Giff Gaff to change tariffs - Unlimited data to go?
jabbamk1
Posts: 8,942 Forum Member
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Giff Gaff are currently running a consultation for their new goodybags that will launch in the second half of 2014. Giff Gaff have seen a lot of heavy data users on their network and these new tariffs are being introduced to combat congestion and slow speeds at peak times. Giff Gaff have already introduced various traffic management tools and services to block tethering on unlimited data, slow down speeds for heavy users and automatically kick people off the network for using "too much unlimited data".
These new tariffs will be for 3G only so it seems that 4G data may cost even extra than the prices listed below. Giff Gaff users can vote on 3 different pricing structures, two of which remove unlimited data from all tariffs. Option one will still include unlimited data but at £20 a month which is considerably higher than the £12 it used to cost.
Here are the options to see-
http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/77717iCAD8D24894376837/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1
Unlimited data seems to be disappearing from all networks or at least being priced at a premium. Virgin no longer sell Unlimited data plans for new customers, Three have increased the prices on their SIM Only tariffs recently and even Lyca increased their unlimited 4G plan from £12 to £15.
Thoughts?
http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Contribute/Goodybag-Community-Consultation/td-p/14170579
These new tariffs will be for 3G only so it seems that 4G data may cost even extra than the prices listed below. Giff Gaff users can vote on 3 different pricing structures, two of which remove unlimited data from all tariffs. Option one will still include unlimited data but at £20 a month which is considerably higher than the £12 it used to cost.
Here are the options to see-
http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/77717iCAD8D24894376837/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1
Unlimited data seems to be disappearing from all networks or at least being priced at a premium. Virgin no longer sell Unlimited data plans for new customers, Three have increased the prices on their SIM Only tariffs recently and even Lyca increased their unlimited 4G plan from £12 to £15.
Thoughts?
http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Contribute/Goodybag-Community-Consultation/td-p/14170579
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Comments
giffgaff need to remember though that with no call centres and no shops that people expect a cheaper deal, also those prices are talking about 3G only, which doesn't perform very well on giffgaff based on my testing.
What annoys me is how pretty much everyone on the Giff Gaff forum is acting like a paid shill and believe these new plans will miraculously stop all congestion and traffic management leading to 5G like speeds.
Simply put, that is not going to happen. Even if you do regulate how much data people are using like O2 do there is still going to plenty of congestion and low speeds due to various factors.
The only winners are customers who shop around for the best deals.
The losers are customers loyal to brands.
I can't see the USP any more, it's not price, it's not service, it's not performance.
Not really an MVNO when they're fully owned by Telefonica-UK who own O2 which is the physical carrier. Its really just another brand for the O2 network, owned by the same owners but with customer care done in a unique way.
Sadly the O2 network isn't as good as it needs to be to fight the competition from Three, whose PAYG SIM deals are unbeatable and even include 4G !
Looks like it..........
(Check and pay attention to the posting history of those making negative comments to establish their network support before believing the headline thread title).
Nothing wrong with the Giffgaff concept, if it was on a slightly better physical network. Like *all* the physical networks in the UK, coverage *varies* and you should do your own research.
Really.... I use them and have had no issues with voice, texts or data.
What seems to annoy some is that they offer better deals than the network they are well known to support.
Bottom line is that if GiffGaff works for you then use it as it is a no commitment service. If they don't deliver what you need you can simply stop paying them without penalty and move to another provider.
You posted this last month with no evidence
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1973738&highlight=
I'm making a post this month with evidence and showing how other networks have been doing the same. Never said one is better than the other.
You're very hypocritical tbh.
Not sure about frightening anyone, I was making the point about what their stand-out offer or selling point is if they go ahead with the price changes and do away with unlimited data. What would you say their compelling offering is should they go ahead with the changes?
the best price?
the best performance?
the best support?
I realise we are in quite different parts of the country, but in my town, centre of the town or in housing estates, O2 and Vodafone signals are very poor, and Three / EE have them beat. This means GiffGaff and Tesco and Sainsburys virtual networks are also poor around here as they're O2/O2/Voda respectively.
I have an unlocked Moto G 4G handset (bought from Amazon so unbranded) and tried an O2 sim (as it was free) and I get 4 bars 2G outside, and 1 bar 2G inside. No 3G or 4G detected. Vodafone was similar until 4 weeks ago when 3G now gets 1 bar inside, until I try to use it, then 3 bars 2G.
As I said before, each person has to try their area with PAYG SIMs *before* signing any contract.
You know, you can be quite tedious with your blind (but ignorant) defence of anything connected to O2.
Why don't you go to the Giffgaff forum and read it up for yourself, there is a thread (in the contribute" section) with over a 100 pages exactly about this, unlimited data is either going altogether or becoming a lot more expensive.
No, if you use too much unlimited internet, they will ban you from buying the unlimited internet goodybag again.
No, hasn't been for a while. Anyone who uses slightly more than what they consider fair is banned from buying any future "unlimited" goodybags. Some people have reported getting the email for 10-15GB of use.
I still don't know how anyone can even clock up 10GB with the terrible speeds that have been experienced on Giffgaff over the last year or so, EDGE seems fast when compared to Giffgaff 3G most of the time...
I suppose Giffgaff must have reasonable service somewhere in the country for those users to "abuse the network" (Giffgaff speak) by trying to use their unlimited data goodybags in an unlimited way.
For calls and texts, absolutely, O2's 2G is amazing, you can call and text almost everywhere in my experience.
I can't believe you've had no issues with voice, texts or data. I was with giffgaff for years and had issues with all of those things, because their whole network went down multiple times nationally. Of course there were those other times when just data stopped working, or just texts stopped working, nationally.
I stuck with it because it was cheap and I wasn't clued up on other networks. Just google GiffGaff outages if you want some proof.
Obviously these decisions were made purely as business decisions. At the end of the day I do like the openness of Giff Gaff compared to other networks. At least they consult their users or let them know of any changes in advance. Sure they could be more open but they're all good for me.
Just a shame they've changed a lot over the last few years which has made them go from a great mvno to a fairly average mvno with the same offers as everything else. The only unique thing they have at the moment is their handset pricing and payment system. That's not even a network thing.
It's very true that giffgaff have had innumerable problems, many of them were due to faults in giffgaff's systems rather than network signal issues.
I lost track of the number of times they posted to their blog apologising for the outage and explaining they were conducting a review to make sure that more reliable systems were introduced.
Add in the often patronising response from educators, the poor quality of response from agents and the essential uselessness of the community ( who are more interested in payback points than giving help) and eventually I gave up. It doesn't matter if the outage lasts a ten minutes or two days, its a problem if you need to use your handset then.
Just after it launched they blogged about the arrival of playstations in their cool offices. I thought then, that was the wrong message to give. To me it sounded like they were trying to manufacture a google like working atmosphere rather than concentrate on getting the basics right.
Personally, I think its time to admit they can't keep patching the software and changing tariffs to respond to the latest crisis and start again, relaunch, reboot
Would this be true for members of the forum who have a long history of posting negative comments about 3, justified in the bad old days when they were expensive and rubbish, but not so much these days?
Don't forget the thing about being set up in a barn in the countryside so that they can appear to be different and can think about all those nice ways to make their customers happy.
Presumably that's until they get summoned to Slough to talk real business, to get told to swivel and "here's what you're doing and what you'll charge".
Why are data allowances getting worse?