Who is the best UK PAYG 3G data provider?

[Guest WearTheFoxHat]

AVOID T-MOBILE AT PRESENT

... wait until their FUP changes have gone through to see what the fallout is.

See: http://android.modaco.com/content/android-...data-allowance/

[Guest zurpher]

A standard PAYG user on giffgaff gets 100Mb data usage a day until 28/2/11,

Can you post an official source on that one?

What happens if you go beyond the 100 MB?

[Guest wadgel]

Can you post an official source on that one?

What happens if you go beyond the 100 MB?

GiffGaff website - Help - search for Fair Usage

http://support.giffgaff.com/app/answers/de...kw/fair%20usage

WAP and mobile internet access via our data network is free of charge until 28th February 2011.

Fair Use Policy for Data

If you don't have a goodybag, or you have the £5 goodybag then data is free, subject to the 100MB per day FUP.

If you have the £10, £15 or £20 goodybag (i.e. wherever we say data is unlimited) then there is NO FUP.

No Bundle 100MB Cap

£5/£5 Labs goodybag 100MB Cap

£10/£15/£20 goodybag Unlimited

[Guest zurpher]

GiffGaff website - Help - search for Fair Usage

http://support.giffgaff.com/app/answers/de...kw/fair%20usage

WAP and mobile internet access via our data network is free of charge until 28th February 2011.

Fair Use Policy for Data

If you don't have a goodybag, or you have the £5 goodybag then data is free, subject to the 100MB per day FUP.

If you have the £10, £15 or £20 goodybag (i.e. wherever we say data is unlimited) then there is NO FUP.

No Bundle 100MB Cap

£5/£5 Labs goodybag 100MB Cap

£10/£15/£20 goodybag Unlimited

What would happen if I were to exceed the 100MB?

[Guest lordofangels]

What would happen if I were to exceed the 100MB?

if it's only once or twice a week then nothing,

if it's more then a warning message is issued.

But remember any £10 or over goodybag comes with unlimited data usage

[Guest rbbrslmn]

if it's only once or twice a week then nothing,

if it's more then a warning message is issued.

But remember any £10 or over goodybag comes with unlimited data usage

has anyone actually had the warning that you've heard of?

[Guest lordofangels]

has anyone actually had the warning that you've heard of?

Have a read here...giffgaff data fup

[Guest rbbrslmn]

I've read that but never heard of anyone actually being done.

[Guest tdodd]

Well 100MB per day tots up to 3GB per month, which is quite a bit for a mobile phone, I think, and a pretty generous allowance for a "free" service. I probably use about 100MB per month of cell data, the rest being over WiFi.

[Guest lordofangels]

I've read that but never heard of anyone actually being done.

I know one member who had a warning, but thats all.

As it states in the official giffgaff post I linked, they have only had to warn two members so far.

[Guest insurgente]

i'm liking giff gaff at the moment but I Can't help the paranoia of "it's too good to be true". I.e. the free internet will eventually end........ plus I can't really get any kind of reception in most of my house, which isn't useful for a phone

tempted to jump on T-mobile now that data is staying the same for ''existing'' customers. So with a 1 month contract I'm guessing I'll be stuck with 500mb a month, but if I sign up to a 12 month deal before the end of january, I'll still be able to get the 3gb a month?

[Guest tdodd]

The "free" internet is scheduled to finish on 28th Feb. I've been enjoying "free" internet since September with only one £10 top up in all that time and I haven't used any of it. My credit balance is currently more than I have paid out.

After that you can have unlimited internet if you buy a Goodybag worth £10 or more each month. I might start buying Goodybags then or, since I rarely need to use data on the move, I may even continue without Goodybags and just pay the 50p (maybe less) for the odd days I have to use it.

[Guest rbbrslmn]

I've been hitting the payback points faster than I spend them too. which is quite satisfying

[Guest Stooby]

I've just joined GiffGaff so it's early days yet, but I'm impressed so far!

