Lobster Mobile
 

Does anyone have personal experience good or bad of Lobster Mobile ?

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

I use them and have to say no problems and they are ridiculously cheap.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Agreed. And helpline is all English-speaking.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

I use them too and find the service very good. The unlimited calls to the UK are very useful when, for example, I have to ring my bank or a Government Department and the calls can be quite long. Whatsapp or skype is no good for calling entities like that.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

I use Skype for UK calls including UK Gov and it works fine for me.

I agree Whatsapp cannot be used for government calls but works perfectly OK for family calls as they are on WhatsApp.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Absolutely. You have to wait long times and as you get unlimited calls with lobster it's perfect. Also easy to use it to contact spain if in uk as its unlimited roaming. My only fear is its simply way too good to last!!

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Yes, I was in the UK last week and used it every day to ring home, and used more of my data allowance than I usually do as I didn't take my laptop with me. What really prompted me to change to Lobster was when I had to make a last minute journey to Portugal when my sister was killed there, was there several days having to ring other family in the UK and my husband back in Spain every day on my Spanish mobile, as well as some Portugese numbers for making arrangements, and used a fortune in credit. I vowed I would never be in that situation again.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

I was with Orange before Lobster and they had assured me they wouldn't bring in roaming charges so I signed up but suddenly they changed it with roaming charges and took away my cheap uk calls then to make matters worse they tried to placate me by givinge 2 smart watches for free. Eventually I cancelled the contract only to find they charged me for the 2 watches at twice the price you buy them at in a shop ! I was so angry and will never use them again. Lobster is much much better and lots of data too. You just contact them and they will get your old number transferred and send you a SIM- takes about 10 days. Very easy.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Should be llanito

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

A good option for people like me who rarely uses a mobile phone. I have Spanish SIM included with my Internet contract for home. This SIM gives me free unlimited calls to landline and mobiles in Spain. For calls to the UK I use an App called Moremins. I top up moremins with 4 euros a year it then allows me to phone any standard mobile or landline phone number for 2 cents per minute using my free minutes on my Spanish phone. It works fine for me good call quality no drop outs as unlike Skype etc its a phone call not using internet. It's another option and low cost for those that use phones infrequently. Here's a link in case its of use to anyone. It is only really useful though so long as your SIM card gives you free Spanish calls .
https://www.moremins.com/en​​​​​

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Great find and thanks for the heads up. Some great plus points with the Movistar based virtual service and offering all those roaming options with calls to the UK. Shame there is no way to use it with a UK number as my biggest requirements are SMS incoming and outgoing plus incoming calls on a UK number.and I'm trying to find the best way to achieve that without getting into extortionate roaming charges under the UK operators fair use policies.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Try Smarty
I have a Smarty sim in my mobile alongside my Gibtelecom sim
I also use a Smarty unlimited data sim for my laptop
This is in a Mifi unit and powers all my UK data needs plus TV when in UK without the need of Fixed line ISP.
Unfortunately it only allows 12gb when roaming so early this year I used Lobster for a month.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Lobster is today 8,79 € and 25 gbts for unlimited calls and texts in Spain or from UKwith no contract. That is ridiculously cheap!!!

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Thanks for the tip but sadly Smarty have exactly the same roaming clause as most UK operators, and charge £3 per day roaming once you go over a 60 day stay. I currently have an EE plan with 180gb data for £20 per month and because it was taken out in 2007 allows me free roaming and use in the EU. The problem I have now is by moving to Spain, the fair use policy will kick in after the initial stay. Shame, because for years I've been able to connect onto the Movistar network on the EE sim and the service has been superb.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

I used Lobster in a UK mobile perfectly well 30 minutes from the coast in Malaga, but could get no mobile signal after moving to 30 minutes from the coast Almeria, a change to MoviStar resolved that... :)

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

If you have a dual-SIM UK mobile it's no problem to add a Spanish SIM. You get to keep all your SMS incoming and outgoing plus incoming calls on your UK number, and you can set up your mobile to allow you to choose which SIM you use every time you want to make a call...

