Lucky Mobile Reviews

 

 
If you don’t want to read the details, skip straight to our Recommendation
 
Once your done reading this, be sure to check out our comparison: Lucky Mobile vs Public Mobile vs Chatr Mobile

 

Lucky Mobile is a new entry-level mobile carrier and is owned by the same parent company as Bell Mobility.

They’re a pre-paid mobile service which means there are no credit checks in addition to their other key selling point of not having any long term commitments.

Bell Mobility originally used to run Solo Mobile and Lucky is the successor to that.

Solo Mobile stopped taking new activation’s towards the end of 2012 so there definitely has been a gap in their offering. Lucky Mobile launched in December of 2017.

 

Lucky Mobile Coverage

Lucky Mobile will be using Bell’s 4G network which means you can expect excellent reception.

However, speed will be throttled to work more like 3G, more on this below.

Plans are based on coverage:

• Zone Plans: Lucky Mobile along with Chatr Mobile have removed zone plans from their offering towards the end of 2018
• Province & Canada Plans: These plans cover pretty much anywhere in Canada that you would probably go

 

So What’s This Thing With Throttled Speeds?

Although the Bell Mobility network currently runs on a 4G LTE, to keep the cost’s inline they will be throttling or limiting the speeds for Lucky Mobile to 3G-like speeds.

So depending on how you use your data, this may or may not bother you.

If you use your data lightly – checking and replying to messages and emails, going on social network apps from time to time, 3G may serve your needs.

However, if you are a heavy data user and you are watching videos or downloading music and other things often you may start to get irritated with 3G speeds if you’ve already used 4G – so it all comes down to how you use the data on your phone.

And…if you go over the amount of data included in your plan, you will be further reduced to a speed of 128 Kbps which is almost as if you had no data, so don’t go over 🙂

We’ll be doing some speed tests soon to see how the network is performing, check back for updates!

We conducted a number of speed tests around the City of Toronto and can confirm the data is capped at 3G.

In the below speed tests you will notice the download speed is roughly 3 Mbps in all instances.

So although the network shows 4G, that’s because Lucky Mobile is leveraging the strong Bell network and unfortunately Lucky Mobile customers will only get data speeds up to 3 Mbps.

 

Lucky Mobile Coverage Map

Here is a coverage map of Canada from the Lucky Mobile website.

Note that Zone Plans no longer exist.

Yellow: Zone Plans | Green & Yellow: Province & Canada Plans

Image source: https://www.luckymobile.ca/coverage

 

Lucky Mobile Plans

Lucky Mobile offers these very budget-friendly plans:
 
Voicemail, Call Display, Call Waiting & 3-Way Calling are included with all plans.

Price	Talk	Text	Data	Auto Top-Up Bonus
$15 per month	100 Minutes Canada Wide	Unlimited Canada Wide & International Text	None	250 MB per month
$25 per month	Unlimited Talk Canada Wide	Unlimited Canada Wide & International	500 MB at 3G speed	500 MB per month
$35 per month	Unlimited Talk Canada Wide	Unlimited Canada Wide & International	1 GB at 3G speed	500 MB per month
$40 per month	Unlimited Talk Canada Wide	Unlimited Canada Wide & International	4.5 GB at 3G speed	500 MB per month
$50 per month	Unlimited Talk Canada Wide & US	Unlimited Canada Wide & International	8 GB at 3G speed	500 MB per month

 

Keep in mind that when Lucky Mobile promises No Data Overages, that means that if you use the data you have in a month your data will no longer work and you will need to purchase a Data Service Pass for additional data in that month.

 

International Calling Add-Ons

Lucky Mobile looks to be differentiating itself by offering very competitively priced add-ons for international calling, making it simple for you to use your cellphone to dial directly back home.

