Mobile network giffgaff is currently offering some great deals for people who like to use their handset to go online.

More and more people are moving away from restrictive mobile phone contracts and instead using sim card deals to save money.

And one of the main reasons why sim-only operators such as giffgaff are flourishing must be the unlimited mobile internet offers they provide.

Buy a £10, a £15 or a £20 giffgaff goody bag and you can get unlimited mobile internet use until February 28th 2011.

Snapping up one of giffgaff’s pay as you go sim cards now will mean that you can do your Christmas shopping online without having to crouch over a PC or laptop screen.

Christmas shopping

A recent survey by Tesco Direct found that one in ten Brits will tick off the items on their Christmas shopping list by using their mobile phone to order festive presents online.

Almost half the people Tesco surveyed said they would use their mobile’s internet to engage in some virtual window shopping in the build up to the big day.

The daily commute to work was cited as the ideal time to do this by a quarter of the time-conscious survey participants.

A total of 78 per cent plan to purchase presents online with 70 per cent stating a preference for using the internet for buying presents.

A separate survey conducted by the government consumer watchdog Ofcom early in 2010 also emphasised the popularity of mobile phone internet usage.

The Ofcom research found that more than one in five (23 per cent) of the UK’s mobile users use their handset to go online.

Smart phones

The popularity of mobile internet usage seems directly linked to the popularity of smart phones.

Smarter phones – such as the iPhone, which is designed with services such as the internet in mind – seem to add up to smarter (and easier) mobile surfing. It is estimated that 26 per cent of UK mobile users now have a smartphone.

With the Google Nexus also entering the phone market it seems that smart phones are here to stay – and that consumers are realising that handsets are capable of so much more than just texting and calling.

Ofcom found that surfing the web was the most frequently used online service made use of by mobile owners. Around nine out of every ten mobile owners with mobile internet capacity make use of it.

This is a five per cent increase since 2007 when smartphones were less prevalent. With devices such as the iPhone increasing in popularity, it seems certain that the trend of increased mobile internet usage is set to continue.

The iPhone

The good news is that a giffgaff sim card is compatible with the iPhone and other smart devices.

Facebook

Facebook is the most popular browsing destination for UK mobile users. The GSM Association discovered that last December, 2.2 billion minutes were spent on the world’s top social networking site by British handset users.

What is there not to like about pay as you go sim cards which offer unlimited mobile internet?

Author Bio: Giffgaff – the mobile network run by you. We do things differently to the big mobile networks. We’re run by our members. We offer unlimited texts, unlimited internet and unlimited calls to other giffgaff users on a pay as you go basis. Visit giffgaff.com for a free SIM card.

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: free SIM card, pay as you go, unlimited text