Lycamobile offers Pay As You Go bundles from £7.50/month with low-cost international calls and coverage from O2.
In the UK, Lycamobile is a specialist provider of international phone calls. They offer Pay As You Go bundles from £7.50/month with 4G coverage from O2. Customers can buy a 30-day bundle with inclusive UK minutes, texts and data with certain bundles also including an allowance of 100 international minutes.
In this article, we’ll review Lycamobile’s UK service including the 30-day bundles and the bundle codes that can be used to buy them. We’ll also look at how Lycamobile compares to other mobile networks like Lebara Mobile and at the coverage that’s currently available on Lycamobile’s service.
Contents
Lycamobile Bundles
In the UK, Lycamobile is a specialist provider of international phone calls. You can either buy a 30-day bundle with inclusive international phone calls to 41 destinations, or you can call abroad at Lycamobile’s standard Pay As You Go rates.
Monthly Bundles
Most Lycamobile customers will choose to buy a 30-day bundle. Here, you’ll convert your Pay As You Go credit into a 30-day allowance of UK minutes, texts and data. On certain bundles, you’ll also receive 100 international minutes which can be used for calling 41 international destinations.
When buying a bundle from Lycamobile, it’s important to be aware that they offer different allowances and different prices online and offline. For the best value usage, it’s always best to buy your bundle online. This will give you the largest data allowances and the lowest monthly prices as listed in the table below.
If you buy your bundle in a shop, by phone call or by text message, you’ll often get a smaller data allowance or may need to pay a little bit more for your bundle. In the table below, we’ve listed the offline data allowances and prices in brackets (read on for the relevant bundle codes that allow you to buy them).
| Network | Minutes | Texts | Data | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK Plan S | 150 | 150 | 500MB | £7.50 |
National Plus | Unlimited +100 intl. | Unlimited | 4GB (3GB offline) | £10.00 |
UK Plan Super | Unlimited +100 intl. | Unlimited | 16GB (6GB offline) | £15.00 |
UK Plan Mega | Unlimited +100 intl. | Unlimited | 40GB (11GB offline) | £20.00 |
UK Plan Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £25.00 (£30 offline) |
UK Plan Ultra | Unlimited +100 intl. | Unlimited | 25GB (20GB offline) | £25.00 |
UK Plan Giga | Unlimited | Unlimited | 30GB (25GB offline) | £35.00 |
UK Plan Tera | Unlimited | Unlimited | 50GB | £50.00 |
In addition to these bundles, Lycamobile also offers some legacy plans as well as specialist international bundles for calling certain countries like India. You can find these listed on their website.
Inclusive International Minutes
If your bundle comes with an inclusive allowance of international minutes, you can use it for calling phone numbers in the following 41 destinations:
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- China
- Croatia
- Cyprus Greek
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malaysia
- Malta
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Thailand
- United States
Bundle Codes
You can buy a 30-day bundle from Lycamobile by dialling or texting the relevant shortcode as listed below. One thing that’s worth noting, however, is that Lycamobile has special online-only promotions giving you additional data or a lower monthly price. These promotions are only available when you buy the bundles through their website.
| Bundle Name | Bundle Code | Online Offer |
|---|---|---|
| £7.50 UK Plan S (with 500MB data) | Dial *139*10744# or text 10744 to 3535 | – |
| £10 National Plus (with 3GB data) | Dial *139*11544# or text 11544 to 3535 | Extra 1GB online (4GB in total) |
| £15 UK Plan Super (with 6GB data) | Dial *139*1544# or text 1544 to 3535 | Extra 10GB online (16GB in total) |
| £20 UK Plan Mega (with 11GB data) | Dial *139*2044# or text 2044 to 3535 | Extra 29GB online (40GB in total) |
| £20 Forever Data | Dial *139*2544# or text 2544 to 3535 | – |
| £25 UK Plan Ultra (with 20GB data) | Dial *139*12644# or text 12644 to 3535 | Extra 5GB online (25GB in total) |
| £30 UK Plan Unlimited | Dial *139*5055# or text 5055 to 3535 | Discounted to £25 online |
| £35 UK Plan Giga (with 25GB data) | Dial *139*3044# or text 3044 to 3535 | Extra 5GB online (30GB in total) |
| £50 UK Plan Tera (with 50GB data) | Dial *139*5044# or text 5044 to 3535 | – |
Given the increased data allowance and the money off available, we’d normally recommend buying your bundle online where possible instead of using the relevant phone or text shortcodes.
