Still trying to decide on phone tarrifs

[andrewducker]

A subject I'm sure that you're all thoroughly bored of by now.

However, it seems that I can get 250 minutes and 1GB of data for £10/month from both Tesco and GiffGaff.

GiffGaff are run communally, and seem to have a nice spirit. However, they have also had a couple of major outages and their message boards are awash with people having issues. And as far as I can tell their bulletin boards are where you're supposed to get support.

Tesco are possibly going to be more efficiently run. But on the other hand aren't fluffy. And their bank computers managed to completely fuck up in the middle of last year, so it's not like they're immune to issues.

Both of them use O2's network. And, of course, are both cheaper than O2.

So now I'm not sure whether to toss a coin, or what.

Comments

[gominokouhai]

Tesco use workfare. Next.

[fearmeforiampink]

If they're viable in terms of signal, T Mobile do 100 minutes + 100 texts, + 2GB/Unlimited internet (where they'll never cut you off or charge you more, but they'll throttle you down if you repeatedly go over the download amounts). And that's on a one month rolling contract; you'll probably get more if you sign up for a longer term thing (which I should probably do at some point).

[andrewducker]

I do think I need 250 minutes - I seem to hit 200-230 minutes on a regular basis.

[fearmeforiampink]

I think what I'm on would allow for that, were it not for the fact that I'm on a one month rolling contract, but I'm not sure if they still offer that. Essentially, it's £10 for the X minutes and texts, and then a switchable flexible booster free, which I've set to be internet.

For me it's less of an issue, as even at the height of the Yes Campaign, I was only hitting the next plan up (£15/month) on a couple of occasions, nowadays I think I'm generally reaching the end of the month with much of my allocation unused.

[nameandnature]

Of course, the board is only going to have messages from people having issues, so you need to work out the stats of that vs the size of their customer base, or something.

Not being able to get a new Goodybag if yours expired on February 28th is a classic, though.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

However, it seems that I can get 250 minutes and 1GB of data for £10/month

Wow, I envy people who live in nations with good cell service. I pay around 30% more for 100 minutes, 30 MB of data, and 400 texts, and that's the absolute cheapest service I've found.

[andrewducker]

30MB of data? I don't think you can get a plan in the UK with less than 100MB, and they mostly start at 500MB!

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I buy prepaid data and prepaid texts, because everything else is at least a factor of 2 more expensive (and I only use around 10-20 MB/month).

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

I'd go GiffGaff, purely on the basis of them not being Tesco.

this is in no way informed advice.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

If you're having that much trouble deciding, the pros and cons must nearly balance out, so they're about equally good decisions. It seems unlikely at this stage you're going to get more information that will drastically tip the balance. Toss a coin.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

I still think Three is the best network :)

[andrewducker]

Three is my backup plan - but they're £2/month more expensive.

(And yes, I feel odd quibbling over £2/month, but as the whole point was to save cash in the long run, that's still £50 over the two years I expect to have the phone.)

[ajax-nz.livejournal.com]

T-mobile
£10 for unlimited (ish) data and texts. +100 minutes.

Not so good if you need more minutes, but better coverage than O2 network - due to using both t-mobile & orange's towers.

[ajax-nz.livejournal.com]

Dammit! They've just changed them again, and the Internet is nerfed. Bother.