€15 - 20GB + Unlimited any network calls and texts + free roaming - Lycamobile

gerard2210 · 25-07-2016 8:30am

bk wrote:

It makes Tesco more competitive, however their roaming rates are still terrible and their customer support is also still terrible. A step in the right direction for them, but I wouldn't be returning to them until they also sort these two issues.

I find their customer support excellent, I usually phone their customer care team. Everything sorted in minutes.

bk · 25-07-2016 10:55am

gerard2210 wrote: »

I find their customer support excellent, I usually phone their customer care team. Everything sorted in minutes.

They moved their customer care to the Phillipines a few months ago and it has gone to the dogs since. Just take a look at the Talk To forums here on boards, people are up in arms, I've never seen anything like it!

In particular they have a weird "Security" policy of randomly completely disconnecting people from the service with no warning or explanation. Many people have been randomly cut off the service while abroad, leaving them high and dry. Pretty horrible carry on and I could not recommend them at all because of this.

Alan McG · 25-07-2016 11:07am

Lycamobile's data rates are absolute muck. It's throttled and you're lucky if you get over 100kbps. I'm in South County Dublin, so coverage not an issue and displays full HSPA+.

I shall be promptly moving back to 48!

gerard2210 · 25-07-2016 11:09am

bk wrote:

They moved their customer care to the Phillipines a few months ago and it has gone to the dogs since. Just take a look at the Talk To forums here on boards, people are up in arms, I've never seen anything like it!

Tesco customer care is still operated from Ireland. It's is outsourced but still Irish staff. As for the the issue over cutting people off for security reasons that got blown out of proportion. The staff on here could only give certain answers no matter which way the question was put to them.

bk · 25-07-2016 12:32pm

gerard2210 wrote: »

Tesco customer care is still operated from Ireland. It's is outsourced but still Irish staff. As for the the issue over cutting people off for security reasons that got blown out of proportion. The staff on here could only give certain answers no matter which way the question was put to them.

Actually the issue as I see it was the ridiculous policy of cutting people off without warning in the first place.

They then made it worse by not spelling out clearly what the policy actually is and what criteria causes you to be disconnected.

Finally they made it worse by not answering peoples questions.

Given how bad feelings got on boards and social media, a member of senior management should really have gone on boards, apologised for disconnecting people without warning, if not cancel the policy completely, at least made clear what the policy and criteria for disconnecting are, with written details on their website and put in place a system of text warnings of disconnecting at least a few days prior.

The fact that over a month later they still haven't done any of this, shows that Tesco Mobile management is at best highly incompetent.

They are currently spending a fortune in advertising, but on social media their name is currently muck!

Interesting to note that according to Comreg surveys, their market share has dropped from 2.5%, the largest MVNO, to less then 1% in the last few months. Just shows you the effect of having poor customer support, management policies and social media interaction.

bk · 25-07-2016 12:39pm

snubbleste wrote: »

I did not buy a bundle the second month.
Instead I topped up by €5 and additionally got
€1 for online top-up
€2 for porting number
25 mobile/landline minutes
free call/texts to other Lyca
5gb free data

How good is that! ..if you are a light user

Yup, my GF has moved to this too and is very happy with it.

For next month I'm thinking of moving to Asia Plus, €10 gives you 3GB of Data and 500 National minutes.

No SMS, but looking at my usage for the last month, I only sent 6 SMS and I've plenty of unused promotional credit to cover that. I only used 800MB of data in the last month, but 350 minutes of calls, so this plan looks like it might fit me better while saving an extra €5 per month

It is a nice feature of Lyca that their are so many different plans and that you can move between them each month depending on your needs.

TheDriver · 25-07-2016 12:57pm

Lyca aren't much better on customer service front when you have issues. If not fixed easily, it can drag on.

bk · 25-07-2016 1:17pm

TheDriver wrote: »

Lyca aren't much better on customer service front when you have issues. If not fixed easily, it can drag on.

Sure, you are right, it is hardly surprising, you get what you pay for afterall. But I see Lycas issues as far less serious problem then TM's problem.

Once you get over issues with porting that some people have, Lyca seems to work smoothly IME. The fact Tesco can disconnect you at any time is much more worrying. And their handling of the whole situation is quiet bizarre.

I go hiking and kayaking most weekends, the thought that Tesco could just disconnect my service without warning, thus endangering my life while out on a hike is quiet serious!

podgeandrodge · 25-07-2016 1:23pm

Alan McG wrote: »

Lycamobile's data rates are absolute muck. It's throttled and you're lucky if you get over 100kbps. I'm in South County Dublin, so coverage not an issue and displays full HSPA+.

I shall be promptly moving back to 48!

Agreed. Shocking data rates in Dublin despite strong signal bars.

rustledjimmies · 25-07-2016 4:07pm

bk wrote: »

I go hiking and kayaking most weekends, the thought that Tesco could just disconnect my service without warning, thus endangering my life while out on a hike is quiet serious!

