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Lebara plans
Our verdict: Lebara came to Australia in 2009 with a plan to help you stay connected with loved ones overseas. There pre-paid plans largely deliver on this.
Where Lebara shines is it's great international inclusions on all its mobile plans, which is handy for those looking to stay in touch with friends or family overseas.
You can get free calls and texts to over 60 countries, although which countries you can get access to varies depending on what plan you've signed up with.
Besides this, its prepaid plans offer great value across a huge range of data limits. It also offers relatively cheap add on data packs should you still need even more data.
With such a wide range of plans available, Lebara could be right for you if:
You're looking for big data. Lebara offers up to 100GB a month on its 30-day prepaid plans, as part of its activation bonus.
You call overseas frequently. Even Lebara's Extra Small plan comes with international minutes.
You want an easy way to get a plan. You can get a SIM online or pick it up from petrol stations or at any of Lebara's resellers, such as Coles or BIG W.
While Lebara has plenty of positives, there's 1 thing to keep an eye out for:
It has very poor international roaming options. While it will help you stay in contact with loved ones overseas, if you are travelling yourself, you might want to consider a travel or local SIM instead if you go overseas.
Lebara's 30-day expiry plans range from 10GB for $19.90 per recharge all the way up to 100GB for $49.90.
Good to know: Lebara's 30-day plans average out well below the benchmark of $1 per 1GB.
Because Lebara also offers data banking, it makes their plans even more appealing since you can save up unused data for the future.
Lebara has a lot of long-expiry options, favouring big data to use over 12 months.
Keep in mind that Lebara offers a 360-day expiry instead of a 365-day expiry on its plans.It is important to point this out as you won't get a full years worth of data out of the plan and will have to recharge 5 days short of a year.
Things to watch out for:
Some of Lebara's plans come with bonus data when you sign up. These only last for the first 30 days, leaving you with less data to use afterwards.
Long-expiry plans don't give you all the data upfront – your data is split into equal 30-day chunks that can later be saved in your data bank.
Coverage
Lebara is owned by TPG Telecom and uses the Vodafone 4G/5G network for coverage. TPG Telcom also owns Vodafone Austrlaia.
The Vodafone 4G/5G mobile network reaches around 96% of the Australian population.
Plans from Lebara have identical coverage to plans directly from Vodafone.
You should be fine in metropolitan areas, but could notice a drop of coverage in rural or regional areas compared to Telstra's 99.5% coverage network.
Customer service
Want to contact Lebara with a question or problem? You can get in touch with it through any of the following methods:
Ring up the customer service team between 8am and 8pm AEST weekdays or from 9am to 6pm on weekends.
Drop a message on live chat and talk with a Lebara agent.
Send an email via it's care@lebara address and talk with a Lebara agent.
Leave a question over Messenger on Lebara's Facebook page.
Keep in mind: Lebara has no store locations so you won't be able to get help in person.
Bonus features
Lebara may be a smaller provider, but it has several handy features on its plans:
🔄 Data banking
You can save up to 200GB of unused data with Lebara's data bank feature. You'll keep this data as long as you recharge before expiry with any of its plans.
🎁 Data gifting
Every 30 days, you can gift up to 10GB from your data bank to other Lebara customers with a data bank.
This could be useful if your friends or family are also with Lebara and they're running out of data on their mobile plans.
💰 Auto recharge discount
If your plan costs $24.90 or above monthly, you'll get a 10% discount on your plan fees when you sign up for automatic recharge.
This feature is off by default but can be activated through your account portal.
🌏 International inclusions
Lebara has some of the more generous international inclusions, offering unlimited talk and text to up to 64 countries. Most plans also get unlimited texts to 60 countries and some amount of international call minutes.
Few mobile providers come close to this number of included countries.
🔒 No lock-in contracts
Another handy feature is Lebara offers no lock-in contracts, meaning you can use the service based on your terms.
✈️ International roaming packs
Lebara has 2 roaming packs that work in more than 50 countries:
$15 for 500MB data, 50 minutes talk and 50 SMS with a 2-day expiry period.
$45 for 3GB data, 150 minutes talk and 150 SMS with a 10-day expiry period.
Neither offers good value as far as roaming goes.
What rivals are giving Lebara a run for its money?
Despite Lebara's great value prepaid plans, there are other providers that measure up well against it too.
For better coverage:
In addition to offering similar features to Lebara, ALDImobile uses the Telstra wholesale network covering 98.8% of the population. This could help with coverage in rural and regional areas.
For another international option: Although Lycamobile doesn't provide quite the same value as Lebara, it's another provider with huge international inclusions – up to 53 countries with unlimited calls and texts. It also runs on parts of the Vodafone 4G network.
For cheaper plans:
Lebara has great prices, but it's hard to beat Moose Mobile's affordable prices across its plans. Moose has some fantastic value on the Optus 4G network and offers discounts that last up to 12 months.
Ready to sign up with Lebara?
You can easily order a mobile plan online from Lebara's website or you can also buy a SIM in-store if you don't want to wait around for it to get delivered. Lebara offers pick up spots as the major supermarkets, petrol stations and Big W.
Otherwise, you can keep comparing mobile plans on Finder to discover one that better suits your needs.
What if I want to keep my current phone number? You can choose to keep your existing mobile number when you sign up with Australia Post by selecting the option during SIM activation. Australia Post advises that the process could take up to 72 hours.
Sam Baran is a writer for Finder, covering topics across the tech, telco and utilities sectors. They enjoy decrypting technical jargon and helping people compare complex products easily. When they aren't writing, you'll find Sam's head buried in a book or working on their latest short story. Sam has a Bachelor of Advanced Science from the University of Sydney. See full bio
Cameron Micallef was a utilities writer for Finder. He previously worked on titles including Smart Property Investment, nestegg and Investor Daily, reporting across superannuation, property and investments. Cameron has a Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies/ Commerce from the University of Wollongong. Outside of work Cameron is passionate about all things sports and travel. See full bio
Cameron's expertise
Cameron has written 177 Finder guides across topics including:
Do you have any data(only) offer deals for 365 days on one payment?
ArnoldJanuary 6, 2018
Hi Rohan,
Thanks for your inquiry.
Yes, these plans are commonly known as long expiry plans. You may check your options for long expiry mobile plans by using our search filters to help narrow down your options. Plans will include data + standard calls and texts.
Once you have chosen a particular plan, you may then click on the “Go to site” button and you will be redirected to the provider’s website where you can proceed with your application or get in touch with their representatives for further assistance.
Hope this information helps
Cheers,
Arnold
RalphSeptember 12, 2016
Using AT&T in USA on iphone 6. Going to Iceland, Greece, Venice and UK. What do I need for texting and phone calls (short calls)?
ChesterSeptember 13, 2016
Hello Ralph,
Thanks for your question.
Currently Lebara mobile does not offer international roaming.
Regards,
Chester
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Do you have any data(only) offer deals for 365 days on one payment?
Hi Rohan,
Thanks for your inquiry.
Yes, these plans are commonly known as long expiry plans. You may check your options for long expiry mobile plans by using our search filters to help narrow down your options. Plans will include data + standard calls and texts.
Once you have chosen a particular plan, you may then click on the “Go to site” button and you will be redirected to the provider’s website where you can proceed with your application or get in touch with their representatives for further assistance.
Hope this information helps
Cheers,
Arnold
Using AT&T in USA on iphone 6. Going to Iceland, Greece, Venice and UK. What do I need for texting and phone calls (short calls)?
Hello Ralph,
Thanks for your question.
Currently Lebara mobile does not offer international roaming.
Regards,
Chester