Cheers for the replies, My phone is only capable of 3G, so as long as it gets a decent 3G signal I am not that bothered, my main thing is that voice works and sadly some of the places i go, Vodafone seems to come unstuck there, the signal is awful at my mates place and a lot of time there is none and at the moment, I need that to be reliable just in case my Dad who is in poor health have a problem. That is why 3 is no good here, no 2G and their 3G is not that great either.
Data usage, I have 2GB, but that will reduce now to 1GB and to be honest, I am lucky if I use 500MB a month, voice is about 100-200 minutes a month and text is about 50 odd. Which is another reason I want to find something cheaper, I am paying for stuff I do not use again.
I know giff Gaff is on the O2 network, my mate have O2 on his second phone and that seems to be naff where he lives as well, maybe it is just where he lives.
I am in no great rush to decide, I think I may leave it now to next year, just got to have a look around. EE seems to have improved, but it belongs to BT and I already give BT enough money indirectly.
I will have a look at some of the virtual ones around.