and the signal switches between cellular and wifi calling it always cuts off and terminates the call.  With my previous provider the call would remain and you would maybe not hear for a few seconds while it switched and then repeat the conversation, but at least it didn't cut off.  With Lebara it seems to cut off so when I am on a call I have to just not move from the position I am in so that it doesn't switch between wifi calling and cellular.  One workaround i found is to just put my phone on Airplane mode and stay on wifi calling all the time when I am indoors, however i sometimes forget to turn it back on when i go out and then wonder why calls are not coming through so its not an ideal situation.  So when my latest Lebara deal is up at the end of this month I am moving to an EE network (RWG most likely) as the signal is very clear everywhere in my home, so less need for wifi calling - which is not the case with Vodafone anymore, the indoor signal is very bad.

If you go into Settings on your Samsung and select WiFi calling there is the option to define your Calling Preference. The options are either Mobile Network or Wi-Fi preferred.

If you select WiFi preferred then your phone will opt for that whenever a WiFi connection is available. You appear to be on the Mobile Network option.

With regards to Lebara wifi calling generally, it has worked on both my S10 and S20fe 5g without any issues.

easy

works fine on my S21.  https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/mobile-devices/how-to-activate-wifi-calling-on-a-galaxy-smartphone/

gizz_10

ProDave said:

gizz_10 said:

  So when my latest Lebara deal is up at the end of this month I am moving to an EE network (RWG most likely) as the signal is very clear everywhere in my home, so less need for wifi calling - which is not the case with Vodafone anymore, the indoor signal is very bad.

RWG don't yet offer wifi calling, they say they will soon.  Check back that they have started to offer it and it works before you switch.

Thanks - I was aware of that already - but the point is that I won't need the wifi calling as the signal works fine throughout my home as I have already tested with a £15 lifetime sim which I bought just before they discontinued it.  Wifi calling i find is also a killer on the battery - its constantly searching for signal and switching between cellular and wifi and so the battery runs out of juice a lot faster than if it just stays on cellular.

gizz_10

Neil49 said:

gizz_10 said:

I have an s21 and have been on Lebara for the last 12 months and whilst initially i did not have wifi calling, after they introduced it my handset is now enabled and it works.  I wouldnt say its without issues though - if I am mid call and the signal switches between cellular and wifi calling it always cuts off and terminates the call.  With my previous provider the call would remain and you would maybe not hear for a few seconds while it switched and then repeat the conversation, but at least it didn't cut off.  With Lebara it seems to cut off so when I am on a call I have to just not move from the position I am in so that it doesn't switch between wifi calling and cellular.  One workaround i found is to just put my phone on Airplane mode and stay on wifi calling all the time when I am indoors, however i sometimes forget to turn it back on when i go out and then wonder why calls are not coming through so its not an ideal situation.  So when my latest Lebara deal is up at the end of this month I am moving to an EE network (RWG most likely) as the signal is very clear everywhere in my home, so less need for wifi calling - which is not the case with Vodafone anymore, the indoor signal is very bad.

If you go into Settings on your Samsung and select WiFi calling there is the option to define your Calling Preference. The options are either Mobile Network or Wi-Fi preferred.

If you select WiFi preferred then your phone will opt for that whenever a WiFi connection is available. You appear to be on the Mobile Network option.

With regards to Lebara wifi calling generally, it has worked on both my S10 and S20fe 5g without any issues.

Thanks - I didn't realise that you can do that - I will give it a go.

greyteam1959

MKTony said:

We recently signed up for the cheap Lebara sim-only deal on the back of the information sent out on the MSE weekly e-mail.

As we live in a rural area and have no mobile signal in the house, it's imporatant for us to have wi-fi calling so that we can make and receive calls at home.  We had this facility with our previous supplier, with no problems.

Anyway, we did all the sign-up and the new Leabra sims were sent through next day....all great so far.  We installed our new sims after porting the numbers from Vodafone and noticed that the option for using wi-fi calling had disappeared from both our handsets (Galaxy S21 and a brand new Galaxy S23).  I called Lebara and was told not to worry and that wi-fi calling would appear on the handsets withing 48 hours.

Two days later, nothing!  Fifteen 'phone calls (where we had to travel a couple of miles to the nearest town to make a call), about twenty e-mails later and we were informed that the handsets we own were manufactured for use in Hong Kong only and they couldn't install wi-fi calling onto them!  This is simply not true, so we've just given up and are looking to move once again! 

Lebara customer service was appaling.  We had to repeat our problem and information just about every time we spoke with a new person and had several e-mails from them stating that they'd tried to call, but got no answer (not surprising as we have no mobile signal and no wi-fi calling facility!!).  Promises to call back at a certain time (so we could make sure to be in an area with signal) were not kept and the generic e-mail statng that they'll respond within 24-48 hours may as well have been a picture of a banana for all the good it was.

Just a warning to anyone considering moving to Lebara who relies on wi-fi calling to make receive calls.

I did exactly the same as you & have exactly the same issues.
Moto g9 play & Moto g50.
Never did get it sorted with Lebara who were totally & absolutely useless.
Even emailing the head honcho did no good at all.

KxMx

I was told it was available for me, but didn't work on my phone until I had a software update.
I always had the Wi Fi calling option available in my phones settings, it just wouldn't work until that update.