MWC: What device highlights did you miss?

So, early last week I predicted that...

How Wireless Will Pave the Path to Neobank Profitability

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An end of an era: Vodafone UK turns off 3G services

I thought it was worthwhile highlighting this...

Has anyone tried Lyca Mobile?

I have been seeing there advertisements all around the place offering free SMS to anywhere. I suspect this is really appealing to those with friends and relatives abroad. The question is how many will sign up and then continue as paying users in the New Year. Are normobs that savvy? Come to think of it, are we?
– Taken at 11:49 AM on December 19, 2008 – cameraphone upload by ShoZu

Posted via email from MIR Live

38 COMMENTS

  1. i have tried the lycamobile payngo sim. network strength is crap sometimes. but in general its good.

    i would give 3 star out of 5.

  2. i have tried the lycamobile payngo sim. network strength is crap sometimes. but in general its good.

    i would give 3 star out of 5.

  3. this is the worst company i have come accross with the worst customer service ever.
    dont waste your money on this company.

    they are a bunch of liars based in india.

    including supervisors like malcom.

  4. lycamobile is the worst company ever and i have just experienced the worst customer service!

    they are a bunch of liars based in india!!

    including supervisors like malcom.

    DONT MAKE A MISTAKE BY WASTING YOUR TIME AND MONEYY ON THIS COMPANY!!!!!!

  5. I have a lycamobile in UK and presently I am in India but
    Lycamobile international roaming service is not working in India.
    I call several times to customer care but they are not helping. Now what have to do, please suggest some one?

  6. dear mr. andrew, lycamobile is a dutch company. so, could you please modify your statement in the 3rd line?

  7. Thank God I didn’t immediately transfer my O2 number to Lyca. This Lycamobile is rubbish. I was using an O2 Your Country PAYG sim which I load £30/month to get 200min free international calls to more than 200 countries. Then I tried the Lyca sim. I loaded the Lyca sim (bought from 99P store) with £20. I was attracted by their flat rate of 10p/10p call/text rates to my country and free call/text to another Lyca mobile which my wife is also using here in UK. They always cut my call after less than 2 minutes and when I try to call again to any number the network is already busy with no chance to call or even. You have to wait for 10 minutes to be able to call again just to be cut again. I tried calling their customer service number many times but I only wasted my time, it’s either the netwrok is busy or nobody answers. I’m not surprised actually how bad the customer service is knowing that Lyca is using the Orange network and is probably owned by Orange group. Two years ago, I moved from Orange monthly paid subscriber to O2 PAYG Your Country Sim because of very bad experience with Orange despite of the fact that I was paying direct debit like £80 per month for all my calls. This Lyca Mobile is so ambitious to get the most number of ethnic subscribers in UK and yet the service and network availability are rubbish. Now I have to try the Lebara and the Nomi sims if they have the same service. My wife is just waiting to use all her Lyca load and will also try the Lebara or Nomi sim. Stay away from this rubbish Lyca company. They are a waste of money and time with worst netwrok availability and customer sevice.

  8. Thank God I didn’t immediately transfer my O2 number to Lyca. This Lycamobile is rubbish. I was using an O2 Your Country PAYG sim which I load £30/month to get 200min free international calls to more than 200 countries. Then I tried the Lyca sim. I loaded the Lyca sim (bought from 99P store) with £20. I was attracted by their flat rate of 10p/10p call/text rates to my country and free call/text to another Lyca mobile which my wife is also using here in UK. They always cut my call after less than 2 minutes and when I try to call again to any number the network is already busy with no chance to call or even. You have to wait for 10 minutes to be able to call again just to be cut again. I tried calling their customer service number many times but I only wasted my time, it’s either the netwrok is busy or nobody answers. I’m not surprised actually how bad the customer service is knowing that Lyca is using the Orange network and is probably owned by Orange group. Two years ago, I moved from Orange monthly paid subscriber to O2 PAYG Your Country Sim because of very bad experience with Orange despite of the fact that I was paying direct debit like £80 per month for all my calls. This Lyca Mobile is so ambitious to get the most number of ethnic subscribers in UK and yet the service and network availability are rubbish. Now I have to try the Lebara and the Nomi sims if they have the same service. My wife is just waiting to use all her Lyca load and will also try the Lebara or Nomi sim. Stay away from this rubbish Lyca company. They are a waste of money and time with worst netwrok availability and customer sevice.

