[noise747]

Well, I will have done my minimum term for my sim only Vodafone contract. Now to decide what to do, stay with vodafone or find something better, that is if there is something better. I am not going for a contract again, may have a look at giff Gaff.

[Lidtop2013]

I dont think Giff Gaff are great if you want alot of data though..............

[Thine Wonk]

Data speeds and reliability aren't that good on giffgaff, I use their sim in my burglar alarm and it's fine for 2G applications like basic calls and texts, but not good for data use really.

[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

Data speeds and reliability aren't that good on giffgaff, I use their sim in my burglar alarm and it's fine for 2G applications like basic calls and texts, but not good for data use really.

Though in my experience over the last 10 months Vodafone aren't much better than Giffgaff, if anything they are worse in a number of places I use my phone.

As always, location plays a big part in how good or bad a network is perceived to be.

[Thine Wonk]

I did test giffgaff in a variety of locations, I took a goodybag and had it in my main phone trying it in all sorts of places as I travelled, streaming from Birmingham to Gloucestershire and then Reading too. Overall I found really slow speeds and even falling back to 2G a lot when travelling stopping TuneIn from working, even 3G and 4G were sometimes only 1Mb/s.

[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

Overall I found really slow speeds and even falling back to 2G a lot when travelling stopping TuneIn from working, even 3G and 4G were sometimes only 1Mb/s.

Sounds just like Vodafone in some of my testing

I'll be so glad to give notice in January...

Edit

Here's an example of some of the mighty speeds I've experienced with Vodafone 4G

https://s19.postimg.org/qt6ozmwnn/IMG_5067.jpg

[noise747]

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.

[BKM]

Quote:

Originally Posted by noise747

Well, I will have done my minimum term for my sim only Vodafone contract. Now to decide what to do, stay with vodafone or find something better, that is if there is something better. I am not going for a contract again, may have a look at giff Gaff.

You could be a month late!!! You need to give Vodafone a month's notice to terminate the contract which, unless you did so a month ago, means you will still be paying them for the next month.

[BKM]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lidtop2013

I dont think Giff Gaff are great if you want alot of data though..............

It's hard (impossible!) to beat the Three 321 PAYG tariff if you get coverage (which I do!). Especially since GiffGaff seem to have hiked their charges by about 50% since I last looked (were 10p/min - now 15p/min)

[Thine Wonk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BKM

It's hard (impossible!) to beat the Three 321 PAYG tariff if you get coverage (which I do!). Especially since GiffGaff seem to have hiked their charges by about 50% since I last looked (were 10p/min - now 15p/min)

Wow, most of the supermarkets like Tesco, ASDA and others beat that and they even have a customer service number!

[blueacid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by noise747

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.

If always being contactable is important, you could consider some of the multi-network SIMs such as Pebble?

They're more expensive, but they roam between Voda, O2, EE and sometimes Three depending on what's available. Sure, there are caveats (so they don't bounce an ongoing call from one provider to another) and they are more expensive than sticking with one network, but in your use case of being contactable wherever possible they could well be worth a look.