LycaMobile
LycaMobile is a virtual network operated by LycaTel. It was launched in 2006 and specialises in cheap international calls from mobiles. As a result, it has proved to be very popular amongst expatriate customers and signed up 1.6 million UK customers in its first year. Now, it has more than 6 million PAYG customers worldwide, connects over 2.5 million calls every day and has £1.1 billion revenue. It generates a total of 3 billion minutes of calls per year. LycaMobile operates on the O2 and Orange networks in the UK. In 2015, LycaMobile was implicated in a potential money laundering operation.
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LycaMobile review
LycaMobile is a specialist international carrier but, surprisingly, it’s still very competitive on domestic rates. UK mobiles are only 10p per minute while UK texts are 9p each. Amazingly, LycaMobile also offer UK landline calls at only 3p per minute and free voicemail too.
However, the real reason you would use LycaMobile is if you make lots of international calls. They offer incredible 1p/minute rates to tons of countries such as India, China, South Africa, Nigeria, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Pakistan and Egypt. However, you should check whether the countries you need to call are good value on LycaMobile.
LycaMobile now runs on the O2 network and coverage is generally fine. They also have a useful online account management feature. Although the customer services call centre is located in India, it does have the benefit of being multilingual. Unfortunately, LycaMobile currently don’t offer any MMS services at all which is frankly shocking. The rates for 0870 and 0800 numbers are also astronomical.
The main problem with LycaMobile is that the offers are very misleading and that there are tons of hidden charges. For example, although it advertises free internet, this is capped at only 10MB per day and is 2G only so no fast 3G speeds. Even worse, LycaMobile claim that calls to LycaMobile Plus numbers are completely free. However, this only applies to LycaMobile Plus numbers in non-UK countries and there’s actually a 15p flat connection fee for these calls. If that’s not bad enough, they are also limited to 30 minutes in length otherwise you’ll get charged extra. As you can see, it’s incredibly misleading to claim (in capitals, no less) that these calls are “free”. The tariff is also incredibly difficult to understand. Thankfully, we’ve done a great job at deciphering it and you can read about the details of the new LycaMobile Plus tariff later in this review.
Overall, LycaMobile offers a good service at a very cheap rate as long as you fully understand all of the pricing scheme and the total you’ll be charged. They have good customer service and charge fair rates for UK calls and texts. Their 3p/minute price for UK landlines is amazing and their cheap international calls to several countries is rather useful to many people. Just be sure to thoroughly read our pricing summary below and check the rates that apply to you before signing up.
PAYG Pricing
At a glance
Details
LycaMobile used to offer a service on Orange using 075 numbers but has now phased that out and only offers its new LycaMobile Plus tariff that uses 074 numbers and the O2 network. The rates can be quite confusing but we’ve done our best to explain them clearly below.
As previously mentioned, LycaMobile Plus hasn’t got the best UK rates, but offers amazingly cheap international calls and texts. Still, UK calls are very reasonable at 19p/minute and texts are only 19p each. LycaMobile Plus really offers something special on its UK landline rates though – at only 3p/minute it’s cheaper than even the best value budget networks such as Giffgaff and Tesco Mobile. LycaMobile also give each customer 10MB of data each day free.
Of course though, the best aspect of the LycaMobile Plus tariff is found when looking at the international rates. International texts start from 2p each and calls vary from 1p/minute to Europe to 4p/minute to the US and Canada. There are also 1p/minute rates to some countries. However, you should bear in mind that these are only the lowest rates – most countries will cost a lot more. Also, the call rates to mobile numbers are much higher than to landlines and most texts are 10p not 2p.
Deals
LycaMobile Plus offers tons of deals but be sure to read the relevant small-print before signing up. They offer free minutes and texts when topping up but these only work to UK LycaMobile Plus numbers. However, for £5 you do get 150 minutes and 150 texts and for £30 you get a massive 2000 minutes and 2000 texts. These allowances last for a month and afterwards calls to UK LycaMobile Plus numbers cost 7p per minute.
LycaMobile also advertise that if you call LycaMobiles in other countries, the call is completely free. While the deal is still quite good, it’s not exactly “free”. In actuality, you can call for a single 15p connection fee but the call can only last for 30 minutes otherwise you’ll start being charged the standard rate. Still, this is good value for the participating countries.
Another deal on offer is LycaMobile Favourites. This gives you 2000 international minutes to call your favourite 3 numbers for £10 per month. Finally, LycaMobile offer bundles that give you, for example, 250 UK mobile and landline minutes for £10 or 800 UK mobile and landline minutes for £20. You can also buy bundles of cheap international minutes to selected countries.
Price comparison
To compare LycaMobile’s latest pricing with that of other networks, please see our conclusive price comparison page.
Coverage
Summary
Coverage map
LycaMobile runs on the Orange network but the new LycaMobile Plus tariff is only on O2. Please see the our LycaMobile coverage page to learn the network coverage in your area. For more information, compare it with other mobile phone networks’ coverage.
Rating
Give your own rating to LycaMobile below:
LycaMobile,
Truly awful.
I bought sim that was supposed to come with £5 credit. It did not. Customer services said it needed activating using a code hidden in their email. After wasting time/money on phone to them and attempting activation it still would not work. I have now spent over a month emailing them and providing photos/ details that they dont really need to just cancel sim eg PUK code, I realise that they are simply giving me the run around hoping I will just give up. A fact commented on in other reviews. I suggest other UK customers in a similar position to me, use moneysavingexperts resolver to contact lycamobile as it keeps a record of your emails that will eventually be forwarded to the UK ombudsman
My personal opinion – “customer service” a joke – if it were not so serious.
Checked my balance yesterday (6 May 2020) before buying a voucher, over £7-00, made one ‘phone call then bought a £10-00 voucher which Lycamobile said had already been used – after 10 minutes – who is kidding who ? checked my balance again and the ‘phone call had cost me over £2-00 but not only that I had no balance from the original voucher. E-mails via lycamobile web-site and direct were ignored and ‘phone lines, both land and Lycamobile were and are still “dead” This firm has no concept of “Customer Service” text message “All in one 10 up” and “USSD running” what the hell do these mean ? perhaps somebody could put this into proper English.
BE CAREFUL, Lycamobile steals credit from your sim card.
I’ve done a £20 top-up second part of November 2019, went on a 4.5 weeks long holiday, during this period Lycamobile sim card mysteriously stopped working and I was unable to make calls whatsoever.
After returning back from holls I’ve contacted Lycamobile via email to complain, unfortunately they did NOTHING to resolve.
Their unprofessional and unreliable customer service team (I’d say based in India), STEAL YOUR MONEY and drag investigation for 2-3 months, until you/customer give up.
I’ve sent numerous emails and nothing, literally NOTHING serious was done to investigate and resolve.
SICK OF LYCAMOBILE/ INDIAN THIEVES!!!
