Lebara SIM went PAYG but for how long

DarthDaisy

I had a financially tight Christmas and my 2FA Lebara sim payment did not go through.

I did not notice as it is not my main number, but to my surprise Lebara ended the contract.

Second surprise was that the number still receives calls, so is effectively a PAYG.

Lebara keep texting the number offering all kinds of deals

I was going to port it to another MSE provider then port it back, but do I need to if I do not plan to make calls?

How long will Lebara leave it as PAYG?

Detail_Merchant

From https://www.lebara.co.uk/en/terms-and-conditions.html
If you scroll down to section 13. Term, Suspension and Termination, specifically point 13.5, it says:

If you do not use the Services to carry out at least one Chargeable Activity with your SIM Card for a consecutive period of ninety (90) days, you will lose any top up credit or outstanding balance remaining. To continue using our Services, you will need to make a top up or add a plan online or with a voucher in-store.

So it might be worth making some kind of recurring reminder / alarm / diary entry, to do an outbound call or text every month or two, to keep it active

DarthDaisy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81889523#Comment_81889523

Yes that is what I was thinking.

I noticed that Tesco has become a £10 minimum spend provider, in the store they say £10 minimum top up, they say go online for £5 but online it is confusing because I came across a page of theirs saying £5 but saying there was a £10 minimum. I know they have a 30-day bundle, top up based 500 minutes & 500 texts

Yet in the store all the Tesco sims say they are data sims. The Tesco staff are yet another company that have offshored to South Africa but unlike other companies the staff I have come across have been unhelpful and really hard to understand as well as poorly trained. I think the refusal to supply £5 top up vouchers at Tesco stores is a huge mistake and probably discriminatory as several protected classes can't use online.

Tesco told me that they allow up to 180 days use before they have to be topped up but a new sim that has been sold will be taken off the network if not topped up within 60 days of sale.

I think I will take out another MSE Lebara contract, they have hiked they MSE deals from 99p for initial period to £1.70 but that just means more self-discipline when cancelling. I can live with £1.70 per month for 7 months, they used to do 9 months on some deals and I would not have cancelled those.

I think all these price hikes are a direct result of allowing too many to merge.

I must remember to keep an eye out on the latest tips and get a new sim in March.

So it seems that I need to move it to another provider first. I will do that from those other MSE deals.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/latesttip/

Detail_Merchant

Tesco mobile can still be used on a PAYG basis.

From https://www.tescomobile.com/shop/sim-only-deals/pay-as-you-go-essentials

Under "I rarely use my phone. Will my number remain active?" it says:
Your number will remain active as long as it’s used very occasionally.If you don’t use your phone for a period of six months or more, we’ll disconnect you. If this happens, you may lose your mobile number and any remaining credit.

And under "What if I don’t want be on a bundle?" it says:
No problem. On pay as you go Essentials, you can still use your top-up balance for calls, texts, and data, charged at our standard rates.

To do this, just make sure you’ve turned off auto-renewal. You can easily do this using the Tesco Mobile app or by calling 4488 from your phone. Once your active bundle finishes, your top-up balance will be charged when you use your phone, like a standard pay as you go tariff.

How often you have to use a SIM, to keep it active (e.g. with an outgoing call or text), is a different question to how often you have to top it up.

DarthDaisy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890258#Comment_81890258

Thanks, That is helpful because I have seen so many Tesco webpages

Ironically I have an old 3g phone with a Tesco Sim, it was topped up years ago with a £5 voucher and I just tested it to find it does still work.

I have another sim I picked up at the Supermarket, after a very tedious time on the phone with Tesco Mobile South Africa with a very stroppy person and I am going to swap it to that. She eventually told me that the Sim I have is on essentials "sort of" and that I can port my number to it without buying a bundle, then port it away.

So that is what I will do.

Meanwhile I will test buying a £5 voucher for the 3g one that needs a new sim for a new phone that is not going to be a smartphone (to be used for child in emergencies).

At the same time I will do an experiment for ASDA as they sell 99p sims too, I went there last week but they said they were out of stock as there was apparently a free £10 offer online.

Now I need to find a cheap non-smart phone.

DarthDaisy

So I got my answer, it is 90 days.

"Hello,

We noticed you have not used your SIM for the last 79 days. If you don’t start reusing your SIM within the next 11 days, you will be unable to make calls, and any remaining credit on your account will be lost.

To continue services, please make a call, use data, or send a text, add credit or buy a plan."

It is actually a breach of OFCOM rules to take a customers credit, at least according to AI, I had two terms documents from ASDA and asked AI to compare them and that was one of the discrepancies between the two documents.