Lebara Mobile 4G Coverage and Network Review

Lebara Mobile is a mobile network with international calling at its heart, as many of its plans let you call dozens of destinations at no extra cost.

However, that’s not all it has going for it, as Lebara Mobile also has flexible plans and plenty of coverage, since it uses Vodafone as its infrastructure partner.

But Lebara isn’t the perfect fit for everyone, so read on below for a full overview of the network, along with details of the good and bad points of it.

Summary

Pros	Cons
Free international calls	Low data limits
Short-term plans	Few extras
Allows tethering	No pay monthly

Our Rating

Coverage

Lebara Mobile Coverage (Vodafone Network)

Network Type	Coverage by population
4G	99%
3G	99%
2G	99%

Since Lebara Mobile is a Vodafone MVNO, it has the same coverage as Vodafone, which means roughly 99% 4G coverage, 99% 3G coverage and 99% 2G coverage across the UK. While those figures are high, that theoretically puts Vodafone and its MVNOs (including Lebara) behind EE and Three for 4G coverage, as you can see in the chart below.

However, not all networks update their figures at the same time, so these may not be totally up to date. Plus, Vodafone is investing heavily in its network, so the gap will likely close.

4G Network Coverage Comparison

Network	4G Coverage by population
EE	> 99%
Vodafone (Lebara Mobile)	99%
O2	99%
Three	99.8%

4G from Vodafone (and by extension Lebara Mobile) is now available in a huge number of cities, towns and villages, including but by no means limited to:

Basingstoke, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Coventry, Dudley, Edinburgh, Epsom, Ewell, Folkestone, Gateshead, Glasgow, Hatfield , Hove and Hastings, Hemel Hempstead, Huddersfield, Jarrow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Maidstone, Newbury, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oldham, Pontefract, Portsmouth, Reading, Rotherham, Sheffield, Slough, Stockport, Sunderland, Sutton Coldfield, Staines, Stourbridge, Swinton, Southampton, Tunbridge, Wakefield, Walsall, Watford, Wells and West Bromwich.

Vodafone/Lebara Mobile’s 4G service is also available in thousands of smaller villages and other communities across the UK. Recent locations to get a Vodafone 4G upgrade include: Preston and Barrow-in-Furness. Vodafone (and by extension Lebara) has also recently improved its 4G service in Camberley.

Network Speeds and Frequencies

Lebara Mobile uses standard 4G, which is around 5 times faster than a typical 3G network. Vodafone has started rolling out a faster LTE-A service in some locations, but it’s unlikely that Lebara has access to this.

OpenSignal – Mobile Networks Update, October 2018

Network	4G download speeds	4G latency (ms)
EE	28.9Mbps	39.77ms
Three	18.78Mbps	48.15ms
Vodafone (Lebara Mobile)	21.92Mbps	40.78ms
O2	14.61Mbps	42.38ms

There isn’t much information on Lebara’s speeds, but according to OpenSignal, Vodafone’s average 4G download speed is 21.92Mbps. Lebara’s may be similar, since it uses the same infrastructure, and that would put it behind EE but ahead of Three and O2.

Vodafone’s (and potentially therefore Lebara’s) average latency meanwhile is said to be 40.78ms. Latency is how long the network takes to respond to a request, so lower numbers are better here, putting Vodafone (and potentially Lebara Mobile) in a good position.

Speedtest – Mobile Speedtest Data, Q3-Q4 2017

Network	Download/upload speeds
EE	28.80/9.29Mbps
Vodafone (Lebara Mobile)	17.26/8.16Mbps
Three	14.58/7.35Mbps
O2	14.11/7.13Mbps

Speedtest on the other hand shows Vodafone as having an average download speed of 17.26Mbps, while its average upload speed is said to be 8.16Mbps, both of which are good scores relative to most rivals, boding well for Lebara Mobile.

Lebara uses Vodafone’s spectrum bands, which means it presumably uses the 800MHz, 1400MHz and 2600MHz bands for 4G. The 800MHz band is long range and good at passing through walls, so it’s handy in both rural locations (where there aren’t many masts) and more urban locations.

However, it’s not great at handling large numbers of connections, which is a strength of the 2600MHz band. The 1400MHz band is a middle ground. For more in depth information, check out our 4G frequencies guide. The table below provides an overview of all the bands Vodafone/Lebara uses, for 4G, 3G and 2G.

Vodafone Network Frequencies

Frequency	Frequency Band	Network
800MHz	Band 20	4G
900MHz	Band 8	2G & 3G
1400MHz SDL	Band 32	4G
1800MHz	Band 3	2G
2100MHz	Band 1	3G
2600MHz FDD	Band 7	4G
2600MHz TDD	Band 38	4G

Planned improvements

Lebara Mobile is largely reliant on Vodafone for improvements, and Vodafone is growing and improving its network all the time, so that’s good news.

Recent developments from Vodafone include plans to share 5G infrastructure with O2 (just as the two companies currently share some 4G infrastructure). Vodafone is also installing antennae under manhole covers, which should help improve 4G, as well as forming some of the groundwork for 5G.

Traffic management

On the subject of traffic management, Lebara Mobile says “We reserve the right to manage your use of the Network in order to protect it for the use of all of our customers. We may therefore apply traffic management controls from time to time to protect the Network.”

So it doesn’t get very specific, but we’d imagine traffic management might be applied when there’s serious congestion, network faults or excessive use.

Plans

As you can see, Lebara’s plans are short term, lasting just 30 days, which makes the network more flexible than some, as you can change or cancel your plan almost whenever you want.

Lebara also allows tethering and many plans let you call abroad at no extra cost, however data limits are low and there’s not much in the way of extra features.

International calling

This is one area where Lebara Mobile stands out, as it has various plans which give you an allowance of minutes to call abroad with, without paying extra. Some of these plans are targeted at specific destinations, such as Nigeria or Ghana, but others let you call dozens of different countries at no extra cost.

Tethering

While Lebara Mobile doesn’t advise tethering it also doesn’t prevent it, so you can use your data allowance to get other devices online if you want.

WiFi Calling

WiFi Calling isn’t offered by Lebara Mobile. If it was, you’d be able to make calls over Wi-Fi, using your normal dialler and SMS apps to stay in touch when there’s no signal.

VoLTE

VoLTE isn’t offered by Lebara Mobile either. VoLTE means being able to make calls over 4G, so you can call even if there’s no 2G or 3G signal.

Pay As You Go

Lebara Mobile also lets you Pay As You Go at a rate of 19p per minute, 19p per text and 19p per megabyte.

Those rates aren’t great, but note that if you’re calling or texting another Lebara number in the UK it will be free, and as its plans all last just 30 days you can make your money go further by opting for one of them, without really losing the freedom and flexibility of Pay As You Go.

Roaming Destinations

Like almost all UK networks, Lebara Mobile lets you roam across the EU at no extra cost. However, it notes that with some bundles the use of data may be subject to a fair usage policy. The exact limit that you can use depends on your plan, but you can find the complete list here.

Customer service

There haven’t been many studies into Lebara Mobile’s customer service, but one way to get an idea of it is to look at the network’s Trustpilot rating, which currently stands at 5.9/10, which is considered an average score. So based on that it’s probably not one of the best, but also probably not one of the worst.

Conclusion

Lebara Mobile is a great choice if you plan to regularly call international numbers. It’s also a solid choice if you just want the flexibility of not being tied in to a contract – though lots of other networks offer similar flexibility.

If you’re after extras such as VoLTE or data rollover this isn’t the network for you though, and its data allowances are dwarfed by many rivals.