When i try to top on credit
When i try to top on credit, Lyca Mobile online service shown me
“Unfortunately your order ( QTA0000387631 ) was not successful”
but when i check my bank account, i have been charged twice of the amount i tried to top up. I contact to their customer service but nothing they will do about it. I strongly believe this is how Lyca Mobile makes money by scam their client. Be careful when yon enter personal information on their website and the best is to not register with this company at all.
A word of warning about Lyca/Togglemobile. I loaded more than £40 credit on their sim in preparation for my trip to Australia last month. The card didn’t work at all in Aus, and customer services were useless. They have since refused to refund me. I’m referring them to the ombudsman.
Lycamobile are thieves, i unticked auto top up yet it still takes the money from my bank, then it blocks an account with £33 to be told sorry after a very poor conversation with someone that barely speaks english absolute joke AVOID AVOID AVOID SCAMMERS
was given 2 contact numbers for the uk tho.. Both numbers were dead not working…..
Did you ever find a working number?
How much did they take from your account in total and did they refund you in the end?
Doesn’t work. Can only get data some of the time. Called twice and customer service were worthless and then disconnected. Still no answer to my questions. Really angry.
Under what situations does data not work?
Lyca are tieves. I had 132 minutes, i made a six minutes call and everithing dissapear. I tryed to call their costomer service pfones but noting happend. I was’nt able to maje a call, no matter they say “the call i s free”…proper tieves!!!
What call is free?
This is the most worst service provider. I had subscribed for a wrong bundle while online registration but these ppl canot refund and amount and canot transefr quoting I have consumed the data but in reality never turned the mobile data.
Worst customer service
Plz help to remove this hassle from uk
This is the worst service one can ever get involved with. I cant start to tell you how much hell they have put me through. Do not give them your credit card information if you do not want to be robbed from the little you make. This is a total scam. CUSTOMER SERVICE is absolutely AWEFUL. Line cuts after 30 minutes and they keep asking you unnecessary questions just so they do not get to the point until the line cuts and the WAIT TIME IS RIDICULOUS LEAST IS 20 MINUTES. They barely understand what you are saying half the time. STAY AWAY PEOPLE IF YOU NEED PHONE SERVICE!
May I have this deleted from this website please.
From publisher
The worst services ever. just steal money. I paid for a bundle 150 min/30 days and in a few days it was finished, even I did not call.
THIEVES
third world outfit – top ups useless – endless queues – avoid
0-1 star
Lycamobile is horrible for 5 reasons:
1.) Bad instructions on how to “top up”
2.) No instructions on website, receipt, or pamplet, how to configure sim card
3.) Incompetent technical support. Called 2 times, each rep failed to instruct adding a username and password to data.lycamobile.ie network settlings.
4.) No 4G LTE service in Ireland – best data network was Edge network, 27k dial up modem would be faster!
5.) Refund request 10 euros denied bc 1 minute used, per contract- what a joke.
6.) Tech agent lied to get me off line or was ignorant, but advised me to set phone to LTE network. wasted another hour trying to make it work. Tried calling Lyca cust. service back but call would not go through, even after switch back to slow GSM network. Next agent clearly advised there is no 4G or LTE service in Ireland!
And i thought that i live on the coutryside 🙂 i live in small town about 150 km from Dublin and i never had net slower than H (usually H+). I can not get faster because my chinese version mobile is not supporting 800 MHz frequency (i knew about that before i have ordered this phone). Second nano SIM is on Vodafone 4G. Web settings i have found in first logical place on lyca website, which is: help. After watching a short video my internet was up and running (even when english is not my first language). Even my 10 years old daughter set her mobile that way. I know that Lyca is not perfect, but other nrtwotks ate not great too. Its all depends what your needs are. They have cheap calls to EU countries, but expensive calls outside Lyca network.
When things work, they have good rates, good plans, quality calls …etc. But should you need something, which requires customer service support, you are doomed.
I have used their services for almost 2 years, and when things are working I am quite happy. But whenever I try to contact customer service, it is another story: I am frequently “put on hold”, while they are checking my profile, but I guess no one has taught customer reps. how to do it properly because they always hang up on me, ALWAYS! Their “live chat” option is as dead as it can be.
Today the glass has overflown and I am switching to another carrier because I am not willing to put up with their pitiful customer support.
I have been trying to get the customer service online or call for the last two weeks. And at last I started my online chat with Reason to chat as ‘Top Up’ then they started to chat. But when I type in my actual issue the chat window became disabled!
[Varun] Top up
[Agent] Welcome to Lycamobile customer support, how may I help you?
[Varun] Hi
[Varun] Hi Agent
[Varun] Are you with me?
[Agent] plesae precise your enquiry
[Varun] I don’t receive MMS and automated SMS from online websites
[Varun] Why so?
[Varun] Hello, Are you with me?
Pretty good and cheap. The O2 network gives better cover than I was getting with Vodafone on contract. The bundle price is better than any other PAYG deal. I use the various bundles and I have never had extra charges (except see below). The only problem is buying bundles. This does not work well by text or by hash code or on their IVR system. Auto repeat of the bundle also does not work for me. This means a call to customer service each month and being on hold for 20-45 minutes. In a way not a bad thing because the bundles change each month, so really you want to check the bundles again each month. So the only charges I get are when my bundle doesn’t auto renew each month. Yes I’ve had texts missing or late and dropped calls, but frankly no worse than my Vodafone contract. Vodafone are utterly terrible, for signal and for customer service, so I still feel far far better off with Lyca despite the difficulties with buying bundles and renewing bundles.
Lyca is SHIT everywhere, in UK, Spain, ever where.
Absolute SHIT! Bastards!!!
Cheap cowboy outfit. Do not use. Whether in the UK or abroad (such as Switzerland) you’ll only ever have grief with Lyca. Abysmal call quality, attrocious customer service and above all an inability to honor their own terms and conditions. I had an issue with my top-up online, called and was told it would be resolved within 24 to 48 hours as I never receIved PIN. Called again two days later as they never got back to me, heard same story and was told to send in a screenshot of transaction because there was no sign of a PIN and they wanted proof. They obviously just cut corners to save costs then put the blame on customers and make them wait and run around. I’m supposed to waste more time taking screenshots?! Severe p… take. Still no response 24 hours later, had to call a third time and heard the same crap with worthless appologies. What good is it saying sorry when I’ve paid 10 pounds and been unable to call for three whole days because Lyca’s crap!? At the very least they could have given me emergency credit and a refund. Knew from experience they were crap. Never again! DO NOT USE LYCA
Postscript: Finally received the prized PIN but needless to say it proved completely worthless. Followed instructions for adding the 10 pound plan I’d bought and got message ‘PIN number invalid’. Enough is enough – that Lyca Sim card is going down the pan!
I think that Lyca should give a new pre-paid offer with better prices for a internet connection abroad – not many networks offer it, so it would be a great idea to convince a lot of people that they are the best.