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy, fella. Mobiles can be used to call emergency numbers even if there's no SIM card installed. No one's life is in danger.

bk · 25-07-2016 5:37pm

rustledjimmies wrote: »

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy, fella. Mobiles can be used to call emergency numbers even if there's no SIM card installed. No one's life is in danger.

True, you can call 112 or 999, but not any other number. Still not acceptable at all to cut off people without any notice. They don't even send you a text to tell you that you have been cutoff!

Keptgoing · 26-07-2016 2:08pm

Signed up for this a few weeks ago and apart from the usual porting issue I'm very happy with the service. My only problem is I can't seem to get iMessage or FaceTime to work for my mobile number only my email. Any idea what I should try? Keeps saying my carrier may charge for sms and then doesn't work.

Alan McG · 28-07-2016 10:17am

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Agreed. Shocking data rates in Dublin despite strong signal bars.

God Lyca are sly dogs. I just discovered a very dodgy way Lyca screw money out of the customer.

Once your data bundle runs out the data rates shoot up (throttle removed).

So not only are you paying 9c per MB used, you also fly through any remaining credit on your account because the throttle that you've been used to has been removed. One YouTube video could easily wipe out €10!!!

Now I find that simply dishonest.

bk · 28-07-2016 10:24am

I'm not sure what "throttle" you are talking about, I'm getting about 6 to 7Mb/s most of the time on my 20GB bundle.

Alan McG · 28-07-2016 10:27am

bk wrote: »

I'm not sure what "throttle" you are talking about, I'm getting about 6 to 7Mb/s most of the time on my 20GB bundle.

Read back through the posts on this forum, many, many people reporting very slow speeds.

Is it just a coincidence that my data rates have been sub 100kB/s for the past 30 days, and then at midnight last night it miraculously fixed itself?

Alan McG · 28-07-2016 10:31am

Although I'm on the bundle where you get 5GB free data when you top-up. Maybe that's the reason?

bk · 28-07-2016 10:32am

Alan McG wrote: »

Although I'm on the bundle where you get 5GB free data when you top-up. Maybe that's the reason?

Maybe, my girlfriend has that bundle, I'll try it later.

NATLOR · 28-07-2016 12:23pm

Alan McG wrote:

Once your data bundle runs out the data rates shoot up (throttle removed).

How do they charge you if you have no credit?,I thought that because it's PAYG if you reach your bundle limit it would just stop working,thats how 48 operated

Alan McG · 28-07-2016 12:42pm

NATLOR wrote: »

How do they charge you if you have no credit?,I thought that because it's PAYG if you reach your bundle limit it would just stop working,thats how 48 operated

I often buy credit in addition to my bundle in order to ring those pesky low call numbers.

On Lyca when you reach your bundle limit they charge you at a rate of 9c/MB from credit on your account. If you have no credit remaining then you're effectively cut off.

You're correct that on 48 you only have data when you have a bundle. They don't allow for out of bundle data. Which is good for 48 as it encourages customers to always have an active subscription, and prevents people from unwittingly getting shafted by high data charges when the bundle runs out.

On Lyca there's also no notification telling you that you're using out of bundle data. The inexplicable increase in speed last night was what tipped me off to the fact that my bundle had run out.

Man, I'm sick of saying the word bundle. It's lost all meaning. bundle bundle bundle.

bk · 28-07-2016 3:52pm

Alan McG wrote: »

Although I'm on the bundle where you get 5GB free data when you top-up. Maybe that's the reason?

Just tried, speedtest.net in South Dublin:
GF's Android phone on the 5GB free on 5 top up: 8.58Mb/s down.

On my own phone, iPhone 6, on this 15 bundle, 11.2Mb/s down and 2Mb/s up.

Actually really impressed, better then what I was getting with Tesco, about 7Mb/s

BTW I agree they should send you a text when you are about to run out of data. I believe there is an option in Android to monitor your data usage and notify you when you hit a preset amount.

Alan McG · 28-07-2016 4:43pm

Not sure what the issue is so. I'm pleased it's working for you guys.

I'm all for competition, but I'm not really interested in having a temperamental service for the sake of a couple of euro.

podgeandrodge · 28-07-2016 5:42pm

bk wrote: »

Just tried, speedtest.net in South Dublin:
GF's Android phone on the 5GB free on 5 top up: 8.58Mb/s down.

On my own phone, iPhone 6, on this 15 bundle, 11.2Mb/s down and 2Mb/s up.

Actually really impressed, better then what I was getting with Tesco, about 7Mb/s

BTW I agree they should send you a text when you are about to run out of data. I believe there is an option in Android to monitor your data usage and notify you when you hit a preset amount.

