Hi, Kylie again.

As the gaffer promised last week, we’ve updated our site. The noticeable change is that we’ve introduced a forum, but for us the major change is that we’ve introduced the backend that will take us to launch and beyond.

We’ve also added a little ‘beta’ next to our logo, so I just wanted to explain what that means to us.

Wikipedia says that beta means ‘a website or online project either in pre-release, during testing or shortly after release to the public’.

And that’s basically right for us. Beta testing is common practice among web start-ups, and that’s how we’re trying to behave. The big mobile networks would rather spend a fortune on research and internal testing to get everything perfect before launching. As we operate a low cost business model, and only have 14 employees, we don’t really have that option.

But, unlike web brands, we’re not really asking people to test our technology. We know that our mobile service will work right from the start, because we’re running on O2’s network, so you’ll experience the same quality with giffgaff that you do with them.

In our beta we’re looking instead for your input into... everything else, really. Earlier in the week I asked for your input on our pricing. Now the forum is up and running we’ve set up topics for other things we’d like to talk about, and I do want to continue the Pricing debate, it’s been great so far.  You’ll also notice an area for Customer Service which would be great to kick-start.  Anyway have a look and let us know your thoughts.

And when will we be out of beta? There’s no fixed date, but in my mind it’s when we are happy that we have a service that delivers on our vision of being a people-powered mobile network, and when our members are happily talking about and recommending our service.

One last thing, I’ve had some enquiries (in particular from my own team, the gaffer included) after my last blog post where I mentioned we were ‘wrapped’ with the pricing input so far.  Apparently you guys don’t have that word in your repertoire, and to be fair there’s no wiki entry. So for those of you that were not addicted to Neighbours, it means – we’re really pleased, excited and happy about the feedback so far.  And yes, if my name hasn’t already given it away, I’m Aussie, have been here for 10 years (and still I’m experiencing language barriers).