Tag Archives: giffgaff

Saying goodbye to giffgaff…

Unfortunately, I’m going to be saying goodbye to giffgaff in the New Year. I’ve absolutely loved being with giffgaff for the last 18 months and for what I’ve needed recently they’ve been the perfect company. When I do leave, I’ll miss a lot of things like payback, free g2g calls/texts and the extremely good value goodybags.

However, I’m going to be leaving giffgaff in favour of a contract deal – which, unusually, I think is a pretty good deal. It’s with O2 (so I’m not going that far astray!) but I’ve bought it from dial-a-phone (who are owned by phones4u so can’t be too bad).

I’ve just ordered the new HTC Sensation XE with the beats earphones (never used a beats product before, but I’m told they’re very good). The phone has a 1.5Ghz dual core processor, 8MP camera with flash and autofocus, wi-fi, GPS, 1GB flash storage and micro-SD expansion, the latest version of android with the probability of an upgrade to ICS, 4.3" qHD screen, and various other cool things. In terms of specs, in a number of ways it’s better than the latest iPhone 4S (I’m astonished by the 1.5Ghz dc CPU in a phone). Big step up from my current phone – Nokia 5230.

With the contract I get 200 minutes, unlimited (with FUP of about 3000) texts and 500MB data. The minutes should be fine for me, texts no problem at all (rarely use more than 300 texts in a month), and the data SHOULD be ok. Whilst I’d like to have 1GB or more, I can suffice with 500MB and will just have to watch the usage. I will miss the unlimited internet on giffgaff!

For this package, I’ve paid £19.99 upfront and agreed to pay £21.50 a month for the next 24 months. Bit steep, you say – but when you work it out it isn’t actually that bad at all.

To buy the phone SIM free (for use with networks like giffgaff) it would cost me around about £420 (link). Then you add the fact that with giffgaff I’d spend £10 per month on a goodybag – over 24 months that’s £240. So grand total comes to £660 over 24 months. To be fair, one could argue I could make a lot of that back with payback – but that involves extra work so I’ll ignore that for now.

With the contract it’s £19.99 + (£21.50 * 24). Also, minus the fact I’ve earned £50 cashback with quidco for the contract purchase. This means the total cost comes to £485.99 if my maths is right, over a period of two years.

Obviously I’m loosing out on some things – and the giffgaff goodybag is better (in terms of the monthly allowance) than the contract. My biggest loss will be the truly unlimited internet – but right now I’m told in my giffgaff statement that the maximum data I’ve used in a month is 570MB – so I could easily trim that down. Obviously I know my data usage will increase slightly with a proper smartphone – but I’ve got wi-fi to counteract that.

I also have added bonuses – because I can’t take out the contract until I’m 18, a parent has taken it out for me and agreed to pay it until my 18th birthday as my Christmas present (next April), so the actual cost to me is slightly less (about £120).

So overall, it works out better to go with the contract. I’ll be very sad to leave giffgaff – but it just comes down to the sheer cost in the end. When you do the maths, pay as you go isn’t always the best way! I hope that giffgaff have a really bright future ahead of them though – they’re doing really well so far.

In any case – stand by for an HTC Sensation XE review in a couple of weeks time!

giffgaff to launch new data-only goodybags on October 17th

giffgaff has recently announced that it will, on October 10th 17th, be launching it’s latest service – data only goodybags.

These goodybags will be destined for iPad, tablet and mi-fi users who like to use their mobile connection to provide internet to other devices. Tethering will be permitted with these special goodybags.

Users may be required to order a seperate SIM for their tablet or mi-fi. Once activated, three packages will be available.

  • 500MB for 30 days: £5
  • 1GB for 30 days: £7.50
  • 3GB for 30 days: £12.50

These seem to be very competitive pay-as-you-go prices. The nearest competitor is 3, however they have a reputation of much better coverage and data speed than other networks.

giffgaff insist that the goodybags are sold at “cost price” – meaning giffgaff makes a loss if you use all of the data in your goodybag. A bold move – and one which could be extremely risky. giffgaff are betting on some people not using all of the data in their allowance, but I’m not confident this will be the case.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how popular the goodybags become.

To order a free SIM with giffgaff and get £5 free credit on activation, click here.

giffgaff launches all new £25 goodybag

This was news some time ago – I know – but I’ve been really behind on GEEK! posts lately and wanted to catch up a bit.

giffgaff, O2’s increasingly popular MVNO, has recently extended it’s range of “goodybags” available to customers to add a brand new £25 goodybag.

The network initially introduced an all-inclusive £30 goodybag with unlimited minutes, calls and texts. However, it soon became clear that this idea was a long way from profitable and was removed from the site a few months after launch.

However, giffgaff has replaced the £30 goodybag with a very competitive alternative. For £25, you get 1500 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data (which truly is unlimited providing your use of it is legitimate). That may not be unlimited, but I happen to that the offer is a decent alternative that will suit many.

This is in addition to the other goodybags giffgaff offer – ranging from £5 for unlimited texts all the way up to £25.

Giffgaff introduces new £20 plan and extends free internet

Giffgaff, the increasingly popular MVNO (mobile virtual network operator), has recently introduced it’s new £20 goodybag after multiple requests from customers.

The new goodybag now offers 600 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited internet – with no fair use as per usual.

In addition, giffgaff have increased the allowance on the £10 goodybag from 100 minutes to 150 minutes at no extra charge. This goodybag appears to be the most popular of the 5 goodybags available considering that it also offers unlimited texts and unlimited internet.

Finally, giffgaff have also said that they will continue to offer the free mobile internet until 1st of December 2010. This means that giffgaff will have ran this promotion for over a year when it finally comes to an end.

O2 cuts unlimited internet on it’s mobile tariffs – is that such a bad thing?

It has recently been announced that as of June 24th, O2 will no longer be offering unlimited internet to it’s new and upgrading customers. The move has shocked many, but O2 has said that too many people use the network abusively and as a result they have been forced to take action.

O2 has mentioned in it’s press release that the changes will only affect about 3% of it’s customers who use the network excessively. The remaining 97% will not be affected as O2 claims that even the lowest internet package, providing 500MB per month, is more than 2.5 times the average monthly user usage.

Customers currently on contracts with O2 will continue to receive unlimited data until 1st October, but will have to watch for changes to their contract over the next few months to make sure they don’t receive horrendous charges.

The question is whether other networks will follow suit. Orange currently offers “unlimited” internet packages, but hidden in the FUP are limits restricting customers. As usual, Orange has forgotten the meaning of unlimited. Vodafone is slightly clearer, offering fixed plans with fixed usage limits.

It is also worth thinking about whether O2’s increasingly popular MVNO, giffgaff, will follow suit. The network announced today that they have no plans to change their unlimited internet offers with their goodybags, but stated that they couldn’t guarantee this wouldn’t change in the future.

Personally, I don’t think the news is all that bad – as customers will finally get a clear idea of what they can use each month in terms of data, but time will tell as to whether customers agree to the changes.