Hi Bk. Where are you based? I was only getting a half meg download around south dublin!

TheDriver · 28-07-2016 5:53pm

I'm back to tesco at end of current bundle month

bk · 29-07-2016 10:35am

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Hi Bk. Where are you based? I was only getting a half meg download around south dublin!

I don't live there, but passing through at the time when I did the test, near James Street.

Marhay70 · 29-07-2016 10:57am

I would have to assume Lyca have improved since I was with them because they certainly couldn't have got any worse. Free calls and texts was brilliant until you wanted to call or text anybody on Meteor, then they just didn't exist. CS was atrocious, call centre in the backarse of Calcutta or somewhere similar with operators who you knew were speaking English but in some unintelligible dialect, who read to you from a prepared script and told you "it will be fixed within 24 hours". When it wasn't and you rang back, somebody else told you the exact same thing. I think I spent more time calling CS than I did anybody else and from what I remember, it wasn't free either. Absolute nightmare, you have been warned.

bk · 29-07-2016 11:57am

Marhay70 wrote: »

I would have to assume Lyca have improved since I was with them because they certainly couldn't have got any worse. Free calls and texts was brilliant until you wanted to call or text anybody on Meteor, then they just didn't exist. CS was atrocious, call centre in the backarse of Calcutta or somewhere similar with operators who you knew were speaking English but in some unintelligible dialect, who read to you from a prepared script and told you "it will be fixed within 24 hours". When it wasn't and you rang back, somebody else told you the exact same thing. I think I spent more time calling CS than I did anybody else and from what I remember, it wasn't free either. Absolute nightmare, you have been warned.

I've had to call support twice and other then it not connecting the first time, support was easy to understand and pretty helpful, fixed both issues in about 5 minutes.

Not that they are perfect, of course you get what you pay for, but so far they have worked very reliably for me and family I've moved over. No noticeable difference from Tesco Mobile so far.

Marhay70 · 29-07-2016 12:23pm

bk wrote: »

I've had to call support twice and other then it not connecting the first time, support was easy to understand and pretty helpful, fixed both issues in about 5 minutes.

Not that they are perfect, of course you get what you pay for, but so far they have worked very reliably for me and family I've moved over. No noticeable difference from Tesco Mobile so far.

As I said, they could only get better. When they started they had the potential to blow the rest of the networks out of the water with their offers and plans and people signed up in their thousands, here we are probably four or five years later and they are still a bit player. There has to be a reason for that so I think I'll reserve my judgement until I see more evidence

bk · 29-07-2016 12:32pm

Marhay70 wrote: »

As I said, they could only get better. When they started they had the potential to blow the rest of the networks out of the water with their offers and plans and people signed up in their thousands, here we are probably four or five years later and they are still a bit player. There has to be a reason for that so I think I'll reserve my judgement until I see more evidence

Actually Lyca never had more then 1% market share and Tesco Mobile only hit 2.5% at it's height. Basically all the MVNO's combined have never had more then 5% market share.

Unfortunately just having good deals often isn't enough to win significant market share, it is far more complicated.

Firstly most people are very conservative and are slow to change from their old supplier who they have been with for years, even if they are far more expensive.

Then you have the massive marketing budgets of the big 3 companies. By comparison, many people have never heard of Lyca or the other MVNO's. Tesco Mobile has the biggest market share of the MVNO's because they have better marketing (cross marketing with Tesco), but it is still a drop in the ocean compared to the big 3.

MVNO's are never going to blow the big 3 out of the water, but they can be quiet good for us bargain hunters who seek out the best deals.

Kristopherus · 31-07-2016 12:37pm

Can anyone tell me the default Sim Pin Code that comes wit the sim card. I want to set my own pin code but I keep getting an error. Is it 0000 or 1234 or something similar?

blade1 · 31-07-2016 12:47pm

Kristopherus wrote: »

Can anyone tell me the default Sim Pin Code that comes wit the sim card. I want to set my own pin code but I keep getting an error. Is it 0000 or 1234 or something similar?

Should be 0000.
Mine is anyway!

Kristopherus · 31-07-2016 1:23pm

blade1 wrote: »

Should be 0000.
Mine is anyway!

Good man. That sorted me. I was on my last chance !!!

sourpuss · 01-08-2016 9:34pm

Was directed here last night by Kristopherus,had posted on an outdated Thread.Was just wondering if this operater has a reliable service as Im interested and am currently with Three on the former O2 Freedom plan.These have free calls to listen to Voicemail which I need and is outside Threes plan.I have read Thread and see one Member is on it and fairly happy,Anymore out there as Im in Sligo and knows nobody on it.

cronos · 01-08-2016 10:53pm

sourpuss wrote: »

Was directed here last night by Kristopherus,had posted on an outdated Thread.Was just wondering if this operater has a reliable service as Im interested and am currently with Three on the former O2 Freedom plan.These have free calls to listen to Voicemail which I need and is outside Threes plan.I have read Thread and see one Member is on it and fairly happy,Anymore out there as Im in Sligo and knows nobody on it.

i don't think the service on Lycra is great anywhere. I live in Dublin and am occasionally in Sligo. Lycra works in sligo but wouldn't describe the quality as great.