Their website doesn’t let me to pay my phone bill. I call them. They need the first 6 digits and last 4 digits of my credit numbers and photo ID to email them. I did. I have waited for 4 days. No email response. I still don’t get my service back. I am not allowed to pay on their website. I don’t know what I can do right now.
2 words. PURE GARBAGE!
Utter rubbish, totally useless network, can’t connect, totally unclear when speaking to another person. Utterly useless this lycamobile
HI,
I have been using Lycamobile for a long time and I am using it without any problem but for some time its giving me a headache. I am visiting Romania and when I came here last time which is a year ago, I got my local number given to me by Lycamobile and they asked me to confirm it by sending an SMS which I did and it worked. NOW! the problem is that number was valid for an year and now I am here again I received a message to renew the local number or it will be deactivcated. I tried to send the SMS but it wont go anymore and till now i received 3 or 4 numbers which are deactivating after few days and then a new number is assigned. I cant give my number to local contacts knowing that it wont last. the SMS keeps on coming is like this “Dear toggle subscriber, your local number “******” will expire on “DATE”. To renew it through SMS please type space 40 to a 123″. Now I would love to crack this mystery on how to get through this SMS.
Me too, same problems and I tried multiple variants of the SMS message but they all failed and it was deactivated. In fact I was never told I had it in the first place. Customer service is the worst ever and eventually I was put onto one rep who started shouting at me! Regarding the bundles I had the same issues, which was why I contacted them. They didn’t solve it, but I found somewhere a user comment that a bundle was not the same as a top up. I added a top up and then the bundle became available to me as well as the top up. All a bit second rate really, but I am still using it.
I have placed an order FST0000209872 for which they have deducted money but have not made the order successful. No reply from them even after contacting multiple times.
They are a Rogue Trader
I got the SIM card on a certain offer: FREE from Lyca UK to Lyca worldwide and viceversa.
I topped up £5 on 8 Aug 2015 and my Lyca account has never shown.
I called Lyca UK and Lyca RO only and they charged me the whole lot, £5, when actually it was supposed to be free.
The same happened to Lyca number holders in RO when they called me. They were supposed to call me for free.
They are a fraud company indeed as vast majority of their customer say on the feedback websites.
No wonder why their CS representative signs himself as STALIN when replies to customers emails.
They should be banned, really.
What were the exact terms of the offer? And what do you mean “has never shown”?
Fucking shit network bastards take all your money from just talking for a minute. That’s why there is a saying always use the new stuff and not the second hand stuff. Orange Vodafone 02 etc are professional this is a fucking retarded network. U phone them there can’t bloody understand English properly.
How much were you charged for what call?
I love it having no issues r problems thnx (likeamobile)
lyaca mobile is one of the worst service in uk. they advertising one rate after the with in on one month they change the rate without any notification. no fixed rate there self. they are cheat every customers in uk and all other countries they should banned form uk. i give this review for 3 issues. i called the customer care no solution at all.
worst network. Beware do not use; they charge for services not provided and the customer services or complaint department is just ridiculous.
I have been using LycaMobile for over 2 years. I don’t make many calls nor send many messages but the service is very bad. Often I hear friends never received my messages, I didn’t receive their messages, people calling me and the call never making it to my phone etc. Very unreliable; would not recommend.
Please please…. don’t bother buying Lycamobile because they are scam money making network which is good for nothing.
I was harassed in front of Asda Hounslow to buy the sim which I did and was never ever able to make any call. When you place a call, it will ask you again to enter the number you’ve already dialed and after that it will prompt you to press 1 if you are a member then enter your lycamoblie number again. After all this, it will then tell you that your sim is not registered but that is not actually true because my sim is registered. It’s useless trying to call them for some support because after staying on the line for about 20 minutes, someone will pick it and tell you something completely useless. They have no customer care experience and don’t even know what they are talking about and straggles to even speak proper English for you to understand. All I have to do now is to cut my loses and just throw the sim away because even though I haven’t been able to make any call, those scammers are still taking money from my credit.
I too donated 9pound to lycamobile. Spent 3 weeks in Ireland and couldn’t make one ph call. Emailed them with no response. Got told each time I called that I would be connected in 24hrs. My advice to anyone considering using them is DON’T. They are scammers and their customer service is the worst. Wish I’d read these reviews before I paid
Same here Kerry spent week at home inDublin never got on network
Hear Hear, luckily I did not lose much money over them. They are an awful, scam level, service and I won’t touch them with a barge pole again.
Don’t use Lycamobile. Cheap service!!! Order a PlUS SIM card on 3/13/2015. Now it is 3/31/2015, I’am still waiting for it. Very bad customer service and phone service. Cheap has its reason.
I prefer Vertual networks, but NOT lyca. There are so many free wifi apps to use:text me,viber etc, work on android and iPhones.not sure why anyone would pay for international calls?! Every McDonald’s got free wifi etc, my favourite by far is LEBARA. Piggy backs Vodafone which even gives network well enough to watch bbciplayer in Scotland’s rural areas. I would recommend them highly, very friendly and helpful, good little top up app, simple texts to get more data, great packages and free top ups: basic uk150plus pass top up £10, buy pass £7.50 get 1000s free texts lots of data, I recently changed to the £12 a month deal with 2gb data, LEBARA I never need spend more than £12 a month and often its a challenge to use up all the free minutes,data and still usually have my £3 credit(top up £15-buy £12 package)it has cheap international rates and even bonus free international minutes, (4ppm Pakistan)u can easily top up even a mates phone. LEBARA to LEBARA always free. I’m sharing because I’d hate people to tarnish LEBARA as Lyca! Seriously great customer service, happy nice and efficient call staff,(with good English) Vodafone is always best in my experience, but not the “real” Vodafone as its 14p a text etc. (10p lebara) LEBARA DOES MMS texts and won’t scam you . I often receive £5/£10 free credit just for topping up online! VERY impressed by LEBARA. They fix any APN issue immediately and so friendly u feel good afterwards. MY ADVICE: PIGGY BACK OFF VODAFONE WITH LEBARA! LYCA website has stupid amount of pictures so takes ages to load just to top up. (Sexy Bollywood girl types to seduce u into using Lyca and distract u from reality of BAD business!!!) cheap trick! I argue a lot about LYCA VERSES LEBARA with my boyfriend, (his origins Pakistan, he also uses free text me and viber so not sure why he wants lyca! LEBARA HAS 3G, its FAR SUPERIOR in everyway and underrated! GO LEBARA! you’ll never be frustrated again! If you haven’t done a review on LEBARA you should! Cheap and easy to use, nothing hidden and everything to Gain! I literally live in valley with mountains, only LEBARA still gives me 3bars on Vodafone,at a much cheaper cost! £12 a month is all I need. So glad! 2 years using lebara now! Feel for you all as I got stung by Lyca-Lies. THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE HEARD AND LYCA SHOULD BE NAMED AND SHAMED! LEBARA IS YOUR SAVIOUR FEOM STRESS,want to help all you poor souls out! (No I don’t work for lebara!lol) trust me, Lebara is Amazing and BEST customer service. (I’ve used nearly all networks over the years,)satisfaction guaranteed with LEBARA. Vodafone is strongest anywhere in UK! I’ve lived in England Midlands Yorkshire South Cornwall Wales and now SCOTLAND extremely remote areas (some cities)I’m white British but my husbands origins are Pakistani.when he goes to visit family I change my package to get free international minutes. LEBARA lets you change package every month if u fancy, or auto renew, it won’t steal from you and is the most generous and friendly and simple. You always get confirmation texts and will only store your card if u want it too. If u got no credit it simply texts u saying it didn’t auto renew. Money comes from your mobile credit not your bank. LEBARA is the complete reverse of LYCA and LYCA should learn from them! Ok that’s enougj of me prattling on, just wanted to let you all know Lebara is not like LYCA and you should give it a go! £1 sim and u can even top up £5 on those tight months(not all do £5) my delusional husband thinks LYCA is alllll free, I try to explain its NOT as it appears and his tariffs are imaginary, nearly ALL SAY UNLIMITED, but that still usually has a “fair usage” umbrella. Standard is often 1gb.(sneaks)with Lebara I get 2gb free and never run out even when using mobile as a satnav, youtube bbciplayer,net surfing,crazy texting(3000FREE TEXTS TO ANY MOBILE)yapping for at least 2hrs at a time to friends family etc, I only once texted B500 to its 38885 number to top up data(only had 500mb in that package)it was instant and I could finish my film!
