How to switch to Lidl Connect

Who handles the switch when you move to Lidl Connect?

Your new provider does. Irish law says "the receiving provider shall lead the switching and porting processes", so you start the move in the Lidl Plus app and Lidl Connect contacts your old provider for you. You do not need to ring your old provider first, and keeping your number costs nothing.

The rule is Regulation 90 of S.I. No. 444/2022, which put the European Electronic Communications Code into Irish law. It has applied since 9 June 2023. The same regulation says "no direct charges shall be applied to end-users" for porting, and that your number must be activated within one working day of the date agreed with you.

ComReg, the regulator, adds one practical point: tell the new provider you want to keep your number, because "it will not automatically be done". In the Lidl Plus app that is a choice during sign-up.

What do you need from your old provider to keep your number?

For bill pay, you need your mobile number and the account number printed on your bill or shown in your online account. For prepay, you need your number and to know whether it is registered, meaning your old provider has your name and address. Keep the old SIM in your phone to receive a verification text.

Ireland does not use a PAC code. Some pages written for the UK tell you to text "PAC" to a short code; that is the British process and does nothing here.

• Bill pay: "To port a billpay mobile number you must provide your Account Number" (eir's porting guide, which applies to any Irish operator). Providers must print it with your phone number on consumer bills.
• Prepay: no account number. You are asked whether the service is registered. A forum reply on askaboutmoney.com says a common reason for a failed transfer is choosing unregistered prepay when it should be registered.
• Your old SIM: keep it active and in your phone until the move is done. A one-time code is sent to it by text to prove the number is yours.
• Lidl Connect accepts only Irish numbers.

Should you cancel your old plan before you switch?

No. Cancel first and you can lose the number you want to keep. The law ends your old contract automatically "upon conclusion of the switching process", and your old provider must keep your service running on the same terms until the new one is active. GoMo, for example, says plainly: "Do not cancel your GoMo mobile service first".

If you are still inside a minimum contract term, the switch does not cancel the exit fee: most bill pay contracts charge the monthly price for the months left. Check that first on leaving a contract early.

If you are on prepay, use or claim your credit. Most providers refund it on request after you switch, some with a fee and a deadline. See unused credit.

If something else depends on your mobile plan, such as a broadband discount, moving the number can change that price. GoMo's broadband, for one, rises from €29.99 to €39.99 a month if GoMo Mobile is cancelled. Each provider page lists what you lose.

How long does the switch take?

1GLOBAL says a Lidl Connect port "is typically completed within the same day during porting hours", which are 8am–6pm Monday to Friday, 10am–4pm at weekends. Activation of a new SIM or eSIM can take up to 24 hours. Users on askaboutmoney.com report some moves taking longer in the first busy days after launch.

Starting outside porting hours means the move waits for the next window. Irish law sets the outer limit: the number must be active within one working day of the agreed date, and the time without service must not exceed one working day.

Billing on Lidl Connect starts only when the transfer has completed, so you are not paying twice for a plan you cannot use yet. Your old provider must stop billing and send a final bill.

How long will you be without service?

By law, no more than one working day. In practice a port is a short gap: your old SIM works until the number moves, then stops, and the Lidl Connect SIM takes over. Your phone may show no service for a short while as the number moves. If the port fails, your old provider must reactivate your number.

If your phone has two SIM slots, or one SIM and an eSIM, keep both active during the move so you can see which one has the signal. Sign up and activate explains the order of steps.

What happens to your old contract and your last bill?

Your old contract ends automatically when the switch completes, and ComReg says there "should be no overlap or double billing". Expect one final bill for usage up to the move, plus any exit fee if you were still in a minimum term. Direct debits and add-ons are not covered by a rule, so check them.

ComReg's guidance tells the old provider to "immediately cease billing and issue the final bill". Provider terms describe the same: Vodafone and Clear bill usage "for the immediate billing period prior to Porting out", GoMo sends a final bill at the start of the month after you leave, and eir bills its charges after services cease.

After the final bill, cancel any standing order or direct debit you set up yourself, and keep the final bill until it is paid.

What are your rights if the switch goes wrong?

Complain to the provider first: it must acknowledge you within two working days and respond within ten. If that fails, ComReg's consumer team can step in for complaints made in the last twelve months. Since 8 July 2024 providers must also pay compensation for porting delays under their own published schemes.

ComReg did not set one amount for everyone; each provider publishes its own compensation scheme and how to claim, usually beside its code of practice. Each provider page on this site links to that code.

ComReg's consumer line is open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm on Saturday. Its complaint guide is at comreg.ie ↗.

If your number was cancelled before you could move it, you still have time: Irish law keeps it portable for at least a month after the contract ends, and ComReg's numbering rules extend that to six months unless you gave the right up.

Which provider are you moving from?

Each Irish provider has its own notice period, exit fees, credit refund rules and quirks, such as GoMo's broadband price or Lycamobile's refund terms. Pick yours below for a side-by-side comparison with Lidl Connect at €12.99 a month and the exact steps for bill pay or prepay customers.