Beware "unlimited" mobile internet from giffgaff. Use it and possibly lose it !


http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/New...n/m-p/12877838

"We think that most members would like to help us improve the experience on the network. For this reason, where a member is regularly behaving in a way which impacts you, we will drop them an email to let them know how a few changes could improve the data experience for the vast majority of members. This might include downloading large files overnight for example, or switching to WiFi when they’re at home or work during the day.



Where members are either not able or not willing to change a behaviour which impacts the data experience on giffgaff, we have a responsibility to make the situation fairer and protect the vast majority of members. This is particularly true at giffgaff, where we have been built on the principles of fairness and mutual giving."

everyone saw this coming, their network breaks every other week, and their stingy 4G allowances, you would think they would give a more generous data allowance on 4G rather than 3G.

Giffgaff has cut people off completely before though, so it's not new.

It rather reminds me of the classic 'First they came for.... ' poem. Giffgaff, as it has before, makes out that it's okay to single out some users, and gets support and sympathy.

Hence the first comment:


Even though GiffGaff will perhaps one day come after them when revising what it considers fair.

This has been the case for a while. It just seems they are becoming stricter and stricter and affecting more people trying to use the product they've been sold and so it's getting some attention and they can no longer avoid speaking about their practices.


Or it might not, ay giffgaff? We all know their primary focus is to drive down overall data usage to keep the wholesale payments down.

Why is it allowed to advertise as "unlimited" when it is not?

I dont think I will live long enough to understand why it is allowed!!

I'm currently watching the BBC series on Auschwitz so I'm possibly feeling a bit touchy at the moment, but I don't think that is in *any way* relevant here. I wish people wouldn't say this sort of thing. Rant over.


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As a giffgaff customer I'd rather see this happen than see them go the way of Samba or Ovivo. There really is no such thing as a free lunch, and any time any business sells for a flat fee something which your supplier is charging you for by quantity, you need to do something to prevent overuse.

I think it is relevant. It's a very moving poem that can be related to many things in life.

I am obviously not suggesting it's on the same scale (and doubt anyone would think that), but turning a blind eye to those being cut off or restricted on data usage, as it doesn't affect you, before discovering that one day updated rules will affect you is a good example of what the poem was about.

Think of all the other things in history, or going on now, where this poem is as relevant as ever.

BTW, the best thing GiffGaff can do is drop the pretence about unlimited data and just offer good limits that anyone can use without problem. But then that would upset a lot more people, hence proving my point.

giffgaff is a brand owned by o2 Telefonica so is owned by the network on which it operates and runs a different business model to Samba or Ovivo.

In the financial for year ending 31/12/12 is reported an operating loss or £38m.

Limits are a fact of life with all carriers whether they are stated in the small print, part of the package or as a result of traffic management systems. The plain fact is that no UK network can realistically offer totally unlimited mobile data on any great scale due to bandwidth limitations.

Many are now waking up to the fact that networks that have high numbers of data consumers are less likely to be able to offer a reliable quality of service for the majority who want to use mobiles for data services on the move. GiffGaff and others have to address the capacity issue and it's good to read supportive comments from those who want to use mobile services in a reasonable and realistic manner.

So how can they possibly call it "unlimited"

Its either limited in some way, or its unlimited. You cant have limited unlimited, its impossible!!! ARRRRRGGHH

I realise GiffGaff wouldn't go out of business in the same way as Ovivo would, but Telefonica are not a charity. They won't keep shelling out £38million a year forever. Eventually they will want to see some profit, if only a modest amount.

Perhaps the ability to spam people with affiliate links to get new members has dried up? I doubt many people can get away with it anymore, so without doing much (or any?) advertising it can't be growing much as a network in the grand scheme of things.

Tesco and Lycamobile have each spent a lot on advertising and marketing in general. Lycamobile has been pushing 4G on the front page of Metro on and off for a while, which hits up an incredible number of people - who are all ideal candidates given that besides reading Metro, they're probably glued to their mobile.

Mind you, there are always a lot of advocates of Giffgaff still on forums and I suppose the other trick is to send private messages to people who show interest, and then offer the link there. I wouldn't be surprised if that is happening on here too.

The bottom line is that unlimited mobile data is a fallacy! It's either limited by pricing, has small print fair usage limits or has nasty covert traffic management that throttles users ability to consume data.

One way or another that 'unlimited' data proposition is very limited because of the capacity the mobile networks have available. And it's getting used more every day!

errrr.... Ignore that PM I sent you then...

But yeh. As Wavejock said, Giff Gaff never did and never will offer a truly unlimited package.

Only Three's One Plan offers the best "unlimited" package when compared to all the others out there. For example, Three don't even call it unlimited to start off with, it's called all you can eat. There is literally no hard limit on the amount of data you can use so you can use it as much as you want and tether as much as you want as well. Another advantage is 4G. There are traffic management restrictions in place during peak times as well which may see slow speeds but it's still 100% usable. Three's One Plan is the only truly unlimited plan on the market. No one can argue with that.

I suspect many take out more in payback than they pay to giffgaff.

In fact some openly admit they don't use giffgaff day to day but keep a sim active just to earn payback. Pay £10 to activate a sim, make a couple of calls each quarter to meet the payback criteria and participate in the forum. Payback is paid twice yearly for community participation and can reach £360.

I very much doubt GiffGaff is a big loyalty money earner for many,...... It's a decent value proposition for those who can manage their own mobile issues using a website and that is reflected in the price paid by those using it. Why the attempt to discredit an attempt by a major network to offer reduced prices to those who can manage their own devices etc?

I use it as a secondary service and have found it to be reliable and good value for money.

Just activated my sim earlier today. Very easy to set up. I got the unlimited £12 for a month. The Internet connection is very slow. Took ages to download the Facebook app. But general surfing is somewhat exceptable and the Facebook app does refresh and load in a reasonable amount of time. Haven't tried iplayer yet. In all I'm a bit disappointed with the Internet speed. I have a 3 network myfi for.mu ipad and laptop and I get almost 4Mb/s where as I get bearly 300kb/s if I'm lucky on giffgaff

The problem is when people go for a bargain basement brand and expect premium service and quality...

You'd have perfectly reasonable cause to complain if you were paying £40+ a month and getting crappy service, but much less so when you're paying some of the lowest rates in the industry. As they say, you get what you pay for

I've been a giffgaff customer for a number of years and I find it crap for data but like you keep a sim as secondary service now relegated to a 2G phone.

GiffGaff is not a premium brand and targets 'value for money' customers who don't require support. If as many on this forum can work things out for themselves it can provide a decent level of service for the cost.

I'm about £2,000 up on giffgaff, I don't spam my links around the web. Infact I rarely see activations from my link.

giffgaff will take action against any members spamming links if they receive reports of spam.

I agree in principle that you shouldn't expect frills, no free additional addons like Orange Wednesdays, no tube wifi, no phone line, shops etc. I also agree that you probably shouldn't expect DC-HSPA speeds of 15Mb/s all the time. However you should expect a basic level of service.

I have heard that their 3G customers have been complaining of slow speeds not experienced when compared to direct O2 connections, so maybe giffgaff needs some network links boosting or some more server capacity or whatever.