Lebara (Australia)

When Lebara landed on Australia and I saw their fees I frowned. Funny, because I was with Lebara Au as my main carrier for years both for International and local calls.

Herewith a wrap-up of my experience with Lebara.  

THE GOOD 
> They have the best rates for prepaid mobile in Australia to call landlines, mobiles and 1300 and 1800 numbers, the latter being the hidden trap of most Australian "cheap" carriers for prepaid and post-paid. Most services and utilities companies have one of those two numbers, and one can expend a lot of time on the phone when calling. 
> If you have family and/or friends living overseas and talk with them often, you will love Lebara because they offer ridiculously cheap fees to call landlines overseas (as cheap as a local call within Australia), very cheap fees to call mobiles, and the quality of the connection is fabulous most of the time. The only cheaper rates for calling overseas and having a good quality of sound I've found are Skype's. Last year, I spent  over an hour on the phone in a call from Perth to the a landline in the USA and paid less than 2 bucks! Calls to some European countries are more expensive, but as cheap as a local call within Australia.
> Their prepaid data packs are generous in size and very cheap. They used to be more varied and generous at the beginning, but they are still great.  Of course, they want you to pay for a plan, but they don't push you into it nor make things difficult so you do so. It is really up to you and your needs.
> Their data plans are valid for a month but, unlike other companies, they can be renewed without a problem if you use them before the end of the natural month. 
>  You can recharge and track your phone and data usage online.
> You can configure your Internet settings by going online providing your phone number and phone model, and the company automatically will send you an SMS with an auto-set-up thingie attached that configures  everything for you.  
> They have online chat help, something I always love because phone calls to customer service,  even if free is a waste of time, especially if you are working. 
> You can recharge online easily. If you register your credit card, recharging online, from your phone, is very easy and straightforward without having to introduce any personal info. 
> You can easily set up the auto-recharge.  
> Purporting number from a normal Lebara SIM card to a a nano Lebara Card is done without a fuss in about 1 hour.   
> The quality of sound in International calls is crystal clear and as good as I was ringing from a landline. some return sound is ocassionally found, though. 
> Coverage in Australia has improved a lot, especially in rural areas, and to my surprise I found my phone using the local network in some areas that I visit regularly, when there was no coverage before. 
> Lebara SIM cards are everywhere! In any small shop and even in Woolies and in many Post Offices. I would not bother ordering a SIM  online unless you are in a wheel chair and have mobility problems.  

DOWNSIDES
> Purporting a phone number from another carrier can be a bit lengthy. 
> If you use Internet without a plan, your prepaid credit will leak fast without you browsing much. It happened to me. These days, fortunately, they charge you for KB not of MB, but it is still expensive. You better pay for a data pack. 
> They don't offer the option of choosing from different phone numbers when you join, so you better choose a data pack with a number you like in advance. 
> Lebara uses the Vodafone network, so their Internet service is not the best in the Australian market, yet good enough for 3G and everyday use. Never had any problem with it at all and used it regularly.
> No International roaming whatsoever. 
> Although Lebara is in other countries, you cannot use your Lebara SIM card in any of those countries. 
> Chat help is really slow. I think the operators are attending several people at the same time because it takes then ages to reply. That or their plugging or chat program is outdated.   
>  Customer service can be idiotic and unhelpful at times especially if you present them with a problem or ask them something that isn't in their manual. At times they don't listen to what you are saying, or want to move on to the next customer asap, or they tell you something you know is incorrect to acknowledge that this is the case  only when you say you have the proof of that being incorrect; or they treat you like you are a half-wit. 
> Recharge online was hassle free first, no need to register your credit card, but then was impossible, plenty of problems, a pain in the butt, and last year was easy and possible but you need to have your card registered, something I never like. 

To my surprise, Lebara turned to be a frog turned into prince, which is the reverse of other companies I have been with. Not Telstra, that is for sure, but you are not ripped off on a daily basis either.

