Smarty v giffgaff Price War?

haridus

Smarty have improved their plans, coincidence or to beat the revised goodybags before they're introduced?

https://smarty.co.uk/

m0dcm

haridus This is Business tactics, but I still wouldn't go with Smarty, for my £20 after the end of Feb I'll be getting 80Gb for £5 more, but what worries me is Unlimited, is there any small print on their site that mentions throttling at certain times? I noticed Vodafone have been shotdown by the ASA for not telling the complete truth about their throttling on their Unlimited package???
I can see this war raging for the next 12 months, and this is a good thing in a way, but I'll be sticking with the provider I'm on now.

Dave

mrbond007

haridus
Do they give payback?
Okay I'm out then
giffgaff is a clear winner

richybhoy36

haridus In my humble opinion Smarty mobile wins hands down !!

woodyuk

haridus I was just looking at the results for this years Uswitch mobile networks awards and Smarty have won the award for best value sim only,not surprising I suppose when their plans are better value than a lot of contract offers but Smarty are PAYG the same as giffgaff.

Details of all this years Uswitch awards here:-

https://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/Operators/article/uswitch-awards-sky-mobile-leads-way-three-awards

stephenpperry

haridus also I think smarty are three? Or maybe vodaphone and their customer service has always been poopy. I’d choose the benefits of the community over any network any day

egglassa

haridus good if you have good 3 reception

egglassa

haridus good if you have good 3 reception

leshin

haridus smarty would be more gb 3 doesn't have the network coverage of o2. I wouldn't go to 3 or smarty I had bad experience with 3 reception but for others it might be fine

ken_peck

haridus
I live in a rural location on the Isle of Wight. My landline and internet provider was TalkTalk who could never provide a fast service and continually put up prices and reduced services.
I therefore recently purchased a huawei E5186 4G modem and, after doing signal strength checks, got a Smarty SIM with an unlimited voice, text and data SIM for £20/m reduced to £18.75
Plugged in my DECT phone which works great and have all my on demand TV services running great. Data speeds in excess of 35Mb/s and sometimes up to 50Mb/s.
Goodbye TalkTalk and welcome to cheap high-speed data and voice comms.
Toodeloo for now,
Ken.

masterluke

haridus I'm starting to wonder why I'm paying £18.25 per month for my 40gb Three mobile broadband contract, and now they're putting the price up every year as well, when I could spend £15 for 50gb, or a bit more for unlimited. Hhhmmm... If/when Three put the price up again and Smarty is still a better deal I'll ring Three up and have something to say about that, especially considering Smarty is also Three! It'll probably be about now the price is due to go up again as well as it's nearly the new tax year?
Not quite as ridiculous as the huge difference between paying 25p per min rather than 3p per min though. 😉 giffgaff love us PAYG users!

simxn

haridus Data is certainly what people are interested in now. They can change their plans to include more minutes or more texts but the only change worth anything is how my GB you have. I have just changed down from £8 to £6 for the sake of lowering my costs (yes, I have to be that careful!) so I am now in the precarious position of data-watching. In this day and age, people expect a certain amount of online activity/availability. I will now have to make sure my default is to have Network data switched off and rely more heavily (as if I wasn't already) on WiFi.

giffgaff could have helped their customers out more on this issue but it appears they chose not to. I'm disappointed.

twinkletoesneil

haridus i wouldn’t leave giffgaff does smarty give you pay
back like giffgaff

davidvarley

haridus
Depends on coverage if smartys coverage was better than Giffgaffs then maybe would be a far better deal than giffgaff for many that use more data.

mike285

haridus Its great if you can get a signal ???? No good to me at all.

haridus

m0dcm This is Business tactics, but I still wouldn't go with Smarty, for my £20 after the end of Feb I'll be getting 80Gb for £5 more, but what worries me is Unlimited, is there any small print on their site that mentions throttling at certain times? I noticed Vodafone have been shotdown by the ASA for not telling the complete truth about their throttling on their Unlimited package???

I've never heard of Smarty throttling from anyone using them and their website states no speed caps

A Uswitch article when Smarty launched their unlimited plan quoted them as saying it "won't throttle data for those who want to use their phones constantly. SMARTY claims that rival providers slow down data access after 20GB on certain ‘unrestricted’ packages." 🤣

danielallis112

m0dcm I think it's going to continue too which is good for us high users, but not for the lower ones. Im sticking with giffgaff (on o2) as they have a much better coverage than smarty (on three) and at least with giffgaff you get payback!

woodyuk

m0dcm three of our family have moved to Smarty in the last few months so I can tell you that no they don't throttle their unlimited data but they do have an FUP the same as their owners Three of 1TB a month which I'm pretty sure would be impossible to reach even if you were streaming video 24 hours a day.

