Best alternative to contract?

V4NT0M

V4NT0M

V4NT0M

Soldato
Joined
18 Jan 2007
Posts
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Location
Land of the Scots
My last (2 year) contract was up a while ago and I got to thinking that I don't use my unlimited texts anymore and barely use the hundreds of minutes of calls. I feel like I'm throwing money away and these days I don't need a contract to get a good phone.

If I were to change I would require a lot of data and to keep my number.
 
I'll be the first to get it right, "giffgaff" :p

I wouldn't say that giffgaff is necessarily the best choice. A very brief summary of all the best deals around the £12, covering all the mobile networks (EE without 4G, O2, and Three):

  • giffgaff £12 goodybag - 250 minutes, unlimited gg-to-gg calls, unlimited texts, unlimited data, no tethering.
  • Three Ultimate Internet SIM 200 1 month - 200 minutes, 5000 texts, unlimited data, no tethering
  • Virgin Mobile SIM Only £12 - 150 minutes, unlimited texts and data, allows tethering.

giffgaff's FUP is not set in stone, however it appears to be no more than 1GB per hour, and 3GB per day.

Three, I'm not sure on their FUP, I think they claim 1000GB per month theoretical, meaning that they're essentially claiming that they do not use any form of throttling, however I've also heard of them throttling long before this.

Virgin's FUP:
For customers who joined Virgin Media after 25 June 2012 excessive use over 3.5GB of data per calendar month will result in their maximum bandwidth being restricted to 3G speeds (384kbit/s downstream, 200kbit/s upstream) on our network between midday and midnight. For customers who joined before 25 June 2012 excessive use over 2GB of data per calendar month will result in this restriction being applied. This policy will apply until the end of the calendar month, when it will be automatically removed. We reserve the right to review these usage levels from time to time. At this reduced speed, customers will still be able to browse web pages, send/receive emails, and stream audio and video all at 3G data speeds, but peer-to-peer and large file downloads/uploads will be slower than normal.
 
Virgin have an FUP of 3.5GB now? It was 10GB if signed up after June in the other thread :confused:.

Three throttle if you're in the top 5% of downloaders rather than a set amount downloaded.
 
Lol, that's ridiculous then. 10GB at decent speeds on an unlimited product is bad enough, but to then change it to 3.5GB randomly for people who signed upto the 10GB is just... I don't even :/.
 
Thanks guys, giff gaff looks like the best idea, so it's just like PAYG I can top it up every month on the website? Can I set up an automatic payment to make it simpler?

I guess I'll order the free sim and then get on the blower to T-Mobile, if T-Mobile offer me something great I could still go for it. Can't see it though, I think they want to push people onto EE.
 
They offer several options: regular top-up (I think you still can buy O2 top-up cards as well and use those on gg); automatic top-ups if your credit goes below a certain level; goodybags (packages which last a month); recurring goodybags (which effectively gives you a rolling contract).
 
Not sure if you've ordered your SIM yet, but if you do so via somebodies referal link they get a fiver credit when you register, as do you. I won't offer my own link as I'm not one of the people who've helped you, but sure somebody would happily do so. :)

Alternatively you can get £4 top cash back if you go that route.

The nice thing about giffgaff is you can easily change each month depending on your requirements. If you're hardly going to use your phone one month you can just not buy a goody bag and use it like pay as you go. If you notice you're not really using much data you can just switch to the £10 one
 
Definitely what mark43 says. I can provide a link! :p However, I'd suggest finding a friend already on giffgaff and going through them if you can. No reason, just that it's nice to give a friend a bonus :)
 
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I have been with GG for around 2 years,perfect for my needs.I particularly like the ability to add more data or minutes or texts to your account as and when needed
If you want me to arrange a sim to be sent to you trust me your details
 
A friend of mine was on gg (which uses the O2 network) with an Android phone while I was on O2 with my iPhone. We both moaned about the poor 3g data service, but he gave up first. He was not a big data user, just mail and browsing etc. Sometimes he could get no data at all, even when his phone seemed to have plenty of signal.

I use Vodafone for work and have a '3' dongle as well. O2 has the worst data service of all in my experience. That is after several years and experience in most areas of the country. I've now swapped to Virgin, as I get a good deal being a Virgin Media customer, my friend is on Vodafone.
 
I generally say as a guide, don't rely on what others say when it comes to data access, as it can vary wildly between different areas. In my case, O2 provides better speeds at home (6-7Mbit/s down consistently compared to Three's 2-3Mbit/s), and when out and about, provides speeds that are more than fast enough (5-7Mbit/s down). Three can have faster speeds, however I've found it to be more inconsistent.

Best way is to try, to be honest.
 
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