Giffgaff Review

Table of Contents Plans Value for money Extras and benefits Network Which network does Giffgaff use? Coverage Speeds Frequencies Customer Service Conclusion Alternatives

Plans

Giffgaff has a range of Pay Monthly and SIM Only plans, along with the option to Pay As You Go. All plans come with 5G data at no extra cost, and they’re available from as little as £6 per month.

GiffGaff Plans

	Pay Monthly Phone Plans	SIM Only Plans	Data Only Plans
Plans Available	✔	✔	x
Max Data Allowance	Unlimited	Unlimited	N/A
Contract Length	12, 24 or 36 Months	1 or 18 Months	N/A

Giffgaff’s Pay Monthly plans last a choice of 12, 24 or 36 months, and come with up to unlimited data. Note that this duration only applies to the phone part of your plan – for your allowances you choose from a 30-day or 18-month plan.

Broadly the same allowances are available on SIM Only as on Pay Monthly, and you can get up to unlimited data.

There’s also a selection of other allowances, and all Giffgaff plans come with 5G as standard, and with tethering included.

It’s worth noting that while most Giffgaff plans last just 30 days, there are also some 18-month ones, which give you more data for your money. They’re largely priced the same as the 30-day ones, just with more data at each level.

Giffgaff’s main advantage then is simply that its prices are competitively low, especially if you commit to an 18-month plan.

Pay As You Go

Giffgaff also offers Pay As You Go. With this, you can either get a bundle or pay the standard Pay As You Go rates of rates of 25p per minute, 10p per text and 10p per megabyte of data. Calls and texts to other Giffgaff numbers are free.

Pay As You Go bundles meanwhile top out at 200GB of data, so you can’t get unlimited here.

Value for money

Giffgaff is a fairly affordably priced network, so it’s a solid option in terms of value for money. That said, it’s not one of the very cheapest, and nor does it offer data rollover – which is one way to help ensure you get full use out of your data allowance.

At the time of writing though Giffgaff has promised that its 18-month plans won’t have mid-contract price rises.

SIM Only Deals

	Unlimited MB data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts 18 Month Contract	£14.00 a month View Deal
	Unlimited MB data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts 18 Month Contract	£14.00 a month View Deal
	Unlimited data UNLIMITED mins UNLIMITED texts 0 Month Contract	£20.00 a month View Deal
	1 GB data UNLIMITED mins UNLIMITED texts 0 Month Contract	£6.00 a month View Deal
	2 GB data UNLIMITED mins UNLIMITED texts 0 Month Contract	£6.00 a month View Deal
View All GiffGaff Sim Only Deals

Extras and benefits

Giffgaff isn’t really the network to choose if you want loads of extras with your plan, but it does have some key ones covered, such as 5G and free roaming. More details of these and more can be seen below.

Giffgaff Policies and Perks

	Mobile Phones	SIM Only
5G	✔	✔
Roaming	✔	✔
Tethering	✔	✔
Wi-Fi Calling	✔	✔
VoLTE	✔	✔
Data Rollover	✖	✖
Spending Caps	✖	✖
Unlimited Data	✔	✔
Family Plans	✖	✖
Credit Check	✔	✖
Unique Perks	✖	✖

5G

Giffgaff offers 5G as standard on all of its plans, so you don’t need to spend any extra to get speedy mobile data.

Roaming destinations

Giffgaff lets you use your minutes, texts, and data at no extra cost in the following destinations:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Martinique, Mayotte, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Reunion, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

As with most networks it's limited to European ones however, so if you want to travel more globally Giffgaff may not be the network for you. Also, if you have a data allowance of 5GB or more then you’ll be limited to 5GB for free roaming, which is quite a low limit.

Tethering

Giffgaff allows tethering and you can use as much of your data as you want for this. If you’re on an unlimited plan, that means an unlimited amount can be used for tethering.

Giffgaff also has a fair usage policy for tethering which states that you shouldn’t regularly tether 12 or more devices if you have unlimited data, and that you shouldn’t use 650GB or more of data twice within a 6-month period. That latter point applies even outside of tethering, but unless you’re tethering extensively it’s unlikely to be an issue.

Wi-Fi Calling

Wi-Fi Calling means making calls over Wi-Fi, rather than your mobile network. This is ideal if for example you have signal blackspots at your home or office, as you can use your Wi-Fi network to stay in touch. It’s a seamless experience too, with no separate apps or accounts. Giffgaff was late to the party on offering this but as of late 2024 it does.

VoLTE

VoLTE stands for Voice over LTE, though it’s sometimes called 4G Calling. It means making calls over 4G, whereas typically you need a 2G or 3G signal. The main advantage of this is it essentially means you have coverage in more places, as there will be areas with 4G but no other signal type. As with Wi-Fi Calling, this was enabled by Giffgaff in late 2024.

Data rollover

There’s no data rollover on Giffgaff, so you only get one month to use your data allowance. That’s standard though, as few networks give you a second chance to use it.

Spending caps

Giffgaff doesn’t offer spending caps as such, but if you turn off auto top-up then you won’t find yourself accidentally spending more than you’ve topped up.

Unlimited data

Giffgaff offers unlimited data on both SIM Only and handset plans, so you needn’t be limited by data allowances. Of course, these plans cost more than one with limited data would, but Giffgaff is priced competitively.

Note that there is a fair usage policy though, which states that you shouldn’t use 650GB of data or more twice within a six-month period.

Family plans

There are no family plans on Giffgaff, meaning no ability to add extra SIMs to your account at a discount. Giffgaff is a fairly simple network, so it’s light on extras like this.

Credit checks

Giffgaff won’t credit check you for its SIM Only plans, but if you choose to pay monthly for a handset on the network then you will be credit checked. This though is standard practice across all mobile networks.