  9. NEVER BUY A LYCA …. RANDOMLY THEY OVERCHAGRE YOUR NORMAL CALLS AS PREMIUM CALLS. YOU WILL NEVER GET THIER CUSTOMER SERVICE CONNECTIVITY.

  10. I changed from Mobileworld (uses T-Mobile)(who will cease in March 2010) to Lycamobile (uses Orange) in Jan 2010.
    The quality of calls is much better.
    BUT customer service (in India) is useless.
    Took them 2 weeks to transfer my number. I had to spend hours on the phone every day.
    Then my login stopped working. Customer service told me to send them an e-mail, but I can't because their box is full!
    So I fixed it myself, by re-registering.

  11. Lycamobile cheating adverting posts!!! Becarefull!

    I bought a £10 of Lycamobile yesterday (23 April 2010) becuase I saw a big post at top of a shop window says buy £10 get £6 free calls. When I loaded the £10 credit on my sim, I found there is no £6 free calls, only £10. So I call Lycamobile, they said to me that the offer was ended on March 2010 (this conidtion is wrirtten in very small print at the post, because the post is at top of shop windows, none can read this small prints.

    1. First of all, if Lycamobile know the offers are ended, they should take the posts off from the shop, at the end date. Otherwise is cheating.

    2. Another problem of Lycamobile is they give large amount of free calls, such as buy £20 get £50 free. But they hidden a key fact: the free calls will ended any time Lycamobile wanted. For example I bought a £20 credit on 1 April 2010, They said they will give me £20 free calls, but the free calls will be ended within 30 days. Also they said calls between Lycamobile plus owners are free (on 1 April 2010), now they ended this offer. This is also a cheating adverting, if they offer buyers something, the offer must last at least the £20 card is over. If they can ended the offer at any time, then they can say buy £1 credit, you will get £100 free calls, but after 3 days they ended the offer, what the buyer will get?

    I have report this case to Ofcom and local council fair trade office, and proper to take legal action agaist Lycamobile.

    If anyone has experince as me do the same.

  12. my name is juliet ekejija. my phone number is 07556172269 for past 2 weeks now i have not call or reiceve any call.i am tried of this line pls, help me. julekejija@yahoo.com. 0r 07790232227.

  13. Lycamobile has the worst customer service one can imagine. Totally at sea and unable to resolve a simple problem, ie. why its ridiculous website rejects every attempt to use one of several credit or debit cards to benefit their silly outfit with an automatic top-up mandate! The untrained customers services staff keep repeating ‘your bank didn’t accept it’ when the bank insists that even a rejected transaction will show up in their system. And a call-back from a supervisor  –  forget it because it never happens!

  14. Lycamobile Pay as you go is rabish and I top up with £5 and its given me balance £4.90, Becasue I like to call broad and I can’t fulfill my need with low balance, so sad I wasted my time and money. Lycamobile is Rabish.

  15. Lycamobile don’t work I order a SIM card just to try it not picture mms phone lost signal all the time not good

  16. I had more or less the same experience with Lyca Mobile. Two months ago i bought a tariff for £39 for unlimited phone calls to Nigeria. The following month i bought the same package only to be told it”s no longer unlimited phone call but 3000 minutes. Customers were not advised that the plan has changed. I eventually had to continue with the 3000 minutes plan even though i wasn’t happy with it. The following month i bought the same plan. I have followed the same process as i have done for the last two month only to be told after topping up with a £40 voucher that you can no longer top up using a top up voucher for the £39 tariff. Apparently, you can only top up using a debit or credit card. A refund, i am told is not possible and you would have to pick a tariff that gives you 500 minutes for a £20 pounds voucher. Invariably, my £40 will give me 1000 minutes and not 3000 minutes. I am told the terms and condition changed just two days ago and yet again customers were not advised of the changes to terms and conditions. I am really perplexed with the way the so called Lyca mobile is reaping innocent people off. This must be the worst company in planet earth. Please do not buy LycaMobile – they are rubbish.

  17. I am from New York City, and I just got Lycamobile, and a horrible service, I regret it. it took me 72 hour waiting to active my number, because i transferred from simple mobile to Lyca… and i am still having issues with internet, there is no internet.

  18. I am just one customer, but the service I received from Lycamobile
    USA was far below acceptable standards and even outright dishonest. They could
    not port my old number, because their network does not cover many areas in terms
    of porting existing numbers, but you the customer cannot tell anywhere from
    their website. Later 3 Customer Reps promised to refund my money after
    reviewing my case individually, but at the end the refund was still denied.