[Guest BarryH]

Being new to mobiles, I understand that you to pay in advance.

If I go for the £10 package on GiffGaff, do I have to top up by £10 every month? What happens if I still have loads of credit left one month and I don't need to top up, do I lose my Unlimited Internet and Texts?

[Guest tdodd]

Being new to mobiles, I understand that you to pay in advance.

If I go for the £10 package on GiffGaff, do I have to top up by £10 every month? What happens if I still have loads of credit left one month and I don't need to top up, do I lose my Unlimited Internet and Texts?

The free internet deal expires at the end of Feb, so at the moment you can enjoy (almost) unlimited internet simply by having a SIM (and perhaps the minutest amount of credit remaining, like 1p, but I'm not even sure you need that much).

From 1st March you will need to buy a goodybag of at least £10 in value each month to benefit from free unlimited internet. If you have credit then you can use it to buy a goodybag. You don't have to top up in order to buy a goodybag.

Personally I may not even buy a goodybag at all come 1st March as I do not need to use mobile data every day. I may just lapse into PAYG internet and swallow the occasional 50p daily charge. It'll probably work out to less than £10 per month for me, including my minutes and texts. If that proves to be a mistake then I shall start converting my existing credit to goodybags as necessary.

If you want to benefit from referral payback then you will need to actually top up once in the three months leading up to 1st June. If you do not top up you will waive your payback. As my payback balance is currently £55 I have a reminder to top up once before June, even if my balance doesn't warrant it.

[Guest BarryH]

Personally I may not even buy a goodybag at all come 1st March as I do not need to use mobile data every day. I may just lapse into PAYG internet and swallow the occasional 50p daily charge. It'll probably work out to less than £10 per month for me, including my minutes and texts. If that proves to be a mistake then I shall start converting my existing credit to goodybags as necessary.

Thanks for the help, am I correct in thinking that once the free internet's gone it would only cost me 50p a day if I needed to go on the net?

That could work out a lot cheaper than on Orange Monkey, where it costs a maximum (which also seems to be the minimum) of £2 a day but I can go on loads of times in the same day.

[Guest tdodd]

Thanks for the help, am I correct in thinking that once the free internet's gone it would only cost me 50p a day if I needed to go on the net?

That could work out a lot cheaper than on Orange Monkey, where it costs a maximum (which also seems to be the minimum) of £2 a day but I can go on loads of times in the same day.

From this page - http://giffgaff.com/index/pricing it says....

"Free Mobile Internet:

You lucky giffgaff pioneers can even enjoy free UK mobile Internet up to the 28 FEB 2011. After that date, mobile Internet will be charged at 50p a day (if you use less than 2.5MB/day you'll pay less than 50p and if you go over 30MB you'll be charged extra at 20p/MB). But all our goodybags that include unlimited Internet will continue including unlimited Internet after the 28 FEB 2011. "

That's as much as I know. Obviously you need to watch that in a day you do not exceed 30MB of data or it could start to get expensive. For grabbing the odd email, checking weather, perhaps a bit of satnav and a little surfing that might be enough. For streaming video then that's not the way to go. It would be worth monitoring your daily usage pattern to see whether you can survive on that little data. I suspect I could. YMMV.

[Guest BarryH]

From this page - http://giffgaff.com/index/pricing it says....

"Free Mobile Internet:

You lucky giffgaff pioneers can even enjoy free UK mobile Internet up to the 28 FEB 2011. After that date, mobile Internet will be charged at 50p a day (if you use less than 2.5MB/day you'll pay less than 50p and if you go over 30MB you'll be charged extra at 20p/MB). But all our goodybags that include unlimited Internet will continue including unlimited Internet after the 28 FEB 2011. "

That's as much as I know. Obviously you need to watch that in a day you do not exceed 30MB of data or it could start to get expensive. For grabbing the odd email, checking weather, perhaps a bit of satnav and a little surfing that might be enough. For streaming video then that's not the way to go. It would be worth monitoring your daily usage pattern to see whether you can survive on that little data. I suspect I could. YMMV.

