Revolut Mobile launches in Ireland at €9.99, and your RevPoints could cover the bill

Revolut Mobile is launching in Ireland today with a launch offer of €9.99 a month for unlimited calls, texts and 5G data, and it might just tempt me away from the €8.99 Lidl SIM I looked at recently.

In short, Revolut Mobile is an eSIM-only plan that runs on Vodafone’s network, with the mobile operation handled by a company called Gigs. The first 25,000 people to sign up pay €9.99 a month, up to 31 January 2027 if the places haven’t all gone by then, and it’s €12.99 after that. You get unlimited calls, texts and data in Ireland, 20GB of roaming in the UK and EU, and no contract.

The neo-bank, Revolut, now has 3.4 million customers in Ireland, and while it already frightens the life out of traditional banks, it’s now taking aim at the mobile networks. Revolut says your bill could drop to zero euros a month but naturally there is a catch? In fact there are two; you need to spend alot to wipe out the bill and the fair usage looks a little stern.

I’ve been speaking with both Revolut and Luke Kehoe from Ookla about what to expect from yet another MVNO launching in Ireland. Overall, my take is that Revolut Mobile is a really good deal on paper, especially if you’re already deep into RevPoints. I haven’t tested it yet though, so this is what the deal looks like before real-world use.

How much does Revolut Mobile Ireland cost?

It costs €9.99 a month for the first 25,000 sign-ups, or until 31 January 2027, whichever comes first. After that it’s €12.99.

Revolut told me it has no plans to change the €9.99 for those first 25,000 customers, but it isn’t promising it’s locked in for life. That’s worth knowing if you’re comparing it with Lidl. Either way, remember that those “for life” deals are for the life of the companies, not your life. If mobile was pulled for some reason, you’d be looking for a new network anyway.

It’s a rolling monthly plan, billed every month rather than every 28 days, so there’s no sneaky thirteenth bill in the year. There’s no contract and no exit fee, and if you cancel in the first 14 days you get a refund for the days you didn’t use.

What do you get with Revolut Mobile?

In Ireland you get unlimited calls, texts and 5G data, with a fair use policy applying. Roaming gives you 20GB across the UK, the EU and a few neighbours like Norway and Iceland, and you also get 50 minutes and 50 texts a month to the UK and EU. NordVPN is included for as long as you keep the plan, on up to 10 devices. You can add up to three numbers on one plan from €2 a month extra, and if you fancy a fancy number, a VIP number is a one-off €10. Outside Europe, the Messaging Pass gives you 1GB of data in more than 120 countries.

Another fairly sizeable catch is that this is eSIM only, so there’s no physical SIM card and no way of getting one, and naturally that rules out some older phones too. The whole thing is set up and managed in the Revolut app, which needs to be version 10.152 or later. You don’t need a paid Revolut plan either, as a free Standard account is enough.

If you burn through your 20GB in Europe there’s no nasty surprise on your bill. Your data just stops, Revolut says it’ll warn you when you’re getting close, and you can buy a top-up in the app. The NordVPN perk is a bonus, although if your Revolut bank plan already includes NordVPN you don’t get a second one.

The Messaging Pass, which is handy for travel, is capped at 16 kilobits a second, which is painfully slow, so think WhatsApp messages and not much else. Revolut says there’s no whitelisting of specific apps, and voice or video calls might connect, but it isn’t designed for them. I think of it like the free messaging you get on a long-haul flight without buying the internet package. It won’t replace a proper travel eSIM, but you’re not completely cut off when you land somewhere far away and need to tell someone you’ve arrived.

One more thing for anyone heading across the Atlantic. In the UK, Revolut’s 20GB of roaming covers the US, but here it’s just the UK and the EU. If you’re going to the States, the Messaging Pass is what you’re relying on unless you pick up a dedicated travel eSIM. I’m flagging it because it’s easy to land on UK information when searching from Ireland.

Can RevPoints really cover your Revolut Mobile bill?

One of the big selling points Revolut is mooting with their new mobile offering is the idea that the more you spend with a Revolut card, the more you can save on your phone bill. And in theory, that does all work out. But the many, who only use Revolut as a secondary account, will be more likely to see a small discount on their monthly bill, not a wipe out.

Revolut’s own example is someone on Ultra, its most expensive plan, who’d need to spend about €1,400 a month on their card to cover the €9.99 completely, or about €1,800 at €12.99. Ultra costs about €55 a month on its own, so nobody should sign up to it just to save a tenner on their phone.

My own numbers look better than that. I daily drive Revolut with debit and credit cards and a Metal subscription. On my plan the debit card earns one RevPoint for every two euro spent, and my Metal credit card earns double that, one RevPoint for every euro. I put big purchases on the credit card for double points, and I’ve bought Nintendo Switch games and got discounts on Aer Lingus flights with my RevPoints. Based on my annual spending, I’d have the bill covered most months.

RevPoints got a fairly frosty reception online when they replaced cash back, but as people worked out what they’re actually worth, the mood has really shifted. Putting them towards a bill you’d be paying anyway is a nice saving. It’s money back in your pocket to spend outside the Revolut ecosystem, away from the RevPoints-approved shops in the app, and it’s a big consideration for me.

Revolut Mobile Ireland vs Lidl Connect

For new customers, Revolut is €3 a month cheaper before you knock a single euro off it with your RevPoint discount. Lidl hit its 100,000 places in ten days, so the €8.99 offer is gone and anyone joining now pays €12.99.

