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Giffgaff Worse Than Ever For Data Speeds...
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sdduk
20-09-2015
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“Virgin Media do all the billing and everything + customer care so it's "thick" in that sense. To sell 4G they would have to reach a new agreement, MVNOs don't usually get the ability to re-sell newer things unless they are contracted to do so and the networks like exclusivity with new things for a while.”

I think you need to read the link.
http://www.techradar.com/news/intern...for-4g-1222299
d123
20-09-2015
Originally Posted by sdduk:
“I think you need to read the link.
http://www.techradar.com/news/intern...for-4g-1222299”

That article is about Virgin Media doing back haul for Three, the mobile business being discussed is Virgin Mobile, an MVNO on EE 3G.
jchamier
20-09-2015
Originally Posted by d123:
“That's Virgin Media, the mobile business being discussed is Virgin Mobile, an MVNO on EE 3G.”

To confuse matters, the article is actually about Virgin Media Business, the part that sells network links across the country. (and I wouldn't be surprised if the EE & Three sharing in that article is all on hold).

They've done themselves no favours with their naming, probably deliberately.

Virgin Media consists of:
* The former NTL/Telewest cable networks
* Virgin Mobile - purchased from Richard Branson (the MVNO on EE)
* NTL Business networks

All of which still run as separate divisions inside the new name. At one point at the Hook head office they had a sign outside with all the constituent parts listed!
Gigabit
20-09-2015
Hook ironically has no Virgin Media cable of any kind.
jchamier
20-09-2015
Originally Posted by Gigabit:
“Hook ironically has no Virgin Media cable of any kind.”

A relic of the franchise mess of the early 1990s. Similar to Horsham in sussex, a pretty large town with no cable.
Thine Wonk
20-09-2015
Originally Posted by d123:
“That article is about Virgin Media doing back haul for Three, the mobile business being discussed is Virgin Mobile, an MVNO on EE 3G.”

Exactly, I was't talking about backhaul, which Virgin Media Business provide to many networks, and MBNL also contract BT for backhaul in some places too.

The discussion was about the MVNO from Virgin which uses the EE network, but is a 'thick' MVNO in the sense that Virgin do the customer support and billing and metering.

It would be EE that they would need to agree to sell 4G with though, they wouldn't have access to EE 4G without reaching a reseller / MVNO agreement for it.
Skylover4life
21-09-2015
Even TakTalk Mobile offers better speed (even though it's 3G only at the moment and on Vodafone at the moment, soon o2 uh oh)
Download: 23.42Mbps
Upload: 3.08Mbps
Pedro_C
21-09-2015
My giffgaff SIM drops from 3G to 2G within a few secs whenever I try and use data in a busy town without 4G It wouldn't appear to be cell breathing because even occurs when device is reporting -60dBm with no data flow. When I use data, the strength goes -60, -80, -100, -113, -50dBm Edge, -60dBm Edge, -50dBm GPRS...and obviously the GPRS has no data flow.

Though I still keep a giffgaff SIM on me with a £5 or £7.50 pack because where I go jogging O2 is the only usable signal.
The Lord Lucan
22-09-2015
Did several speed tests with my giffgaff, O2 PAYG & O2 SO sims.
All 4G same mast, right after each other, averaged out at
1.6, 4.5 & 12... Shows the waay different priorities there.
Redcoat
30-09-2015
Originally Posted by japaul:
“Lyca is a very thick MVNO. They use their own sim cards (with their own number ranges) and HLRs. In many ways it's almost as if they are just roaming on the host network. In fact, I think if they wanted to move to a new host network, subscribers could retain their existing sims.”

Unlike Tesco & giffgaff, Lycamobile sims can't be used in phones that are sim-locked to O2 - I found that out the hard way.

I've done some testing with giffgaff recently, I'll do a post up on it in a moment.
Redcoat
30-09-2015
Earlier this month I talked about thinking of moving back to giffgaff. I've no major reason to have doubts much on the calls & texts services any more than usual, so I just looked at their data service to test, so I took out a spare sim I had for them, got a top up, registered it and bought a gigabag and stuck the sim into a Nexus 7 4G tablet.

Compared to EE, no problems with 4G signal strength anywhere around my house. So now on to data speed tests. Two tests on 4G taken on a Tuesday evening...

