Lebara “Free Roaming” Con

belgianhare

My husband and I have recently signed up with Lebara. The deal was recommended on ML website. Our main criteria when choosing new provider were supported Wi-Fi calling (we live out in the sticks with bad signal) and free roaming in Europe (we travel often). We opted for a deal with Lebara that ticked both boxes at a very good rate. Brilliant, right? Not!
The “free roaming” is a con! Neither me nor my husband could never access any mobile data, no 4G or 5G, we had E (Edge) constantly displayed on both our phones (mobile data settings were done as per Lebara instructions) while our travelling companion had no problem accessing mobile data with Vodafone. 

We rely on our phones for satellite navigation when travelling so to call it an inconvenience is massive understatement! We stayed in Europe for a month, the deal renewed during that time with no improvement for either of us. Feel like we have been conned!
Anyone with similar experience with Lebara? 

Mark_d

I've been very happy with the service from Lebara in Europe.  If I had one complaint it would be that you can't use the inclusive international minutes whilst roaming

TadleyBaggie

Nope, has worked perfectly for me when abroad. 

oldernonethewiser

belgianhare said:

My husband and I have recently signed up with Lebara. The deal was recommended on ML website. Our main criteria when choosing new provider were supported Wi-Fi calling (we live out in the sticks with bad signal) and free roaming in Europe (we travel often). We opted for a deal with Lebara that ticked both boxes at a very good rate. Brilliant, right? Not!
The “free roaming” is a con! Neither me nor my husband could never access any mobile data, no 4G or 5G, we had E (Edge) constantly displayed on both our phones (mobile data settings were done as per Lebara instructions) while our travelling companion had no problem accessing mobile data with Vodafone. 

We rely on our phones for satellite navigation when travelling so to call it an inconvenience is massive understatement! We stayed in Europe for a month, the deal renewed during that time with no improvement for either of us. Feel like we have been conned!
Anyone with similar experience with Lebara? 

The good thing is that you don't need any cell phone connection to navigate.

Both Google and Apple allow you to download map areas and use them offline so no signal required.

Other apps store all their maps on the device so again no signal needed.

You do miss out on live traffic info but you can still navigate.

jimjames

Mark_d said:

I've been very happy with the service from Lebara in Europe.  If I had one complaint it would be that you can't use the inclusive international minutes whilst roaming

I've used it extensively too but I've used the international minutes when abroad calling within country but maybe that's not what you mean.

Either way it's definitely not a con. Maybe a phone issue but that's not Lebara's fault. Family also have Lebara and none have had issues roaming.

mgfvvc

No major issues roaming with Lebara here. Both my daughters have used Lebara SIMs abroad. One had to call Lebara support to get the correct settings, but it was quickly sorted.

belgianhare

Thank you all for your replies. I’m confused. If it was just one of us I’d understand there could be a glitch but both our phones not receiving any data?? That’s just odd. Will investigate further before changing to a different provider…

400ixl

I assume you had both roaming and mobile data switched on. It is possible to configure the phone to connect to the mobile network but not data when abroad, but work perfectly well in the UK.

J_B

I've just taken out a new sim with Lebara - the first thing they did was to send me the new settings which I had to 'accept'

Did you do this?

savergrant

Mark_d said:

I've been very happy with the service from Lebara in Europe.  If I had one complaint it would be that you can't use the inclusive international minutes whilst roaming

Are you sure about this? Mse raised it a few months ago and lebara insisted international calls while abroad came out of your inclusive allowance (the international allowance).

MKUserName

I've just come back from a trip to Slovenia via Italy, Austria and Germany. Couldn't get data roaming on my MSE Lebara plan. The phone seemed to be connecting to the servers but there was no internet access. I am back in UK and have just contacted Lebara through online chat on my desktop. The only suggestion from the agent was to contact them when I'm next in the EU and they will do the settings. Now my plan's data allowance has disappeared immediately after chat finished! Something seriously wrong!