Learn: giffgaff Top Tips

[vincent]

Unfortunately not, as it comes straight from the warehouse.

I've send you a private message explaining how to set you up with your new sim.

Alternatively, what I could do, is create a new account for you, with a brand new sim, test it out, send it to you, give you the username and password and ask you to change the details so they reflect your own.

You would then have a new number and a new username.

Personally I think option number 1 would be a lot easier for you, given the fact that you have our first (what appears to be) faulty sim. So it's certainly not something that happens on a regular basis.

Cheers,

Vincent

[mikemackay]

Thanks Vincent. 

What do you think happened today ? 

Big surprise:  Even though some on this forum have diagnosed a dodgy sim (which Ive never really seen the evidence for, but i went along with it becuase people seemed convinced and what do i know), the giffgaff guys seem to have done something quite good with their end of the service:  I woke up to a nexus one that is now more operational than it was yesterday in that 3g internet access is now fully functional and so far (3 hours this morning) remains reliable.

No settings changes, I did nothing but turn it on  and I havent heard from giffgaff, but something has changed (not the sim) and Im just presuming they switched some switches and did some things and now 3g internet access is working.

I also took a community members advise and installed hullomail. So I have a workable vmail solution, even if the giffgaff one doesnt work with nexus one.

With this level of functionality available via the existing sim I dont know how experts on this forum can conclude that the sim is dodgy.  I dont see the evidence for that.  I see evidence for servic settings back at giffgaff base being the issue.  So it seems to me that the sim isnt dodgy but something elselwhere in the service needed tweaking. And someone tweaked it, and now more things are working than were working yesterday.

So I dont see the evidence that says the sim is dodgy and needs changing. So why change it ?

The story of this week has been one of incremental improvement in functionality day by day, with no change to settings and config at my end, and no change to sim or phone.  I dont know how thats happening - i just assume its giffgaff doing good things at their end - but if we extrapolate going forward, maybe a likely outcome, based on the step-wise progression of the last week, is that giffgaff will continue to deliver incremental improvements and therefor the remaining giffgaff issues (calls/txts to some mobile numbers are still not operational, and giffgaff voicemail on nexus one is still not working ) will become resolved by giffgaff without changing out sim card.  I dont know but this outcome seems feasible, given the last weeks progression.

I'll take delivery of the new sim - thank u vincent -  but im a bit leary of installing it at risk of going back the way to a level of functionality equivalent of what i got when i first installed this current sim .... 

Bruised (but recovering) guineau pig.

M

[simon69c]

To be fair I think most of us were suggesting that it was likely to be a SIM issue, as opposed to there being something wrong in the settings on your phone (whether the SIM issue was down to a dodgy SIM or the network not properly setting it up was rather incidental from your phone's point of view).  If your service is suddenly working (better) and you've done nothing your end then it would seem that giffgaff have sorted the issues from their end and they were network/SIM related as suspected.  SIMs aren't normally things that need replacing or go wrong so I would have been surprised if the SIM had actually been dodgy - but from a troubleshooting point of view the SIM is where the network starts and your phone ends - we were just trying to help you ascertain on which side of the phone/SIM interface the problem lay.  Still, good to hear you are pretty much fully up and running now!

[mikemackay]

simon69: helpful.  Thanks. 

[mikemackay]

I already reported that the service, whilst now more usable than yesterday,  doesnt reach some mobile numbers.  The example I gave the giffgaff guys that i know doesnt work was my own work phone.

Ive just discovered that the service doesnt reach international numbers either.

In case of use in de-bugging

One step forward, half a step back

M

[vincent]

Can you try something for me? Take the battery out of the Nexus One and put it back in after 10 seconds? Restting the Nexus that way might work. As I said before, mine works very well with the Nexus, and what you're discribing to me, sounds like the Nexus itself is slowly picking up more and more services from the sim. So a 'hard' OFF/ON like that, might do the trick.

[mikemackay]

I dont see the enxus one "learning" in the way that u express vincent.  I cant see how it wqould or could. I think the giffgaff guys are daily tweaking the service to deal with beta feedback - i wish they'd tell me so i know in what ways they are active - they've been v coy.

anyway Ive had the battery out and back in,  Tested phoning and texting a uk mob number that the giffgaff service didnt previously get thru to. Still doesnt work on that number.  Havent tried the international number i normally call yet.

M

[vincent]

The choice is yours of course, but remember that you can always try a new sim via the instructions I've send you previously.

So far all the people on giffgaff with a Nexus One, including myself, are able to use all functionality, so it should work for you as well.

The weirdest thing of all seems to be that you say that calls/txts to some mobile numbers isn't working. From which I assume that calls and texts to others are. So it's only a very specific set of numbers which aren't receiving your calls/text and I have no idea how we go about fixing that Very strange indeed.

[mikemackay]

Thank u vincent.

Just for clarity,  because to someone at this end its entirely unclear who is who on this community.  I think Ive deduced that you and shaun might actually work for giffgaff or be a part of giffgaff (but its not been stated anywhere ive been reading, and its not automatically obvious).  And Im deducing that the simons and richs are not giffgaff employees.

Is that correct.

The reason I ask is, if indeed you do work for giffgaff, can you do me a favour,  they send me messages (which I reply to) saying theyve left requests for information from me, and other things,  in either some place they call giffgaff messages inbox, or they provide a link.

They keep doing it,  i keep replying (using the only comms channel to giffgaff that i have been able to identify - ie the giffgaff agents dialogue box on the website, because the emails they send me are noreply emails)  that i see nothing there or that the link doesnt take me to what they say is there.  Then they reply that i should not be using the giffgaff agents dialogue box to talk to them - but its the only channel that works.

Its going nowhere for me.  It cant possibly be going anywhere good for giffgaff.

I still dont know what theyve sent me. Theyve also said if I dont repond on whatever theyve sent me within 5 days they'll consider these issues closed. It almost seems deliberate to make it impossible for me to respond to them, or to see what they say theyve sent me,  so that they can be justified in calling an unsolved problem, solved. But im sure thats just my frustration talking.

Can u help get them to realise that wherever they are putting these things i cant see.  And can u get get them to use a known working communicatins channel like my personal email until they debug their web resource

And if you dont work for giffgaff, useful if you could provide me with contact details of someone who does.

On a separate note, I have some feedback for giffgaff on your novel community-based approach to your service wrap, that Id like to provide direct to giffgaff and not publicly on the web resource,  would u be able to advise me how to do that pls

Pls

m 

[kaz]

Mike, those who work for giffgaff have a little "gg" icon to the left of their username - and yes vincent and shaun are giffgaff staff.   

As to the messages - its a *&*@! to find but after you've read this message just scroll up to the top of the screen.  Under your name there should be a word in orange (indicating where you are) and below that an envelope icon with a number next to it.  That is your inbox.  There must be a more obvious way to find it somewhere but I've never had any messages so haven't needed to!

Hope that helps