GiffGaff SIM for Data Dongle

I have heard that GiffGaff offer a PAYG SIM where the credit does not expire after 30 days or so. (Like my Vodafone SIM used to do until they ceased to honour the contract).

Problem is, I so far cannot work out which SIM from GiffGaff I need to obtain.

Any ideas please?

Cheers!

Thanks for that.

What I'm trying to replace is what until recently enjoyed with Vodafone. For some years I have had one of their K3565 dongles which had the contract for 1GB date for £15 but there was no time limit on usage, subject to a connection every 180 days. I used it for standby internet should my landline fail and also holidays etc. (I even lent it to our Community Council Office when BT messed up an address change and they had no internet for a week).

Due my low usage, £15 used to keep me going in emails etc for over a year! So was really good value. Then Vodafone decided to cancel the contract (without notice) they had my email address which when I checked yesterday was still in the system.

So I'm looking for ideally a similar replacement SIM from any supplier.

Cheers!

Edited by deleted (Sat 26-Apr-14 16:35:05)

I do like samba mobile and have saved up 5gb of data on my sim which I'm using on a mifi device. Very useful when my sister came to visit from Canada last week as she was able to be a tourist in London once more avoiding roaming charges. Since I've been using sky BB I've had two small outages so that was like having a trusted 'dial-up' as a back up to still have access and see what's going on. If you buy extra credits afak it will use the purchased data first, the ad watched gained data never expires.

Edited by deleted (Sun 27-Apr-14 01:36:57)

Samba certainly sounds interesting, as does GiffGaff.

I'll do some research as to what signal is available and take it from there. I have a Vodafone 3G mast about 200 metres away, with one of the three 'beams' more or less aimed at our house. (I managed to get a field strength plan when it was installed a few years back.) EE claim a 4G signal in our area according to their map, but also shows as patchy for indoor use.

Cheers!

In reply to a post by pcoventry76:

Maybe you should look at samba. You can get 3.5MB for each advert you watch and it never expires. You can then use it as and when you need to - Use your home connection to build up the credit.

Not any more. I just received an email (after purchasing a SIM card from them only 8 hours ago) that they are closing down.

Samba closing down. Thanks to all our customers.
Dear Customers,

You may have heard via the website, a friend or social media that Samba has had to take the difficult decision to close. We hope that you, our customers, have been happy with the value exchange received over the last two years. Below you will find answers to FAQs.

We would like to thank you for all your support. We know that a lot of you have really appreciated the service, and we have, in return, very much appreciated your loyalty to Samba and your support of our proposition to friends and family.

We have provided free mobile broadband, but also an alternative to interruptive video advertising models, and have, for the most part, with your participation, proven that people are quite happy to view video ads when they are in control of the experience and get something in return. We will be using this learning in future projects.

However, it is with sadness that today we have closed the service, and we understand and appreciate you will need to find alternatives to Samba. We have made suggestions of where to look at the bottom of the FAQs below.

To paraphrase the late Douglas Adams, so long and thanks for all the views...

Thankfully, they have said that anyone who has purchased a dongle or SIM in April will be refunded by Thursday 1st May 2014.

What a joke.

I just got the email. It is unclear whether I have lost the 1.8gb credit I earned from watching adverts but have not used.

Edited by deleted (Mon 28-Apr-14 13:23:30)

I currently use GiffGaff. I would say that, unless you are going to regularly use the connection ie. purchase a monthly gigabag etc and chomp through most of your allowance in 30 days, then they are a more expensive option (per what pcoventry76 has already said regarding 20p for initial (up-to) 20Mb, and then 2p/MB afterwards, per day).

For example, a basic O2 simplicity "NO ALLOWANCE" SIM with no pre-paid bolt on will automatically claw £1 (and no more than this) off your balance for a single day of usage giving you up to 50MB for that day (which is cheaper). You can optionally purchase more webdaily 50MB bolt-ons (£1 a pop) on that same day to increase this in 50MB increments as needed. Monthly bolt-ons are again cheaper (they do 30 day half gig for £6 and 1 gig for £10).

The Virgin Mobile offering (again, per pcoventry76) is probably the best (£1 a day for unlimited usage) but reading up on that, they piggy-back on the EE network, and due to various complaints I've read about them, I'm not sure how reliable or good that network is. Plus I don't particularly have much time for EE (personal grievance, I won't spill the details here).

The ISP you are with (A&A) do mobile sims but its probably a bit OTT for what you are wanting. £2 a month gives you the SIM and then you literally do pay per MB, and get billed accordingly. A&A piggy-back on the 3 network, and you get a real (no carrier grade NAT antics) IPv4 address for your connection too.

