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giffgaff good network?

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I am going to get Samsung Galaxy S3 mobile with the giffgaff.
Trying to figure out whether I should go for contract with GBP26 per month or buy the mobile and pay the GBP12.00 SIM only, as a low user.

Comparing their total cost, they are almost the same. any comments? Anyone experiences with Giffgaff?
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Comments

  • Rusty!
    Rusty! Posts: 2,076 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Tons of people here have experience with them (myself included). As with any carrier you'll get a mixed response, is been pretty good for me though, most problems suffered are O2 network faults which they can't do anything about. I can only remember one GG specific problem in nearly three years.
  • JDC14
    JDC14 Posts: 439 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture
    Been with them since April/May (as it would save me about £200 over a contract over 24 months).

    Awful start, took 10-12 days to port my number. A widespread issue effecting several people on GG (not that they'd admit it).

    Then nothing but perfection for months (bar the day the whole 02 network went down, I think August).

    Other than that all good. Today however, was the first time in a long while, I've asked in my head, whether it's worth being with GG when I have to constantly reset the internet settings to GiffGaff's to connect to the internet without WiFi.
  • I received superb customer service this week.

    I'd lost the sim I use in my tablet dongle. I contacted an agent late one evening and 3 days later I have a new sim with the credit from the lost sim on my new one.

    Never had any issues topping up

    I recommend trying them.
  • teffers
    teffers Posts: 698 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts
    Network is ok, as long as you keep in mind, it's a 're-seller' of o2.

    That means if there is an issue (usually 1 or two throughout the year) then you are dead last on the list for a fix so you may be without service for a bit.

    Factor that in against cost (it's cheap) and if you can live with it (I did and do for some of my numbers) then you'll be ok.
  • As an aside I would recommend buying the phone seperately, then you are free to move to a different network if you wish (though phone will need to be unlocked first), especially as giff gaff won't lock you in to a long contract. Have you considered Tesco mobile? I found their prices similar to giff gaff, with them also sharing o2's network. Slightly better customer service reviews when I was researching
  • Mrs_Arcanum
    Mrs_Arcanum Posts: 23,976 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Love giffgaff. Only get problems when O2 is playing up. Only costs £120 for three of us on GG & as my daughter is the only one who has a £5 unlimited text goody bag to text her best friend on another network. Ironically GG/O2 is best where we live where Vodaphone is better where they live.

    They also let you know what is the best package for how you use the phone.
    Truth always poses doubts & questions. Only lies are 100% believable, because they don't need to justify reality. - Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Labyrinth of the Spirits
  • Mrs_Arcanum
    Mrs_Arcanum Posts: 23,976 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    As an aside I would recommend buying the phone seperately, then you are free to move to a different network if you wish (though phone will need to be unlocked first), especially as giff gaff won't lock you in to a long contract. Have you considered Tesco mobile? I found their prices similar to giff gaff, with them also sharing o2's network. Slightly better customer service reviews when I was researching
    Giffgaff don't sell or do phones. So they would always have to be bought separately. Anything set for O2 or available to all networks in places such as CPWH would not need unlocking.

    So you could get a PAYG phone and the smallest top up, cheaper than buying a phone outright & just stick a GG sim in later.
    Truth always poses doubts & questions. Only lies are 100% believable, because they don't need to justify reality. - Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Labyrinth of the Spirits
  • gjchester
    gjchester Posts: 5,741 Forumite
    BattleToy wrote: »
    Comparing their total cost, they are almost the same. any comments? Anyone experiences with Giffgaff?

    My experience was nothing but trouble.

    If it's all working your fine, if it's not and you need to talk to them with problems (not the community, they can do "how do I" questions but nothing that's related to your account) then you can only do it by email and they are extremely slow to reply.

    I gave up and when to Tesco paying the same £10 a months and I can talk to a real person when there are issues.
  • I've just moved over to GG from Vodafone contract. Transition and porting of my number was smooth and efficient and I don't think anyone can deny how competitive their bundle prices are, but for some reason I still can't get my data working.

    GG sent me three txts which I then saved onto my phone, these were supposedly for mobile data settings. When I checked the connection settings on my phone compared to online, they were all completely different. Changed them manually but I still haven't got it working.

    I reserve further judgement until I've sorted this issue!
  • Virgin SIM only is as cheap/cheaper for most usages, allows tethering as standard on ALL tariffs, imo uses a far better network and has telephone support.
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