GiffGaff United Kingdom PAYG SIM Card for Visiting UK & Europe w/ 5￡Bonus, Activate While in U.S., 12￡ for Unlimited SMS/Calls and 12GB Data [for Unlocked Phones]

I had the task of figuring out how to get cell service in the UK for a college student doing a semester in London. After researching, I found that Giffgaff had a reasonable reputation and works while roaming on the continent, AND they allow you to activate service from the US, AND they will send you a free SIM directly in the US. So I ordered a SIM, but then a few days before the trip I realized the SIM never arrived. In a bit of a panic I searched and found this seller on Amazon was selling Giffgaff SIMs for really cheap with 2 day shipping. The day before the trip, the SIM arrived and I was able to easily activate service using a US credit card and address on their website. The SIM has worked great upon arrival in London, and the web portal looks like it will be really easy to manage the service, easy to understand and reasonable monthly service options. Highly recommend using this seller to get your Giffgaff SIM and activating before you leave for the UK.

I purchased the GiffGaff card for my 10-day trip to London. I liked that I was able to set up a GiffGaff account before traveling. You just place the SIM card in an unlocked cell phone and activate it at the GiffGaff website. The plan I purchased was a one-month pay as you go that did not auto-renew (it was a "pink" plan). I had a few questions while setting up the account; I sent an email via my account and a GiffGaff rep responded the next day. For a little over $10, I got 4gb of data and unlimited calls/texts within the UK. 4gb was more than enough for 10 days. The SIM card came with an extra 5 pounds of credit. I was able to make and receive calls/texts to the US for a reasonable rate using credit on my account. The first text I received from the U.S. was very slow to arrive (several hours), but subsequent texts arrived quickly.The GiffGaff plan was very handy for contacting the US and also for phoning my travel companion when we got separated. When I had to purchase some online tickets on-the-fly, I really appreciated having the data. I would definitely use GiffGaff for future travels.

First, it's not clear what you're buying from the listing-- you are only getting an unactivated, unpaid sim card (in spite of the photo being of a 20GB 10 pound card). To activate, you must go to giffgaff.com, create an account, pick a plan, and pay for that plan. The difference between plans is not obvious, as they are for the same amount of data, but some seemed to auto renew and others didn't. I chose the "pay as you go" plan under the assumption that it would not renew like the 18 month contract ones. Once activated, it is only good for data and UK calls+texts, so if you go in a group from a different country (unless they've all also got UK numbers), you will get charged a roaming fee for texts and calls to them. Initial connection to the network for data was very spotty and slow when it worked. Ended up not dealing with the sim and only used WiFi over the trip. I thought that was the end of it, until I got an email from them notifying me my "pay as you go" plan would auto renew after a month and charge my card. That was the last straw that made me write this. Total pain in the rear, avoid at all costs.

I set up our accounts before we left. I didn't switch the Sim cards until after take off, so we could still use our phones until the last minute. As soon as we landed, we restarted our phones and they both worked perfectly while in England. You get 5 GB for EU. In Portugal, it worked fine except every so often we would hit a dead area like the subway way and it didn't automatically turn back on. We learned to restart our phones and the GPS would come back. Be careful what apps you download because some suck up a lot of data. The simple Metro plans of Porto and Paris were fine, but I downloaded a transportation app in Paris, which the airport provided and in a day it used 2 GB. 4 days in Portugal only used 1.5. Deleted the app and was fine since.

Couldn't figure it out when I went to Europe

I just returned from a 17 day trip to the UK. This was my 3rd trip, and the first time using Giffgaff. My husband and I both ordered the SIMS here from amazon ahead of time. I activated mine about a week before the trip via the app- in case it needed time to work. We waited on his until we were in the country and I had confirmed mine was working. (both worked pretty much immediately, so set up ahead of time was un-necessary, but it was convenient.) We visited 4 of the National Parks, Peak, North York, Yorkshire Dales, and Brecon Beacons. We had service in most towns and even small villages, but basically no where else. I do not remember having such trouble with service before. We prefer getting out in the countryside and driving unknown roads and less popular destinations. As a side not, our friend traveling with us used a "3" SIM card and had similar issues. We did ask some locals what company had the best rural coverage and "EE" was recommended so we will try that next time. If you are traveling to London or other urban areas this card will work great for you.

Went to England right after Christmas and wanted cell phone service right away. So I purchased this product before the trip. Lesson one, when you attempt to activate this card in the U.S., use PayPal or similar, my purchase was blocked by my credit card fraud department. Lesson two, once you purchase credit, the next step is important, I learned to hard way. You must select a plan using the credit you just bought. If you don't pick a plan, you credit will soon be used up, I'm talking less than 2-3 hours, I was using Android Auto for navigation and streaming music. I ended up purchasing the same card at a local Tescos Mobile kiosk and with the lessons learned I was off to the races.