* Down - 1.24Mb :: Up - 16.81Mb :: Ping - 66ms
* Down - 1.19Mb :: Up - 19.36Mb :: Ping - 72ms


So the ping times are decent, upload speeds are very good to excellent, but the download speeds are shocking for what is very possible. Just to double check I forced the tablet into 3G mode and did one more test, with 4/4 bars of signal strength...

* Down - 0.95Mb :: Up - 2.96Mb :: Ping - 89ms

...looking at this unless you needed the significant difference in upload speed, there is no real premium in have 4G over 3G for data on giffgaff on this arbitrary test. Not that the 3G download result is brilliant itself.

Just to check that it wasn't just cell overload, I did a 3G speed test on my phone with Lycamobile. It came out as :: Down - 2.10Mb :: Up - 2.35Mb :: Ping - 101ms, and :: Down - 3.30Mb :: Up - 0.46Mb :: Ping - 79ms. Although varying, both are a lot more usable than giffgaff even on 4G! Another Lyca test taken at 3am the next morning had Down - 7.84Mb :: Up - 1.31Mb :: Ping 108ms. By this time, giffgaff on 4G had improved a bit...

* Down - 6.92Mb :: Up - 20.00Mb :: Ping - 67ms

...but still not better for download speeds than Lycamobile on 3G!

Later that day I did a late afternoon test that coincided with rush hour times. For giffgaff there wasn't much improvement on either 4G or 3G...

* Down - 1.06Mb :: Up - 7.11Mb :: Ping - 51ms (4G)
* Down - 0.60Mb :: Up - 0.64Mb :: Ping - 90ms (3G)


...Lycamobile on 3G to be fair was straining itself :: Down - 0.92Mb :: Up - 0.14Mb :: Ping - 123ms. I then did a 3G speed test with a T-Mobile sim card in the same phone as the Lycamobile sim (It's a dual sim phone). Even with a weaker signal (I made sure I was in the best place in my house to do this test), the results were :: Down - 5.28Mb :: Up - 0.50Mb :: Ping - 95ms. A significant difference, though it would be unfair to not point out that the local EE mast will almost certainly have far fewer users on it at that time.

So come up to last Friday in the early evening and I did another giffgaff 4G sim test (I've left the sim in the Nexus in the meantime), and to see if the results would be different compared to the tests done the week before. The answer is no.

* Down - 1.00Mb :: Up - 18.51Mb :: Ping - 77ms

So overall, these results suggest that for me, giffgaff's data speeds are even slower than when I left them last year. And on that front, I don't see myself moving back to them any time soon. While they no longer have a 4G premium for their goodybags, their 4G data download speeds are frankly pathetic. Lycamobile OTOH is a heck of a lot more usable though even they have a data freeze at times. I just wish EE & 3 had much better indoor penetration here, as their data speeds locally are much better on average - but not that I didn't know that already. In the meantime I have an EE 4G 100GB data sim in an Osprey 2 mini that I recently got, left the giffgaff 4G sim in the tablet (I might just let the gigabag continue until the credit runs out and I don't have the Osprey with me) and put the T-Mobile sim and Lycamobile sim in the Moto G2 dual sim, the former for data and the latter for calls & texts.

My hunt continues...
jonmorris
30-09-2015
Those crazy speeds (slow download, fast upload) is just like Three in so many places right now.

However I have more faith in Three solving some of their issues than Giffgaff.

EE is a whole different ball game, but there's just no viable tariff for me yet.
plymouthbloke1974
30-09-2015
As the saying goes...

You get what you pay for...
jonmorris
30-09-2015
Yes indeed. The problem is that EE doesn't offer a tariff I can actually pay more for.

I want 20 or 25GB on SIM only.

I'd also quite like 50, 75 or 100GB on mobile broadband.
cooler
01-10-2015
Originally Posted by jonmorris:
“Yes indeed. The problem is that EE doesn't offer a tariff I can actually pay more for.

I want 20 or 25GB on SIM only.

I'd also quite like 50, 75 or 100GB on mobile broadband.”

I thought EE already do 50gb on mobile broadband?
Aye Up
01-10-2015
Originally Posted by cooler:
“I thought EE already do 50gb on mobile broadband?”

Only certain areas I think
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