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Amaysim

Amaysim is a budget phone and mobile Internet carrier that uses the Optus network at a fraction of the price, and has a fabulous coverage within Australia (second best after Telstra) some remotes areas of Australia included. Amasym offers good-priced call+data plans and data-only packages. You can use your phone for just calls, just data, or in a combo, for 3G and 4G. Suit yourself.

I used Amasym for my tablet's data for almost 3 years and had an extra SIM card for emergencies in my phone until last year. I was most impressed with the national coverage, quality of the data transfer, pricing of prepaid data packages and online service. They are especially good, the best I would say, for packages of 2.5 and 4 GB (in the 3G network). 

Any Amaysim SIM can be used for data in mobiles, tablets and in your laptop if you have an unlocked dongle. I loved this, as gave me the possibility of using the SIM in different devices if necessary. Also, I always want to have an extra phone/Internet provider on the side just in case my main phone and data carriers had a massive outage. In fact, before leaving the company, there was a major Dodo's outage and Amasym kept me online until Dodo fixed the problem.

Everything you need to know about the configuration settings is online. DIY. I barely had the need to contact Customer Service. I contacted them once by email, as they advice you to do that, and it took them ages to reply, so I'd  rather grab the phone and call them or use their online chat.

The main downside of the data packages is that, once expired, they can't be renewed immediately unless you are upgrading, and you have to wait until your renewal date is due (they follow natural months). This is utterly stupid, hello hello, because they lose money from customers who would be renewing right on the spot, and also, that sort of customer wouldn't be interesting in upgrading or joining a post-paid plan. 

Managing everything from My Amaysim gives customers lots of freedom. One can switch on and off the auto-renewal payments, roaming and recharge options to their liking. The company usually sends an email or SMS reminding how much data one has used, first when it is 50% used, and then 80%. If the auto-renewal button is ticked on, you will receive an email with a receipt when the package is renewed and another informing of the renewal having taken place. Mind that the auto-renewal is set by default both in phone and data packages; you better tick it off if you don't want that.

Before I quit the company, they were already offering 4G data plans, which are way less generous in data and more expensive. Yet, they wanted to push customers into them. If you join, be careful which things you tick on/off so you don't end with a 4G plan when you will perfectly do with a 3G. Truly, unless you use your phone Internet for business purposes 3G works wonders in most parts of Australia.

Amaysim has one of the cheapest prepaid rates for phone calls in Australia. However, their rates exclude calls to 1300 and 1800 numbers, which is a way of ripping-off customers with a smile; most utilities companies in Australia have 1300 numbers and you might expend 30 minutes on the phone dealing with PO Australia, your bank, power co., or Internet co. and get a humongous bill from Amaysim. Amazing, really. Also, their International rates are very expensive for calls overseas and extremely expensive for roaming.

Generally speaking, I was a very happy prepaid customer for data-only packages. It was convenient having an extra SIM for emergency calls and/or PC Internet usage. but I always had a cheaper phone calls and mobile Internet with other companies.

If you are traveller visiting Australia, Amaysim is really convenient for everyday use, especially if you don't need to call utilities or corporate companies. 

COOL
> At least when I joined, they offered the possibility of choosing a phone number that was good for you. They offered an option of few for you to select. If you didn't liked them, you could change again. That is great if you are looking for a "catchy" number. 
> Purporting my previous phone number was done and carried out easily. 
> They have online chat help, something I always appreciate because calling Amaysim on the phone, even if free, can be a waste of time.

MIND
> Although you can use your Internet packages on their own, your SIM needs to have a minimum amount of money for calls. You can recharge 10 bucks and leave them for ages, as the expire date is very long. You can also use that money to pay your next data pack. When the date of renewal of your phone balance is due, you will receive an email or SMS advising you to recharge. 
> If you don't use your SIM for a few months, you will receive emails and SMS from the company informing you that your number will be cancelled if you don't renew. 
 

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