Mobile Network Comparison

Giffgaff are considering stepping up the pressure on their rivals by not only offering the best PAYG tariff in the UK but also by being the most ethical mobile phone company around. One of their “core values” (subtly cribbed from John Stuart Mill) is to increase the collective good and they aim to have strong environmental and social values. Recently, they’ve been trying to come up with ways to put all this talk into action.

This all means that they want to launch a new scheme re-homing battery chickens. Apparently, their users had made a comparison between poor mobile phone users locked into usurious phone contracts or with locked handsets and battery hens stuck in their cages. Giffgaff wanted to show people that it was possible to break free of the carrier lock on mobile phone handsets and they wrote, “We want to free more people from contracts and let people know that unlocking a phone isn’t illegal.”

And so Giffgaff will be helping the animal charity Wood Green every time someone unlocks their phone to join them. For each person that unlocks their phone and joins Giffgaff through this campaign, a battery hen will be re-homed.

What a great idea, eh? And while they’re at it, let us take this opportunity to remind you to please only buy free range eggs 🙂

We’ve posted up yet another review of a brand-new virtual network. Our Delight Mobile review looks in detail at their slightly confusing pricing model and runs the calculations to conclude that they are actually one of the lowest-priced PAYG networks in the UK. They have very competitive prices for texts and calls as well as some of the lowest rates for data, voicemail and MMS and great offers too. We also analysed the link with Vectone, looked at the company history and discussed the network coverage in the UK. Go check out the full review yourself and feel free to rate them yourself or leave a comment.

Giffgaff have unveiled a surprise this week – long-awaited data roaming! The announcement only came out yesterday that it activation would begin today, Thursday 28 July, ready for going live on Friday 29 July. Finally Giffgaff users can use internet data on their smartphones whilst abroad.

But not so fast, data-fiends. First, be sure to check out the pricing rates:

• Data roaming in any EU country (also including Andorra, Croatia, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, Vatican City) will cost you £1.50 per MB.
• Data roaming in any other country (including United States, Australia, India and China) is prices at £5.00 per MB.

All data charging is done to the nearest penny which means that you will pay 1p for roughly 7 KB inside Europe and roughly 2 KB everywhere else.

To prevent your phone using data unintentionally, it’s a good idea to switch off data roaming when you’re not using it. To do that on Android, simply hit Menu on a Home Screen and navigate to Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks and uncheck Data roaming. On iOS go to Settings > General > Network and slide Data Roaming off. It’s also worth saving money by trying to minimise use of data-intensive apps like YouTube, Spotify or other streaming services and app stores. Also, use mobile versions of website and don’t leave data apps running in the background accidentally.

If you’re abroad and on Giffgaff, please make a note of these rates to avoid running up a massive phone bill when this is activated at 00:00 BST on Friday morning.