GiffGaff Review?

onephat · 26/08/14 - 16:57

Hi

I've been away from Giffgaff for a few years but thinking of returning. Could someone please give me a honest review of what the network is like these days?

I know 4g isnt with them yet but whats the 3g service like?

Thanks

Ben

johnathome · 26/08/14 - 17:27

onephat wrote: »

Hi

I've been away from Giffgaff for a few years but thinking of returning. Could someone please give me a honest review of what the network is like these days?

I know 4g isnt with them yet but whats the 3g service like?

Thanks

Ben

I was with gg for nearly 4 years and left a few months ago. Since late last year the 3g has been a joke.
If you just want to browse the web on your phone it's slow. Trying to stream anything during the day/evening is nearly impossible.

My last speedtests on gg during the day and early evening were between 0.05-1.58Mbps download. The higher figure was at 10pm at night, I never got above 0.68Mbps during the day.

These were on 3 different masts several miles apart. my first test on Three was 9.57Mbps at 7pm in the evening. That's what prompted me to switch.

Of course it may have just been my area but the forums are full up with people complaining about slow 3g data.

They are currently rolling out a traffic management system and upping the price of unlimited data so if you want to go back i'd wait a while and keep an eye on their forums, although someone may post on DS if it improves.

Other peoples experiences may differ, i can only go on my area. When i couldn't even stream TVCatchUp, which needs about 0.6Mbps i decided to jump ship and i'm glad i did, it's a completely different experience with my phone now. It's like it's been unchained.

onephat · 26/08/14 - 17:40

johnathome wrote: »

I was with gg for nearly 4 years and left a few months ago. Since late last year the 3g has been a joke.
If you just want to browse the web on your phone it's slow. Trying to stream anything during the day/evening is nearly impossible.

My last speedtests on gg during the day and early evening were between 0.05-1.58Mbps download. The higher figure was at 10pm at night, I never got above 0.68Mbps during the day.

These were on 3 different masts several miles apart. my first test on Three was 9.57Mbps at 7pm in the evening. That's what prompted me to switch.

Of course it may have just been my area but the forums are full up with people complaining about slow 3g data.

They are currently rolling out a traffic management system and upping the price of unlimited data so if you want to go back i'd wait a while and keep an eye on their forums, although someone may post on DS if it improves.

Other peoples experiences may differ, i can only go on my area. When i couldn't even stream TVCatchUp, which needs about 0.6Mbps i decided to jump ship and i'm glad i did, it's a completely different experience with my phone now. It's like it's been unchained.

Thanks. I might stay away then.

Cheers again

joeluken · 26/08/14 - 17:41

onephat wrote: »

I know 4g isnt with them yet but whats the 3g service like?

From my recent experience 3G is dreadful during the day with speeds averaging about 0.5Mbps in most places around England I tried but in many places 3G wasn't even available. The 3G speed issue is widespread -

http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Contribute/what-3g-speeds-do-you-get-has-it-got-worse-lately-edited...

http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/News-Announcements/Data-Experience-Discussion/m-p/12877942

http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/News-Announcements/Congestion-Management-Launch/m-p/13059998

http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/News-Announcements/Managing-data-experience-during-busy-hours/m-p/1...

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

http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Contribute/Upcoming-goodybag-changes/td-p/14395647
Add Tag...

finbaar · 26/08/14 - 21:16

If you use data then GG is next to useless. I moved my wife's number to them in May from O2 and moved her again to 3 a couple of weeks ago. She was so pissed off with GG and the non existent data She thinks 3 are great though.

Gigabit · 26/08/14 - 21:16

Stay away.

Jack_Wilson2 · 26/08/14 - 23:25

Utter rubbish.

[Deleted User] · 26/08/14 - 23:28

I think their unlimited data offering is proving too much to deliver as the few spoil it for the majority by totally hammering the bandwidth.
Tesco and Lyca also run on o2 & their speeds are much better.

