Wednesday 29 May 2013

giffgaff Mobile Network


Hello lovely! Today I'd like to fill you in on the mobile network giffgaff.


giffgaff runs on the O2 network. So firstly, if you don't get signal coverage of O2 where you live for whatever reason, then giffgaff isn't the network for you. 

The network is online only. So no shops, no call centres and low overheads. They're also a SIM only network, so they only give away SIM cards and don't get involved in the mobile phone handsets themselves. Considering that according to The Recycling Factory, there are over 90 million unused mobile phone handsets lying around in drawers across the UK, that can only be a good thing. 

GiffGaff offer pay as you go deals, as surmised below:
You'll notice straight away that their prices are ridiculously keen compared to their competitiors and it's a very 'no nonsense' strategy. It's also impossible to run up a massive phone bill. If you run out of minutes then no more calls for you! (If this is a problem, you can just add additional minutes, which is easy to do.)

giffgaff members benefit from free giffgaff to giffgaff calls, so if everyone you know signs up to the network - you can call your whole phone book for free! The other benefit of this is that you only have to add a goodybag once ever three months to continue to get free calls to giffgaff users.

You can cancel at any time, so all the above are 'goodybags' which you can add once, or set to roll month by month. But if you decide that it's not for you, then you can just stop renewing. No notice period and no messy contracts to 'get out of.'

So how do you join? Just click on the image below and order yourself a SIM card. By ordering a SIM card through this link, you'll get £5 worth of credit and the member who provides the link (me, in this case) will get reward points. (I've not written the blog post for reward points, but feel free to sign up via www.giffgaff.com directly if you'd like to)

Get a free giffgaff Sim

If you have any problems during your time on giffgaff, you can use the 'ask an agent' feature on their website and they will get back to you fairly quickly on most standard questions. You can also take to their huge online forums, where fellow members of the giffgaff community will help out in answering your questions.


I have no signal problems with O2 in my area. The network coverage is 99% of the UK population with a 2G connection and 80% with 3G. It's always worth checking out your coverage here, just to be on the safe side.

Another nice little bonus with giffgaff is that calls to 0800 numbers are free, which is quite a rarity on mobile networks. 

The real area where giffgaff packs a punch though is with the unlimited text and internet packages. Most people with data intensive smartphones will appreciate this. Do note however, you cannot tether your connection. So no using it as a personal hotspot I'm afraid...

The lack of tethering is probably the only bone of contention, but otherwise it's a fantastic mobile network that I've been very happy with for the last year. 

I'll leave you with a geeky fact because I loved it. The name giffgaff comes from the ancient Scottish word that means "mutual giving" - so there you go. Enjoy!
  
Always Geek, Forever Chic,
Laura.

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