    I bought a $29.9/month Unlimited Everything Plan and a new
    SIM card from their website and planned to transfer my old number from Verizon
    to LYCA. Here is my bad experience since:

    1.
    On Nov 27 2013, I received the SIM card, activated
    it and tried phone calls, texting and data to make sure things work before porting
    my number. Their website specially says that you have to first use the new
    number they provide to activate your account, and then ask the Customer Service
    to do the number porting. Failing to do so may make you permanently lose your old
    number. Then on the same day, I called in asking for porting. The Rep checked
    and told me they could not, because they did not cover my old area code yet. I was
    surprised but did not want to lose my cell number for more than 10 years. The
    guy sounded nice. He checked my usage history and said “Don’t worry. You will
    get the refund in 24 hours, because it is not your fault.”

    2.
    About 1 week later on Dec 5 when I almost forgot
    it, I found out the money did not come back to my credit card. So I called in.
    A Rep named Sarah discussed my usage history again and said sorry for the
    delay, you would receive the refund in 72 hours.

    3.
    About another week later on Dec 11, the money
    was not back. I called again, and the Rep was Tuned. He discussed my usage
    history again and said: Sorry for the delay. The money was returned, not to my
    credit card but mistakenly to my LYCA account. I would receive the refund in 48
    hours.

    4.
    On Dec 13, the money was not back, and I called
    in, first talked with a 4th rep Abidi and later his manager Sherif. Sherif
    said that I used the phone on Nov 27 (A couple of voice calls each for seconds
    or minutes, a couple of texts and Internet
    for about 30 minutes) so they would not refund me.

    I told Sherif that I had to test it before
    porting my old number, and the 3 reps already individually evaluated my case
    and promised the refund. He was most concerned with the 30 minutes Internet use.
    I probably tried to setup APN/MMS and tested Internet while talking to their
    rep on the phone line. He became very unreasonable and arrogant. First he blamed
    Verizon for the unsuccessful porting. Then he said I should buy pay-as-you-go
    to test before porting. I told him that their website did not say anywhere that
    they have limitations in porting from certain areas. I could not anticipate the
    problem before really trying to port. Last he said that their Internet costs
    6c/minute and my 30 minutes use is worth $18 dollars. I later found out that his
    math is wrong. Even if the 6c/minute is correct (which I did not find on their
    web), 30 minutes use is only $1.8 dollars, not $18 dollars.

    Now I lost the money and the 3
    hours I had to spend on the phone with them. I feel they are way sub-par in
    customer services. Their business practice is outright exploiting trusting prospects/customers.
    Just to share my unpleasant experience with everyone on this forum.

  19. BEWARE of this company for their advertising is not that clear. Its easy to assume that a package will provide call minutes and texts, but this is often not the case. You may have to buy several packages if you want data, calls and txts to another country and the cost is no longer cheap – in fact it can be very expensive. Also be aware of their autotop up function, if you dont want them to automatically deduct from your bank account every month, you need to check a box, and even then, they send you a message to say that they will
    Lastly, any issues costs to call their customer services, even if its their fault and their issue, you still have to pay !!!
    If you just want to call back home cheaply, then its OK

  20. Be very aware of lycamobile. I used my debit card to topup and I indicated when going through the top-up process I didn’t want recurring top-up charges and lo and behold I check in my bank account this morning and lycamobile have took £20 from my account. I am very angry about this and I am not letting go!

  21. Lycamobile is the bad company posible, 12.11.2014 stole from my credit, 6,5£, when I called to ask them what is happening he lie me , says change tariff plan.
    In 10.11. 2014 stole from my credit 4£.
    is good somebody send in the court thes company
    LYCAMOBILE IS VERY BASTARD COMPANY, I M SHURE HE MAKE MORE ABUSE WHIT HER COSTUMER.
    WHY NOBODY GIVE A PENALTI TO LYCAMOBILE FOR CRIMINAL OFENCE?
    CORRUPTION IS THE REASON……

  22. I am writing from Canada, I have tried two-time with Lyca Star (Lyca Calling Card) company. They are scam based on Indian, customer service is very rude. They don’t know how to speak foreigner even they don’t respect us. They are keep telling me to buy more phone cards. Please don’t but Lyca Star (Lyca Calling Card). It is time us, North American to against this scammers. All the best !

  23. Yes I came across the same weird situation,I always got an automatical response “the number you dialed doesn’t exist which actually does exist.And this always happened in the middle of each month.So this is what they claim unlimited international call?Their customer service is also like shit.No one picks up my phone every time I call the fking 612.To hell with you Lycamobile.