Voucher Code Offers
On Lycamobile, a number of voucher codes and special offers are currently available.
When you purchase your SIM card online, you’ll get £5 of bonus free credit when you top-up by £20 and £10 of bonus free credit when you top-up by £30. You can also get £3 of bonus credit each month for the first 5 months when you top-up by £10 or more that month. The bonus credit will last for 30 days.
Lycamobile also offers an exclusive £15 bundle for customers who transfer their phone number in from another mobile network. The exclusive bundle gives you unlimited UK minutes, 100 international minutes, unlimited UK texts and 20GB of UK data for £15/month (this compares to the regular 16GB allowance which is available to all Lycamobile customers). You can benefit from the exclusive bundle for a maximum of 6 months.
Unlimited Data
Lycamobile offers a £25 unlimited data plan called UK Plan Unlimited (this costs £30 if you buy it offline). This gives you unlimited UK minutes, unlimited UK texts and unlimited UK data. For customers buying online, the price is currently discounted to £19 for the first 90 days.
As a cheaper alternative, Lycamobile also offers a £20 Forever Data plan. This gives you unlimited UK minutes, unlimited UK texts and Forever UK Data. You’ll get 4G speeds on the first 9GB per month, with download speeds then being reduced to 128kbps for the rest of the month (around 0.1Mbps which is approximately equivalent to 2G speed).
Unfortunately, neither plan comes with an allowance of international minutes so you’ll need to pay for this separately through Lycamobile’s standard Pay As You Go rates.
On other mobile networks, it’s currently possible to get unlimited data from £18/month:
| Network | Minutes | Texts | Data | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £18.00 12 months |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £20.00 1 month |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £20.00 1 month |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited 2Mbps max | £22.00 24 months |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Always-On | £25.00 1 month |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited 10Mbps max | £26.00 24 months |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £27.00 24 months |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £30.00 24 months |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £33.00 18 months |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £35.00 1 month |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £35.00 1 month |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £35.00 18 months |
For more information, see our full guide to unlimited data plans in the UK.
Pay As You Go Pricing
If you don’t have an active 30-day bundle, Lycamobile will charge you their standard Pay As You Go rates. These are currently 19p/minute for calling UK mobiles and 12p/minute for calling UK landlines. You’ll also pay 19p for every text message you send, and 12p for every megabyte of data you use.
The following table shows Lycamobile’s standard Pay As You Go rates:
| Calling Rates: | |
|---|---|
| Voice Calls | 19p/minute to other UK mobile phones 12p/minute to UK landlines |
| Calls to Voicemail | Free |
| Calls to Special Rate Numbers | 23p/minute access charge + service charge from the company you’re calling |
| Messaging Rates: | |
| Text Message (SMS) | 19p |
| Picture Message (MMS) | Not available. |
| Internet Rates: | |
| Mobile Data | 12p/MB |
Each time you top-up your Lycamobile SIM card, you’ll get unlimited free calls and texts to other Lycamobile UK customers for the next 30 days.
If you’re calling a phone number in another country, you’ll pay Lycamobile’s discounted international calling rates:
| Country | Calls to Mobile | Calls to Landline | Text Message |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3p/minute | 1p/minute | 19p/message | |
| 2p/minute | 2p/minute | 19p/message | |
| 19p/minute | 7p/minute | 19p/message | |
| 19p/minute | 7p/minute | 19p/message | |
| 8p/minute | 8p/minute | 19p/message | |
| 5p/minute | 1p/minute | 19p/message | |
| 5p/minute | 1p/minute | 19p/message | |
| 15p/minute | 12p/minute | 19p/message | |
| 12p/minute | 3p/minute | 19p/message | |
| 6p/minute | 6p/minute | 19p/message |
Cost of international calls & international text messages on the Lycamobile network (calls & texts made to a phone number in another country whilst you're in the UK). Last updated on 8th January 2018. Source: lycamobile.co.uk.
