Giff Gaff

[richfzs]

Nor me with my Virgin sim card...

[Dead Eye]

Ahh, Virgin brings back some good memories from school... they had the summer of free texts (in like 2005 or 2006) to other Virgin customers so naturally every single student had a Virgin sim card with 0 credit on it

[Doddsie]

Dont remember too many virgins at my school!!!

[Dead Eye]

Huh... maybe my school had better standards than I thought for...  :lol

[darrsi]

[quote author=maddog04 link=topic=14258.msg161383#msg161383 date=1407323166]
what's the note 3 like, I have an s2 at the mo and tho I'm after a sim only for now; I will look at a phone before xmas
thinking about s4/5
note 3
LG g3
M8
any thoughts anyone?

for those using giffgaff, do you just contact them and get the sim sent out and pop it in, I want to be on a rolling month so if I see a good phone deal then I can move?

I did like my S2 but it got to a point where the battery was only barely enough - it used to run out every day and I'm not a particularly heavy user.

My Note 3 I do love - its one annoying feature is also one of its best which is the screen. If you have small pockets, you'll hate it because you have to take it out of your pocket to sit down - for the most part this doesn't affect me. As its a bigger handset, they can fit a larger battery so it easily lasts 3-4 days for me. Even with very heavy use I can usually get 2 days out of it.

I've heard good things about the S4 / S5 - the S4 had its initial issues with the glass top layer coming away from the handset (though this might have been the S3) but that was resolved fairly quickly. The S5 is too new for me to have an first hand impressions as I only know one person with one and he's only had it for about a week.

The other handsets I don't really know anything significant about. I've generally stayed with Samsung as it's what I've become used to. I'm occasionally tempted by a Windows Phone, but they just aren't well enough established to cater for the apps that I like to use.
[/quote]


I'm still using an S2, but i bought a big bastard battery for it. (technical term)
Normal one is 1650mAh, but the one i got is 4800mAh.
It's obviously a thicker battery, so you get a new back plate for the phone, which rules out all your fancy cases as well, but it made a huge difference on battery life.
I just use one of the pull up pouches to protect it.
Ideally you should get a new battery every couple of years as well.

[fireblake]

Phone signals are a bastid. I used to be on 02 but never could get a signal in my house, although just outside it was great. Now on Orange/EE and its pretty damn perfect everywhere i go. My question is, Would getting a few Sim cards on PAYG be the best way to find out if you can receive a signal at your most traveled to areas like home, work, Mum's house? Rather than getting a new 2 year deal only to find it doesn't give a great signal at home. Are the cheap Sims the same as Monthly Sims in terms of signal for phones and Internet?


Mickey

[Tefer]

I am on GiffGaff.


The network can drop off, has a couple of times in the time I've been with them but its not been for that long to be fair. Its not a business phone so if i get knocked of for a couple of hours its too bad a problem for me. For what you get its awesome in my view, girlfriends contract with )2 ran out and she asked what she could get and they said, just what's online. So she went to GiffGaff and has no problems on her Iphone.


Although unlimited, no tethering on the mobile sim cards, not sure if thats a problem?

[Davebo]

Most networks will have a coverage checker so if you contact Customer services they can tell you what to expect. It's not as reliable as actually testing it yourself obviously.

If you get duff signal at home but have WiFi there are boost boxes available to create a mini cell site in your home and there's also products like Tu Go that use the wifi direct.

I suppose I should declare an interest here though as I work for Telefonica (home of O2 and giffgaff).

[Dead Eye]

I believe it was 3 that were looking in to using your home Internet / WiFi network to transmit the GSM signal required for calls and texts in the absence of a cell signal. Obviously 3G and 4G tech is irrelevant as they are primarily data handling networks and if you are connected to WiFi then you are fine. It's a fairly good stop-gap measure for residents who only have issues at their home / office or other fixed locations.

[goldfazer]

I believe it was 3 that were looking in to using your home Internet / WiFi network to transmit the GSM signal required for calls and texts in the absence of a cell signal. Obviously 3G and 4G tech is irrelevant as they are primarily data handling networks and if you are connected to WiFi then you are fine. It's a fairly good stop-gap measure for residents who only have issues at their home / office or other fixed locations.

I've had a Vodafone SureSignal for a few years which does exactly that. Only it doesn't. It's crap. It may be OK if there really is  no other signal, but I've now turned it off and get much better reception on a very weak 'proper' signal!

[mickvp]

[quote author=Dead Eye link=topic=14258.msg161718#msg161718 date=1407489329]
I believe it was 3 that were looking in to using your home Internet / WiFi network to transmit the GSM signal required for calls and texts in the absence of a cell signal. Obviously 3G and 4G tech is irrelevant as they are primarily data handling networks and if you are connected to WiFi then you are fine. It's a fairly good stop-gap measure for residents who only have issues at their home / office or other fixed locations.

I've had a Vodafone SureSignal for a few years which does exactly that. Only it doesn't. It's crap. It may be OK if there really is  no other signal, but I've now turned it off and get much better reception on a very weak 'proper' signal!
[/quote]

Orange/T-mobile/EE also have the "signal box" which does the same thing, utilizes wifi to give a good signal - its about as reliable as the vodafone one in my experience, and you really do need a minimum of 2-3MBps broadband for it to work at all.

[fireblake]

it sounds similar to 3G, when the is the faintest sniff of WIFI the fecking thing don't work. A real pain to have to turn the WIFI off as I always forget to put it on again and munch up most of my allowance downloading stuff thinking tge WIFI is on.

[goldfazer]

No - this is a box that is a femto cell (low power base station) the connects to the Vodafone etc. network over the internet. Nowt to do with WiFi. Great idea if it worked properly.

[mickvp]

No - this is a box that is a femto cell (low power base station) the connects to the Vodafone etc. network over the internet. Nowt to do with WiFi. Great idea if it worked properly.

it still works through your wifi and plugs into the router though? the EE one does for sure, and Im sure my old vodafone signal box was the same (I ended up leaving vodafone as i couldnt get a sugnal at home at all, and even with a signal box it was really spotty):

http://ee.co.uk/help/mobile-and-home-con...signal-box

As I say, the EE one is pretty rubbish as well.

[goldfazer]

Nope, no wifi, just plugs into the router.

[mickvp]

Nope, no wifi, just plugs into the router.

ahh.. it DOES work the same, its just me being a bit thick and referring to my broadband as "wifi" rather than "broadband" :lol

[Dead Eye]

The femto cells do work differently - they broadcast an actual GSM signal and route that via the internet. I remember a company I used to work for used the Vodafone one and the main issue was nearly always the femto cell itself

[goldfazer]

I know - that's why I described it as ' femto cell (low power base station) that connects to the Vodafone etc. network over the internet. Nowt to do with WiFi. Great idea if it worked properly.'