Lebara Mobile review: International calls galore

In our comparison of Australian telcos, Lebara scored pretty much smack-bang in the middle, both overall and in terms of value for money.

Lebara offers both 28-day and 365-day plans, all of which include a decent amount of data along with international calls and texts (which we'll get into in more detail later). Prices range from $25 to $50 per month for 28-day plans and $200 to $300 for the long-expiry plans. Additionally, customers can save 10% on any 28-day plan simply by switching on auto-recharge.

As is the case with most Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), Lebara customers are limited to data speeds of 150Mbps on most plans or 200Mbps on the most expensive 28-day plan.

Although Lebara offers decent value for money, there are still better options out there. On the Vodafone network, consider Kogan Mobile for long-expiry plans and Lycamobile for month-to-month plans. Otherwise, take a look at Spintel or Tangerine.

In Australia, Lebara’s 4G mobile network coverage comes courtesy of Vodafone. As an MVNO, Lebara offers its customers full access to the Vodafone 4G network (unlike Telstra, which only grants most of its MVNOs access to the smaller Telstra Wholesale network).

Vodafone’s 4G footprint in Australia has improved significantly over the last few years and is now roughly on par with Optus, covering around 1.2 million square kilometres of landmass (that's about 99% of the Australian population).

You shouldn’t have any significant coverage issues in Australian metro areas but if you’re keen on travelling around rural Australia, you might want to consider a Telstra prepaid plan, or a prepaid plan from a provider that uses Telstra’s wholesale network.

Use the filters on the map below to check Vodafone’s coverage in Australia.

Lebara’s biggest perk is undoubtedly its unlimited international calling inclusions, but their biggest point of difference is the sheer number of countries they cover. Quite a number of providers offer unlimited international calls, but few can match Lebara’s selection of destinations.

All Lebara plans offer unlimited calls and texts to the following 35 destinations:

Pricier plans get the same unlimited calls and texts to all the destinations above, plus the following additional 15:

Additionally, all Lebara plans include data banking up to 500GB, and you can even gift data to other Lebara customers up to 10GB per month.

Lebara does offer international roaming packs, but they aren't exactly cheap. You can choose from:

• Economy Roaming: $15 for 500MB data, 50 minutes and 50 SMS with 2-day expiry
• First Class Roaming: $45 for 3GB, 150 minutes and 150 SMS with 10-day expiry

Both roaming packs are available for use in 51 international destinations, but the price is the same regardless of whether you're visiting Paris or Auckland. Unless you're planning on using those calls, we recommend opting for a travel eSIM instead.

The telecommunications industry, as a whole, doesn't tend to have the most satisfied client base, and this is reflected in user-generated reviews on Product Review, where Lebara scores just 2 stars out of 5. To put that into perspective, however, Telstra, Optus and Vodafone all score below 1.6 stars.

Despite mediocre customer support ratings, Lebara offers a decent number of support channels. If you end up needing a hand, you can use the self-service Lebara app, call 126 122 from your Lebara service or 1300 126 122 from any other phone, visit their Facebook page, or hit up the live chat team on the Lebara website.