OVIVO is no more
So OVIVO Mobile is no more as of now 🙁 We’ve been following them since the beginning and we’re sure you’re all as shocked as we are to hear this news completely out of the blue. After all, while we expressed doubts about their business model at the beginning, it seems they’d really carved out a working niche for themselves.
And recently their public-facing side had appeared to be very optimistic. Not only had they claimed to have solved all the issues with their advertising delivery but they’d also been aggressively expanding in recent weeks with high-profile promotional campaigns and generous increases to their free bundles.
Here at Mobile Network Comparison, many of us regularly used OVIVO as a handy backup SIM and many of our readers joined the network in good faith.
Now that their service is completely shut down your phone won’t be working so make sure you head to their site to grab your PAC code as soon as possible so you can port over to a new network.
If you’re struggling to decide who to change to, you might find our comprehensive comparison table pretty useful to make sense of the myriad options out there.
And Giffgaff have also announced a promotion to help people out.
To give ex-OVIVO customers a them a kick start, if they port their number before the end of April Giffgaff will give them and extra £5 credit to get them back on their feet.
This is really an incredible deal as you still get the £5 bonus credit we’re ofering as well. So in total, the offer is that you get a grand total of £10 extra credit completely free!
They have also changed their post to 1st class for anyone ordering a free SIM between now and Sunday 23rd March, to help them out further.
So whoever you decide to switch to we wish all you OVIVO users a speedy transfer to your new provider.
I just returned to UK after being away for four months to find that my Ovivo SIM is no longer working 🙁
I recall the reviewer on this site having doubts some doubts.
I guess Ovivo business model was flawed.
But having enjoyed free calls and data for many months so can’t really complain!
Will Darish come up with something better?
Well in the term and conditions it stated if u requested your PAC that any credit u had u then lost it. Now if you returned the sim the terms and conditions said you would be refunded.
Have no idea if Any one has tried the latter!!!
Given the state of their last published accounts and the number of people in the queue before you we’d say you have approximately zero chance.
Thing is what about all the credit people had paid for. I have 45 quid on my Ovivo sim. What happens to that? NOT HAPPY
Unfortunately it seems they’ve completely screwed people like you over 🙁
But why put £45 credit on in the first place? why not £10 at a time and limit your risk?
PAC arrived today and moving to giffgaff
Hope the downtime doesn’t affect you too much…
Still works for incoming calls and texts, just not outgoings.
Had 22 months use out of one SIM, and 15 out of the other 2, so while it is sad, I am not out of pocket. Bit of a nuisance getting a PAC to move though.
Moving one line to Three 3-2-1 and the other to Dialog Vizz
That’s good to know. Were you using OVIVO as your main provider then?
Yes, they were my main provider. I don’t have a land line ( I use a friend’s BT Wifi access codes to log into a neighbor’s BT FON to get on the internet)and live in poverty, I used them to keep in touch with family as I can’t travel much so it is a bit of a blow to me. Asked for a PAC within 2 hours of shutdown, but nothing yet. Kept some credit with Dialog Vizz in case of this happening as their landline calls are cheap.
I always doubted Ovivo’s business model but reasoned at the time that I was only risking £10, so if I got 2 months use and they went pop it was no big deal.
Where I think they got it wrong was to make it too cheap. The 150/200/500 offering could not be had for less than £7 anywhere else at all. TalkMobile have 100/100/100 at £5. Had Ovivo asked for £3.50 a month I, and many others, would have happily paid up, and it would have given them a steady predictable revenue stream that they denied themselves. Also, for the technically savvy, it was way too easy to use the data without ever encountering the advertising.
Very sad, I wish them well if they try again, and if they would like a very financially poor consultant to give them advice on what people will pay, I would enjoy the role.
We pretty much agree with your whole comment. It’s sad it ended up like this…
One other thing, I took up TalkMobile’s £1 a month 25/50 in summer 2011, and they still honour the deal. Very handy for people like me.
Long may it go on!
That’s not too bad. And should have better lasting power…