If you do decide to go with GiffGaff, make sure you do not tether or use any tablet/hotspot device with a non-gigabag unlimited goodybag otherwise they will immediately block you. Unlimited goodybags are only allowed on non-tethered phones and non-tablet/hotspot devices.

Edited by deleted (Mon 28-Apr-14 14:18:25)

Edited by deleted (Mon 28-Apr-14 17:33:35)

Blimey first Ovivo and now Samba ! Oh well I'll put the 02 data sim in the mifi ! They're dropping like flies LOL

Thanks Mark

I had quickly looked at A&A data and then looked at Giff Gaff, but now on reading GiffGaff closely note that excluding Databags, after 20MB per day they charge at 20p per MB http://giffgaff.com/index/pricing which is ten times the price of A&A!

My Vodafone PAYG non-expiting contract was £15 for 1GB which lasted me well over 12 months. The biggest bite out of was when I once logged in from Greece for email and my credit dropped by about £8,00 just for the privilege!

So I will look into A&A again. For the amount of data I expect to use it for, it is a cheap option. Even the £2 per month is reasonable. (All plus VAT of course).

Mobile data is certainly a funny commodity. When you buy petrol or diesel, you don't have to give back or forfeit what you have not used at the end of the month!

Cheers!

In reply to a post by Ancient_Mariner:

after 20MB per day they charge at 20p per MB http://giffgaff.com/index/pricing which is ten times the price of A&A!

Good catch! Yes, that's damn expensive. So yeah, GG's intent is that they really want customers to use goodybags or money will be burnt. Definitely consider other options. Like I said, O2 isn't too bad with £1 maximum charge for 50MB per day. I'm currently using that in my hotspot device.

Edited by deleted (Mon 28-Apr-14 21:21:22)

Heck! The more you look the more there is to see!

I am getting tempted by my ISP's Andrews & Arnold mobile data SIM. Its £5 + VAT to purchase and data is 2p per MB + VAT. Not cheap, but as a virtual non-user - my 1GB Vodafone top-up used to last well over a year - is quite comparable. 1GB from A&A = 2000p =£20.00 + VAT whereas Vodafone charged £15 inc VAT. OK there is the £2 + VAT per month with A&A but that is not a deal breaker by any means.

My main problem is going to be signal strength. Vodafone have a 3G mast about 200 metres away; whereas at present not sure where 3 have there's (which is the network that A&A use). Whether A&A will support 4G when rolled out I don't know, but will be posting a question in the A&A's section of this forum later, since 4G will be of interest to others.

Cheers!

I just checked. My Samba sim has been disconnected so I have lost the 1.8gb credit I built up from watching adverts.

Thanks for that link. Very useful site.

Cheers!

if a supplier pulls the facility as they have not been paid then things like this happen.

People probably warned when it lauched and things like this are tried by people are convinced they have the sums right.

Samba sent another email out to me detailing some alternatives. They suggest T-Mobile or 3 network. Interestingly, they've also suggested mobi-data.co.uk (running on 3) where it's £4.94 for 1Gb of data, rolling month contract. But pricey charges kick in if you go above this allowance. I've also had a look at their pricing in general and they appear to apply all kinds of extra hefty charges, as follows:

Paper copy of the invoice	 	 £5.00
Failed card payment	 	 	 £5.00
Late payment fee	 	 	 £5.00
Credit card charge back fee	 	£20.00
Non recurring payment fee	 	 £3.00
Reconnection fee	 	 	£20.00
SIM Replacement Fee	 	 	£10.00
Overage Fee/MB	 	 	          2.5p
International Usage Fee/MB	 	 15p

Not sure I like that to be honest. But possibly worth a look.

Edited by deleted (Wed 30-Apr-14 10:27:58)

Edited by deleted (Wed 30-Apr-14 14:00:03)

For 3 months yes. After that, you have to enter into some kind of rolling contract, be that one of the GB plans or £3.50 a month flat fee paying 2.5p/MB PAYG on top of that.

If you don't wish to do that, they terminate the SIM, which is then where they get you with their charges, as it will cost £20 to have it re-connected.

The general impression I get from reading their t&cs is they wish you to contract in some kind of fashion, even if it is only for one monthly rolling (they give you a better deal if you do 3 months). But for the likes of me who really only uses mobile data in my hotspot device a couple of days a month (if that), I think I will stick to my O2 SIM for the moment and just get billed a pound per day (maximum) when I activate/connect the device to their network. Plus I have the option of 4G on that (if I purchase a 4G tariff) - I don't believe mobi-data is 4G at all yet.

Edited by deleted (Wed 30-Apr-14 22:01:39)

Edited by deleted (Thu 01-May-14 19:36:40)