For $5 per month, you can choose calling options to any one of these:

1. China & Hong Kong – 300 minutes
2. India & Pakistan – 200 minutes
3. Philippines – 40 minutes
4. International Region 1 – 200 minutes includes calling any of: Australia, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brunei, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Romania, South Korea, Sweden, and U.S. Virgin Islands
5. International Region 2 – 75 minutes includes calling any of: American Samoa, Belgium, Bhutan, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, France, French Guiana, Germany, Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mariana Islands, Martinique, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam
6. International Region 3 – 40 minutes includes calling any of: Argentina, Bahamas, Bahrain, Cayman Islands, Egypt, Gibraltar, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macau, Mauritius Island, Mayotte, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Philippines, Reunion Island, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, and Venezuela
7. International Region 4 – 20 minutes includes calling any of: Angola, Antigua Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Dem. Rep. Of Congo, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Montserrat, Mozambique, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Palestine, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Trinidad Tobago, Uganda, and Ukraine
8. International Region 5 – 10 minutes includes calling any of: Albania, Algeria, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, Comoros, Gabon, Greenland, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Moldova, Morocco, Portugal, St. Pierre Miquelon, Switzerland, Tanzania and Tunisia

 

Lucky Mobile Phones

Since Lucky Mobile is a discount pre-paid carrier, they do not offer any of the newer, high-end phones which makes sense.

Their current phone options are outlined below or you can also BYOP (Bring Your Own Phone).

A sim card costs $10 at retail partners or can be ordered over the phone.

Pay attention to the language on the website which says you can get a sim card delivered free of charge in 1 – 2 business days by calling them at 1-833-885-8259 – The delivery fee part of it is free, you still have to pay the $10 for the sim card for new activations.

eSim: Lucky Mobile now supports eSIM for iPhones which is the ability to have a second digital sim card allowing you to use your iPhone as if it is a dual SIM phone.

Details and FAQs on the eSIM feature can be viewed here.

If you’re looking to use a smartphone, something like an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phone, you can also purchase a used phone to use with Lucky Mobile.

You can check out Kijiji and other online marketplaces.

 

Recommendation

1. 1. Plans are reasonably priced, particularly the plans at $40 or $45 per month offer good value
   2. If you call and text Internationally and want the convenience of doing so directly from your cellphone, Lucky Mobile offers very reasonable International Talk Add-Ons – For $5 per month you’ll get 300 minutes to call China & Hong Kong – That’s 1.6 cents per minute or call India & Pakistan, you’ll get 200 minutes so 2 cents per minute – There are many International Add-Ons described above – And not to mention, majority of their plans include Unlimited International texting 🙂
   3. Strong Bell network and coverage across Canada
   4. No contracts, no credit checks

 

MUST DO: Set up pre-authorized payments to top up your account as this will give you $5 per month towards any extra or additional data on most plans – This means on a $40 plan, you’re getting 12.5% more value

Any downsides?

1. 3G Data – If you use data for anything more than text messaging or email, 3G is going to be painful for you, keep this in mind, streaming videos is pretty much out of the question, you might get by streaming some music, so just think about how you would use your data – To add perspective, 4G LTE is been found to be about 10X faster, so if you’ve used 4G LTE this should help you compare and decide on what’s best

 

Other Trusted Mobile Carriers

 

Koodo

Koodo has been rated as one of the best customer service companies in Canada. If you need assistance with your phone or account, Koodo is definitely a company you can trust. So be at ease that you’re getting the best, and not the worst customer service, which is what we often do get with others.

Chatr

Chatr offers fast data speeds, reaching up to 3G speeds. This makes Chatr a great choice for anyone looking for a fast and reliable connection. Whether you’re browsing the internet, streaming music or videos, or just need to stay connected with friends and family, Chatr has you covered.

Public Mobile

Public Mobile is Canada’s newest wireless carrier, and it’s also the cheapest.  Public Mobile’s 3G speed is only 3mbps which may not sound very fast, but it’s still fast enough for most people to stream high-quality audio without any problems. Public Mobile isn’t as well-known as some major carriers, but with low prices, it’s sure to attract many new customers.

Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile Canada is a good cell phone service provider which offer a variety of plans that include talk, text, and data. Virgin Mobile also have a good selection of phones to choose from. They use the Sprint network, which is one of the largest in the country. This means that you should get good coverage pretty much anywhere.

Freedom Mobile

Since Freedom Mobile is a new entrant into the space and competing with the Big 3 Carriers is no easy task, it seems like they are using lower price points as a tactic to help increase the number of subscribers. The lower price does not relate to the quality of the network by any means, as Freedom Mobile is heavily investing in bettering its network.

 

Frequently Asked Questions About Lucky Mobile