When / Is Giffgaff planning to increase it's (4g) bandwidth?

[#1]

I've been a member for some years and am usually pretty happy with the service, bar the odd bit of downtime. However I've never had a great experience in terms of downloading over 3g (Brighton Area) and even less with 4g (this is slower and more likely to timeout, yet selected as the prefered option all the time?). I've come to the point where I have an 8 core, 4g phone, with ridiculous storage space and a job requiring lots of commuting / travelling... but a cripplingly sluggish and intermittent internet connection. Basically, 4g used to be a fun extra, now it is a vital core service for me.

Up to now I've usually grumbled and then looked at the cost difference between GG and others and stayed put; because slow is better than mercilessly screwed. However it seems like the other providers have woken up to the idea of a less uncomfortably shafty packages that have normal contract lengths, whilst GGs costs are creeping upwards to meet them.

So I am, reticently, debating jumping but I'd just like to check one thing before I do:

Giffgaff seem to have no actual plans to increase their bandwith and hence, I am guessing, improve the speeds of 4g & 3g. Sure, there are lots of "well be trying", "when possible" & "as soon as we can", but no actual, in-place & scheduled, plans I can see. Is this correct? 

N.B. I am fully aware of how to change APN, select carriers and general operations of the phone. My problems are not related to the hardware or setup. I have other phones and all have the same speed issues when using the GG sim, my wife also uses GG on a 4th phone (same issues) and I have a Vodaphone 'phone too (work) which is much, much faster in the same location (up to 20 times!) Even O2 seem to be better, though the worst of the betters, still much better.

[#2]

giffgaff have previously stated that they do buy more bandwidth (3G and 4G) as required but they can only do so for a certain period ahead.

Other than that we are not privy to the exact details as this is commercially sensitive.

[#3]

As I have had this issue for a good year that seems more like the marketing line rather than an actionable roadmap. Bandwith is only commercially sensitive when you don't have enough to satisfy the customers already on your books.

So the answer is basically "maybe, but we won't tell you eitherway"?

[#4]

I have to agree with you Tymothytym. Data speeds on giffgaff are shocking compared to the likes of Voda , EE, O2 and three and have been for some time. Nothing seems to be done about it.

[#5]

Get a dual SIM phone, and put the giffgaff SIM in the 2G slot for voice and text.

Put an EE Christmas SIM in the fast slot for 100GB per month for 2 months for £10. Then see if giffgaff data is usable by the end of that offer.

[#6]

That's sad as I liked GiffGaff and was willing to give them evey chance, but I'm not keen on flagellating myself indefinately if there is no end in sight to the bandwith issues.

Edit: @navvy I appreciate you pointing me to the offer, but that just seems to be confirmation that GG are attempting to load the network to breaking point over Christmas!

Edit 2: Oh EE, right. I get you. I do have a dual sim...

Dial = *d.u.a.l*

[#7]

Hello

I cant complain

data is ok depends what you do

if you want watch tv, youtube etc then yes to slow

if you use phone just calls txts email, chats etc more than enought speed

 Also depends where you are and how bussy network in your area

[#8]

The biggest issue of all is that O2 don't have any spare bandwidth themselves.
Complaints about slow 4g are rife on the o2 forum so it won't get any better for gg in the foreseeable future as there is no bandwidth to be had.
If you are a heavy / frequent data user, non of the providers on o2 are going to deliver what you need I'm afraid.

[#9]

djmarksel wrote:

Hello

I cant complain

data is ok depends what you do

if you want watch tv, youtube etc then yes to slow

if you use phone just calls txts email, chats etc more than enought speed

 Also depends where you are and how bussy network in your area

Hi djmarksel, 

You are correct regarding that data speeds are fine for specific tasks, but in this day and age the % of users that only use their devices to send emails are in the minority. If GG data is only built to supply the needs of sending emails and occasional browsing it should be advertised as such. 

[#10]

In my current location a data test on 4G returned the following result: 

down: 2.92 Mbps

up: 20.21