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The products or services listed have been independently tested by our journalists. We earn a commission from the affiliate links in this article. Read more >
Giffgaff has always been a bit different, even though it’s ultimately owned by the corporate conglomerate Virgin Media O2. It made its name in the 2010s, selling cheap pay-as-you-go bundles of minutes, text and data called “goodybags”.
The goodybags terminology has gone, but Giffgaff still offers some of the cheapest deals out there, which are far cheaper than those of parent company O2. And it still offers the flexibility to buy tariffs on a pay-as-you-go, monthly rolling or long-term contract basis, the latter being slightly cheaper.
The low prices don’t come at the cost of speed or reliability, either. Giffgaff is the joint winner of both our best speed and most reliable awards, with its customers highly impressed with both.
Giffgaff also does a good job of fostering a sense of community among its customers. People who help other customers on the company’s community-led support forums can benefit from payback rewards, as can those who refer other people to the network.
We surveyed 1,022 Telegraph readers across the UK* to find out who provided their mobile network and what they thought about the service. Readers provided their verdicts for the three master brands (EE, O2 and VodafoneThree), as well as virtual networks (MVNOs): Tesco Mobile, Lebara, Sky Mobile, BT Mobile and Giffgaff.
We excluded any provider used by fewer than 20 per cent of our readers. In addition, we categorised providers with an average rating of three stars or lower as “below average”.
As well as speed, reliability, value for money and ease of contact, we asked our readers how helpful their providers were once they got through to them, as well as their experiences using data roaming while abroad.
Score: 4.5/5
Value is definitely one of Giffgaff’s strong suits, and although it doesn’t score as highly with customers as Tesco Mobile or Lebara, there’s little to complain about here. Giffgaff’s cheapest tariff starts from £6 a month, and that includes 1GB of data with unlimited minutes and texts. However, it’s worth pointing out that Lebara’s cheapest deal is £1.5 per month cheaper and offers more data.
If you’re more data hungry or you’ve got Spotify/TikTok/YouTube-gobbling teenagers to feed, the 25GB and Unlimited tariffs are also reasonably priced, if once again undercut by Lebara.
Giffgaff does offer deals that include phones as well as SIM-only tariffs, and it’s worth noting that the company also sells refurbished phones, which are much cheaper than buying new. If your kids insist on having iPhones, it’s one of the cheapest ways to pick them up, provided they aren’t screaming for the latest model.
Score: 4.5/5
Given that it’s owned by Virgin Media O2, it will come as no surprise that Giffgaff runs on the O2 network. That’s by no means a bad thing, with overall winner Tesco Mobile doing the same, and customers seem to have few complaints about the network’s performance.
A healthy 89 per cent of the Giffgaff customers we surveyed said they were happy with the speeds on offer from the network, which is why it shares our speed award with Tesco Mobile.
O2’s 5G outdoor coverage is pegged at between 70-76 per cent by regulator Ofcom, which isn’t as comprehensive as that of EE (86-89 per cent).
Score: 5/5
Giffgaff customers are highly satisfied with the robustness of the network. Overall, 95 per cent of those surveyed said they were happy with reliability, while 88 per cent said they were satisfied with the consistency of data speeds and the latency (or responsiveness) of the network.
That means Giffgaff is the joint winner of our most reliable mobile network award, alongside Tesco Mobile and Lebara.
Score: 3.5/5
If there’s a slight downside to Giffgaff’s offering, it’s customer service. As we mentioned previously, Giffgaff puts a lot of emphasis on community support, with customers helping other customers through the firm’s online forums. But there are some issues (such as billing) that only a company representative can sort and that may be where Giffgaff falls short.
For example, only 66 per cent of Giffgaff customers were happy with the ease with which they can reach the customer support team, a distinctly mid-table score. When it comes to the quality of support, only 72 per cent of Giffgaff customers said they were happy.
Score: 4/5
Like many other networks, Giffgaff does include EU roaming in its plans, but there are limits. For example, even if you’re on an unlimited plan or, say, 25GB per month, the EU roaming data allowance is capped at 5GB. That should still be enough for a holiday, but others, such as Lebara, let you use your full data allowance while you’re in the EU.
Giffgaff customers seem reasonably happy with the situation, though, with 77 per cent saying they were happy with the roaming value.
(Note: this is just a sample of the SIM-only deals available from Giffgaff)
Yes, if:
No, if:
The Research Method
*Online survey of adult Telegraph readers conducted on The Telegraph Contributors Panel, 27th November - 11th December 2025, conducted by Strat7 Researchbods. Survey sample: 1,022 total respondents. Respondents consisted of:
Providers with fewer than 40 respondents were excluded from the individual analysis as their sample sizes were not significant.
Respondents rated their mobile network providers across 13 key attributes using a 10-point scale. These individual ratings were then aggregated to produce an overall performance score based on our proprietary benchmark.
The key attributes evaluated were:
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