…wait,didn’t I say I was leaving this post now?:-) :-/
…retreats from thread,sheepishly…
Maby non smart phone users?
quite amazing to see how fast your rate of charging is. every 5 pound loaded does not last for 5 days even when I barely make call. how do I enrolled for the 500 calls and unlimited sms?
What’s your monthly usage?
I am writing from Canada, I have tried two time with Lyca Star (Lyca Calling Card) company. They are scam based on Indian, customer service is very rude. They don’t know how to speak foreigner even they don’t respect us. They are keep telling me to buy more phone cards. Please don’t but Lyca Star (Lyca Calling Card). It is time us, North American to against this scammers. All the best!
Are they the same company as LycaMobile?
I wanted to switch network providers, called Lyca customer service three times. Each time they asked for something different.
I did not register the Lycamobile simcard, I only topped it up maybe once every three months, I kept the sim card in my second phone, using it for only receiving important calls.
Now I can’t even get the PAC code even though I’m calling from the simcard and provided all th details I have like the sim number, most common called number, etc.
pftt
I lost my cell phone. I was using a Lyca PAYG sim. I called to customer services to send me proof of usage. The said we need some information and you will get proof of usage within 24 hrs. I immediately send them required information. After 36 hrs I called them then another guy told me it takes 48 hrs. Then I got an email from them asking for more information. I send them all the info again. After 48 hrs I called them again the guy said our technical team is looking into the matter. Then I spoke to supervisor and he told me it usually takes 4 to 5 days. When I told him whole story and asked him who is right you or your representative. I think he mind what I said and within 2 min he said your request is denied. Today I got an email from them saying that we blocked the sim. It was very funny because I never used the sim they blocked. This is the standard of the their services. Feeling sympathy with the guy who were using that sim.
That sucks. What did you need proof of usage for?
By far this is the most inefficient customer service I have ever experienced so far. I have lost £10 twice with their useless sim cards and after trying to contact their rubbish customer service both on the phone (30 minutes each time) and via their so-called customer service email address, I got to nowhere. They just get your money and you are on your own. You may think they are cheap but I have already lost £20 with them which in my book they make them a rouge trader.
Did you get to speak to anyone at all?
Lycamobile has horrible reception and is generally a rip off in my opinion. Plus: absolutely no costumer service! Don’t get it anywhere!
What issues did you have?
I got sucked in by Lycamobile. I had just arrived in Glasgow needing a new SIM for my iPad mini. The rep had to activate it with my cellphone and apply the vouchers. She wrote my number down as something completely different as what it shows on the phone…so, buy a voucher cuz the thirty days are almost up…for some reason, I can’t get it to work..tried calling customer service for help and was subjected to ten loops of their annoying boasts about their service…HA! So…tried emailing them for help (yeah, right)… the server disconnected as soon as I hit the send button.. big time suckage. Stay away…I guess I’m shorter £5 now..thanks so much.
Did you ever get it working at all? What’s wrong with buying an e-topup?
I’ve been learning in this new world of hidden salesman schemes, to be wary of trusting someone you can’t see or even talk to. I tried to apply the voucher on the Internet, filled out the spaces, send it off and a new page showed up….blank..totally white. I consider the £5 lost and decided that I will just go to Vodaphone today and get a new prepaid setup. At least they have service stores everywhere I’ve been so far.
At least I only lost a little money, but I hope this complaint costs them a lot more. WATCH OUT NORTH AMERICA!
What???
Hi
I just have a question for you? Why is this company still running? It’s absolutely disgusting what they are doing…. Ripping people off…. This is 21 century and companies are being a joke selling us an empty bag…. I would not recommend them… They charge a lot of hidden fees , drive you insane on rhe first day … And say o sorry…. Well sorry will not give me my money back…. It’s better if I go gamble then I know I lost my money trying my luck not giving it away to ….
Thank you
What fees?
Bought a Lyca SIM and bundle ‘unlimited’ data – it work for two hours and then stopped working, when I called their service department they refused to help and referred me to their ‘Terms and conditions’ – this service is a SCAM – do do buy LYCA mobile !
What do their terms say?
Bought a Lyca sim and a bundle – LYCAMOBILE is a complete con job – they are purporting to offer internet and data access however my connection was blocked after 2 hours – when I called 322 for
service, I was told that they have to disconnect the call and the service operator hung up on me – this service seems to be little more than a fraudulent claim of service; there is no data to the bundle, I will not be buying any further credit from them
DO NIT BUY LYCAMOBILE – it is a SCAM
beware the worst cell phone company the worse customer service please don’t port your number to lyca mobile don’t go for cheap plan the call quality is also very bad the voice mail is too bad crap company before porting your number do some research online
Please save yourself from all the pain and trouble. Dont buy their plans they dont work and customer service is clueless.
I wasted $29 with them and have decided not to deal with such shady companies again in my Life.
What didn’t work?
Very bad service bought a sim and plan is USA. Its horrible the plan does not work and everytime you call they say we are sorrythis has been happening for last 7 days.
PATHETIC is the word for service.
PLEASE DO NOT BUY THEIR PLANS
What didn’t work?
why cant i get service in south africa with my lycamobile sim card
Lyca charged me 20£ for internet date although I have activated the bundles. The only thing I could hear from customer service was ‘we are sorry’ Do not recommend to anyone.
