Considering buying a SIM-only plan from Lebara Mobile?
In this article, we’ve reviewed Lebara, to see if they’re any good.
We’ve assessed Lebara based on their speeds and coverage, value for money, roaming allowances, and more, to see if you should join them.
Before we begin, if you’re searching for a new mobile plan, on Lebara or any other network, use our comparison site to find the cheapest pay monthly phone plans or SIM-only deals on the market right now.
Contents
- Lebara overview
- Coverage and speeds
- Roaming allowances
- Value for money
- Customer service
- Verdict: should you join Lebara?
- Alternatives
- Conclusion
Lebara overview
Lebara is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that uses the Vodafone network to service their customers.
They’re a smaller, more basic provider than their parent network, with a greater focus on SIM-only deals, though they do have some SIM-free phones you can buy through a partnership with AO.
When you buy a Lebara SIM, you get the choice of a 12 month or a rolling monthly contract, depending on whether you want to lock in to save some money, or get a plan you can cancel at any time.
They have a decent range of different SIM plans to choose from, including an unlimited data option, but there is a bit of a gap – after 5GB, the next option is 30GB, which is quite a jump. If you use about 10GB of data each month, you’ll need to pay for 30GB instead.
The unique thing about Lebara compared to most other networks is they include a certain number of international texts and calling minutes to 50 different countries on most of their plans.
On their unlimited data tariff, you can choose to get inclusive international calls and texts for an extra cost, which is a nice option to have.
Unlimited calls and texts to UK numbers are included as standard on all plans, and WiFi and VoLTE calling are both available as well.
However, you can’t get an eSIM as a Lebara customer. You’ll have to get one of their physical SIM cards shipped in the mail to begin using their network.
Coverage and speeds
Lebara uses the Vodafone network, which is a good all-round option.
While Vodafone doesn’t have the best coverage in rural areas, it does offer fast speeds on 4G and 5G.
We had no problems getting consistent speeds of 50-100 Mbps or more in suburban and slightly more remote locations and had no issues with coverage in these areas either.
Using a Lebara SIM, you don’t face the 100 Mbps speed cap that some Vodafone SIMs have when you buy from them directly.
As a result, using 5G in an area with strong signal, we normally recorded a download speed of 150-200 Mbps, and an upload speed of around 10 Mbps.
However, we did not see the sort of speeds you can expect on a faster 5G network, like Three (or one of its MVNOs), where download speeds of 300 Mbps or more are commonplace.
It’s also worth mentioning, as a Lebara customer, you do not yet get access to the combined VodafoneThree network.
Recently, Vodafone and Three have merged their operations, and network sharing has begun to come online in some locations. Meaning, Vodafone customers can connect to the Three network automatically in areas where it performs best, and vice versa.
This is not yet available to people using a Lebara SIM.
Roaming allowances
One of the biggest strengths of Lebara is its roaming allowances.
With a Lebara SIM tariff, you can use up to 30GB of your allowance each month in most European countries, as well as in India.
Plus, you get a certain number of inclusive minutes to receive or make calls back to the UK.
The inclusive minutes and ability to roam for free in India are great to have, and Lebara’s 30GB fair usage limit is quite high – most other networks limit you to 15GB or less when using your plan overseas.
The other good thing about roaming with Lebara is in other countries, like Turkey and the UAE, you can buy a roaming add-on to cap your costs for a fairly reasonable price.
You don’t have to pay per megabyte of data used when roaming beyond Europe, which isn’t the case with most MVNOs.
If you don’t need the ability to roam in India, but still want a high international data allowance, you might like to consider using Tesco Mobile, which allows you to use your entire data limit when roaming in Europe.
Value for money
We think Lebara offers very good value for money.
They’re not the cheapest SIM-only provider on the market (Smarty or iD Mobile are sometimes cheaper) but you get a lot in return for what you pay, especially when it comes to roaming and international usage.
If you choose one of their 12 month pay monthly SIM deals, Lebara becomes a bit cheaper, but not by much. In most cases, it’s best to stick with one of their rolling monthly plans, in our opinion.
The other good thing about Lebara from a price point of view is their roaming add-ons are quite cheap, as we mentioned above.
If you visit Australia for example, you can get covered for just £15 for a two-week holiday,. You won’t get a huge amount of international data included with your roaming add-on, but it should be enough for navigating, web browsing, and messaging friends and family.
Customer service
Lebara has great customer service, in our experience.
As a smaller mobile network, they’re able to take greater care of each individual customer. We found they were easy to reach, with no long wait times on hold, or in the live chat queue.
Unlike a lot of other MVNOs, Lebara has a customer support phone number you can use to reach them. You don’t have to use their live chat if you don’t want to, which is great.
When we got in contact, we found Lebara’s support team was very helpful, and quite knowledgeable with billing and most technical-related issues.
They also have one of the better mobile apps of any UK mobile network. It’s intuitive to use, and quite helpful for many different types of self-service, such as changing your SIM plan, or buying a roaming add-on.
Verdict: should you join Lebara?
There are a lot of things to like about Lebara, especially if you often travel overseas or call friends and family abroad.
- They include international calls and texts to certain countries on most of their plans, free of charge.
- Their monthly costs are quite reasonable given the amount of data included, and you have the option to save a bit of money with a 12 month contract.
- They have a really good roaming allowance for an MVNO, especially given they cover India as well as the EU.
- Their customer support team is excellent, and is easy to reach over the phone.
The downside to Lebara is the network they’re using, Vodafone, doesn’t excel in any particular area.
It doesn’t have the best 4G coverage, or the fastest 5G speeds. However, this can be a good thing if you want a good all-round experience.
Overall, we rate Lebara 4.4 out of 5. They’re a solid choice overall, and a particularly good option for regular travellers.
Best Lebara alternatives
If you’re not set on buying a SIM from Lebara, here are some other networks you might like to look at.
1. spusu
If you want the best possible coverage, including in the countryside, you might be better-off with an EE MVNO, like spusu.
With this network, we could get online and make clear, uninterrupted calls in a really good range of rural areas, and our 4G speeds in populated regions were very strong as well.
Compared to Lebara though, spusu’s roaming allowances aren’t as strong, and they don’t have as many different SIM plans available to choose from.
2. Smarty
Three MVNOs like Smarty are the best choice if you want the fastest-possible 5G speeds.
In areas with strong signal, you should be able to get 250-300 Mbps or more with Smarty, and their 5G is widely-available as well, especially in cities and suburban areas.
Smarty also has very competitive monthly costs, and their SIMs are all on flexible 30-day rolling contracts, with no credit check required to sign up.
3. VOXI
VOXI is another MVNO that uses Vodafone – they’re actually owned by the parent network.
VOXI can be cheaper than Lebara, especially given that they exclude certain types of apps (such as social media) from your data limit on many of their plans.
However, their roaming allowances and customer service aren’t as good at the moment.
Conclusion
This is the end of our Lebara mobile network review.
If you’re still not sure if Lebara is right for you, leave us a comment below, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
About the author
Tom is the founder of Green Smartphones. You’ll find him writing about phones on the Green Smartphones blog, or talking about SIM deals and mobile networks on our YouTube channel. He’s the Android expert on the team – currently using a Google Pixel 9, recently upgrading from a very long-suffering Note 20 Ultra. When he’s not working on Green Smartphones, you’ll find him playing football or hiking.