Lycamobile US: An British expat’s guide
Good afternoon Penny Pinchers! Today I am going to discuss the phone network Lycamobile which I have used for over 3 years!
If you are in a similar position to myself, you may be an immigrant in USA, who will want to call your home country fairly often. Although we live in the era of FaceTime and WhatsApp, if you have elderly parents/relatives who still rely on landlines, you may still need a phone network that can call abroad for free or as part of your package.
How did I come across Lycamobile? Well in the U.K I would come across it fairly often, although I never used it. It was known for being the company used by immigrants to call home. How ironic! When I moved to the USA, I realized that I now fell into that category and decided to seek out something similar. I had tried the tips in the previous article but was unable to get approved due to a high cash deposit or no credit history.
Why Join Lycamobile?
My ultimate goal was to be able to make phone calls in USA as well as text (unlimited wasn’t a must due to wifi enabled messaging but most plans include unlimited texts and phone calls). What was also important to me was being able to call U.K for free, and this is where Lycamobile was very helpful.
As far as data was concerned, this wasn’t that important to me, again primarily due to me also having Wifi, however there are multiple options where you can get unlimited data.
So what do I use? My plan is the 19 dollar a month plan. This gives me unlimited texts and phone calls. I also have unlimited International calls and texts to countries such as Australia, Canada, India, China and U.K. Click on the link above to see more countries! I have even call hotels in Portugal, Spain and Greece where my parents were staying!
One disadvantage to my plan is that only 1GB of data is available at speeds of 4G LTE, anything more is at “reduced speeds”. Only once have I been in a situation where this has inconvenienced me and I think it may have occurred because I was using FaceTime on data rather than WiFi. 2 days before renewal I had such slow data it was like being without it! I have often though about upgrading to the 23 dollar a month plan where I would get 2GB at optimal speeds.
What is Lycamobile and how does it work?
Lycamobile is what’s called a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), used in multiple countries. It is said that they.make the majority of their money from their SIM cards, primarily for International communication.
Why do I have Lycamobile?
Where else can you get a service for less than 20 dollars? And on top of that unlimited calls and texts in the USA and to your home country and others. If data is something that you really want then this may not be for you. The other thing to consider is what phones you can get with their plans. This is somewhat bare with Lycamobile but they have be known to provide some deals such as 9 months of 29 dollars a month and get the Samsung Galaxy A10 free.
So here are the benefits in a nutshell:
- No contracts that bind you to a long term commitment unlike the big companies
- Lowest international phone calling rates from USA to countries abroad including the UK, India, China, and others
- Quick and simple recharge every month (or select auto-renewal)
- High-quality network for less (they “piggyback” off the bigger networks)
- Referral system
How to begin?
First, head over to the website. Choose the plan you want and they should send a SIM card for your phone (it will need to be unlocked) and you are good to go! I actually bought it from a store which specialized in these small company mobile phone networks and they unlocked the phone for me as well getting the SIM card and paying for the first month.
How do you recharge your plan?
Once again, go to a specific part of the website and there should be simple enough directions to recharge. The good thing is you can recharge to a different plan every month. As my data requirements can vary (and have increased since this blog!) it is something I do consider.
Conclusion
This has been a great find for me, and has allowed me to pay a very affordable plan and still stay in contact with my family. There have been times when signal can be weak especially in rural areas, but in fairness when I travel with friends who have the big networks they have just as much of a problem. In the big cities I have great service. Again the only drawback is that I have to buy a phone new separately if I want to keep updated with handsets and data can be slow after the first gigabytes of the plan is met. As we all know the rule for spending is for 3 things, fairness, fun and convenience. If you use your phone for a lot of fun things then spend more, and if it is convenient to have all that data available then it makes sense to get a more expensive plan with Lycamobile or with the bigger carriers.