News - Orange UK launches £69 Tahiti Android tablet

[HEXUS]

Orange launches own brand Honeycomb Android tablet.

Read more.

[watercooled]

Yeah I thought it looked too good to be true until I saw the total cost is £669...
And I wondered where I'd heard Tahiti before, then I remembered, 7970.

[cheesemp]

I'm confused. Is it £69 for someone with a £25 a month or more existing mobile contract or is it £69 + 24x£25 which is £669. If its £69 with an existing contract its a bargain. If its £669 its a rip off. You could get a decent tablet (Prime? Xoom?) for £400 plus giffgaff for £240 for 2 years unlimited internet which is cheaper (£640).

[danroyle]

also confused by this at £69 that is nice but if i need a 24 month contract as well then i cant believe i'm actually gonna say it but it makes the ipad 2 look a bargain

[Biscuit]

I would rather take a swing at David Haye than sign up to a 24 month Orange contract after what they recently did to their customers

[shaithis]

I would rather take a swing at David Haye than sign up to a 24 month Orange contract after what they recently did to their customers

There are a plethora of reasons to be annoyed with Orange....but putting their prices up below the rate of inflation is not one of them IMO.

[Biscuit]

Don't see any of the other companies doing it mid contract... Puts them securely in the spotlight as a company to avoid AFAIC. They know they wouldn't get away with it if you got to the end of your contract and they tried to put the prices up. Just a dirty move which screws over anyone who recently signed up.

[kasavien]

I don't really understand the need for 3g tablets now, when a lot of phones allow internet sharing by creating a wifi hotspot.

Most people have their phone on or near them all the time so if i needed wifi away from home I would (and do) use that.

Which makes any kind of tablet tied to a contract not for me I think

[shaithis]

Don't see any of the other companies doing it mid contract... Puts them securely in the spotlight as a company to avoid AFAIC. They know they wouldn't get away with it if you got to the end of your contract and they tried to put the prices up. Just a dirty move which screws over anyone who recently signed up.

5%...that must be around a whole quid per month for most people.

I doubt the difference would have made many people choose differently....and the other providers could also do it at any time I believe (they all have the same clause, or so I've been told by a few Orange employees).

[Biscuit]

5%...that must be around a whole quid per month for most people.

I doubt the difference would have made many people choose differently....and the other providers could also do it at any time I believe (they all have the same clause, or so I've been told by a few Orange employees).

A quid per month they didn't expect to have to pay. What's only a quid per month to you could mean more to someone else, especially if orange never explained that the prices they were discussing pre contract agreement were ExVAT so you are already paying a few quid more than you expected. This is something they have done with a few people i have spoken to about it.
Yeah others do have the same/similar clause but have they used it? No, because if you agree a price you should stick to it and doing otherwise causes bad press and unhappy customers.

[watercooled]

I didn't hear about that but I thought a contract, by it's very nature, was something both parties agreed upon beforehand, so by doing that they forfeit it? Or is there some get-out clause in the pathetic 20-page long micro-print T+Cs? I know I would have told them to shove it...

[shaithis]

I didn't hear about that but I thought a contract, by it's very nature, was something both parties agreed upon beforehand, so by doing that they forfeit it? Or is there some get-out clause in the pathetic 20-page long micro-print T+Cs? I know I would have told them to shove it...

It's the same as a Sky subscription. Minimum term, subject to change.

No get out clause without paying the remainder of the minimum term.

[keithwalton]

5%...that must be around a whole quid per month for most people.

I doubt the difference would have made many people choose differently....and the other providers could also do it at any time I believe (they all have the same clause, or so I've been told by a few Orange employees).

A quid per month they didn't expect to have to pay. What's only a quid per month to you could mean more to someone else, especially if orange never explained that the prices they were discussing pre contract agreement were ExVAT so you are already paying a few quid more than you expected. This is something they have done with a few people i have spoken to about it.
Yeah others do have the same/similar clause but have they used it? No, because if you agree a price you should stick to it and doing otherwise causes bad press and unhappy customers.

I have had a nightmare with orange the last few months, I updated my price plan via there website and thought I was getting a bargain.
But turns out the site was showing ex vat prices mixed in with inc vat prices at 17.5% and would only let me increase the plan to ones higher than my prev inc vat price.
I was on a £30 contract (at old vat rate which was updated to £30.40)

So I ended up agreeing to a £41 plan when it was displaying £34.27 contacting there support they have put it on a £31 plan and backdated it but I have to pay £41 this month then £21 next.
But they called it Panther 30 saying panther 31 doesn't really exist despite it being shown on their website and my account management and bill ...
They have also recently dropped all the good upgrade deals (galaxy s2 now costs £10 / month more than it did a month ago) they shall have to work really hard to keep me now.

However I have mostly avoided the price rise and have more mins. It is quite nice that you can up date to the latest deals every 6 months as long as it costs the same or more.
It is in the contract that they can increase the base price by up to inflation per year and that doesn't include any vat changes

As for the tablet £69.99 + £25/month isn't a good deal either original xoom 3g can be picked up for less upfront and similar per month including data. and well thats a 10.1 tab not a baby 7"

[Spud1]

I didn't hear about that but I thought a contract, by it's very nature, was something both parties agreed upon beforehand, so by doing that they forfeit it? Or is there some get-out clause in the pathetic 20-page long micro-print T+Cs? I know I would have told them to shove it...

idd the contract states they can raise prices mid contract - anyone who signed up with orange SHOULD have read the contract. If they didn't, then tough, your mistake tbh. The T+Cs for the orange contracts are pretty clear to be honest, and easily readable imo. In any case if you can't afford an extra £1 a month then you shouldn't have a contract mobile phone.

This tablet "Deal" is pretty awful though - nearly £700 over the 24 months? Ridiculous for a no-name bog standard Android tablet tbh, particularly when we are seeing massive reductions in price accross the board - You could get the Sony S tablet thingy with a larger data plan for less money, for example.

They will sell some to unsuspecting customers who have not done (or can't do) the maths - terrible deal for all concerned tho

[watercooled]

I've got out of worse than that, I was messed about by Phones 4 U whose phones kept breaking after a few weeks. I had a contract with T-Mobile but after a bit of moaning I cancelled everything without paying a penny. That subject to change thing wouldn't stand up in court; they advertise £10 per month then decide it should be £20,000 but it's OK because it's 'subject to change'? I don't think so...

[Hicks12]

i end up paying 25 months of line rental for 24 months usage... it all adds up.

If i knew they would increase the price by £1.06 per month it brings it inline to other networks... orange coverage here isnt that great at all tbh so value for money went for me, 3 were solid and wish i went with them instead! Or bought the phone outright and went with giffgaff .

What makes it worse is that their T&C reference the old statistics office that closed in ~1996... i.e their terms are way out of date and shouldnt even be enforceable as they dont mention something along the lines of "any government body that deals with RPI stats"...

But anyways back onto the tablet, when i saw £70 i thought bargain i might buy one but if you really have to pay that AND a £25 contract then its pathetic... other websites mentioning that the £25 p/m is for the tablet itself with a 2GB data limit, 1GB anytime and 1GB non peak time along with unlimited wifi access i think.... pretty crap if you ask me, £25 is ALOT!.