What did they say when you insisted upon your refund?
That it was already charged and they can’t do anything.
Didn’t you insist?
yes…
So? They are legally obliged….
Lycamobile has the worst customer service .I can never recommend Lycamobile to anyone
What did they do?
Lycamobile has the worst customer service wait time ever in the history in USA,the operator keeps you on hold for 30-45mins. Extremely unreliable, this is sad and sucks since Lycamobile waste’s all you break, I guess they lack employees to get on customers enquiries. Then all of a sudden the call just cuts off and don’t dare calling back for its going to be another 60mins minimum on the phone. I can never recommend Lycamobile to anyone.
What issue were you trying to work out?
really bad customer service.
got the new replacement lyca mobile plus sim on aug first. they told me it will take up to 72 hours to get my old number over to the new lyca mobile plus number. after 4 days nothing happened. i got furstrated and actived the new sim and got a new number. next it tried to install the gpsr stuff and asked for pin. the pin sent with the old sim didn’t work and the new sim didn’t come with one. i called customer serivce and no help. they told me to call tomorrow. i never seen worse service then this. say no to lyca mobile
Did you get a resolution?
There was an outage with the mobile data part of their service. This left me stranded at the train station in the middle of the night. Next day their customer support was horrible. Took 60 minutes in the queue to get to a support person. They couldn’t tell me if there was a problem with my data plan or not. They wanted me to hang up, get my IMEI number from my phone, and call them back and wait in the queue again. They refused to just call me back after a few minutes. I finally convinced them to let me speak to a supervisor, and they forwarded me to a number that simply rang for 20 minutes and never answered. AVOID Lycamobile.
Did you ever get this sorted?
I did an online topup for data of 10 pounds first time do I need to do any thing to activate as am unable to use it
Lyca mobile is one of the worse phone service I have ever seen, they are Rippers!, practicing broad day light robbery..I topped up over £20 to activate my bundle but they kept deducting my units so that I will have to buy another top up again and again, It’s unbelievable how they stupidly lied that I made some calls to numbers that I have never come across before. They can’t even be fair to their loyal customers, I have been using lyca mobile for years but I have realised they are exploiters, rippers, thieves…I am switching service provider..can’t stand this wickedness. PLEASE STOP USING LYCAMOBILE! THEY ARE EXPLOITERS
Lyca is not good because they cut my sim wrong and made me run around trying to unlock my phone
What did they do with your SIM?
I used lyca and lebara for international calls mainly, but problem for me was really bad coverage and bad call quality. Even lyca using O2, they have a worst signal than O2. Now I am using simplecall mobile, and for me is great. UK prices are good, 5p for sms, 4p for mobile, and 3 for landline,and you have free calls in same network. They are using Orange and I have good reception, International prices are good too, I am calling Serbia ( South East Europe) a lot and for landlines price is 13p,for example lyca, lebara are 9p, but I have much better call quality with simplecall. The bad thing there is no standard bundles, so this company is good for someone who dont use mobile a lot, and need cheap international calls. And I forgot to mention they customer service is great. Hope I help somebody.
How do you know they have worse signal than O2? This should be impossible…
I don’t know how, but that how is. I was comparing O2,lyca, and giffgaff, and I live in SW London, and here is signal for O2 good, not great but really solid, same is with giffgaff, but sometimes it’s happens that on giffgaff signal disappears on few minutes( even Telefonica is 100% owner of O2 and giffgaff) . But with lyca you never know. You see on your mobile there is 2 bars, and someone calling you and you are unavailable. I live with my sister and her boyfriend and they use O2 and giffgaff. If you want to check this you can go to Victoria Station and than you try to call someone with lyca and with giffgaff. I really don’t like big companies like Tmobile, Vodafone,etc, because of that I am using MVNO mobile. And I have researched and find some mobile’s which are not here, I would like to send to administrator of MNC, to put here, because I cant find any review of this mobile’s networks, and maybe someone used them or will use them.
fuck of lyca mobile, worst company i have ever seen in my life
Be away from this, otherwise u have to cry…
BEWARE of this company for their advertising is not that clear. Its easy to assume that a package will provide call minutes and texts, but this is often not the case. You may have to buy several packages if you want data, calls and txts to another country and the cost is no longer cheap – in fact it can be very expensive. Also be aware of their autotop up function, if you dont want them to automatically deduct from your bank account every month, you need to check a box, and even then, they send you a message to say that they will
Lastly, any issues costs to call their customer services, even if its their fault and their issue, you still have to pay !!!
If you just want to call back home cheaply, then its OK
Lycamobile is pure fraud. DONT USE THIS SERVICE. I purchased internet bundle so that i can navigate my way through London. The service only worked for two hours. I have made repeated calls to customer service but each time all i get is a reference number and a promise to fix the problem. My time in London is up and problem is not fixed, neither did i get my money back. THIS IS A TOTALLY FRAUDULENT SERVICE. PLEASE KEEP OFF.
I used to use SIM based services for cheap international calls being an expat living in the UK, I would have a second SIM in an old nokia phone that I used solely for calling home. Until I discovered an app for making cheap calls that can be used straight from a smartphone – it’s just so much more convenient. I’d like to recommend Vyke, they offer very low rates and great quality service. Calls can be made either via WiFi or mobile data (using the inclusive free local minutes) so it’s totally a mobile service. The app works on iPhone and Android as far as I know (friend uses it on a Samsung phone). Go check it out people
this is a service provider who claims they are providing best deals to internationaly . thats why i use lyca more than 6 months , i paid 39 pounds in A month for international calling to bangladesh. but without any notice or even a sms they are not providing that one right now instead they giving 3000 uk mins which is quite unnecessery.coz all know they are marketing as best int service provider.
quite shoked
What have they said in response?
Here goes my story with LycaMobile (.ie).
Friend gave me SIM card, so I said to myself, why to bother and research all the options here, lets just go for Lyca. I activated SIM, but could not top it up online with any of my credit cards. Form available on LycaMobile.ie simply does not expect someone from other country (though cross-country bussiness is core of Lyca) and my cards are rejected (“probably I am providing address that do not exist in Ireland”, that is what support said. Well, yes, my banks are outside of Ireland, why then should I provide Irish address?).
Ok, so I bought 20EUR top up in Spar, happy that I am about to connect to Internet. I am traveling a lot, and carry multiple devices with me, wanted to use a phone as a central place for all those devices to access internet. Then I realized only phone has the access to the network, rest of the devices – not at all. I checked Terms&Conditions, and yes, they do state that they do not wish my device to share internet connection.
I just paid for data bundle, why they even care if I check my mail on mobile or on my laptop?
Simply, I feel fooled and cheated, forced to read all the small notes under the product. You can’t just trust a seller nowadays. I warn all of those who want to share mobile internet to many other devices.
