About to get out of an EE contract cos (long story) they can no longer provide service in and around my house.

 

Been with Orange back in the day - utter swearwords, never again.

 

Vodafone - not good coverage here, the contract I moved from for better coverage - and utter swearwords

 

Three - seem to have the best rep of all the majors, but then that's not hard considering how badly mobile companies treat their customers. Coverage map seems terrible in my location, nearly as bad as EE. 

 

O2 - Was with them many years, never had an issue, great CS, but plans available are not the cheapest however, and coverage seems no better than giff gaff

 

So, Giff Gaff - as I am unlikely to get much coverage from anyone in my home and surrounds, and I make few texts or calls, GG seem best with their 2Mb package.

 

So, knowing little about what this is all about, are they any good? It's a rolling monthly contract so not like I'll go far wrong, but I am fed up with the constant PAC codes and crap that goes with it.

 

Good? Bad? 

About to get out of an EE contract cos (long story) they can no longer provide service in and around my house.

 

Been with Orange back in the day - utter swearwords, never again.

 

Vodafone - not good coverage here, the contract I moved from for better coverage - and utter swearwords

 

Three - seem to have the best rep of all the majors, but then that's not hard considering how badly mobile companies treat their customers. Coverage map seems terrible in my location, nearly as bad as EE. 

 

O2 - Was with them many years, never had an issue, great CS, but plans available are not the cheapest however, and coverage seems no better than giff gaff

 

So, Giff Gaff - as I am unlikely to get much coverage from anyone in my home and surrounds, and I make few texts or calls, GG seem best with their 2Mb package.

 

So, knowing little about what this is all about, are they any good? It's a rolling monthly contract so not like I'll go far wrong, but I am fed up with the constant PAC codes and crap that goes with it.

 

Good? Bad? 

 

I use GiffGaff - they use O2 for coverage and are really cheap to use. My son also uses the same and has an unlimited data "goodybag". I also like the free to call/text other Giffgaff phones.

I use GiffGaff - they use O2 for coverage and are really cheap to use. My son also uses the same and has an unlimited data "goodybag". I also like the free to call/text other Giffgaff phones.

 

LOL, thanks John, guess that explains why their coverage map looked just like O2.

 

They're certainly cheap, and I liked O2, so I guess for a monthly I can easy get out of then they're the go to guys 

O2/GiffGaff are not very good for internet access on 3G, and their 4G service is almost entirely reliant on band 20 (800Mhz), the so-called India band as it was intended for poor, underdeveloped countries like India. This can be a problem as band 20 isnt covered by a lot of 4G phones.

 

Having said all that, I use GG, and dont forget you get free calls and texts to other GG users if you buy a Goodybag

A guy I work with was on Giff Gaff and he could never get any internetz, If you plan on using the net then id suggest going somewhere else, If it's just calls and texts then why not? Might as well go for it.

We have  a very hit and miss signal with EE in the house. I rang up and complained and they sent me a Signal Booster for free and it works.

 

Excellent signal in the house and outside.  Plugs intto my Virgin Broadband router via a cable. 

We have  a very hit and miss signal with EE in the house. I rang up and complained and they sent me a Signal Booster for free and it works.

 

Excellent signal in the house and outside.  Plugs intto my Virgin Broadband router via a cable. 

No Broadband. Live 10 miles from citty centre in a village of c.50 houses - BT/openreach class this as "hard to reach and unviable" 

 

Thanks for the tips on internet coverage, that's mainly what my phone gets used for, so guess I'll be giving Three a whirl then. 

I've been on gg for a couple of weeks now

Text messages didn't work at first but now look OK (despite changing nothing)

The 4g signal round our way is patchy at best and no better than the Vodafone sim I had in before

Pricewise spot on though and I'll probably stick with them for the foreseeable

No.

Been with them for 4 years. The phone service is as poor as it has ever been as seems to be getting worse. I no longer recommend them to people. Ymmv.

I'm with Three. They now have two 4G bands so 4G coverage is pretty good and now get it inside the house.

 

I pay £15 per month for 200 mins, unlimited txts, 2000 3 to 3 calls, unlimited data and 4GB tethering (although I can use tethering all I want and the 4GB never goes down!)

 

They really have come on a long long way and they get bad mouthed by people for no reason.

 

Maybe get a £1 Three sim to try the coverage where you are?

 

You may be pleasantly surprised as their coverage map looks flaky where we live but in real life it's good and calls never fail. Also get 50mb/s on 4G!

With 3 up for buying o2, I do wonder what will happen to GiffGaff; will 3 kill it off, or will GG finally get some decent 4G and 3G internet.

I live in Manchester and EE is pants. I argued for several weeks and they eventually sent me an internet based mini 3G repeater. It works by my phone locking onto the new 3G signal and the rest is done magically over the internet. Nowadays I don't need the box so much as my Galaxy S6 has voice over Wi-Fi. Leave your Wi-Fi on and as you entre the house your phone automatically logs onto the router and phone calls and text messages are spot on again

With 3 up for buying o2, I do wonder what will happen to GiffGaff; will 3 kill it off, or will GG finally get some decent 4G and 3G internet.

 

I didn't know about that. I really hope it doesn't push the cost up or that they get rid of their unlimited data!