  24. I always get an automatical response “the number you dialed doesn’t exist which actually does exist.And this always happenes in the middle of each month.So this is what they claim unlimited international call?Their customer service is also like shit.No one picks up my phone every time I call the fking 612.To hell with you Lycamobile.And how can you treat your customer like this?

  25. I took 2 prepaid sims to Germany from India. One with unlimited data and 500 minutes to India at Rs 3750 and another with unlimited Data and CUG. Data pack worked for 1 day on one sim and 2 days on the other sim. In beging to start the packs Mr. Rahul Kumar their rep was helpful and got every thing done but when the Data packs stopped functioning, he stopped taking my calls. It was a prepaid thing so I do not know if they will refund my money.

    Paresh Chawla

  26. Don’t be lured by the “cheap” plans. These people are thieves, worst customer service ever!

    1) Got my sim card and called them to transfer my number. They said I had to order a new “plus” sim card.

    2) ordered the “plus” sim card. It came with a manual with 6 steps. First step guided me to active the card, second step was to recharge balance….6 step read “transfer your old number” and “while waiting for the transfer you can still make and receive calls with your lyca temporary #”. Sounds good except that when I called them they said they could not transfer the number because I had activate the sim card already. I explained to them I the instructions told me to do so. They still refused to transfer my #. Without my # I can’t use their service and asked for a refund. They refused. They finally offered to send me a new sim card, transfer my # and my current plan free of charge. But, at the end of the phone call the guy completely changed the deal by saying, they will not transfer the plan and still had to pay for the new sim card. So, back to square 1.

    3) All this story happened within 2 days because the waiting time to speak to them was about 10 mins and the call will get drop exactly at 30 mins. I checked. It ruined my entire day spending 2 hrs talking to them and resolve nothing.

    4) I am back to pageplus. I will not put up with these lycamobile thieves just to save $7 a month.

    ADVICE: If you experience a problem, call your credit card company and cancel the transaction for lycmobile will not fix the problem and will add insult.

    PEOPLE DO NOT DO LYCAMOBILE THEY ARE LIERS/THIEVES

  27. i rang an english land line on friday night i had over 6 euros credit on my phone i got cut off checked my balance i had 37cents left its not such a good deal as we are led to believe its supposed to be cheap international calls cant see much cheap about that.

  28. Purchased a Lycamobile plan and sim from their website, never could get it activated or working, was without phone service for three days before going to another company. Customer service was terrible and according to representatives Lycamobile does not refund your money for their faulty merchandise. So, it’s just a RIPOFF!

  29. Roaming didn’t work in sweden, left me stranded unable to contact my friend after flying in late at night.

  30. I’d just like everyone to know that Lyca are a cheap cowboy outfit. Do not use them. Whether in the UK or abroad (such as Switzerland) you’ll only ever have grief with Lyca. Abysmal call quality, attrocious customer service and above all an inability to honor their own terms and conditions. I had an issue with my top-up online, called and was told it would be resolved within 24 to 48 hours as I never receIved PIN. Called again two days later as they never got back to me, heard same story and was told to send in a screenshot of transaction because there was no sign of a PIN and they wanted proof. They obviously just cut corners to save costs then put the blame on customers and make them wait and run around. I’m supposed to waste more time taking screenshots?! Complete piss-take. Still no response 24 hours later, had to call a third time and heard the same crap with worthless apologies. What good is it saying sorry when I’ve paid 10 pounds and been unable to call for three whole days because Lyca’s crap!? At the very least they could have given me emergency credit and a refund. Knew from experience they were crap. Never again! DO NOT USE LYCA

    Postscript: Finally received the prized PIN but needless to say it proved completely worthless. Followed instructions for adding the 10 pound plan I’d bought and got message ‘PIN number invalid’. Enough is enough – that Lyca Sim card is going down the pan!

  31. It is awful. there is a $35 plan says unlimited talk and text. But I can not receive text from hospital, post office tracking, UPS, Fedex, bank alert, credit card. When I called the customer service did not help me at all.
    And I signed up Lycamobile with family. When I tried to top up my sister’s phone, it was rejected because I use the same credit card I used for my account. They put security block. They asked me to send Driver’s license, first 6 and last 4 digit of credit card number and they said they would respond in 24 hours. But They did not. It takes more than 6 days with no response. My sister’s phone will be running out of money. It is horrible horrible company.

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