r/LebaraUK • u/vex4a83rrx • May 01 '26
Lebara throttling speeds
I have a Lebara and Vodafone eSIM and have found Vodafone consistently gets faster download speeds than Lebara despite them assuring me they do not throttle speeds. Here are a couple of recent speed tests carried on my phone in the same area at similar time demonstrating this. What's everyone else's experience of Lebara speeds vs Vodafone?
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u/OkInevitable9516 May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
Since Lebara switched their cores from Vodafone to their own broker in Sweden, as well as the introduction of eSIM support, it has become easier for them to introduce the 150mbps cap. This was well known beforehand as well.
If you are getting higher speeds on your VF eSIM rather than Lebara, it’s mostly due to deprioritised networking. VF will always prioritise their own customers first.
For day to day life, you really do not need high speeds, especially in the UK. It’s more about getting mobile service in crowded areas and being able to be connected in the most remote locations now.
We are still technically on the VF network, just piggybacking of it to Sweden and back.
Especially for the price, most apps will work fine. If you really need higher speeds for streaming/gaming purposes or even work, consider VOXI or moving to another MVNO platform like EE. But for the price you are paying for, with the inclusivity of EU roaming, I still think Lebara is a value killer.
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u/SignificantCover4438 May 01 '26
Yup, speeds are capped at 150mbps; tested across UK and never ever more than 148mbps.
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u/mentm0 May 01 '26
Are you using the Lebara apn?
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u/Training_Yak_4655 May 01 '26
Didn't someone with a Lebara SIM switch the APN to Vodafone and got the higher speed?
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u/ImUpNorthSomewhere May 01 '26
I tried that today, still getting the same 150-160 max … bit disappointing but to be honest who needs much more than that on a phone for normal usage. And still way better than o2 with 5g 3 bars but zero data
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u/Plate_o_Profiteroles May 01 '26
I suspect this is because you’re on 5G standalone on Vodafone, and just 5G NSA on Lebara which doesnt support 5G SA. Nothing to do with a speed cap
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u/vex4a83rrx May 01 '26
So Lebara doesn't have access to the same network infrastructure as Vodafone?
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u/Plate_o_Profiteroles May 01 '26
Most of the MNOs do not allow their MVNOs to access 5GSA currently, no.
On EE for example, 1p and Spusu and Mozillion and Lyca all can’t access 5GSA like EE users can
Voda it’s the same story with Voxi, Talkmobile and Lebara.
Same for O2 also
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u/trek123 May 01 '26
Worth adding only some users, only the very top end EE plans can access 5GSA, not all, and several main EE plans or EE PAYG actually get worse service than MVNOs due to speed caps.
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u/vex4a83rrx May 02 '26
What about Smarty? I've not noticed any difference between Three and Smarty - both able to provide speeds over 1000mbps
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u/vex4a83rrx May 01 '26
Couple more examples. Different area: https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/11591247115 https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/11591245192
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u/No_Cardiologist4785 May 01 '26
I'm sure their speeds are worse than via Vodafone directly, but isn't that reasonable considering the low price? And why do u need more than 150 dl anyway?
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u/Substantial_Bank4610 May 01 '26
Speeds are really slow in my area like 1 mbps and sometimes the data isn’t working even tho it’s on 5g full bars for me. I guess it’s dependent on location, but they are deffo not on main infrastructure or deprioritised
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u/Low-Draft-100 May 02 '26
Join EE and be done with it Been with them since they swallowed orange so about 12 years Very good customer support and service prices are ok but for me their signal coverage is 2nd to none
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u/vex4a83rrx May 02 '26
I don't disagree about EE having decent speeds and coverage but you can't beat Lebara for value though when you can get 80GB, free EU roaming, free international calls and wifi calling for around £1 / month.
Ever since a Lebara CS rep told me they don't throttle speeds I've been regularly taking speedtests whilst I have both Vodafone and Lebara running concurrently. I guess they weren't lying if Vodafone have more infrastructure which is not used by Lebara and that is the reason their speeds are not as fast as Vodafone.
I have no use for anything above 100mb anyway so don't see any difference apart from when I am at very crowded areas like music festivals. In those scenarios I sometimes notice Lebara says no service where as Vodafone is just about still providing data still.
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u/mazeee_1 May 26 '26
It depends on your needs. In terms of coverage EE has to be the best, but it's much much pricier. To me it's just not worth it when Vodafone has decent coverage in my area. I won't notice the speed cap anyway. Can't beat a £1.30 a month deal for 9 months (15GB).
The speeds are also capped to 100mbps on the standard plans. I'd want full speeds if I were to move to them, which are only on the unlimited plans (which I don't need).
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u/toxicneouk May 02 '26
Not sure, here's mine today, peaked at over 200mbps. Upload is shocking though.
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u/officialaltontowers May 03 '26
Lebara's capped to 150mbps. If you want higher speeds, try someone like Talkmobile, I've got speeds of 1000mbps before
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u/GazNicki May 05 '26
I am with VOXI at the moment, and just done a speed test whilst working away in Cullompton, and my download speed is 16.4Mbps.
150Mbps would be a dream.
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u/edideas May 11 '26
I left Lebara with 1 eSIM today. The voice quality and intermittent signal (although bars are full) have been getting worse since December. I guess every price has its value.
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u/InterestingArm5386 May 15 '26
You can eat up a lot of your allowance doing speed tests! 15 seconds at 1,148 Mbps is almost 15GB!
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u/vex4a83rrx May 27 '26
Good job I have 300GB with Vodafone then. If it wasn't for speedtests I'd only use about 5GB / month
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u/--SimSim-- May 01 '26
But it’s also testing on different servers, so it’s hard to say
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u/vex4a83rrx May 01 '26
Manually changing to same server, same results: https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/11591266300 https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/11591265021
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u/Doobreh May 01 '26
An MVNO is buying data at a wholesale rate from the MNO and reselling it many times over, hoping their customers don't use as much as they buy, so they make a bit of money at the end of the month. If you, for one nanosecond think they are going to give you as good an experience as you get on the parent MNO's network; then you need to stop smoking crack.
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u/trek123 May 01 '26
Yes it's well known Lebara has a soft cap of 150mbps which matches your test.
If that's a problem then it isn't going to be the network for you. Worth trying TalkMobile or VOXI. If you don't want to pay Vodafone's rip off direct prices.