1. It took 26 hours from bying SIM card to getting Internet working. Apparently they had some issues on their side, but before I learned that I spent few hours trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong with settings
2. In Germany numbers look like 49 xxx xxx xx xx, and their website form for registration is one character short! It is designed for UK numbers that one digit shorter. I told them about this problem via website feedback form, and they emailed me back asking to call them because they don’t understand what I’m talking about.
3. Although they advertise multilanguage customer support, when you call 322 all menus are in German and there is no way for non-German speaking person to figure out how to get through.
Thanks for the feedback. Did you buy the SIM in Germany? Is the form fixed yet?
If you’re on any of lyca mobile international bundle, please check details of the tariff again before u renew it as they change the tariffs without communicating with their exiting customers on any changes they’re making, you’ld have bought it before realising that what u’re paid for is not what u’re getting. I call them (lycamobile) bunch of liars, deceiver, never consistent and never reliable. This sort of company should not be allowed to operate in the UK.
I have been with lyca mobile now for 2 months , i have had nothing but problems, at first it was fine i could top up online but then for some reason i couldnt and i rang lyca once twice three four 8 times, i emailed them 4 times and the problem is still not resolved, they told me to register my card which i did, they asked me to add auto top up which i did , they told me auto top up woudln’t be actioned this month but it automatically came off my card , but hey , i have 7.00 credit for 3 days and it keeps tellig me i have no credit when i try to make a call, i ring again and some girl fobs me off, wait a day and i can make calls using the credit they took from my account but i couldnt use it for 3 days , i tried to top up as they told me that my card would be blocked temp becuase i trie to use it on line and it didnt go through but registering the card would sort it and the problem would be resolved after this, but it wasnt, i rang back they siad give it 48 hours.its now 5 days and i still cant top up!! i cant say i would reccommend them to anyone even if i was paid .
i never purchase sims ,get many free
hi
I m having a lycamobile sim. LYCAMOBILE SUKS. Very bad service not able to recharge online. when you do call to customercare they give you the refrence number again and agian but not any solution.if u want to recharge your number online their site gives you error always and customer care says just go to retailer and recharge through voucher. And in starting lycamobile gives you very good plans but after 2 months thel ii change the plan and upgrade the price.
SO PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE LYCAMOBILE SIM.
Who are you going to switch to?
I have an iPhone 5 and i can just say lycamobile is really hitting my last nerve. I can’t recive or make calls anytime i want, I can’t contact customer service or send texts even when at the top it says i am connected to my service. I have decided to move to T-mobile as their network seems to be working best for iPhone.
beware of fraud when using lycamobile make you know what you want and they did not admit they are fraud when you topup by online no message telling you it was successful but when you want your money back they will tell you it was in your phone but I think when you buying something with your bank card the money suppose to go strait to your account when you are asking for refound
321 ,BY 3. Interesting ,BUT ,i think 1p per meg = £1 per 100 meg ,
thats £10 per gig. i think ,
thanks anyway ,
Sure, but they also have cheaper rates if you want SIM-only bulk data.
if you wish to use data ,, use GIFFGAFF
3GB ,FOR £12,,
And you can use data in france ,if you have some cash credit ,i use it for skype ,not cheap ,but always seems to work ,
But isn’t Three cheaper in that case?
no ,,
3 is only good if you get a contract ,,
If you over run ,,they take huge amounts out of your BANK.
Have you not seen Three’s latest PAYG tariff?!
lycamobile is great ,,
put £10 on ,got £12 ,texted my wife in russia from france many times , when i got back ,,had £12.50
NICE ,,
How did you end up with more credit?
i do not know ,
but i do know ,if it was tesco ,they would not send the texts ,and charge me ,plus money is soon gone..
The company is very fishy and dishonest. I used the 2 cents per minute pay as you go plan and when I recharged $50 to my account the system automatically signed me up for the $39 monthly plan. I found out when they texted me saying”my plan is going to expire and needs to be renewed.” I called the customer service three times and explained what was wrong. I was always told their manager/supervisor would call me back with a solution. However, they never called. I called back and was told the same thing “They can not do anything about it. The only thing they can do is to take my account off the $39 plan now.” This is a ridiculous solution. Stay away from this business. You’ll be trapped for sure.
Could be a good network for people calling abroad. I got a Sim to used in my tablet which is a waste of time. No 3g access and no reply from customer services. I would recommend using them if you are going on holiday but nothing else. Why even offer data services in this day and age on 2g only
Good question. And aren’t there much cheaper networks still for calling abroad?
I purchased a Toggle (owned by Lyca Mobile)sim for my mobile (Samsung Galaxy Note), for use when I was on vacation in Spain in June. I did not need a UK number just a Spanish mobile number but was told I had to have one. I only needed it for 2 weeks but thought the rates and the fact that I had the number before I went sounded great. I paid £20 (credit), which I thought would be plenty for 2 weeks. I did not call any international numbers and I am a low user of data. After 2 days my credit was virtally gone. What I didn’t realise was that it was using the UK number and not the Spanish number, so charging me roaming. They told me I had to choose the Spanish number (manual toggle)in order to use it. I tried several times but the Spanish number never worked. I told them this but they kept insisting it was working. The call centre in India I found very frustrating, half the time I couldn’t understand what they were saying (due to their accent). My parter tried to call me on my Spanish number from his Spanish number several times but it wouldn’t connect. In the end I just gave up with them, I wish I had never seen the flyer and used them in the first place. Best advice don’t bother with this company/sim, useless!
What’s the advertised procedure for toggling to the Spanish number?
I did not see any instruction that I had to do this. All it told me was to register the Spanish number once I reached Spain, which I did. When I realised that my credit had disappeared,I was told that I had to select Toggle then Manual, then select Spain. Which I did but it still didn’t work either receiving calls or making them. I felt the instructions were very poor or non-existant on their website. They should have had information on their website or sent me an email for a step by step process on how to use the Spanish number before I left for Spain. I thought that £20 would have been plenty going on what I use a month (calls and data) through my provider 02 here in the UK. What I also didn’t realise is because we didn’t have Wi-Fi in the apartment (Spain), all the time I was using mobile data which chewed up the credit in no time. Hopefully, next year roaming charges will be sorted (as mentioned in the press) and not expensive as they are now, then I can just use my 02 connection, plus for any data download such as reading The Mail newspaper on my mobile, I will wait till I have Wi-fi connection. Also, I realised you need to shut off softwear upgrades too until you are connected to Wi-fi. Live and learn!
Stay tuned as we have an article about EU roaming rates coming up soon. We also usually recommend to buy a local SIM when travelling for cheap calls/texts/data.
I think the answer is to keep an old phone that can only make/receive calls and texts so no data involved. Buy a local sim and use an internet cafe to check your emails (50 cents 30 mins)once a week or whatever! Buy the Sunday newspaper to catch up on the news! 🙂
It should only be one simple setting to turn off all roaming data. What phone do you have?