You can see a list of international calling rates for each country in our full guide and comparison of international rates.
Alternatives to Lycamobile
If you’re looking for an alternative bundle with inclusive international phone calls, we’d currently recommend getting a SIM card from Lebara Mobile.
On Lebara, you can get a SIM-only bundle from just £5/month with inclusive international calls to 41 destinations. You’ll also get an allowance of UK minutes, UK texts and 4G mobile data using coverage from Vodafone.
| Network | Minutes | Texts | Data | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 +100 intl. | 1,000 | 2GB | £5.00 |
| Unlimited +100 intl. | Unlimited | 6GB | £10.00 |
| Unlimited +unltd intl. | Unlimited | 8GB | £15.00 |
| Unlimited +unltd intl. | Unlimited | 15GB | £20.00 |
| Unlimited +unltd intl. | Unlimited | 25GB | £25.00 |
| Unlimited +unltd intl. | Unlimited | 50GB | £30.00 |
| Unlimited +unltd intl. | Unlimited | Unlimited | £35.00 |
Order Lebara Mobile SIM Card →
For more information, see our in-depth review of Lebara Mobile’s SIM-only deals.
You can also consider O2’s International Big Bundles which start from £10/month. This gives you an allowance of international minutes for calling either 29 or 51 international destinations.
If you choose a Vodafone Pay Monthly SIM card with inclusive entertainment, you’ll get 100 UK-to-EU minutes included every month.
Network & Coverage
2G, 3G & 4G Coverage From O2
In the UK, Lycamobile uses coverage from the O2 network. You’ll get access to O2’s 2G, 3G and 4G networks, with around 99% population coverage on each one. The coverage you’re able to get should be the same coverage available to customers on O2.
Before ordering a SIM card from Lycamobile, you should double-check the availability in your area. You can do this by entering your postcode on Lycamobile’s online coverage map:
Check Lycamobile Coverage (lycamobile.co.uk) →
Unfortunately, Wi-Fi Calling and 4G Calling are not currently available to customers on Lycamobile.
For more information, see our in-depth guide to the coverage on O2 or mobile networks also using O2 coverage.
5G Coverage
Although O2 offers 5G coverage to their own Pay Monthly customers, this isn’t currently available to customers using Lycamobile. Instead, you’ll need to join O2 directly on their network to get access to 5G. Alternatively, you can get access to 5G on price plans from Sky Mobile and Tesco Mobile.
O2 currently offers 5G coverage in the following UK towns and cities:
| Now Live | 60 towns and cities are live on O2 5G (August 2020) Aberdeen, Ashford, Banstead, Basildon, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Chatham, Chesterfield, Coventry, Dartford, Derby, Dundee, Eastbourne, Edinburgh, Esher, Gateshead, Gillingham, Glasgow, Grays, Hemel Hempstead, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Lisburn, Liverpool, London, Lowestoft, Luton, Manchester, Mansfield, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Newtownabbey, North Shields, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Plymouth, Rainham, Redhill, Rotherham, Sheffield, Slough, South Shields, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunbury, Sunderland, Thundersley, Warrington, Weybridge, Windsor, Worthing, York |
| Planned & Announced | 14 towns and cities planned Birkenhead, Cambridge, Hove, Kingston-upon-Thames, Milton Keynes, Newbury, Portsmouth, Southampton, Wolverhampton (Summer 2020) Blackpool, Bournemouth, Eton, Guildford, Reading (January 2020) |
Unfortunately, Lycamobile are yet to confirm when 5G coverage will become available on their network. For more information, see our round-up of the 5G rollout in the UK.
Tethering & Personal Hotspot
Tethering or personal hotspot refers to the process of sharing your smartphone’s internet connection with another device (e.g. with your laptop or tablet). It’s often used as a convenient way to get your other devices connected to the internet on-the-go.
