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Giffgaff Always On

mikeliuk

ULTIMATE Member
Can anyone confirm the giffgaff Always On cap is 384 kbps = 48 KB/s as described at https://www.giffgaff.com/help/articles/what-does-always-on-mean

I always wonder if they are confusing bits and bytes as surely nothing can be as rubbish as they advertise? (56 kbps reminds me of the 90s and it's a joke of a cap three decades later.)

EE Stay Connected Data historically has been 2 Mbps = 250 KB/s but in a race to becoming rubbish has taken this down to 0.5 Mbps = 500 kbps = 62.5 KB/s

Always On means you never run out of data. You get a set amount of blazingly fast 4G and 5G data, then a reduced data speed of 384 kbps from 8am to midnight.

Perhaps an even better follow-on question is whether with zero allowance remaining, you then get full-speed unlimited data from midnight to 0800?
 
Last edited:
Do you want me to topup with £25 and find out?
Don't think checking it's rubbish is worth £25.

I misremembered and thought Always On might be available for lower packages.

£25 would buy an actual unlimited contract so I don't know why anyone would inflict 384 kbps on themselves.

It's not just that you need to drop £25, but you also need to burn through 80 GB (or 100 GB) of data to test the rubbish. I would charge a lot of engineering time to do that. 😂
 
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Don't think checking it's rubbish is worth £25.

I misremembered and thought Always On might be available for lower packages.

£25 would buy an actual unlimited contract so I don't know why anyone would inflict 384 kbps on themselves.

It's not just that you need to drop £25, but you also need to burn through 80 GB (or 100 GB) of data to test the rubbish. I would charge a lot of engineering time to do that. 😂
I'd also have to find some decent o2 coverage to do so.
 
It was my understanding that the "Always On" is meant to be that going forward in a non 2G/3G world there remained sufficient 4G bandwidth to make an emergency call, continue to use any minutes/texts on their plan, send advertising message to customers to add more funds and by default a very restricted online access. Also Marketing men love adding a bullet point.

Providers will naturally not want this to become free data access so it will be published at some conservative figure, will be restricted just enough and will vary by mast config.

Good for home phone calls though (Desktop Phone with Bluetooth to mobile). Phone SIM with a minimum data allowance with free minutes/texts just lasts and beats Landline/VoIP currently.
 
I've never looked into it but I speculate that VoLTE doesn't technically need to decrement from the data allowance as the service provider should be able to zero-rate that in the same way as for streaming services.

It could be unlawful for service providers to prevent emergency calls on account of having zero data allowance. I guess this could be checked (to a limited extent) by someone with no further data allowance able to make VoLTE calls.
 
I've never looked into it but I speculate that VoLTE doesn't technically need to decrement from the data allowance as the service provider should be able to zero-rate that in the same way as for streaming services.

It could be unlawful for service providers to prevent emergency calls on account of having zero data allowance. I guess this could be checked (to a limited extent) by someone with no further data allowance able to make VoLTE calls.
Best of luck, Giffgaff doesn't support volte
 
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No obligation or guarantee, only voluntary code of practice.

GiffGaff on O2 may not have VoLTE but will drop back to 2G and 3G where you can get a signal.
I don't think 2G, 3G, or VoLTE are relevant to Giffgaff Always On ? (In the sense Always On doesn't distinguish between delivery methods.)

Haven't looked at the below in detail but leaving here for a future double check.

 
Reading through the GiffGaff descriptions there appears to be a difference between what I thought was a technical need to maintain a 4G "always on" and actually marketing as they are with Always On as a product benefit.
 
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