Newbie seeking advice on Giffgaff

[Deleted User]

My apologies if there are earlier threads covering this, I'm new to this particular board/subject area.

I came out yesterday of a 2 year contract with TMobile (really EE) which costs £28.22 per month. Unlimited texts, 250 minutes and unlimited data. I barely use 50 talk minutes a month but my data usage is very high, something like 20GB per month.

I'm looking for a new deal. I'm attracted by Giffgaff's unlimited data, texts and minutes at £20 per month. I've only got a 3G phone (Moto G from 2014) and happy with it. I read bad reports about Giffgaff's, although they seem to have won lots of "best of" awards, so I'm a bit confused. What are people's experiences? They share the 02 network. Is their coverage/speed the same as 02? I like the idea of the month to month arrangement, no contract. On the other hand, when you reach 6GB of data in a month, you go to a slow speed of 256kbs except between midnight and 8am.Can you still browse the internet and send emails at that speed?

Thanks I'm anticipation of any help.

joeluken

Deleted_User wrote: »

My apologies if there are earlier threads covering this, I'm new to this particular board/subject area.

I came out yesterday of a 2 year contract with TMobile (really EE) which costs £28.22 per month. Unlimited texts, 250 minutes and unlimited data. I barely use 50 talk minutes a month but my data usage is very high, something like 20GB per month.

I'm looking for a new deal. I'm attracted by Giffgaff's unlimited data, texts and minutes at £20 per month. I've only got a 3G phone (Moto G from 2014) and happy with it. I read bad reports about Giffgaff's, although they seem to have won lots of "best of" awards, so I'm a bit confused. What are people's experiences? They share the 02 network. Is their coverage/speed the same as 02? I like the idea of the month to month arrangement, no contract. On the other hand, when you reach 6GB of data in a month, you go to a slow speed of 256kbs except between midnight and 8am.Can you still browse the internet and send emails at that speed?

Thanks I'm anticipation of any help.

Some giffgaff feedback here -

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/giffgaff.com

Giffgaff is a wholly owned subsidiary of Telefonica UK Ltd the company that uses the trading name "02". However it doesn't offer the same level of service as O2 i.e. limited national bandwidth and lower congestion priority. Its O2's budget offering for want of a better description.

I have a spare giffgaff sim but 4G data is slow (generally slower than EE/Three 3G for d/l most of the time) and often really slow especially during the day. A lot of the time it drops to 3G which is worse than slow and unsuable. I find a huge difference in data performance and data coverage compared to EE and Three.

Also if you manage to use 20GB even at 256Kbps or less using background downloads you will probably be throtted even more and banned from repurachasing an always on goodybag. This ban avoids ASA guidelines because giffgaff is preventing you from buying a new contract as each goodybag contract is only for a 30 day period.

Only way to know if works for you is try it but I wouldn't spend a lot to try. You can then work out if the Uswitch awards based on just a customer survey is deserved.

joeluken

Deleted_User wrote: »

I barely use 50 talk minutes a month but my data usage is very high, something like 20GB per month.

I can't think of any EE MVNO's that offer 20GB of data apart from BT Mobile. If you have BT Broadband you can get a 12 month sim for £16 pm (£21 otherwise) that includes 20GB of 4G data, unlimited call and texts. There was also £40 cashback via Quidco and a £40 Amazon voucher from BT ! http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/4g-sim-only-plans/?s_cid=con_ppc_maxus_vidZ60_T1&vendorid=Z60&gclid=CNjOz7L878oCFdUy0wod_QEBFQ&dclid=CPbf2rL878oCFUo2cgodsRgPIg

You may also wish to considered Three's 321 PAYG with the £20 All You Can Eat data monthly bundle (1000GB FUP). It also has 300 minues, 3000 text plus feel at home roaming and you can use you mobile number over wifi when there's no mobile signal. http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Pay_As_You_Go

EE and Three share most of their network sites using a company called MBNL that they jointly own. 3G coverage on both is good (I'd give the 3G advantage to Three because my EE tends to drop to 2G yet I can still stream on Three in the same locations) but 4G coverage/speed varies between the two a lot more with EE having the advantage.

grumbler

Vodafone are doing 20gb+Unlimited 12x£20 contract, but I would steer clear of this company.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for helpful replies. I think I will not go with Giffgaff. I suspect that I might end up frustrated nor will they want me on the £20 "unlimited" data monthly deal. I'm interested in the unlimited data £20 PAYG deal with 3. I was previously on a monthly contract for £19 with 3 which I left in Feb 2014 for the EE deal. Silly naive move on my part. Have no issues with EE except that my phone from the Feb 2014 (Moto G) is long ago paid for and I think £28 is too much for an ongoing contract. They didn't offer me anything better when I phoned this week for a PAC code, obviously my data usage is way over the normal. Like the BT deal for home broadband customers at £16 per month, but I don't have home broadband.

[Deleted User]

PS joeluken, what does 1000 GB FUP mean? Apologies for my ignorance

grumbler

Fair Use(age) Policy

How can Giffgaff not 'want' you? And it's PAYG, not a contract, so you can leave whenever you want.

joeluken

Deleted_User wrote: »

PS joeluken, what does 1000 GB FUP mean? Apologies for my ignorance

FUP means Fair Use Policy and Three makes it clear that there is a 1000GB data per month UK FUP you can use with its All You Can Eat data plans before it stops data for the remainder of the month.

On giffgaff you buy a goodybag which is a 30 day contract for the supply of a mobile service in exchange for payment. People seem to think a there's no contract but there is and the only difference beween "contracts" is the terms.

[Deleted User]

Hi Grumbler, sorry, I should have said that Giffgaff might ban me from a repeat purchase of the £20 unlimited data monthly "goodybag" if my data usage levels reach towards 20GB. See joeluken's first posting above. When is unlimited data not unlimited?..when it's part of a Giffgaff not-too-goody unlimited data bag, apparently.

joeluken

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi Grumbler, sorry, I should have said that Giffgaff might ban me from a repeat purchase of the £20 unlimited data monthly "goodybag" if my data usage levels reach towards 20GB. See joeluken's first posting above. When is unlimited data not unlimited?..when it's part of a Giffgaff not-too-goody unlimited data bag, apparently.

This is giffgaff Traffic Flow Folicy that forms part of its T&C's. Here it claims not to have a fair use policy (avoids ASA) for data but if you breach T&C's by using too much data (even outside peak times) or too much in too short a time you will be prevented from repurchasing. The magic number appears to around 10-15GB or more than 1GB in an hour according to customers who have been banned some using their data in the middle of night !

"I received an email, what did I do wrong?

You haven’t done anything wrong. However, there are certain usage patterns that affect the data experience of other members and this appears to match your natural usage pattern. Sometimes, these usage patterns are seen when very data heavy services (such as high definition streaming or large file downloads) are carried out very regularly during peak hours.


Isn't this a fair usage policy?

No, you are still free to use your existing data allowance as you see fit and our unlimited data allowance is truly unlimited. We are simply improving the online experience for the majority of our members during peak times.

All members can use the full allowance of any goodybag they have purchased. However, members who are found to be in breach of our terms and conditions could be prevented from purchasing an unlimited goodybag in the future."

https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Learning-and-giffgaffer-articles/Traffic-Flow-Policy/ta-p/12999304

dazzaofdagenham

grumbler wrote: »

Vodafone are doing 20gb+Unlimited 12x£20 contract, but I would steer clear of this company.

I've just signed up for that....includes 12 months of premium Spotify....so with unlimited calls and texts...could be a winner.

Some people saying I could have got cashback through top cashback ?