I HAVE A SAMSUNG G-NOTE II. YES I THINK ITS ON THE POP UP SCREEN WHERE POWER OFF, DATA NETWORK MODE, FLIGHT MODE IS. THE PROBLEM IS YOU DON’T NEED TO USE IT WHEN YOU ARE IN THE UK, OR I DON’T AT LEAST AS I AM NOT A BIG USER OUT OF THE HOUSE (WIFI ACCESS). SO NOT USED TO SWITCHING IT OFF/ON ON A REGULAR BASIS.
The point is if you go to Mobile network settings there’s an option to turn off Data roaming which allows you to use data in the UK but prevents you from using it overseas.
Also, all Android phones should automatically block data roaming by default so that you don’t need to turn off background data services.
I have a very strong mixed feelings about Lyca. But I know for sure their customer service was rubbish. They drop calls whilst you are on the phone with them. I gave them a hard time about that. The network was often good but frequently bad. Their website service is good, so no complaint there. The rates were fine too. They charged me money when I surpassed 3GB of data but they say their service is unlimited. I honestly would not recommend them as your reliable solution. I had issues to port my number over to them but they gladly passed the buck on someone else, but I knew they were lying about it. I had a hard time to get a PAC code from them, but now its all the past. I do NOT recommend Lyca.
Thanks for sharing. What was their excuse for charging you when you’d already paid for “unlimited” data? And can you go into a bit more detail about your issues trying to port away from them? For example, did you involve Ofcom?
I have had no issues with Lyca so far except for internet and number portability with 3 network. The rates are cheap and reliable and I have had network coverage available even in the remotest places in England, where 3, orange, and T did not have coverage. If Lyca offered 3G internet I would never leave Lyca.
They don’t offer any sort of 3G connectivity at all? And what do you mean about number portability?
meant tried in another phone but its not working same network problem,how do i solve this network problem on my simcard?So stressing and boring with out my phone!
I tried is not working?Used it in the morning it worked made some few calls with no problem now it has stopped working saying not registered on network,basically its just playing up!pls help what do i do to solve this network problem on my sim
If the SIM doesn’t work in any phone it’s probably damaged. You’ll have to call Lyca and get them to send a replacement. Please keep us updated with how you get on.
I am having problem my sim card its not registering any network on it,i can’t make calls or text but it normally works perfect!what could be the problem or how do i solve the problem its been 3days now.Tried to put other sim cards in the same phone but it works with no problem,so frustrating
Have you tried that SIM in another phone?
Crap, liars, not happy with them at all , very dissapointed, need to make an official complaint .
What exactly happened? Can we help in any way?
Hi, layca mobile so bad, don’t take this plan, if u face any problem, thay will not help u , if u call thay will tall u it’s take 24 hrs u call u get same answer 24 hours problem never gone be okay. If u don’t trust me get it.. I request them I want keep my previous phone number they take 7 days , after that I was unable to receive call from call phone, land phone was ok , I call Lycamobile customer care so far 10 days they didn’t fix problem… I call them everyday that don’t care same answer its take 24 hrs more, I talk to many layca mobile advisor .. Mark, Jonson some other people….sorry for that so bad they are … My lyca mobile number was 323 416 0934 thanks lyca mobile .. U didn’t give service i don’t want somebody get same problem like me…
i have been waiting 72 hours to get my old number to be ported from optus, lyca have sent the wrong information to optus twice,I have spent over 5 hours on hold being cut off after long holding periods many times and have sent three unanswered help e mails, number still not ported. Lyca! don’t do it its a fu@%#ng nightmare.
Are you planning to stick with them when it’s all sorted? Why did you choose them in the first place? And what have they said when you’ve reminded them of their legal obligations with regard to number port timescales?
I rang a land line in Turkey today, and also my mates Turkish mobile from the U.k, I had £12:00p credit before I started, and talked for seemed ages to both, anyway re-checked my credit after the call now have £11:90p left, can’t fault that, and haven’t topped up since Xmas 2012.
Are you still using and recommending Lyca?
The worst mobile server I ever used and even worst customer service.
They coverage is poor and on top of that so many hidden charges. When you contact their customer service they keep you on hold for ages and than always come up with some unjustified explanation. They never accept your claim and no refund at all. I’m done with it,you make your choice.
Lycamobile are barstard, shit company they gave me enough trouble, so much headache its not worth mentioning plus the money i lost on top-ups.
DONT USE LYCAMOBILE AND TELL EVERYONE ELSE ALSO NOT TO USE LYCA
I absolutely agree with this! I had endless trouble setting up a sim for iPad, and they did not activate the right bundle (I can’t do that myself) – then told me when I rang to see why all my money had disappeared, that “they don’t guarantee their iPad service”. Happy enough to take my mony dishonestly. And dealing with them is a total PITA.
yeh, lycamobile is one of the worst mobile phone networks, only use them for international calls, otherwise they are just a scam
Lacamobile’s call rates are good but the service or the actual aims is zero and cheat.
I bought a sim card and top it up with 20 Euro, 2 months later the sim card was defect, no coverage. I called customer service and I was advice to buy new sim card 2.50 Euro and call the customer service to swap the sim and that if i load 10 Euro credit that I will get the 2.50 Euro for the new sim back plus 300 mb internet free. So, i bought new sim and did exactly as I was instruct. After the swap I top up 10 Euro and my old sim card credit and the new one was merged together but the 2.50 Euro was not refund also, to my greatest surprise 5.81 Euro was cut from my credit 30 minutes later, I called customer service and I was told I will get the 2.50 Euro plus 5.81 Euro back, I waited for two weeks without any refund then I called again and I was told they can not make any refund. first, that i did not top up? I gave them my top up date and the card seri a number, then they say i top up on the new sim card that I should have top up on the old sim? then I ask how could i top up on defect sim? then they say I should have wait 3 days before top up that i top up before the swap? I then explained again how i bought new sim card and call for swap after swap then i top up and my both credit showed my both balance together and that had it been i top up before the swap my old credit wouldn’t be together? Again if we were to agree that i top up on the sim card which I am still using so why Lycamobile then charging me for data service because i was supposed to get 300 mb for free as I top up 10 Euro then the phone went dead.
I called again and I was told to wait for 24 hours that the both 2.50 Euro and 5.81 Euro will be refund so, I am still waiting.
Really, Lycamobile is not efficient or they have cheat in their blood so be careful or you should be ready to wast your money and time! I wouldn’t recommend it except their aims are straight forward.
It’s not cost effective to use overseas anyway because of the roaming charges, I think it’s over £2 per minute abroad. I only use it in the u.k to ring abroad,and phone our friends when in the u.k.as Lyca to Lyca are free, so is voice retreival and uk calls are only 5p per minute to land line or mobile. when we go to our holiday home in Turkey I have a Turkish Voda phone to ring back to the U.K. that only works out at 20 Kurs per minute, so works well for us.
biggest waist of my money. WILL NOT WORK OVER SEAS!!!
