Cookie Policy — How GSMplans Uses Cookies

Last updated: May 2026.

This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are, how GSMplans uses them, what categories we use, and how you can control them. This policy complements our Privacy Policy.

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. They allow the site to remember your actions and preferences (such as language, font size, or login state) over a period of time, so you don’t have to keep re-entering them.

Categories of Cookies We Use

1. Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are essential to operate the site. They cannot be disabled in our systems. They include:

  • Session cookies for user-state management
  • Security cookies (preventing cross-site request forgery)
  • Cookies that remember whether you’ve accepted the cookie consent banner

2. Performance & Analytics Cookies

These cookies help us understand how visitors interact with the site by collecting and reporting information anonymously. They include:

  • _ga, _gid, _gat (Google Analytics)— used to distinguish unique visitors and track page views. Expire after 24 months for _ga; 24 hours for _gid; 1 minute for _gat.
  • Internal performance cookiesfrom our caching layer (SiteGround SG Optimizer)

3. Advertising & Targeting Cookies

These cookies are set by our advertising partners — primarily Google AdSense — and are used to build a profile of your interests in order to show you relevant ads on this and other sites. They include:

  • Google AdSense cookies(IDE, DSID, ANID, NID, others) — used for ad personalisation and frequency capping
  • DoubleClick cookies— used to measure ad performance across sites

For full disclosure of Google’s ad cookies, see Google’s advertising cookie documentation.

4. Functional Cookies

These cookies enable enhanced functionality, such as remembering your country preference for the USSD lookup tool. They include:

  • UI preference cookies (country selection memory)
  • Comment-form remembering cookies (if you choose to save your name/email for future comments)

Third-Party Cookies

Some cookies are placed by third-party services that appear on our pages. We do not control these cookies. The third parties that may place cookies on your device when you visit GSMplans include:

  • Google AdSense / DoubleClick— advertising
  • Google Analytics— performance measurement
  • Cloudflare— CDN, security, and basic analytics

Managing Your Cookie Preferences

Browser controls

Most browsers let you manage cookies directly. You can typically find these controls under Settings → Privacy → Cookies. You can:

  • Block all cookies (the site may not work correctly)
  • Delete existing cookies
  • Block third-party cookies only (recommended balance)
  • Get notified before cookies are set

Opt-out tools

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy as we add new tools or change advertising partners. The “Last updated” date at the top reflects the most recent change.

Contact

Cookie questions? Use the Contact page.