Jack_Wilson2 · 26/08/14 - 23:32

neil402003 wrote: »

I think their unlimited data offering is proving too much to deliver as the few spoil it for the majority by totally hammering the bandwidth.
Tesco and Lyca also run on o2 & their speeds are much better.

Three have never failed at providing Unlimited data over 3G and over 4G. Think O2 may have a word with GiffGaff and stop the unlimited over 4G it's to much on a 'small network'

Lyca got into trouble for using the term 'Unlimited 4G Data' Ironically even Three UK had a say ;-

http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2014/8/Lycamobile-UK-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_265653.aspx#.U_0K-PldXJc

Gigabit · 26/08/14 - 23:39

Let's face it, Giffgaff isn't going to last much longer.

Jack_Wilson2 · 26/08/14 - 23:43

Gigabit wrote: »

Let's face it, Giffgaff isn't going to last much longer.

GiffGaff should never of been created.

simon69c · 27/08/14 - 07:19

Jack_Wilson2 wrote: »

GiffGaff should never of been created.

I disagree - it was an interesting concept when it first started, and certainly good value at the time. By helping on the forum and also by providing microSIMS before they were available directly, the payback meant it easily paid for itself plus giving me enough cash back to cover buying a new iPhone each year.

Unfortunately poor data speeds and increasingly poorer value pricing of their goodybags has seen them completely lose their USP. I was with them for a good while but ended up moving to Three for more consistent data speeds and as it turns out now - for far better value!

artnada · 27/08/14 - 07:28

Buyer beware. They've just announced changes to their goodybags" that are not as good as they used to be.

Also, if you dare to use the "unlimited", they punish you for using what you pay for and they advertise[b/] their service as.

Ben_Fisher · 27/08/14 - 09:13

artnada wrote: »

Buyer beware. They've just announced changes to their goodybags" that are not as good as they used to be.

Also, if you dare to use the "unlimited", they punish you for using what you pay for and they advertise[b/] their service as.

I was with them in the beginning.

Then I went to three, I tried to move back when I got my Nexus 5. RUBBISH, went straight back to three.

The Sack · 27/08/14 - 09:33

onephat wrote: »

Hi

I've been away from Giffgaff for a few years but thinking of returning. Could someone please give me a honest review of what the network is like these days?

I know 4g isnt with them yet but whats the 3g service like?

Thanks

Ben

I moved to GiffGaff last week after having a very intermittent service from Three. Suddenly getting a service everywhere is a breath of fresh air.

I have found the 3g speeds poor but usable, a few hundred KBs is more than enough to browse and use social media although i appreciate if you are one who likes to use Netflix or YouTube on the go or even stream music you're going to struggle.

Goodybags are rejigged next month so fingers crossed this combined with the actions they have taken against serial downloaders speeds improve.

To be honest even on Three i got some shitty speeds, around 2Mbit was my norm, i regularly saw 1Mbit on 4g as well, of course when it was good, it was very good.

(Nexus 5)

[Deleted User] · 27/08/14 - 12:21

I'm using them just now and will have £300 in payback to get in December.Will probably take the money & run then.

onephat · 27/08/14 - 20:45

I suppose the thing is will the serial data hogger just move over to 3 and eventually kill that service?

Jack_Wilson2 · 27/08/14 - 21:01

simon69c wrote: »

I disagree - it was an interesting concept when it first started, and certainly good value at the time. By helping on the forum and also by providing microSIMS before they were available directly, the payback meant it easily paid for itself plus giving me enough cash back to cover buying a new iPhone each year.

Unfortunately poor data speeds and increasingly poorer value pricing of their goodybags has seen them completely lose their USP. I was with them for a good while but ended up moving to Three for more consistent data speeds and as it turns out now - for far better value!

Since Three's 3-2-1 PAYG sim plan has come it's the best value... The only incentive to be with GiffGaff is free GiffGaff - GiffGaff calls and texts for 3 months after every single topup.

They run on O2's network and as someone said GiffGaff won't last long they paid out so much through 'Payback' I topped up twice £10 between 2013 I think it was and I helped out on the forums and got £110 for a £10 topup that's bad and the network can't sustain if everyone does that. I suppose it's down to user opinion GiffGaff have a little 'Forum community' that's something Three UK doesn't have.

