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.