So this particular battle in the price war at the £20 price point is 80GB from giffgaff later this month vs 1000GB from Smarty so not much of a battle really,if you have a good Three signal where you live then there's a clear winner plus of course all of Smarty's plans also include unlimited MMS which I know that we don't use much these days but will still cost you 30p each from giffgaff after the 26th of this month.

johnr94160

m0dcm Your right mate stick with what you no,l tried most of them and they all promise the world and once they think they have you it’s slow down time or price up time.EE locked my iPad to them would not unlock till I reported they had stole it to police,02 locks them in as well to there sim and it’s hard work getting them open to any sim again.

bigjack57

m0dcm Hi there,
As far as I know there is no throttling with the unlimited plan on Smarty, plus they have stated that (like Three), they will not reintroduce EU Roaming regardless of the outcome of any deal resulting from our EU departure - something which other operators are mostly keeping quiet about still! They also include roaming in places like Isle of Man , Channel Islands, Switzerland, Monaco etc.

jesi23

m0dcm Unlimited, is there any small print on their site that mentions throttling at certain times

I have a £4.99 (£5) / month contract with Three which has a clause in the descriptions which says that ‘All you can eat’ is deemed to be 20GB for data, for the purpose of allocating units (I noticed it, even though none of my allowances are ‘all you can eat’). Since Smarty is ‘powered by 3’ it is unlikely they would get much better terms?

I wouldn’t be staying with 3 except that it is a DD (of which I need 2 each month to keep my interest on my current account) and it sometimes has a signal where O₂ doesn’t. I have had my number since 2005, and used to have two separate contract phones with different networks. Now my main phone is giffgaff, As is my iPad, but I have reduced my 3 contract to below £5/month to keep the DD. _{_🤡}

johnr94160

haridus They all at it ,bissness is the new word for rip off.02 head office in slough yet there 4g hard to get on slough arm of grand union right behind office.

haridus

danielallis112 I think it's going to continue too which is good for us high users, but not for the lower ones

It might not be bad for the lower goodybag users, Smarty's plans beat giffgaff's goodybags hands down plus Smarty also offer money back for unused data hopefully this will encourage giffgaff to finally listen to their customers and increase the data allowances in the lower priced goodybags.

danielallis112 at least with giffgaff you get payback!

Payback isn't relevant to price comparisons when only a very small minority (approx 1 or 2%) of users receive community payback

danielallis112

haridus They still have the worst coverage out of the 4 network providers (EE, O2, Vodaphone and Three) and for that reason ill not be changing anytime in the near future.

haridus

mrbond007 Do they give payback?
Okay I'm out then
giffgaff is a clear winner

Payback isn't relevant to price comparisons when only a very small minority (approx 1 or 2%) of users receive community payback.

m0dcm bit here out in the Valleys and parts of the UK, Three are we patchy as my 12 year old socks, so O2 Network wins hands down because of the saga of the 800 to 900MHz etc and I've used three and EE/BT around these parts before, and data is so slow you can't even watch a movie let alone a YouTube video.

And in some areas it's the complete opposite, as always it depends on coverage etc

peterhall0012 Anybody thinking of joining smarty/3 do a signal check where you live as a mast our area not working now 2 months

As can happen on any network in any area but with PAYG on Smarty and giffgaff you're free to go at anytime 😉

various_mm

mrbond007 Do they give payback?
Okay I'm out then
giffgaff is a clear winner

why is everything about payback?

the fact oft he matter is when people compare providers, they look at the costs. also most giffgaff users do not take part in payback

psan939

Looks good might give them a try

m0dcm

Maybe so woodyuk bit here out in the Valleys and parts of the UK, Three are we patchy as my 12 year old socks, so O2 Network wins hands down because of the saga of the 800 to 900MHz etc and I've used three and EE/BT around these parts before, and data is so slow you can't even watch a movie let alone a YouTube video.
Ah, so I'll... Nope the family here will be sticking with giffgaff.... Happy moving to Smarty if you do, but trust me, some Numpties will use that 1Tb of data up by downloading updates for their Xbox or PlayStation's or tethered to a PC which these devices ready data for breakfast, dinner and tea! We've used 1Tb on our fixed fibre in just a week... Difference in what each of us do.

