Lidl Connect international calls: the 100 minutes explained

Can you call China from Ireland on Lidl Connect?

Yes. The 1GLOBAL price list includes 100 voice minutes a month from Ireland to the EU and EEA and to selected international destinations, and China is one of them by name. The minutes are part of the plan, with no extra charge, and you can spend all 100 on calls to China if you want.

The same 100 minutes cover every listed country together: it is one monthly pool, not 100 minutes for each country. If you call family in China for an hour and a friend in Poland for forty minutes, the pool is used up for that month.

The documents name "China". They do not say whether Hong Kong or Macau numbers count as China, so if you call those, ask Lidl Connect customer care before relying on the allowance.

Which countries are in the Lidl Connect international minutes?

The fair use policy lists them: the EU and EEA, Ukraine, Brazil, Canada, China, India, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Switzerland, San Marino and Andorra. The price list names the same eleven destinations outside the EU and EEA. Lidl's own page and launch coverage say "38 countries" instead of naming them.

The count does not quite match: the named groups add up to more than 38 once every EU and EEA country is counted. This site lists the destinations the documents name rather than repeating the number. If a country matters to you, check it in the fair use policy listed under Sources below, or with customer care.

What happens when the international minutes run out?

The fair use policy says that once the allowance is used, "you will not be able to make further outbound calls to these destinations until your next billing cycle". There is no charge per minute after that: the calls simply do not go through. Incoming calls and texts from those countries still reach you.

The allowance renews with your billing month, which starts on the day your plan started, not on the first of the calendar month. The documents do not say that unused minutes carry over, so treat each month's 100 minutes as that month's only.

The Lidl Plus app shows your usage. If your family calls are long, check it before the end of the month rather than finding out mid-call.

Are texts to China or other countries included?

The price list describes the international allowance as voice minutes only, and does not list international texts. The fair use policy adds that "other international usage is not available". So do not count on sending texts to Chinese or other foreign numbers from Lidl Connect; ask customer care if you rely on them.

Receiving texts from abroad is different: the fair use policy says you "will still be able to always receive incoming calls and SMS from these destinations", so verification codes and messages sent to your Irish number still arrive.

Do calls to UK numbers use the international minutes?

No. The price list includes "unlimited calls and SMS to the United Kingdom" in the domestic allowance, so calling or texting a UK or Northern Ireland number from Ireland is treated like calling an Irish number. It does not use the 100 international minutes, and there is no monthly cap on it.

That makes Lidl Connect straightforward for anyone with family in Britain or Northern Ireland: the 100 minutes stay free for countries further away.

What about countries that are not on the list?

They are not available. The fair use policy says "other international usage is not available", so a call from Ireland to a country outside the list, for example Nigeria, the Philippines or Pakistan, will not go through on Lidl Connect. Premium-rate numbers are not accessible either, according to the price list.

If you call such a country often, you have two choices: a calling app over mobile data or WiFi, which on Lidl Connect uses the unlimited data in Ireland, or a different provider whose plan includes that country. The compare page lists eleven plans; check each operator's international rates on its own site.

Calling apps such as WhatsApp or WeChat are not phone calls in the plan's sense: they use data, not international minutes, and work to any country where the other person has the app.

Is this the same as using Lidl Connect abroad?

No. The 100 minutes are for calling abroad while you are in Ireland. Using your phone while you travel is roaming, with its own rules: in the EU and EEA, the UK, Switzerland, Ukraine and Moldova, calls and texts work like at home, with up to 50GB of data a month. The roaming page covers that in detail.

The documents describe the 100 minutes as "international usage from Ireland". They do not set out the cost of calling a non-Irish number while you are roaming, for example ringing China from Spain, so ask customer care before relying on it. Outside the roaming zone, Lidl Connect has no roaming at all, so a trip to China itself is not covered.

More on travelling: Lidl Connect roaming.

Does WiFi calling change anything for international calls?

Not the allowance. WiFi calling carries ordinary phone calls over WiFi when the mobile signal is weak, and the price list says WiFi calls within Ireland and calls from abroad to Ireland cost nothing extra. A WiFi call to China from Ireland is still a call to China and, as far as the documents say, counts the same way.

WiFi calling needs a compatible phone with it switched on. The coverage page explains it alongside VoLTE.