MSE News: Giffgaff starts selling mobile handsets – but are its deals any good?

Former_MSE_Helen

"From this week Giffgaff is selling a range of handsets to compete with the likes of EE, O2, Three and Vodafone..."

Read the full story:

Giffgaff starts selling mobile handsets – but are its deals any good?



Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

minislim

o2 really have lost their way in the mobile market!

just look at the few (four) phones that they come out on tops with!

they are the bottom end of the budget phone market!

i actually wonder if they really want to keep going any more?

they just dont seem bothered to sell new deals, keep existing customers or even maintain their network anymore (signal for o2 has got worse in the last 12 months).

callum9999

minislim wrote: »

o2 really have lost their way in the mobile market!

just look at the few (four) phones that they come out on tops with!

they are the bottom end of the budget phone market!

i actually wonder if they really want to keep going any more?

they just dont seem bothered to sell new deals, keep existing customers or even maintain their network anymore (signal for o2 has got worse in the last 12 months).

O2 are doing just fine.

NFH

You'll be able to buy any of the handsets upfront, while on some phones you'll be able to repay the cost over time via peer-to-peer lending organisation RateSetter, paying between 9.7% and 25.8% APR (see our Peer-To-Peer Lending guide for how this works).

This is how all networks should supply phones that are not paid for in full upfront. An APR should always be quoted and the repayments should be kept totally separate from the monthly charge for service.

Yous

I still do not understand why people buy phones from the phone companies...

Ebay and amazon have the htc one x for around £255.00

These are unlocked.
It is cheaper to buy a phone and get a sim only deal.

When i bought my Samsung S2 (some time ago now)
O2 and Vodaphone wanted over 300.00 for the phone and then
18 month contracts (apx £21 + £25 pm) Well over £600.00 over the
contract.
I payed £199 from ebay for my S2. On Giffgaff £12.00 pm
so year one cost about £343..

neil40

The good thing about the giffgaff offer is you can change payments for the phone or pay it off early.
If you can afford to buy it outright someone like Amazon will be a much better deal but for those who cannot,giffgaff is a reasonably good deal.

Im_just_careful

The price comparison is a useful article.


While I think I would be more opportunistic in buying handsets (wait for the deal on a given handset) for someone who needs a new phone now and doesn't want a contract giffgaff seems worth a look.

joeluken

Like the poster above I also question why people looking to buy a handset outright would limit their choice to network providers or typical phone shops.

It will also be interesting to see if the typical giffgaff customer is also considered a suitable credit risk by Ratesetter.

The info below is taken from their help section for people thinking of lending money via Ratesetter :-

"The Borrowers who are accepted to RateSetter are what are described as “Prime” Borrowers. They are usually looking for a loan for a car, a wedding or a big ticket expense. We have some basic rules:

Borrowers must be over 24 years old, have a regular monthly income, and have no CCJs or history of bad debt. We carefully examine their Credit File to understand the other debts they have, and their monthly expenditure. We will often ask for confirmation or proof of certain details. We don’t judge simply on the basis of how much they want to borrow: it is very important to understand whether the loan is affordable for the Borrower in the context of his or her monthly outgoings. This stringent process means that we actually decline over 85% of applications. Those who are accepted are exactly the people that our Lenders have asked for: creditworthy individuals who can sensibly afford a loan."

Expansys may be another option to consider for those seeking to finance a sim free phone that offers better pricing and 0% finance over 10 months on some products.

Example Sony Xperia Z1 (sim free and unlocked from both) -

Giffgaff price £530 or over 12 months £50 upfront £43.03 pm total £566.36

Expansys price £450 over 10 months £45 upfront £40.50 pm total £450

The giffgaff price is £116.36 more so not such great value. Both giffgaff and Expansys offer repayment over a longer period but Expansys change more for credit. Even so it may still work out cheaper due to the lower price of the handset.

kerri_gt

Yous wrote: »

I still do not understand why people buy phones from the phone companies...

Ebay and amazon have the htc one x for around £255.00

These are unlocked.
It is cheaper to buy a phone and get a sim only deal.

When i bought my Samsung S2 (some time ago now)
O2 and Vodaphone wanted over 300.00 for the phone and then
18 month contracts (apx £21 + £25 pm) Well over £600.00 over the
contract.
I payed £199 from ebay for my S2. On Giffgaff £12.00 pm
so year one cost about £343..

I can't believe people pay for handsets full stop. At the end of the day, the majorly of phones across each tier, ie non smartphones, smartphones, etc all do much the same thing. If a network wants my custom is my money, they can darn well provide me with a phone too.

NFH

kerri_gt wrote: »

I can't believe people pay for handsets full stop. At the end of the day, the majorly of phones across each tier, ie non smartphones, smartphones, etc all do much the same thing. If a network wants my custom is my money, they can darn well provide me with a phone too.

What a strange point of view. Do you likewise expect to receive a free television from Television Licensing or from Sky? Do you likewise expect to receive a free PC from your ISP? It's usually cheaper buy buy a SIM-free phone and SIM-only contract, especially with iPhones.

I would like to see unbundling of the goods and the service to promote competition and transparency. We need an end to the cost of mobile phones being subsidised by monthly charges because this:

• Encourages consumers to acquire handsets they cannot truly afford through an unhealthy "buy now pay later" consumer debt culture with a disguised loan from the mobile network.
• Distorts competition by disguising the true price of the handset and of the service, as opposed to a SIM-free handset and SIM-only service.
• Encourages wasteful acquisition of new handsets because consumers mistakenly believe they are receiving the handset for free or for very little.
• Necessitates long contract durations in order to spread the cost of the handset, which inhibits competition by preventing consumers from switching networks.
• Causes consumers to continue paying the inflated monthly charge even after they have paid off the subsidy of the handset, unless they remember to take action at the end of the minimum contract period.

Subsidised handsets are usually SIM-locked which:

• Inhibits competition by making it more difficult to switch networks.
• Prevents consumers from using local SIM cards abroad, allowing UK networks to impose unreasonably high roaming charges by excluding foreign competition.

For these reasons, Ofcom should encourage unsubsidised SIM-free handsets and competitive SIM-only contracts to become the norm, as is common in many other countries. At the very least, networks should be forced to unbundle the monthly handset subsidy repayment and the monthly charge for service (as O2 has started doing), itemising the two separately with independent contract durations and even an APR for the loan (as Giffgaff is doing). The monthly handset subsidy repayment should not be allowed to continue after the cost of the handset has been paid off.

kerri_gt

NFH wrote: »

What a strange point of view. Do you likewise expect to receive a free television from Television Licensing or from Sky? Do you likewise expect to receive a free PC from your ISP? It's usually cheaper buy buy a SIM-free phone and SIM-only contract, especially with iPhones.

Ohh , now that's a good idea, want to pitch it to them?

Separate phone purchase and sim contract would deff me more expensive for me. Sorry, can't comment on an iPhone, never considered one, wouldn't pay £30 a month or more for any phone, nor several hundred for a handset. Each to their own though.