After ending an 18-month contract with EE at £39/month with a perfectly good smartphone iPhone X, I decided to keep my phone and pay a lower monthly fee, so after some research, I picked Giffgaff, a specialist in Sim-only deals. In this article, I review the good and the bad of Giffgaff Sim Only deals, as well as Pricing, network coverage, phone plans, ease of setting up and if I’d recommend it to you.
What is Giffgaff?
Giffgaff was born in November 2009 and uses the network of its parent company O2, offering offers. You can only order the Sim cards online and all of their customer support is online too. They pride themselves on being flexible, unique and customer-centric.
What’s positive about Giffgaff?
- Clear and concise plans and good bags! No hidden charges.
- Cheap rolling 30-day contracts *There no contracts, so you are not tied in.
- Easy to switch between a wide range of monthly ‘goody bag’ allowances
- Cashback incentives to refer people to join Giffgaff *Click here
- Cash incentives to spread Giffgaff and for helping other members
- Customers benefit from 99% population coverage across the UK, due to the 02 network
What’s annoying about Giffgaff?
- No customer service team to call, instead you need to email
- No physical shop like an EE pr iPhone st; tr
No long-term plans available - 4G data is capped at 20GB on unlimited data plans
- Handset ‘contracts’ are really peer-to-peer loans and work out quite expensive
- Not good if you want to buy a new phone through a long-term mobile contract. 7
- No inclusive roaming beyond Europe
How to set up Giffgaff?
1. Visit the deal at greatdealsmadeeasy.com
2. Order a Free SIM from the Giffgaff website via my link here
3. Activate your SIM when it arrives by entering a code online and adding credit to your account.
4. Choose to pay as you go, or buy one of their goodybags of minutes, texts and data that last a month
Giffgaff pricing plans
The Sim Only deals come with an allowance of data, minutes and texts and last for 30 days – essentially one-month SIM plans. Giffgaff deals range from 500MB of data right up to unlimited data – and most plans include unlimited minutes and unlimited texts. Check your previous data usage from your old contract to get the best package for yourself. Giffgaff does not offer traditional mobile contracts which include a handset but specialize in SIM-only deals. This means you’ll need your own phone in order to take out a Giffgaff plan. These SIM-only 30-day ‘goodybags’ are reasonably-priced and extremely flexible, however it’s not the cheapest option if you want a subsidised phone and can’t afford to buy a phone upfront, best to get a different contract.
Overall verdict – Giffgaff sim only deals review
Over the year, I will save £324, that’s a hefty amount. For me, using Giffgaff £12 a month contract is a great interim solution whilst I have a high-quality Smart phone and it also gives me flexibility if I see a better offer and want to change network or plan.
It’s one of the few networks to offer unlimited data (though be aware 4G data is capped at 20GB on unlimited data plans). If you own your own phone and are looking for cheapish SIM-only deals, Giffgaff is a good option. Join Giffgaff here *I will get £5 off my next bill 🙂
For a complete round-up of the top Sim only picks, check the Sim only Deals.
To read a way of getting a cheap contract on a new handset, go here. To find out why you should always look to switch your broadband and mobile, go here. Looking to change your mobile, how about your Broadband? Go here
For any mobile sim tips and deals, please share below.