Ben_Fisher · 27/08/14 - 21:02

onephat wrote: »

I suppose the thing is will the serial data hogger just move over to 3 and eventually kill that service?

New contracts are 4gb tethering limited...

Jack_Wilson2 · 27/08/14 - 21:07

Ben_Fisher wrote: »

New contracts are 4gb tethering limited...

onephat wrote: »

I suppose the thing is will the serial data hogger just move over to 3 and eventually kill that service?

Three UK was aware people was hamming the network hence why they had to stop it to many people was consuming it and treating it like a 'Home Broadband Substitute'. They've not stopped it for existing 'The One Plan' users which was the ONLY official tariff to support tethering over 'All-you-can-eat data' also users have been switched to a different APN who are on 'The One Plan' tethering (Heavy users are controlled - Onephat).

The thing is once they upgrade the sites to 4G the network and data traffic will become more efficient and I believe the '50meg' cap will be lifted in the future once the network advances throughout the next year.

moox · 27/08/14 - 21:08

Ben_Fisher wrote: »

New contracts are 4gb tethering limited...

But unlimited "phone data", and it isn't fiendishly difficult or impossible either hide tethered traffic or just do the heavy data usage on the phone itself.

It's a shame we don't have all four network operators offering reasonable data plans and great coverage.

joeluken · 27/08/14 - 21:20

Jack_Wilson2 wrote: »

They run on O2's network and as someone said GiffGaff won't last long they paid out so much through 'Payback' I topped up twice £10 between 2013 I think it was and I helped out on the forums and got £110 for a £10 topup that's bad and the network can't sustain if everyone does that. I suppose it's down to user opinion GiffGaff have a little 'Forum community' that's something Three UK doesn't have.

According to giffgaff only 3% of its customers earned community payback of more than £1 and of those 87% were in the lowest payback tier. It appears the vast majority of giffgaff customers have no interest in payback or its community.

I'm sure of those that do earn payback many just activate a sim as a backup and then just use it to earn payback rather than being regular repeat spend customers.

ash45 · 27/08/14 - 21:36

Jack_Wilson2 wrote: »

Three UK was aware people was hamming the network hence why they had to stop it to many people was consuming it and treating it like a 'Home Broadband Substitute'. They've not stopped it for existing 'The One Plan' users which was the ONLY official tariff to support tethering over 'All-you-can-eat data' also users have been switched to a different APN who are on 'The One Plan' tethering (Heavy users are controlled - Onephat).

The thing is once they upgrade the sites to 4G the network and data traffic will become more efficient and I believe the '50meg' cap will be lifted in the future once the network advances throughout the next year.

ya mean like you do ;-)

slackereconomy · 27/08/14 - 21:42

as a GG user of a couple of years I'm in two minds whether I'm more annoyed at the company itself, or the forum turkeys who continually vote for christmas. in no other place I've ever been do people continually ask for a worse service at a higher price.

russellelly · 27/08/14 - 21:45

I still find GiffGaff good enough. Just did a speed test a few seconds ago, 1.36Mbps down, 3.74Mbps up. Only occasionally do media streaming over 3G, but did some Netflix the other week that worked fine. YMMV, of course.

Ben_Fisher · 27/08/14 - 22:16

Jack_Wilson2 wrote: »

Three UK was aware people was hamming the network hence why they had to stop it to many people was consuming it and treating it like a 'Home Broadband Substitute'. They've not stopped it for existing 'The One Plan' users which was the ONLY official tariff to support tethering over 'All-you-can-eat data' also users have been switched to a different APN who are on 'The One Plan' tethering (Heavy users are controlled - Onephat).

The thing is once they upgrade the sites to 4G the network and data traffic will become more efficient and I believe the '50meg' cap will be lifted in the future once the network advances throughout the next year.

I'm still on the original one plan. My APN hasn't changed? I probably do 4-7GB per month on average and have peaked at about 15GB(having broadband installed).

Hey there!

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