Anyone has had experience with Lyca mobile yet?

the5thace

I have to say their offer for the subscription service seems too good to be true.
9euro a month for 150minutes + unlimited txts and internet.
This goes up to 30 euro a month for unlimited calls txts and internet.

It seems like a bad business model though. Its like your paying 3rd of the price for 80% of the service with the 9 euro deal.
30 euro for unlimited calls does not make any sense when you can get everything else to be unlimited for just 9 euro unless you spend years of your lifetime on the phone.

What is their internet like? Is it speedy enough?
Any comments?

Ive heard lots of horrible things about the customer service but I can live with that if the network is actually usable especially for 9 euro's a month.

RobertFoster

the5thace wrote: »

What is their internet like? Is it speedy enough?
Any comments?

Patchy and slow. I've been using it for about a month now. I rarely see 3G, usually Edge or HSPA+. Often I've been unable to do a simple search. I did manage to watch some YouTube once.

Other than that, texts and calls are fine. Some distortion on a couple of calls, but no drops.

the5thace

What locations have you been using it from? Are you on bill pay or Top up?

RobertFoster

Mainly around Dublin, using the €9 bundle too.

Dublin 11 - Managed YouTube one day, but not the next in Finglas village.
Dublin 7 - No stable connection while parked on Geraldine St. I could tether my laptop to my phone, but there was no internet access on either.
Dublin 22 - Poor in/around B&Q.
Dublin 20 - I was able to get up Yelp to look for something to eat. Slow, but it did the job (the food wasn't great though ).
Dublin 15 - Worked fine outside the Blanchardstown Centre. I was able to share the connection with another phone.

I used MapMyRide for a couple of spins further into South Dublin, and it tracked fairly well. I've no experience of using the app/GPS with other SIMs, so I'm not sure how it compares.


As for the Customer Service... you are put through to India, so there are communication issues (both ways). By email they're OK, but can take 24+ hours for a reply (I'm still waiting for one after I emailed them on the 10th).


At €5 it's worth a go, but I wouldn't port over until you use it for a bit.

peckerhead

RobertFoster wrote: »

At €5 it's worth a go, but I wouldn't port over until you use it for a bit.

How "at €5"?

I was half thinking of moving from 48, although I'm still only in my first month with them (Meteor escapee :rolleyes:). Their €10/month package is great for calls and tests to Irish networks (and even includes 20 mins to landlines, which is handy to have) — but texts to UK numbers are 25c a pop, and calls 50c/min, whether to mobiles or landlines). Lyca is 9c per text, 9c/min to UK mobiles and only 1c/min to UK landlines...

I'm not too bothered about internets as I spend about 22 hours a day in one wifi zone or another.

The other thing holding me back so far is that everywhere on their site is "Promotional period: 01/06/2012 until 31/12/2012". I'd be wary of porting my number only to then find that all the promotions end in January...

peckerhead

peckerhead wrote: »

How "at €5"?

Ah. Forgot about the double-your-top-up promotion (also due to run 'til 31/12...)

I just emailed them the same question and got this back, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence...

Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:

cs1@lycamobile.ie
The recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept messages now. Please try resending this message later, or contact the recipient directly.

peckerhead

Update: finally got a reply from customer care, which may be of interest:

Please be informed that currently there are no offers or call rates proposed for the next months (after 31st December 2012) and same will be updated in our website www.lycamobile.ie once it is introduced (my emphasis).

They certainly don't believe in overdoing it on the forward planning front, do they? I think that kinda settles it for me...

Ranjo

the5thace wrote: »

9euro a month for 150minutes + unlimited txts and internet.
This goes up to 30 euro a month for unlimited calls txts and internet.

I joined up with Lyca a few months ago. I was extremely enticed by the 9 euro bundle you mentioned above. They changed it recently, now you only get 150 mins, 150 text and 150Mb of data. That is a massive difference.

They do state the offers are subject to change, but that is a huge drop. 150Mb is nothing when it comes to data.

peckerhead

Unfortunately 48, who I'd decided to say with while waiting to see how Lyca's offering changed after January, have now also decided to pull the data "snacker" options they used to have — so now it's €20/month for unlimited texts and calls and 3GB data, or €10 for just the calls and texts. Clearly they figured the data snacker was losing them too many €20/month customers.

Ah well, still glad to be free of Meteor...

Human rights

the5thace wrote: »

I have to say their offer for the subscription service seems too good to be true.
9euro a month for 150minutes + unlimited txts and internet.
This goes up to 30 euro a month for unlimited calls txts and internet.

It seems like a bad business model though. Its like your paying 3rd of the price for 80% of the service with the 9 euro deal.
30 euro for unlimited calls does not make any sense when you can get everything else to be unlimited for just 9 euro unless you spend years of your lifetime on the phone.

What is their internet like? Is it speedy enough?
Any comments?

Ive heard lots of horrible things about the customer service but I can live with that if the network is actually usable especially for 9 euro's a month.

Lycamobile changed there tariff

Kristopherus

Human rights wrote: »

Lycamobile changed there tariff

Since 1st March?

kraggy

Can you tell me how one joins these types of companies such as Lyca and 48?

I'm coming home this week after 2 years away and have an iphone but I want to have unlimited everything.

However, I recently found out that Meteor have cut off my old number. Will I have to first sign back on with Meteor to get my old number back (which I want) and then move over to either Lyca or Emobile or 48?

If so, how do I do it?

Thanks.

niallb

kraggy wrote: »

... will I have to first sign back on with Meteor to get my old number back (which I want) ...

You won't get it back unless it has just expired.
There's a fresh thread on the Meteor forum about it here.
If you get a quick request in with Colm it might help,
but I'd resign myself to a new number if I were you. :-(

Ranjo

kraggy wrote: »

Can you tell me how one joins these types of companies such as Lyca and 48?

Lyca SIM cards are available in Spar/Centra. I can't guarantee that all of them stock them, but the one I went to had them It cost 1 euro for the sim. Don't buy a credit voucher in the spar - get it online or over the phone as you'll get it doubled.

kraggy wrote: »

to get my old number back (which I want)

Forget getting your old number back.

kraggy

Which would have the best Internet connection out of all the providers who do unlimited data at a good price?

Eg eMobile, lyca etc.

Read someones post on here saying they "managed to download a youtube video" as if that were a special achievement.

Is 3G really that bad in Ireland?

CptSternn

I had a bad experience with Lyca. I had a mobile with them I used only so often as I linked it to my online banking therefore only used it for banking texts in regards to transfers and payments. My bank and a few other businesses would ring me as it was also my contact number on contracts.

I topped it up every month although I would not use it every month. After four months they cancelled my account saying I did not make enough OUTGOING calls even though I had a large amount of credit (€10 a month for a year = €120). They also took all my credit. I also then had to contact my banks and other businesses I used this phone with to change my contact details.

When I emailed them about it they said there was nothing they could/would do as it was in their terms if you do not make a call every four months they can cancel your account and take back all the credit you purchased without any warning (even though I was registered with them and they often emailed me spam).

When I requested to speak to a manager they hung up on me. When I email them I got reply from someone saying there was nothing they could do. When I replied again asking for contact information for a manager my email was returned as they blocked my email address!

Quite possibly the worst company I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.