Dave

revjonty

m0dcm Three are we patchy as my 12 year old socks, so O2 Network wins hands down because of the saga of the 800 to 900MHz etc and I've used three and EE/BT around these parts before, and data is so slow you can't even watch a movie let alone a YouTube video.

It really does depend on location.
Somewhere I visit regularly in Wales, which is about as rural as you can get, up in the mountains, always gets an excellent signal on 3, and yet before o2 obviously installed a 4g capability to the local mast a couple of years ago, giffgaff only gave me a totally unusable 2g signal, despite my efforts of creating my own mast equipped with a directional parabolic dish receiver pointed straight at the o2 mast (wok fi).

Nowadays I get good reception there on giffgaff (o2) and 3 without the bizarre Gerry rigging. Actually much better on both than in populated areas (possibly because I'm about the only person using it at times).

williamwalker

m0dcm
The big question is will you be sticking with the 12-year old socks? 😁

peterhall0012

Anybody thinking of joining smarty/3 do a signal check where you live as a mast our area not working now 2 months.

m0dcm

peterhall0012 Also, of you're in a rural area, it's not that good, it always pays to do a coverage check first! Great tip Peter! And it always pays to check predictive text before posting... Argh 😃

Dave

haridus

peterhall0012 2 Days ago Anybody thinking of joining smarty/3 do a signal check where you live as a mast our area not working now 2 months.

peterhall0012 an hour ago 3 has finally got it's mast fixed in our town it's only been out of action about 11 weeks.

That's good news for you! 😉

m0dcm

haridus And in some areas it's the complete opposite, as always it depends on coverage etc

Yup, it's Russian roulette, especially with the mountains and hills here. Even when I was in the Midlands, Three network speeds were slow, so this also depends on how many are using the network at any one time, or they were and still are using traffic management which isn't in the print?

Dave

isabel1066

http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Network/Coverage for smarty.

pmaine

isabel1066 just had a look poor our town

haridus

m0dcm

Despite the similar terrain in the highlands it's the complete opposite and all networks use traffic management in one way or another, for example:

https://www.giffgaff.com/help/articles/traffic-flow-policy 😉

farnis

Smarty run on the 3 network which is why I think its a no goer. Its irrelevant who is cheapest.

m0dcm

pmaine Three Network seen to be the mobile version of Virgin Media, leave the Rural areas, that aren't close to make towns and cities for others to build in, then pinch a cheap spot on a mast they haven't built.... Business is booming, users have slow mobile data but they have money coming in! And the circle carries on.... A little vicious I know, but it's the way some work now....

Dave

haridus

m0dcm Three Network seen to be the mobile version of Virgin Media, leave the Rural areas, that aren't close to make towns and cities for others to build in, then pinch a cheap spot on a mast they haven't built.... Business is booming, users have slow mobile data but they have money coming in! And the circle carries on.... A little vicious I know, but it's the way some work now....

As I've already posted from personal experience Three and Smarty's coverage in rural areas like the Highlands is already better then 02's plus as they mast share with EE who are adding more masts for the emergency services network etc Three and Smarty's coverage will only improve.

jasesmith16

After some hiccups with giffgaff after having not long been a member I was debating to switch provider. But as things improved I’ve came to really enjoy this community, and with the payback as an added bonus what’s not to love eh?

But for someone who has no interest in the community etc, and if smarty offer a great range of service within your area then clearly due to pricing, smarty from an ‘outsiders’ perspective would be the obvious choice to go for, even with the soon to be extra allowances for high end users here at giffgaff. In my opinion at least.

But I guess competition keeps you motivated to do better, so this will keep giffgaff on their toes no doubt and improve their services.

m0dcm

jasesmith16 giffgaff is like a comfy pair of slippers for me, 8 years now and counting and I've only had 2 issues in those 8 years.... I use it mainly for Data, with a few texts and voice calls. I've come to really enjoy the community to after really starting to use it last year after my partner joined, now we both can't keep off it!

It definitely all depends on the individual on what they really want from a mobile phone provider, stone may want Data, and stone will want cheap calls, but as data is getting cheaper this are getting heated in the price wars, but then it's all down to coverage to... You just have to choose the one that covers more area....

Dave