GiffGaff

[OldBloke]

Looks interesting.

Anyone tried them? Tempted to get the tenner deal when my contract is up.

[Logik]

Not sure who there carrier is you would need to check or prepare to have your phone unlocked,there rates are identical to asda mobile [vodaphone as carrier] which strangely enough is left out of there comparison chart? The free calls to giffgaff sounds good but until it catches on?

[OldBloke]

Not sure who there carrier is...

O2 apparently.

[smilodon]

Yep and it's also owned by Telephonica O2 so the cynic in me suspects it might be more of a gimmick than a genuine new way to provide mobile phone services. Also, I have a £19.99 O2 SIM only deal that is identical to GiffGaff except it offers me 200 more minutes a month. It would be nice if GiffGaff were genuinely an independent provider with real ethics and honesty. Something seriously lacking in other mobile network operators.

[TheDvEight]

I've been with giff gaff for about a year (yes O2 is there carrier)now i simply cant praise them enough, although theres no customer service as such Ie: on the phone, There is a community forum that will help/answer all your needs. I top up £10 per month via Goodybag for this i get unlimited internet and texts and 200 mins (i think its 200 mins never use them anyway).

Pro's: Not tied down for fixed term its a rolling contract, Free internet (no GB Cap like other networks),After topping up 'X' ammount of money they offer a payback scheme by the more you top up the more they give back so far ive earnt 50p from topping up. (not alot i know but its free money cant complain).
The community forums are always helpfull.
Has a system where tells you what deal is best. (e.g top up by £10 only text twice and call home phone for 5 mins they will text u at the end of that goodybag/credit and say what deal is best "top up by £5 next time as you dont use your phone alot etc).

Cons:NO Customer support via telephone.

[DrunkenZombiee]

I am actually fairly interested in this as I don't want to be tied into a 24 month contract with my next smart phone. I am very tempted to do what OB did, buy the Samsung galaxy s II from O2 for £400, unlock it and put it on this. Buy the Mrs a smartphone, unlock it and put her on this too and take advantage of the free calls to one another.

What's the setup like for phones? Will the network send you the setup update to your phone or will you have to enter it all yourself?

Edit: for a tablet this seems the ideal network to be on =).

DZ

[smilodon]

As it's on the O2 network I imagine it works much like a standard O2 set up, in that you insert the SIM card and turn on the phone and that's it. Every time I install a new ROM on my phone it effectively becomes a new phone starting from scratch. Almost immediately I get full O2 connection for calls and data. So I wouldn't worry about it.

On a very rare occasion when installing Cyanogen 6 I did have to find my Data plan in the Network Settings menu from a list of possible O2 solutions that included O2 prepay, O2 postpay and a few others. I selected postpay and I was up and running.

[TheDvEight]

I am actually fairly interested in this as I don't want to be tied into a 24 month contract with my next smart phone. I am very tempted to do what OB did, buy the Samsung galaxy s II from O2 for £400, unlock it and put it on this. Buy the Mrs a smartphone, unlock it and put her on this too and take advantage of the free calls to one another.

What's the setup like for phones? Will the network send you the setup update to your phone or will you have to enter it all yourself?

Edit: for a tablet this seems the ideal network to be on =).

DZ

It depends on the phone your best off going on the forums and checking for the type of phone ur getting i had to do it and it was pretty easy - it was only for the internet aswell nothing else

[b00n]

Just joined these guys a few weeks ago - seem like a good bunch, very happy so far and I can already tell my credit is going to go a lot further.  Haven't tried the goodybags yet but I probably will when the data only deals are introduced.  The payback system is really good too, so far I have topped up £10 and received another £16.21 bonus credit.

No manual settings required to set up data on my Hero.

If anyone is thinking about signing up be sure to grab hold of someone's referral page to get the £5 bonus.

[TheDvEight]

Just joined these guys a few weeks ago - seem like a good bunch, very happy so far and I can already tell my credit is going to go a lot further.  Haven't tried the goodybags yet but I probably will when the data only deals are introduced.  The payback system is really good too, so far I have topped up £10 and received another £16.21 bonus credit.

No manual settings required to set up data on my Hero.

If anyone is thinking about signing up be sure to grab hold of someone's referral page to get the £5 bonus.

If you go with the 10£ goody bad it lasts for a month and u get unlimited data useage, unlimited texts and 300 mins (which i never use) its worth getting the goody bag rather than the credit coz it works out cheaper (as you dont pay for texts)

[b00n]

If you go with the 10£ goody bad it lasts for a month and u get unlimited data useage, unlimited texts and 300 mins (which i never use) its worth getting the goody bag rather than the credit coz it works out cheaper (as you dont pay for texts)

Depends how much you call and text - I use so little that's it's still way cheaper to not have a goodybag at all (I wouldn't use £10 credit in a month).

[smilodon]

bringing back an old thread. I got stung for three calls to a freephone number and two 0845 numbers that doubled my monthly bill! How do i get charged £7.00 for calling a freephone number? Giff Gaff charge nothing for calls to Free phone numbers and 12p a minute to calls to local rate numbers. So I've ordered a SIM and will see how I get on. If it all works I'll swap my number over.

[T-Bag]

bringing back an old thread. I got stung for three calls to a freephone number and two 0845 numbers that doubled my monthly bill! How do i get charged £7.00 for calling a freephone number? Giff Gaff charge nothing for calls to Free phone numbers and 12p a minute to calls to local rate numbers. So I've ordered a SIM and will see how I get on. If it all works I'll swap my number over.

I've always found that pathetic. Freephone numbers cost more than if you look up the number directly and call using your minutes...something not right there.

[smilodon]

Moved over to Giff Gaff on Friday and will port my number across next week. I'll loose the telephone customer support from O2. However the irony of that is in order to get a PAC code (for moving my number over) I had to sit on hold with O2 for 15 minutes and as soon as I asked for the code I got disconnected and had to wait another 15 minutes on hold before I finally got the number. So in effect O2 don't really have any working phone support either.

[TeaLeaf]

The irony is that GiffGaff is on O2.