O2/GiffGaff are not very good for internet access on 3G, and their 4G service is almost entirely reliant on band 20 (800Mhz), the so-called India band as it was intended for poor, underdeveloped countries like India. This can be a problem as band 20 isnt covered by a lot of 4G phones.

 

Having said all that, I use GG, and dont forget you get free calls and texts to other GG users if you buy a Goodybag

 

My son streams video all  the time on his Giffgaff in Sheffield

Edited 4 November, 201510 yr by bigjohn

I was with Giffgaff for 2 years, couldn't really fault them, although the odd text would fail and had to resend.  Service around us was patchy but it still is with Tesco, as said they are both O2.

Only went with Tesco as I bought the phones from them, as soon as my contract is up I may return to Giffgaff as I like their rolling 1 month contract. I kept the Giffgaff sim in my old phone and just make a call or text every now and again (I have some call credit left) to keep the number alive. I get 4g also Tesco, I see Giffgaff have this too now.

My son streams video all  the time on his Giffgaff in Sheffield

 

Some inner city areas apparently have Band 7 4G on O2, which is faster than Band 20, maybe Sheffield is one, or is he connected through your Wifi?? My experiences of GG 3G service is speeds below 50KBps, and I have tried it in more than a few places. I stood next to my son, and we ran speed tests, my phone got 41KB on GG 3G, his got 14Mb on Three 3G and 60Mb on Three 4G

Some inner city areas apparently have Band 7 4G on O2, which is faster than Band 20, maybe Sheffield is one, or is he connected through your Wifi?? My experiences of GG 3G service is speeds below 50KBps, and I have tried it in more than a few places. I stood next to my son, and we ran speed tests, my phone got 41KB on GG 3G, his got 14Mb on Three 3G and 60Mb on Three 4G

 

They're also the kind of naff speeds I used to get on T-Mobile. I had an unlimited data plan with them but the speeds were just shocking!

 

I would have a full 3G signal a times and it would just constantly stall and do nothing for ages then running speed test I wasn't even getting 1mb up or down.

 

Three are by far the best for mobile data.

 

Another plus for Three is that when we went to Italy earlier this year I was able to use calls, texts and data without additional costs!

Personally love 3's 3p/2p/1p pay as you go sim. Talk / text / mb.

 

I only use it for phone calls and texts, but do not believe you can get cheaper calls. Certainly very reasonable compared to what some people pay per minute.

 

Just needs a 3g phone.

I didn't know about that. I really hope it doesn't push the cost up or that they get rid of their unlimited data!

 

interesting times

 

Vodafone and O2 now share the same mast network

 

EE and Three share the network (it's provided by MBNL)

 

if Three are cleared to buy O2 and now that EE is becoming BT, the whole thing is going to get quite messy

Some inner city areas apparently have Band 7 4G on O2, which is faster than Band 20, maybe Sheffield is one, or is he connected through your Wifi?? My experiences of GG 3G service is speeds below 50KBps, and I have tried it in more than a few places. I stood next to my son, and we ran speed tests, my phone got 41KB on GG 3G, his got 14Mb on Three 3G and 60Mb on Three 4G

 

My son wasn't on wifi, Sheffield seems good for High Density coverage

I have been on GG for over 3 years, I have just been upgraded to 4G at no extra cost.

 

It piggy backs O2 so whatever coverage they have for your area is what you will get with GG.

 

The best part is that you are NOT tied to a contract, you can swap goody bags each / every month.

 

When it comes to handsets, it is either good or bad depending on how you want to look at it - Handset choice is not as good as the major shops, and as i compared a Sony Z4 price that my wife did when she took a contract with O2.  To buy using O2 worked out to approx £100 more than if you had bought new and unlocked from internet.

Given the cost of handsets, i personally prefer not to take ones from Shops as my last 3 handsets have all been new, unlocked and cheaper than if i had taken a contract ( yes it was a large initial outlay, but was able to recover most of the cost  selling the old phone on e-bay.

 

All i will say about those who have complained about GG, would have same issues with O2, and probably other providers till one was found to give suitable coverage.

My advice is if you have good O2 coverage then GG will be ok as i have found - SWMBO on O2, I am on GG

I've started using GG after years of £40+ tariffs on the big boys. My 4g coverage is no worse than on my £43 voda tariff. Overall very happy. Love the app for tracking usage.

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Just like to point out that you DONT have to buy a phone from GG, that is the whole point, you can just order a SIM and stick it in any phone, my family are running Lenovo, Xiaomi, Umi and Apple phones, and a MiFI unit, none of which were bought from GG.

interesting times

 

Vodafone and O2 now share the same mast network

 

EE and Three share the network (it's provided by MBNL)

 

if Three are cleared to buy O2 and now that EE is becoming BT, the whole thing is going to get quite messy

 

I agree, one thing I cant figure out, OFCOM and the M&M board allowed the BT/EE merger, but are stalling over the Three/O2 buyout. I think we are going to end up with all the infrastructure owned by ONE company, and all the operators paying them to use the masts. (like the railway network).

That's easy, three and o2 will remove a mobile player from the market. The CMA said EE and BT don't operate in the same space so you still have the same number of mobile players after that deal. Simple

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