I only use my lycamobile for international calls to Turkey 1p per minute….great value.
Comparing with O2 international pay as you go sims, a £10 top up gets you additional benefits such as free unlimited UK texts and 500 mins calls to either UK landlines or O2 mobiles within a month. Also, O2 international call rates are slightly cheaper and much clearer than those of Lycamobile.
They have never charged me infact if you top up on line they give you an extra £1……so top up by £5 you get £6
Topping up your lycamobile incurs an extra £2. This charge is not reflected until you have finalised your payment. Beware, this happen to me when I topped up my line using my debit card. Never again will I use this method. Day light robbery.
One of the worse phone service ever seen, yes this is day light robbery.. i have bought unlimited plan by paying $59.00 after a week start saying 0 balance. ia m not able call anywhere. called them, those stupid ass people every time they raise ticket and saying will be resolved soon but it never happen,…it’s been a week. i am totally screwed.
please don’t use this cheating phone line ever.
Did you ever get this resolved?
Mahim,
I think you will find that the 074 is the new Lycamobile Plus which is cheaper than the old 075 lyca standard which is being phased out
When I ring friends who have Lyca mobile phones I am charged 25.5p min. Which is excluded from my free calls bundle. Because 0740 numbers (Lyca) are non STD !!!!!! Why is this??????
What network are you currently on?
i think its because 074 is lycamobile and numbers beginning 075 are lycamobile plus which means they are different tariffs, so calling from an 074 number to an 075 even though they are both lycamobile would mean you are cross network calling sneaky i know but i learnt the hard way
Actually I think they are referring to this issue.
@ Arthur,
Many thanks, did begin to wonder if it was just me. As you say, it seems to be a total con. I got it for my daughter as she only needs a few MB a day, never ever worked on any phone.
Moved to Dialog-Vizz now and it works with no trouble at all including the 10Mb/day, so to anybody else reading, at the moment Lyca is not really worth the bother.
Will re-post if it changes.
Joe
i got there internet to work on an old nokia 8600 luna via gprs so it does work but it does drop the connection quite a bit which hasnt happened on any other network sim ive used in it
Hi joe don’t waste your time and effort you will not get data to work on their network they lie they don’t provide Internet I tried for weeks to get my Htc desire to work I’m not a novice doesn’t matter what I did it wouldn’t they kept saying they had problems it would be fixed next day work so I left they wouldn’t give me a pack code took me 1 week to finally get it complete con men
1 week to get your pac code? they wouldnt give it to me at all so i just gave up, i only got this sim cos my mum got one then realised the whole 074 and 075 thing and got caught out with there whole cross network calling charge
That’s because of T-Mobile: http://mobilenetworkcomparison.org.uk/t-mobile-lyca-feud-update/
When someone ports their number they will often be expected to pay any outstanding sums owed to the end of the contract even if it’s no fixed term. That may be why you were experiencing trouble.
I was with Lyca mobile by they have lots of hidden charges. The service in general and customer service is crap, no wonder they’re so cheap!
I had thought the same thing until I checked Lyca’s FAQ site, it’s all there, laid out there pretty well to. I’ll include the link
http://www.lycamobile.co.uk/faq/en
u r right this is crap . its been 4 months things were ok . I was making intentional calls.Then there was no need to make those call and now just checking email n using viber and receiving call on talk tone cost me pounds.When im asking the same Q that ru u cutting for all these no reply.
While the coverage is the same as O2 it has proved impossible to set up any of my many phones to use data.I’ve made 3 calls to Lyca to confirm that data is activated, and they assure me that it is.
The APN they supply for Android phones does not work, and cannot even be properly entered as given.This seems to stem from the fact that the card is “Roaming”.
Those sent by text to Nokia phones do not work either, and nor do any of the O2 APNs.
As such it is not possible to use data on Lycamobile in the UK, whether free or not, and as such I cannot recommend them.
I am not novice and am pretty sure that they are fibbing when they say data is enabled, it would be too much of a coincidence that all 5 of my phones did not work with just this one service!
I’d love to know if anyone has got data to work on the Orange San Francisco/ ZTE blade or any Android phone.
Lyca have not bothered to reply to emails, and although the call centre staff seem to try, it just does not work.
Dissapointing
It’s strange, I never had a problem when I was in England. I’ve got a Samsung Galaxy running Android and it was pretty easy for me to set up and call home. What version of Android were you running? I know that versions before Gingerbread had some serious problems with anything in general.
@NoProblem I was (am) running 2.2 (also tried on 1.6) and on several old Nokias. Always showed the roaming symbol and simple blanked the APN when entered as shown on their site, the combination of MNC and MCC simply seemed “wrong” for the base network (02) and would not be accepted. I notice that the reference to internet is sort of “hidden” on the site (or at least hard to find) 1.6 and 2.2 you can’t leave them blank, if you put in the MNC and MCC they suggest, it blanks on saving the APN, and if you put in O2’s , it just doesn’t work! Still got the card though so if you know what works, i’ll give it a try.
I purchased a Lycamobile sim and was told a few days after having it that they blocked by Simcard randomly for suspected fraud. The stupid reason for the bar was due to my frequent top-ups over a short span of time. Obviously furious as I had’t committed any fraud the supervisor insisted to prove this and get my number unblocked that I send them a utility bill which I did.
When I called them back to check progress another supervisor then said oh btw we now need a picture or scanned copy of the front of my physical bank card or if I don’t I would not get a refund and would loose all my credit. I ran a mile and told them where to go at this point.
There was no discretion and all they seem to do is read from a script and repeat themselves.
Do not go with Lycamobile or if you need to make sure you top up by voucher in cash and not card as they are not to be trusted and act like fraudsters!!!
I have problem with my lycamobil network please I need alp from you
What’s the issue?
WORST SERVICE-THEY SHOULD BE BANNED BY THE REGULATOR
After several complaints it was proven that their customer service is worst. They didn’t even bother to read my email in which I clearly told that within an hour of subscribing to the service i realised it is not working and their team ask me to try again and again every day and kept on assuring us that the network issue will be fixed. Also, if they cant guarantee good service at home so should I sit on the bench around 200 feet from my home in severe cold weather just to use the crapt Lyca service. This is again height of caring less and cheating customers.
They should go back to their telephone recordings of my conversations right from day 1 where I have been requesting to cancel and refund. These recordings will be required by the regulators as well. I feel like being cheated by them
Initial email extract
LYCA offered an internet plan for 15 pounds unlimited and 500 minutes. I subscribed to the plan and in an hour I realised that the plan was not working and there was no network coverage.. I called customer services and they kept on asking me to wait for 24 hours and call them again. I used to call them back had to wait for 20 mins on their 322 number every time and was given a difference reference number however after waiting for 7 days they told me they cant do anything and neither they can refund me for the plan. They cheated and I believe the regulator should take strong action against this Company
Set data roaming in your phone settings it works.