Unfortunately, Lycamobile’s UK plan terms and conditions prohibit the use of tethering or personal hotspot on your smartphone. This restriction can be found in the terms and conditions of their UK plans:
The offer is for non-commercial, private, personal use only – Lycamobile reserves the right to withdraw or suspend the offer or to disconnect you if we suspect that offer is being used for commercial purposes, for conferencing, or if it is not being used in a handset (in a SIM box for example), if it is being used for tethering or if any reason Lycamobile reasonably suspects that you are not acting in accordance with this policy where we consider that the usage was illegitimate.
For more information, see our in-depth guide to tethering on UK mobile networks.
International Roaming
You can continue using your Lycamobile SIM card abroad through their international roaming service.
If you’re travelling to another EU or EEA country, it should be possible to use your normal UK plan allowances at no extra cost. If a limit applies to how much data you can use abroad from your bundle, you should be told about this when buying your plan.
You can use your Lycamobile plan allowances abroad at no extra cost in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. If you’re travelling to any other country, Lycamobile’s international roaming rates will apply.
Keeping Your Phone Number
If you’re switching from another mobile network to Lycamobile, it’s a straightforward process to keep your current phone number.
You can start by requesting a PAC Code from your old mobile network. This is available free of charge through your mobile network’s website or app, or by texting PAC to 65075. It’s a legal requirement for your old mobile network to provide you with a PAC free of charge and within 60 seconds of your request.
Once you have the PAC Code from your old network, order your new SIM card from the Lycamobile website. After your new SIM card arrives in the post, fill out this online form to get your phone number moved over.
For step-by-step instructions on how to move your phone number to Lycamobile, please select your current mobile network from the dropdown menu below:
It isn’t possible to transfer Pay As You Go credit from another mobile network to Lycamobile. For this reason, you should try to use up any remaining Pay As You Go credit before moving your phone number to Lycamobile.
Frequently Asked Questions
| What Pay As You Go bundles are available on Lycamobile? | Lycamobile offers a range of Pay As You Go bundles from £7.50/month. For instance, you can get the following allowances if you purchase your bundle online:
If you purchase your bundle offline (e.g. by phone, by text message or in a store), you may get a smaller data allowance or you may need to pay more for your bundle. |
|---|---|
| What is a Lycamobile bundle code? | You can buy a bundle from your Lycamobile Pay As You Go credit by dialling the relevant shortcode on your phone or by texting a relevant shortcode to 3535. You can find the latest Lycamobile bundle codes here. |
| Which countries can I call using the international minutes? | If your Lycamobile bundle has an allowance of inclusive international minutes, you’ll be able to use them to call phone numbers in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus Greek, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and the United States. |
| Does Lycamobile offer any unlimited data plans? | Yes. Lycamobile currently offers a choice of two unlimited data plans:
On other mobile networks, it’s possible to get unlimited data from £18/month. |
| What’s the coverage like on Lycamobile? | You’ll get 99% population coverage from O2’s 2G, 3G and 4G mobile networks in the UK. You can check the availability of coverage where you live using Lycamobile’s online coverage map. |
| Does Lycamobile offer any 5G coverage? | No. Unfortunately, Lycamobile doesn’t offer any 5G coverage at present. Instead, you can join O2 directly as a Pay Monthly customer to get access to 5G. Alternatively, 5G is also available on price plans from Sky Mobile and Tesco Mobile. |
| Can I keep my current phone number? | Yes. It’s easy keeping your current phone number when joining Lycamobile. Ask your current mobile network to give you a PAC Code. This can be obtained through your mobile network’s website or app, or by texting PAC to 65075. You can then submit this PAC Code on the Lycamobile website after ordering your SIM card.
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More Information
For more information, please see Lycamobile’s official UK website.
Lexus said:
Good day. I used the 10 pound plan with 100 international minutes and activation code *139*11544# during last few months. But last week it stop worked. What happens?
Qayyum said:
I top up £10 in lycamobile some but next-day I found money disappeared.
luma replied:
It happens with me too which put me off of top op my phone.
Sara said:
I have no problems with Lyca regarding the value for money etc the only thing that bugs me about it is finding the bloody bundle codes, which does take some finding!!!!!!!