Abstract. We generalise various non-triviality conditions for group actions to Fell bundles over discrete groups and prove several implications between them. We also study sufficient criteria for the reduced section C * -algebra C * r (B) of a Fell bundle B = (B g ) g∈G to be strongly purely infinite. If the unit fibre A := B e contains an essential ideal that is separable or of Type I, then B is aperiodic if and only if B is topologically free. If, in addition, G = Z or G = Z/p for a square-free number p, then these equivalent conditions are satisfied if and only if A detects ideals in C * r (B), if and only if A + \ {0} supports C * r (B) + \ {0} in the Cuntz sense. For G as above and arbitrary A, C * r (B) is simple if and only if B is minimal and pointwise outer. In general, B is aperiodic if and only if each of its non-trivial fibres has a non-trivial Connes spectrum. If G is finite or if A contains an essential ideal that is of Type I or simple, then aperiodicity is equivalent to pointwise pure outerness.