giffgaff
is a distinctly different business to most mobile service providers - their headline
says "it's the mobile network run by you. Our members are at the heart
of everything we do. They are the Bonnie to our Clyde, the chutney to our cheese,
the milk to our tea. You get the picture". They add "Why sign a 2-year
mobile contract? We don't do contracts. You're in control. So come join us".
giffgaff runs on the O2 network. More
& More
Mobile
network run by you
"Our members play the most important role developing
and shaping giffgaff into what it is and where it's going. Not only do our members
do a great job of running the forums, inspiring the community, and generally spreading
the good word of giffgaff far and wide, they've also given us our best ideas,
from how they want their mobile network run, to what they want in the future".
More
The giffgaff
team
"We're a group of people who one day, put our phones down, scratched
our heads and thought - there's a better way of doing this". More
Which?
magazine awards 2015
giffgaff was named Best Telecoms Provider – Which?
Awards 2015. In June 2015. The company, which has no high street presence and
instead relies on an online community to deal with customer queries, triumphed
over better-known rivals such as EE and Vodafone. giffgaff also won in the 2014
awards and is a Which? Recommended Provider for mobile phone contract and pay-as-you-go
services. It received the highest customer score for both in the latest survey
and is the only phone provider to receive a five star value for money rating.
| Mike
Howlett reports he applied to giffgaff for a free SIM card which came very
promptly. I put it in my mobile phone to activate it as per the instructions on
their website and they then allocated a phone number to it. The card came ready
to accept phone, text and data. He says "I spent a happy half hour setting
the tracker up. I'm pleased to say it is working exactly as it should. I recently
had the tracker guarding my Elan Sprint while staying at the Travelodge near Edinburgh
when I went to the Bo'ness Revival Hill Climb a couple of weekends ago. The Elan
is in some ways the ideal car for this GPS tracker because the glassfibre bodywork
doesn't impede the signal. I have been able to hide the tracker in the car without
worrying about whether it can get a GPS or phone signal".
giffgaff
offered various options for funding the SIM card and Mike says "the
simplest was to just to put £10 on the SIM from my credit card, and they
have a facility whereby they will automatically take another £10 once the
credit falls below £3.00. I thought this seemed a good scheme so that's
what I went for".
Ideal SIM card package for the tracker
They
offer what they call "goodybags" which are contracts of varying cost
and function, but at the bottom of the options they also offer a simple PAYG
deal which I took. As far as I can see this is an absolutely ideal arrangement
for the tracker. I registered my credit card with them and they took £10
credit. This lasts indefinitely, and there is an automatic facility whereby once
the credit falls below £3 they will automatically add another £10
to it using the card details they have on their system. I can't see how you could
get a better or cheaper way to run the tracker.
Mike Howlett is pleased
with the giffgaff package but says it's all online and it feels like being involved
in a social media. His sons use giffgaff packages and have reassured him on what
at first might have seemed an unfamiliar business model! |