Unique perks

Giffgaff aims to keep things simple and affordable. As such, it doesn’t really offer many unique perks, just competitively priced plans which – on SIM Only at least – don’t always tie you into a lengthy contract.

That said, it does have a Payback scheme, which awards you with points for getting people to sign up to Giffgaff or helping the community on its forums. These points can be converted to cash or credit twice a year or donated to charity.

Network

Which network does Giffgaff use?

Giffgaff uses O2’s network and infrastructure. That means it also has access to the same spectrum as O2, and offers coverage in all the same places, whether you’re connecting to 5G, 4G, or 2G.

Coverage

O2 is mostly focused on expanding its 5G coverage currently, as it already has 4G in most parts of the UK, as the chart below shows. When any of its coverage types improve though, Giffgaff’s will too.

Note that the 5G figure below is taken from an Ofcom report, and refers to coverage of UK premises outdoors.

Giffgaff Coverage

Network Type	Coverage by population
5G	At least 76%
4G	99%
3G	Switched off
2G	99%

Check Giffgaff Coverage

Network Speeds

Opensignal January 2026 (speeds), and Speedtest 2H 2025 (latency)

Network	Download/upload speeds	Loaded latency (ms)
EE	53.2/10.4Mbps	583.53ms
Three	51.0/9.3Mbps	405.93ms
Vodafone	37.5/7.4Mbps	449.16ms
Giffgaff (O2)	32.8/6.4Mbps	1039.19ms

In an Opensignal report from January 2026, O2 was found to have average download speeds of 32.8Mbps, and average upload speeds of 6.4Mbps. Those speeds were obtained using a combination of all available connectivity types – so 5G, 4G and 3G (if available).

This report didn’t include latency (the time the network takes to respond to a request), but a Speedtest report from 2025 put O2’s loaded latency at an average of 1039.19ms. Loaded latency being the latency when the connection is under heavy use.

That’s the slowest download and upload speeds, and also the worst latency of the tested networks, as lower numbers are better for latency, and while Giffgaff itself wasn’t tested its reliance on O2 means its results would probably be similar.

We don’t know Giffgaff’s 5G speeds, but they might be similar to O2’s, and according to the above January 2026 report from Opensignal, O2’s average 5G download speed is 89.9Mbps. That’s a big upgrade on the speeds above but still lower than rivals when looking just at 5G.

Its median 5G download speed of 111.0Mbps (according to a 2025 RootMetrics report) is also lower than rivals, as is its 95th percentile 5G download speed (meaning close to its highest) which in the same report came in at 382.4Mbps.

And in Speedtest results from 2025, O2’s median 5G download speed was found to be 78.92Mbps, and its median 5G upload speed was 8.28Mbps, and that’s all slower than rivals too.

Traffic management

Giffgaff’s traffic management policy (or traffic flow as the company calls it) shouldn’t affect most users at all.

Giffgaff simply notes that users who consistently use extreme amounts of data may be contacted about their usage, and their traffic might be managed to ensure a fairer experience for other users.

Network Frequencies

Giffgaff Network Frequencies

Frequency	Frequency Band	Network
700MHz	n29	4G & 5G
800MHz	Band 20	4G
900MHz	Band 8	2G
1400MHz	Band 32	4G
1800MHz	Band 3	2G & 4G
2100MHz	Band 1	4G
2300MHz	Band 40	4G
2600MHz	Band 41	4G
3400MHz	n78	5G
3600MHz	n77	5G
26,000MHz	n258	5G
40,000MHz	n259	5G

Giffgaff uses the 800MHz, 1400MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 2300MHz, and 2600MHz bands for 4G. The 800MHz band is long range, so it can travel a long way between masts, making it suited to, well, everywhere really, but most notably rural locations, as masts are often spread far part in the countryside. But it’s also good at passing through walls, making it great for towns and cities as well.

The 2600MHz band is better for busy areas where lots of people are trying to connect at once. However, it’s shorter range and can’t pass through obstacles as well. The remaining bands are a middle ground.

Giffgaff also uses O2’s 26,000MHz, 40,000MHz, 3400MHz and 3600MHz spectrum, which is ideally suited to 5G, while 700MHz spectrum could be used for 5G to address the weaknesses of the high frequency spectrum it mostly relies on, though this could also improve 4G networks.

You can find in depth details of these bands and others in our 4G and 5G frequencies guide.

Customer service

Giffgaff is included in a 2025 Ofcom report, where it was found to have a 94% satisfaction rating with overall service, with 8% of customers finding reason to complain and 65% being happy with the way complaints were handled. That in all cases is better than the industry average.

The network also has a 3.9/5 rating on Trustpilot at the time of writing, a rating which is considered ‘Great’.

Stores

Giffgaff doesn't have physical stores, but you can often pick up SIM cards on their network at convenience stores and supermarkets.

Conclusion

Giffgaff stands out through fairly low prices, inclusive roaming, and good ratings from customers, with a range of SIM Only plans that you’re in many cases only tied into for a month.

Tethering is allowed too, but there’s no inclusive roaming beyond Europe, all of which makes Giffgaff a strong network for most types of users – just as long as you don’t regularly travel beyond Europe or need the fastest 5G speeds.

Alternatives

If you’re looking for an alternative to Giffgaff then O2 is an obvious choice, since Giffgaff shares O2’s coverage.

Advantages of O2 include a wider variety of plans, with additional options such as data only, plus access to the O2 Priority app for freebies and discounts from various brands. However, being a major network it’s also typically more expensive.

For a competitively priced option you could consider Sky Mobile or Tesco Mobile, both of which also use O2’s coverage. Sky Mobile stands out through data rollover, while Tesco Mobile offers loads of Pay As You Go options, in addition to Pay Monthly and SIM Only.