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Yes exactly what I do for incoming calls from UK, my UK SIM is three which does not require top ups you put £10 on and it lasts untill credit runs out, so next top up could be years down the road. You do have to use it once every 12 months to keep the number but I just send myself a text for 10P which resolves that. Another option if you don't have a dual SIM phone is get a virtual SIM . That allows you say a UK number which routes direct to your Spanish SIM. Moremins can do that at reasonably low cost there is info on the previous link I put on. To be fair there are various options it depends on individual circumstances to get best value to suit individual phone needs and usage.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Thanks for that. I've a dual sim phone with both Movistar(Spain) and EE (UK). It works fine and I've been using it for several years without issues. My concern is that under the fair use policy more than 60 days roaming without returning to the UK is not considered fair use and you lose the roaming privileges. EE have been brilliant for me, and I've had several occasions longer than 60 days (including 10 months in Spain during COVID) plus 3 stays of 90 days more recently and EE have never surcharged me for the roaming. The reason for my concern is that I'm now moving to Spain on a more permanent basis, and won't be returning to the UK for long enough or often enough to comply with the fair use policy.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Curious because from what I read, Movistar is the carrier for Lobster. The only difference I can see could be 4G or 5G? In theory, the network coverage should be the same.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Thanks for that info. I'll have a look at Moremins. Can you send SMS via Moremins from your phone and the receiver sees it as if it were from a real sim with the ability to reply and maintain a text conversation? Appreciate any comments on that. Cheers. Ray EDIT: I've been on the Moremins web site and it looks like a very good option without getting into roaming issues. Thanks for that! :)

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

I pay Smarty £18 per month for unlimited data and have been roaming for 3 years with no extra charges but the recently imposed limit of 12 gb/mnth outside UK
I visit UK often enough to make this worthwhile.

I also have a 8gb data + unlimited phone calls for £6:30/mnth

My other sim is a Gibtelecom sim, a rip off but it helps me keep in contact with Gib

Gibtelecom are the parent company of Lobster

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Yes, that's correct.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Yes you can. So if say you have a Spanish SIM and number you choose to show calls from that number. Or if you have UK SIM and number in the phone you can choose to use that number. The recipient can just then message back as normal to you. The link I put on earlier explains system and also information re virtual SIM . It works for me without issue .

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Thanks for all the feedback about Lobster everyone. Seems like a great option although Ive just been digging deeper into Vodafone prepaid again, I have a couple of Sims with them and their offerings are pretty good depending on your usage and if the 5G coverage is good for you. they have various options but €10 pm gets you 25gb data and 300mins including international calls and roaming in the UK. €15 gets you 50gb and 800 minutes. Comparable to Lobster I think. ( I know it’s not unlimited)

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Worth having a look at UK Vodafone. Both myself and my wife have our UK numbers with them and sometimes don’t go near the UK for many months and never had an issue. Both esims permanently in a multi sim iPhone.

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Just a point that the Channel Islands and Isle of Man aren’t included in the UK for the international calls plan despite having a UK dialling code, confirmed by Lobster customer service. Technically they aren’t part of the UK.

Personally no issue with Lobster but now arrived in Spain I might try a cheaper alternative such as Simyo as can use Skype, FaceTime etc. for UK calls.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

Spain has a huge number of "virtual operators" and all of them piggy back onto one of the four main networks. Simyo is Orange, 02 on Movistar, Masmovil on Yoigo, Lowi is on Vodafone etc. If you live in a rural area then the main network coverage is important. Where we are in rural Cantabria we can't get broadband, so rely on the mobile networks for internet. So for here, Vodafone wins for 5G, but Movistar also good on 4G. Orange comes a bit off the pace behind those two. For years there have been questions about these virtual operators getting lower quality of network coverage, but my partner has a Lowi sim (4G only) and that works brilliantly.

Re: Lobster Mobile
 

My son has Simyo (Orange) and it works well for him but Orange coverage has always been patchy for me and also Simyo only gets 4G.

Vodafone also now have a 5G home broadband offering at €30+ per month for anyone in a good Vodafone area who doesnt have a good fibre infrastructure.