For those of us who got in on Lidl’s launch offer, Lidl is still cheaper at €8.99 and gives you 50GB of roaming instead of 20GB. That said, I still don’t have voice over LTE working on my Lidl SIM, and that’s the kind of thing I’m hoping Revolut gets right straight out of the traps. Paying an extra euro, with a tech company behind it, might be worth it for calling that works properly.

If you want the background on the other side of this comparison, I covered the Lidl Connect launch and how it compares with Eir earlier.

Who runs Revolut Mobile, and how fast will it be?

Revolut will be the company selling you your mobile plan, and you manage it in the Revolut app. I kind of like this idea, knowing that Revolut’s user experience is pretty appealing. The technical running of your mobile network falls to Gigs, but the reality is you are unlikely to really ever need to know much about that beyond possibly seeing their name in an APN setting or something. The signal comes from Vodafone’s masts, so if you know Vodafone is good in your area, you should expect good coverage. That makes Revolut Mobile an MVNO, which is a brand that rents space on someone else’s network instead of owning its own, and it’s the same kind of setup as Lidl Connect.

That’s where things can get interesting. Lidl’s signal and speeds matched Eir’s, but its data took a detour through London or Amsterdam before reaching the internet, which added a bit of delay. I don’t know yet where Gigs sends Irish data, so that’s on my list to test. The good sign is that in the UK, where Revolut Mobile has been running since the end of last year, Ookla’s data shows its delay is about the same as Vodafone’s own customers get.

Speed is the bigger question. In the UK, Revolut’s plan comes with a maximum speed of 100 megabits a second. Revolut sells it as unlimited 5G with no throttling, but in practice it works as a ceiling. Ookla’s data shows 59% of UK Revolut phones topping out between 140 and 175 megabits, while Vodafone’s own customers on the same masts are spread out much more, with about half going faster than that.

A hundred and fifty megabits is still loads for a phone, so it was never a dealbreaker. But I asked Revolut straight out whether Irish customers would get the same ceiling, and the answer is no. There’s no speed cap or tier on the Irish plan. That fits with what Ookla spotted, a pre-launch Revolut Mobile SIM here hitting 501 megabits. It’s one SIM, in testing, before launch, and Luke was clear that things can change once real customers pile on. Still, on paper, we’re not getting the UK’s ceiling.

Does Revolut Mobile support Wi-Fi calling, 4G calling and tethering?

Yes. Revolut supports Wi-Fi calling, 4G calling and tethering. These are the questions loads of you asked under my Lidl videos, so I put them to Revolut.

Calling over 4G and Wi-Fi calling should both work at launch, and Revolut says there are no device restrictions on Wi-Fi calling. Google Pixel owners should get 5G from the start too, which wasn’t the case with Lidlm with many customers having lots of some quality of life issues. You can use your phone as a hotspot, but smartwatches that share your number aren’t supported.

If you’re bringing your number over, the switch usually happens the same day if you request it before 6pm on a weekday, or before 4pm at the weekend. You can also start on a new number and move your old one over later, which is exactly what I’m doing while I work out whether I stay with Lidl. If something goes wrong, Revolut says you can reach a human through the in-app chat at any time of the day or night. Another statement I’ll be testing.

The small print on unlimited data

One of the biggest potential “gotchas” with this whole deal is the simple fact that “Unlimited” comes with a fair use policy. Many mobile networks in Ireland have fair usage policies, though many have also more or less removed them. Either way, while not unusual Revolut Mobile’s is one of the harshest on the market at 150GB.

If you go over 150GB in a month twice within six months, Revolut will investigate and could move you to a different plan or restrict your service. That’s far more than most people use on a phone with decent Wi-Fi, but it’s not impossible to hit – especially if you have no main WiFi at home or work. Similar networks, like 48 and ClearMobile have no fair usage policy on data at all.

You also can’t use the eSIM in a 5G router to run your home broadband, which a few of you were considering with Lidl and that fair usage policy should put you off the idea anyway. Premium rate numbers are blocked, although freephone numbers like 1800 should work fine.

The early Goosed verdict

On paper, Revolut Mobile is a strong deal, especially if Revolut is already your main bank. A €9.99 bill that your points might cover is very hard to beat. If you’re in the UK or around Europe a lot, the roaming and the Messaging Pass make it even more appealing.

This isn’t just another new network like Lidl was, part of a race to the bottom on price. It’s a neo-bank looking for yet another way to set itself apart from the traditional banks, and I’m hopeful that means the likes of voice over LTE and Wi-Fi calling work more smoothly from the start.

For me, though, it’s not quite enough to leave Lidl just yet. My €8.99 is locked in for life, it gives me more roaming data, and it’s a price I’m never getting back if I leave. So I’m keeping my main number on Lidl for now and adding Revolut to a second phone to see how it holds up. I’ll be living with it for a week or so and running speed tests everywhere I go. If you’re switching too, run a Speedtest and tell me what you get in the comments under the video and subscribe to our channel, and I’ll include some of your results in the next one.

If you missed Lidl’s offer, the maths is different. At €9.99, Revolut is €3 a month cheaper than Lidl is for new customers, and with 3.4 million Revolut customers in Ireland, I wouldn’t hang around if you want that price.

Revolut Mobile is available through the Revolut app from 9 November 2026 at €9.99 a month for the first 25,000 sign-ups until 31 January 2027, then €12.99, and the full terms are on Revolut’s site.

Many thanks to Ookla and Luke Kehoe for additional data on Revolut Mobile in the UK and some test insights seen in Ireland already.