Giffgaff good coverage, any drawbacks?

[cromwell44]

I am a phone caveman and need to replace my current bricksized Samsung non-smart phone. I love my ipad so am tempted to give in and get an iphone but the tightwad side of me is making me hold back.
Giffgaff deals seem to allow me to pay monthly for an iphone plus the usage bundle I need at below £25 per month.
Is there something I'm missing about Giffgaff? Maybe bad coverage?
Also I'm happy to consider other good smartphones which don't have to be the latest, state of the art but do have to be nice to use.
Help please..

We are all on Giff gaff for usage (don't have phones with them) and they are fine. Haven't had a problem with coverage or service and have been with them for over two years. We are in Surrey.

Thanks Snowbell. At least I know that aspect is ok.
Now to find a phone...

Am on GiffGaff and love it. They use the O2 service so coverage will be the same as O2. They are friendly and helpful and reliable and cheap!

Giffgaff runs on the O2 network so it's very unlikely you'll have bad coverage. I've been with them for years and never had any problems.

I've been with GiffGaff for over two years, never had any problems with them. Now half my friends and family are with them too!

Giffgaff use the o2 network, so coverage is pretty decent, I've been using them SIM only for several years.

I moved to giffgaff after about 15 years with Orange and am delighted- I'm spending half as much and getting more. I think their roaming charges when abroad are a bit higher than some other networks, but that doesn't bother me.

Don't waste your money on an iPhone. Get a Motorola Moto G (for instance). It's better and much cheaper.

I'm on Giffgaff and it's great. I pay £10 a month for my iPhone and that covers all my calls, texts and Internet while out and about - and I use it a fair bit for Mumsnetting vital online stuff. My iPad is wifi only but I can tether it to the phone and do so occasionally without exceeding my £10 allowance.

Only drawback has been a couple of fairly spectacular outages for as much as a day, affecting lots of users, but this seems to have stopped happening now.

I like the community support aspect too, there's always someone you can ask for help.

I'd go for it. Ask a friend already on Giffgaff to send you a SIM, they'll get a modest kickback!

Yes, I've had the occasional outage, but all the details are online (assuming you've got Wifi to check) but it hasn't happened for a long time now.

If you've got an Ipad it seems sensible to have an Iphone, then you can share all the Apps, music, videos etc seamlessly. But you don't necessarily need the brand new 6 or 6+, the 5S and 5C are still available and if you really just want to dip your toes in the water a secondhand 4s would be fine, they are still supported with the latest operating system (probably won't be in another year though). My 4s is still doing everything I need it to very competently.

Thanks everyone. I too have been with Orange forever prism and I feel they are milking my apathy. My DD has a 4s and is pretty thrilled with it so that might be a good cheapish option or creep up to the 5c. I know I'm probably paying over the odds for Apple - I have a geeky teenage DS who will tell me so.

If your DS shows any sign of downloading the Java SDK send him to me and I'll give him a job

I think there was general dislike of the 5C from reviewers. It is the cheaper option than the 5S but not sufficiently cheaper given what it lacked compared with the 5S. Personally I would not get an iPhone as the prices (new and used) seem artificially high, and I already have a number of Android devices, so can use existing paid-for apps with my new mobile (probably a 4G model 2014 Moto G or Moto X)

s/new/next/
:)

Orange take the piss. I moved my DD and me to Giff Gaff after a recommendation on here, and it's really good and so much cheaper.

One thing I dislike about GiffGaff is having to pay for voice mail. And there's no 4G.

And oh, it used to be the case that each time IOS updated, I needed to change the carrier settings. This seems to have been sorted though.

I don't pay for voicemail on GiffGaff. It must depend on which goodybag you have. I pay £7.50 a month and get 200 minutes talk time, unlimited texts and 250MB internet. OH is on GiffGaff so calls and texts to him are free anyway.

NoRunAround GiffGaff do 4G goodybags now, starting from £12 a month.

Also, you can't use your goodybag allowance abroad. You have to buy prepaid credit (PAYG in other words).

It's online customer service only, via the forums, which is why it's so cheap. You'll have to configure your own phone, but there's some really good guides on how to do that. I'm on giffgaff but if you want someone at the end of the phone to help you when something goes wrong go for another company's sim free deals.

I love GiffGaff - we are all on it, except DH.

DS was paying £21.50 a month on contract with O2 (iPhone 4S), with 500mB data - he now has double the data, and only pays £10 per month. DD2's package is only £7.50 - more than enough for her.

Coverage is fine, and Giffgaff to Giffgaff calls are free.

Regarding other phones - I just bought the Motorola Moto G (the 2nd generation one, which has a better camera than the old version). It is fantastic, and a third the price of an iPhone. It's a no-brainer....