Lycamobile changing from being an O2 MVNO to an EE MVNO?

GenieBoy

LycaMobile are just straight up weird. Everything about them is weird. I would never use them as my main mobile provider and I would never port my main mobile number which I've had for over 20 years to them.

I do however currently use them as a second backup sim in my phone although I appear to have lost the MSE 1p bundle when my debit card expired and they couldn't take the 1p for this month.

antzokay135

Hi,
I need some advice. I chose the Lycamobile MSE exclusive bundle for both my wife and myself after reading the article on here. It has been great until the last few days. We lost signals on both our phones. I contacted customer services and got through after 30 minutes listening to an automated message saying how delighted they were to be updating the service. When we did get through we were then told that we didn't have any service because our area was being updated and that we would get a text saying when it was up and running. 
A few hours later I got a text but my wife didn't but when I tried to ring my wife it said I had no network coverage. I couldn't send a text either. I then discovered that Lycamobile had switched from O2 to EE without telling anyone that they were. W cannot get EE within 3 miles of our village so our phones are useless.
I sent a text to get my PAC number to port to Lebara and received it straight away. I then sent a text to get my wifes PAC code and it wouldn't send. I tried 3 times and all failed. The next day it had sent all 3 texts but got no reply. We then got 3 texts at 3.00am to say that they cannot provide her PAC code at this time and to contact customer services. Only neither of us can get through to customer services. I then sent an email saying that we cannot use our phones and to send a PAC code but we have had no reply. 
I am asking for advice as to how do we get the PAC code from Lycamobile and do they have to provide one? Also, they took our monthly payments out and we haven't had a signal since so can we ask for our money back?
Any advice greatly appreciated.

AnnoyingField

Does anyone have a solution to this nightmare?
I have lost all my messages pre-their "Service update" aka switch to EE on Tuesday.
We have no reception with EE in my area, so no-one can ring me and I can no longer use my phone.
If I am in a 12 month contract, can I come out of it, on the basis that they gave no advanced notice of a network switch?
Is this the provider who make life really difficult for you when you want to leave them, withholding PAC codes etc.?

Any help appreciated.

SJMALBA

This explains why my phone has been unusable this week, as EE is no use in my area - I had already switched from RWG to Lyca for that reason!

What's the best way to make certain that my MSECH3GB 6 month @ £0.01/month has been cancelled? I've disabled auto renew and auto top-up (don't know what this is, but it was switched on in my account) - do I remove my credit card details as well? Email them, too? Don't need the number.

savergrant

SJMALBA said:

This explains why my phone has been unusable this week, as EE is no use in my area - I had already switched from RWG to Lyca for that reason!

What's the best way to make certain that my MSECH3GB 6 month @ £0.01/month has been cancelled? I've disabled auto renew and auto top-up (don't know what this is, but it was switched on in my account) - do I remove my credit card details as well? Email them, too? Don't need the number.

Switching off autorenew and removing your linked card should both work. But the surest way is to port your number to a junk payg sim.

savergrant

AnnoyingField said:

Does anyone have a solution to this nightmare?
I have lost all my messages pre-their "Service update" aka switch to EE on Tuesday.
We have no reception with EE in my area, so no-one can ring me and I can no longer use my phone.
If I am in a 12 month contract, can I come out of it, on the basis that they gave no advanced notice of a network switch?
Is this the provider who make life really difficult for you when you want to leave them, withholding PAC codes etc.?

Any help appreciated.

It's a grey area. Text2pac was created to prevent networks from obstructing customers who want to leave BUT networks are responsible for account security and multiple pac requests could trigger anti fraud steps. 
As to terminating your contract I would suggest you go through the route of reporting an outage and ask them to fix your reception issue. That may make them feel more inclined to allow you to leave penalry-free. I don't think you have a right to leave as I suspect they don't guarantee reception in any particular place and they have the discretionary right to use another mast provider. So charm would be the best tactic.

AnnoyingField

Thank you Savergrant. I'll follow your advice.
It really is desperate, as I am a full time carer to my 95 year old, ailing mother and have no way of receiving and making calls any longer, so I hope they will understand.

john539

I always had poor reception with EE/TMobile on my main mobile.

So wondered what was going on when my secondary Lyca mobile service deteriorated this week and now found out they have moved from O2 to EE without warning, that explains it.

Lycamobile only said in couple of texts day before changes, they were making network changes/upgrade without mentioning move to EE.

Not impressed and lot of people will be annoyed.

K1977

I specifically chose Lyca as it uses 02 where I've always had good signal so everytime I switch network I've always chose a provider who uses them, I'm reading a lot of people are having problems since the network change but strangely it's had the opposite effect for me, I've noticed my phone is loading much quicker on the internet and I'm now getting full bars on my 4G signal which I never had before, I do agree though that customers should have been informed of the changeover especially for people who already know they have bad/no EE signal in their area, least then they could have been prepared and change network

savergrant

K1977 said:

I specifically chose Lyca as it uses 02 where I've always had good signal so everytime I switch network I've always chose a provider who uses them, I'm reading a lot of people are having problems since the network change but strangely it's had the opposite effect for me, I've noticed my phone is loading much quicker on the internet and I'm now getting full bars on my 4G signal which I never had before, I do agree though that customers should have been informed of the changeover especially for people who already know they have bad/no EE signal in their area, least then they could have been prepared and change network

Just out of interest what does the ofcom coverage checker say for your address? Coverage maps do change so it is possible that ee have improved their mast since you last checked, and o2 might have an ageing infrastructure?