Going from Lebara to another MVNO for SMS. What would you do? (2024)

I've had a RWG Mobile SIM (EE) for about a year but the data and minutes was not that great. I decided to just start fresh (timing with the Pixel 8A deal seemed a good idea) and Lebara seemed to be recommended a lot and other family had Lebara. The 10GB for £5.99 deal with £13 cashback seemed decent. I'm not one for constantly porting in and out to limit potential issues.

It all started out well. Google accounts, WhatsApp, Steam, Blizzard, Discord, Ebay and PayPal all had SMS codes come through. The last one on the list was Sony PSN and... no code. My RWG Mobile SIM got Sony codes fine.

Now it doesn't really matter because Sony has 2FA codes instead but still... why? I've just got fixated on it. At first I was blaming the phone but I even put the SIM in another phone and also no code. I then put in my family's Lebara number and the Sony code worked.... what. The only thing I can think of is there some sort of like time where a number isn't fully live yet and a carrier has to allow some options before all SMS can be received? I say this because today Lebara said they had enabled wifi calling and volte on my number. Maybe in a couple days they will do more behind the scenes stuff?

It's got me looking back at EE. The speeds also seem much better on EE (like 15 Mbps vs the 40 Mbps of EE). According to the coverage checkers, EE would not even get a signal indoors but Vodafone would...

In order to get back full SMS reliability, I am thinking of going back to EE MVNO. I saw an EE MVNO that seems really basic (no wifi calling or volte) but price and data wise I can't fault it. Talk Home has 15 GB for £5.49 with first 3 months being £1.49

Now price isn't that much of a problem when talking about these amounts but what would people do here if SMS receiving reliability was key? Should I switch to an EE MVNO or give Lebara another couple of days to figure stuff out (in both SMS reliability and speed)? I see merits to both options. Lebara has shown on another number that Sony texts do work.

Thanks for any guidance

Switch to https://www.1pmobile.com/ they use EE and you will get all the bells and whistles.

spile said:

No issues with Lebara (calls, sms or data) and the price is excellent with the Money Supermarket deal.

Click to expand...

I think that expired yesterday or today. £1 each month for 7 months, calls, txts and 15gb data.

I run both 1p and Lebara, and both are great. Unfortunately I can only get EE at home, and Vodafone at work, so need both ffs...

@lmfy2k @Fubsy I do see that 1pMobile seem to have all the "bands" unlocked with EE. I don't have 5G access locally but accoridng to bidb.uk EE is potentially installing what I presume is 5G in the town, or atleast trialing it. Another plus for EE.

One thing I'm confused about:

That yellow wanring is just for true PAYG right like I don't have to spend £8 and then an extra £10 every 3 months?

GregI said:

@lmfy2k @Fubsy I do see that 1pMobile seem to have all the "bands" unlocked with EE. I don't have 5G access locally but accoridng to bidb.uk EE is potentially installing what I presume is 5G in the town, or atleast trialing it. Another plus for EE.

One thing I'm confused about:

That yellow wanring is just for true PAYG right like I don't have to spend £8 and then an extra £10 every 3 months?

Click to expand...

yeh thats just for PAYG.

The £8 you add will get taken froim your card every month like any other sim deal

I thought I would give it one last shot... put the number in and suddenly got a text like 3 seconds later from Sony. Can't make this up!

I still might switch though. Speedtest today was 5 Mbps... seems like mega congestion.