Thanks for the help.

[Guest Dan Diplo]

If you are only interested in data then 3 have a SIM only Internet data package for £5 a month (fair usage up to 1GB). No calls or texts included in this, just data on a rolling monthly contract.

[Guest The Soup Thief]

If you are only interested in data then 3 have a SIM only Internet data package for £5 a month (fair usage up to 1GB). No calls or texts included in this, just data on a rolling monthly contract.

You lucky lucky lucky people

All these fancypants deals! Here in Ireland it's something of a different story - euro a day internet on vodafone

It's wifi all the way!

Any other Irish types know a good PAYG sim only deal?

[Guest Ralph Martin]

Interestingly, giffgaff rules say "So, 100MB a day it is - which we think is more than enough to cover normal use; and we have a couple of rules like not using your SIM as a mobile dongle for a computer, and not using continuously streaming media."

Conversely, 3 have explicitly advertised in the past that some of their phones can be tethered and used for data on a laptop.

It seems to me that different providers have different models:

Orange - subsidise the phones (or sell at cost, maybe) but have high call / data charges

3 - sell phones to make a profit, and sell data much cheaper than anyone else.

giffgaff - try to keep costs low by DIY customer support; I'm suspicious that as they are new, they are selling at a loss now to rope people in, then prices will go up and they will rely on inertia.

Suggested solution - buy phone from Orange, buy data from 3, use VoIP instead of regular calls when possible (Linphone etc).

[Guest Matty-p]

Interestingly, giffgaff rules say "So, 100MB a day it is - which we think is more than enough to cover normal use; and we have a couple of rules like not using your SIM as a mobile dongle for a computer, and not using continuously streaming media."

Conversely, 3 have explicitly advertised in the past that some of their phones can be tethered and used for data on a laptop.

It seems to me that different providers have different models:

Orange - subsidise the phones (or sell at cost, maybe) but have high call / data charges

3 - sell phones to make a profit, and sell data much cheaper than anyone else.

giffgaff - try to keep costs low by DIY customer support; I'm suspicious that as they are new, they are selling at a loss now to rope people in, then prices will go up and they will rely on inertia.

Suggested solution - buy phone from Orange, buy data from 3, use VoIP instead of regular calls when possible (Linphone etc).

thats what i do atm 650mb a month for a fiver on payg is enough for me while im on the move when im stationary i hvae wifi (school,home)

though wifi through the whole of london could wipe the need for a 'phone at all with good voip and text over data service apps added on the phone meet the new ipwn ( a ipod touch) including unlmited data 1000 texts and 100 minits with face time and dual cameras and better battery life , thinner and you can actually hold it while you use it !!! magic! ;) for just a 1/8 the price of the iphone £99 upfront and £4.99 a month on a 24 month contract and the wifi company would still get £100 a person £100*1m = £100,000,000

[Guest PReDiToR]

And yet ...

Still the best deal is T-Mobile.

FREE limited data (3GB atm, will be dropping to 500MB in near future)

FREE crapload of text messages (they describie it as "unlimited")

Zero minutes

All you have to do is put £10 or more of credit on a month that you can use for calls or leave in the account.

I know "we're" pissed off at T-Mobile for dropping their limited data allowance from 3GB to 500MB, but that 500MB and the texts are still FREE. Should you want to buy more internets you can spend your money to get some.

On all other plans that I've seen you have to BUY the data/text/calls bundles with your credit.

Am I "Doing It Wrong" or something?

[Guest English Haze]

How is that a better deal than £10 a month on GiffGaff for truly unlimited internet, unlimited texts and 250 minutes calls?

And free GiffGaff to GiffGaff calls too.

Edited January 31, 2011 by English Haze