Giff Gaff vs Three for an iPhone?

Twill

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Oct 6, 2007
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Hi,

I'm currently considering buying the 4s outright and getting a giff Gaff sim vs going on the One Plan with Three like others around here have recently.

I've to'd and fro'd with it a bit, and the two options seem pretty similar cost wise over a theoretical 24month period.

I suppose the question I'm considering is, 'why not Giff Gaff'? I've read a few reports of service outages, and given the structure of the organisation, I guess you can expect to wait longer to hear back from an actual employee of the company, but how big a deal these issues really are isn't clear.

If you can stomach the up front cost of the handset, then the low monthly costs and flexibility to switch as and when is fairly attractive.

Having said all that, being part of a major network, who you can reasonably have expectations of in terms of the service and support they will offer, as well as extras like tethering on Three etc also has its advantages.

It seems like given a straight choice, most people would, in this instance, go with Three's One Plan rather than a big initial outlay and a Giff Gaff sim. Is this just playing it safe, or do you think there are more fundamental issues at stake?

According to my maths, the Giff Gaff route is about £6 per month cheaper over 2 years, assuming they stay around for the next 2 years and their data remains unlimited of course! To my mind, that's not a massive difference financially.
 

Big Aura

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giffgaff is quite well respected in the murky world of secondary-market mobile companies, they've won a few ethical company awards too. I've not used 3, but from talking to people who have, it's not been a wonderful experience. I'd sooner use giffgaff (with O2's coverage...). Should the fold, the worst case scenario is you transfer to o2, Orange, T-mobile etc sim only deal.

have you looked at these too - and clubcard points!
 
A

Anonymous

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Giff Gaff use O2 as their carrier and are very reliable NOW. The voicemail service is excellent if you use their Iphone APP.

They only charge normal rates for 0845 and the like basically same as BT for these type of calls this makes a huge saving. In addition their goody bags calls charges are the same for every network you call none of this cross network BS. I think to fellow Giff Gaff users it's actually cheaper.

Goody Bags (their service) are amazing value. I pay £10 a month for which I get unlimited texts, unlimited internet and I think it's 250 call minutes to be honest I have never used them all up so don't really know.

They also carry forward your minutes if you renew each month I believe but in June they are introducing some new features which I can't remember.

Downside is no phone customer service but I have had replies in less than 8 hours and no real issues anyway. Some people have had a few issues with some sim problems but they are now sorted. The Iphone 4's use a micro sim so you need to order that through Giff Gaffs sister company you'll find details on their website.

If you don't own the phone and need a contract I think Three would then be your best bet but I got mine unlocked by Apple and it was well worth it. I am not a heavy call user but spend a lot of my day online so with unlimited internet I can pretty much surf all day if I want.

Hope that helps ya?
 

peterkin1010

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I've used both. Giffgaff are better in some ways. The O2 network is stronger in most places than Three and the value for money aspect from Giffgaff is untrue. UNLIMITED Internet,texts and 1500 minutes for £25 to be used within a month? Just blows everybody else away. Giffgaff have their own foibles. For example (this certainly goes for O2 and I don't know why!) to get confirmation of a delivery report for SMS you have to enter *0# at the beginning of each message. And to dial an 0800 number you dont dial the 0 ( WHY???!!!). Three have certain advantages too, depending on the time the iPhone 4S maybe FOC on a One Plan, there is truly unlimited data and when the coverage is good you do get a truly excellent service. Threes network has improved massively over the last 12 months and remember-the best network is the one that works where and when you need it. In your shoes, I would go for Giffgaff. No contract, your phone isn't locked. Not so sure about the 4S now though. You might just want to check out the HTC One X and the Galaxy SIII before committing yourself.
 

Twill

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Hi,

Thanks for the comments all.

I'm still flip flopping on this, just need to make a decision! Maybe I should play paper scissors stone to see which way to go.

Today thought Three. I decided I couldn't be doing with the faff of logging on to a website all the time to find my account and buy a new goodybag, check there was a bit of spare PAYG balance in my account etc etc. Also I thought, in a case of real extremis, I know I can walk in to my local Three shop and speak to a real person, face to face and everything, like in the 20th century!

Then I started reading a thread on another forum about how Three put all their prices up in line with inflation and there was nothing their customers could do about it. Hmm thought I. At least if GG tried something like that I could walk, and find the next sim. In other words, my consumer power and freedom would be greater.

£35 a month for the One Plan is fine by me. Over the length of a 24 month contract, it adds up to about £30 more than buying an unlocked phone and getting a £15pm package from Giff Gaff. However, if they started stinging me with further increases based on inflation... well that would be pretty annoying. £35pm is absolutely the limit of what's reasonable I think, and then the extra flex og Giff Gaff starts bringing them back in to the frame.

I just like the lazy aspect of knowing that my network will just keep pumpking out minutes, texts, and data, day in, day out, without me having to log on and actually make it happen!

By the way, at the end of a 24 month contract with Three, is the phone mine? Would I be free to get it unlocked and go where I want? How straight forward is this?

Thanks again.
 

professorhat

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Twill said:
By the way, at the end of a 24 month contract with Three, is the phone mine? Would I be free to get it unlocked and go where I want? How straight forward is this?

Unless it's a very unusual contract, yes the phone is yours to do as you will (at any point in the contract to be honest - you just have to keep paying the fee each month - if you do that, you can let the dog bury the phone in your garden as far as the phone company cares).

At O2, getting the phone unlocked was simply a case of phoning them up, requesting this to be done and after plugging the iPhone into the computer and registering it with iTunes, within a few minutes it was all done.
 
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Anonymous

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I'm currently on three and the signal coverage I get is awful. I dont even get signal in my house, I have to go out into the garden. My contract is up for renewal soon, so I was thinking about going onto giffgaff.

Giffgaff are releasing a new update sometime this month to their topup process which allows you to atomatically topup and buy the goodybags each month. Not sure if it's actually happened yet though. But hope that helps your question :)
 

jcshutts

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Twill said:
. I decided I couldn't be doing with the faff of logging on to a website all the time to find my account and buy a new goodybag, check there was a bit of spare PAYG balance in my account etc etc.

There is an iPhone app from giffgaff which tells you the balance and you can top up automatically or through the app. You also get a message after each call or text. I use the £10 tarrif which has recently been changed to a 1gb download (£12.50 for unlimited) and I never get close to my limit just surfing the net. Provided I wait until I am on wifi to download anything.
 
You don't have to log in to Giff Gaff website every time to add goody bags. You have a "recurring" option. Just choose a goody bag, & it will continue to keep you on that plan & automatically take money from your card every month. My father-in-law is 74 years old, & my mother-in-law is 66. Both are on Giff Gaff & are very happy with it. They never go on Giff Gaff's website.
 

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