Lebara (fair useage §h!t£) (4 Viewers)

[smarty2]

I have the Lebara 5gb data plan, we tend to go to Spain for 89 days at a time. I have two sims under my account. Once we get to 10 weeks I get an email saying I have gone over the fair usage policy but it doesnt tell me which sim! So this time I have had the email I have looked and I have used 0.8gb from my 5 gb. Like last time. So I dont understand how they can say that? I use a little more than that in the UK. I got onto their chat but they didnt seem to understand, just said dont worry about it and added another 1gb free. But I have plenty left?

 

[Richard n Ann]

Good job you bought that Lebara Sim.

Yes my number is being ported in to it sometime today . Good riddance to iD Mobile

 

[DangerMousy]

Vodafone are joining up with three

They'd like to, but its not a done deal yet. And even if the regulator does eventually give the go-ahead, its going to be a fair while before the two networks are consolidated. Its not something I think you need to worry about for a while yet.

You may well find that if it's a pre-B word legacy contract you can carry on with it, but as soon as you renew it will change to I think 25Gb a month roaming, that's what happened to me, hence I'm now with RGW and have a Popit SIM currently paused at £1 a month which I use as backup or when I lend the van to the offspring.

As far as I know, the VF 25GB fair usage policy also applies to legacy contracts. The big change in their contracts since then is that now some of them come with inclusive roaming (either EU or global) and others don't have it at all. The legacy ones all included roaming by default, but were always subject to fair use clauses (even when roaming charges weren't passed on to customers they still existed between the carriers).

I also moved to Popit recently, excellent deal. I've got a £99 Starlink kit that I use for longer non UK stays, there's a balance point where the £85 monthly roaming charge becomes worth it.

The great thing about the Starlink subscription is that if you activate it part way through a month you only pay pro-rata until your billing date. So far we've used ours on a few weekends away in the UK and one 2 week trip abroad and in total we've only paid £52 in subscription fees. Knowing your billing date and carefully choosing when to activate it is key to keeping the cost down

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[Bessy765]

I think you will find with Lebara it associates time spent as against data. We have 2 sim only contracts we have been in France for 66 days and we got the same message on the 18/04/2024. It stated you are using your phone more in the EU than you do at home. We still have plenty of data etc left but by the time the 15 days notice they gave me would mean they would be correct. We tend to max the 90 day use so although we are technically in the UK for 185 days a year it means we are close to the limit but would be back in the UK before the 15 day notice takes effect. It’s the EU ruling that effects the data not the service provider.

 

[VXman]

I think you will find with Lebara it associates time spent as against data. We have 2 sim only contracts we have been in France for 66 days and we got the same message on the 18/04/2024. It stated you are using your phone more in the EU than you do at home. We still have plenty of data etc left but by the time the 15 days notice they gave me would mean they would be correct. We tend to max the 90 day use so although we are technically in the UK for 185 days a year it means we are close to the limit but would be back in the UK before the 15 day notice takes effect. It’s the EU ruling that effects the data not the service provider.

Well, obvious really. We use very little data in the UK, unless we are on holiday here. Wifi is available at home, in the pub, in the super market etc. I only have 4GB allowance and I rarely get through half of that. When I go abroad I will use it all.

 

[smarty2]

but I'm not using it more here than in the UK. In 10 weeks in Spain I've used 34 mins of 1000 (use much more than that in the UK) no texts, 0.8gb data.

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[gus-lopez]

Thing is I only have a 5gb plan in the UK so I'd have to switch to a 20gb plan a month earlier and start downloading something... Probably switch WiFi off and play the radio app for a week. What a faff.

The easiest way to use more in the Uk than the EU , especially if on unlimited data on phone is continuous speed tests .You can easily use 80Gb/day without trying.

in the pub, in the super market etc. I only have 4GB allowance and I rarely get through half of that.

I use my unlimited wifi at home but out I only ever use my own phone data. it is far, far faster than most wifi around here & more secure

 

[JRT]

Not being charged to roam in Europe sure seems like a dim distant memory...

 

[kev54]

Well, obvious really. We use very little data in the UK, unless we are on holiday here. Wifi is available at home, in the pub, in the super market etc. I only have 4GB allowance and I rarely get through half of that. When I go abroad I will use it all.

During the 3 months prior to travel, maximise the data usage in the UK. Just turn off wifi and run daytime tv or youtube (you don’t have to actually watch it)

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[kev54]

Thing is I only have a 5gb plan in the UK so I'd have to switch to a 20gb plan a month earlier and start downloading something... Probably switch WiFi off and play the radio app for a week. What a faff.

Maybe a data card is the answer. Only problem with ID network I mentioned above is it uses Three ... it's a few years now since I was on their sloooow network, might be ok now

Radio doesn’t use much - max out data on daytime tv with the sound off. Don’t even have to watch it. It does have to be the same SIM / plan you’re going to use abroad, though…

 

[Barti Ddu]

Radio doesn’t use much - max out data on daytime tv with the sound off. Don’t even have to watch it. It does have to be the same SIM / plan you’re going to use abroad, though…

Downloading a few 2 hour long films on BBC iPlayer to my phone and then instantly deleting them was the fastest way of getting good baseline UK usage on my SIM card before going off roaming in Europe.