I'd suggest getting a sim and trying it out yourself though.

bk · 02-08-2016 9:51am

sourpuss wrote: »

Was directed here last night by Kristopherus,had posted on an outdated Thread.Was just wondering if this operater has a reliable service as Im interested and am currently with Three on the former O2 Freedom plan.These have free calls to listen to Voicemail which I need and is outside Threes plan.I have read Thread and see one Member is on it and fairly happy,Anymore out there as Im in Sligo and knows nobody on it.

The great thing about these Lyca plans is that they are pay as you go, so you can get a SIM and try it out for yourself. If you find it isn't good enough then easy to move again. No contract involved.

Nothing tried, nothing gained.

I find it works more then well enough for my needs, about the same as Tesco Mobile and 48.

Obviously I'd say it doesn't have the same level of reliability and coverage as say Vodafone, but then it is more then half the price and good enough for me.

snubbleste · 02-08-2016 11:01am

I'm having issues with some texts. They are sent, money deducted but not received at other end.

sourpuss · 03-08-2016 10:17am

Thanks to Cronos and bk for info,can a topup voucher/credit be bought in any local stores,eg Payzone or filling stations or is it only online,Thanks.

bk · 03-08-2016 11:37am

sourpuss wrote: »

Thanks to Cronos and bk for info,can a topup voucher/credit be bought in any local stores,eg Payzone or filling stations or is it only online,Thanks.

Payzone shops sell credit for them.

stevek93 · 05-08-2016 2:15pm

What do I text to get this deal, I cant find it anywhere on their site?

blade1 · 05-08-2016 2:20pm

stevek93 wrote: »

What do I text to get this deal, I cant find it anywhere on their site?

http://www.lycamobile.ie/en/bundle

stevek93 · 05-08-2016 2:23pm

blade1 wrote: »

http://www.lycamobile.ie/en/bundle

Thanks, but where does it say the number to key in on the phone to buy?

rustledjimmies · 05-08-2016 2:25pm

stevek93 wrote: »

Thanks, but where does it say the number to key in on the phone to buy?

You're a Lycamobile customer, right? Then you login to the Lycamobile website and hit the Buy button

NikoTopps · 05-08-2016 5:33pm

I'm after topping up online and I can see the money has been taken from my bank account but the page is stuck at "do not click the refresh or back button or this transaction may be interrupted or cancelled", balance is still 0,00€.

NikoTopps · 05-08-2016 5:42pm

NikoTopps wrote: »

I'm after topping up online and I can see the money has been taken from my bank account but the page is stuck at "do not click the refresh or back button or this transaction may be interrupted or cancelled", balance is still 0,00€.

The site eventually loaded to which it said "This site is currently undergoing maintenance.Please check back later,
or call us on 3332 from your lycamobile or 0207 132 0322", well shîte!

NATLOR · 05-08-2016 5:46pm

Are you sure you were on the Irish site, those are the UK support numbers

NikoTopps · 05-08-2016 5:48pm

NATLOR wrote: »

Are you sure you were on the Irish site, those are the UK support numbers

Yeah it definitely was, I went through the top up section on the Irish site.

NikoTopps · 06-08-2016 8:05am

Credit eventually came through plus the bonus too which is nice.

Getting about 10 down and 3 up in the South East and tethering working fine now too.

Cheers OP.

DopeTech · 06-08-2016 8:06am

NikoTopps wrote: »

Credit eventually came through plus the bonus too which is nice.

Getting about 10 down and 3 up in the South East and tethering working fine now too.

Cheers OP.

And are you just using the regular built in hotspot to the phone or a 3rd party app like foxfi for hotspot?

NikoTopps · 06-08-2016 8:15am

FrostyJim wrote: »

And are you just using the regular built in hotspot to the phone or a 3rd party app like foxfi for hotspot?

Just the built in setting on an old Moto G as a cheap hotspot.

Would love to have 4G but really can't argue with €5 for 5GB.

stevek93 · 07-08-2016 10:03pm

rustledjimmies wrote: »

You're a Lycamobile customer, right? Then you login to the Lycamobile website and hit the Buy button

I already bought credit, it was only giving me the option buy it.

DopeTech · 07-08-2016 10:08pm

stevek93 wrote: »

I already bought credit, it was only giving me the option buy it.

Then it'll ask how you want to pay for it by credit or by credit/debit card.

€15 - 20GB + Unlimited any network calls and texts + free roaming - Lycamobile

Comments