So, Orange screwed me over a bit t'other day...

[kidzer]

Hi Folks,

Right - I got me a HTC Touch Diamond (very cool, a bit jumpy at times - but awesome otherwise!) - a nice upgrade in phone ability from a Nokia 6300!

Anyway, I had the phone - and I needed a contract to go with it, 'cause PAYG would rack up uber data costs with a phone like that! So I spy Dolphin 15 on the Orange website, 200 mins, unlimited texts - but I couldn't see anything about a Data Allowance, I have a friend who works for Orange (the one I bought the phone from infact) - she suggested calling Orange and seeing what they could do for me.

So I did, and the nice chap on the phone said that they could add unlimited evening/weekend data for another £5 p/m, or unlimited anytime data for £7 p/m (subject to FUP, ofcourse!) - so I went for the £7 p/m option - thinking I'd got a pretty decent deal for £23p/m!

Cut to a few days later and I check my Orange account online, to find a few quid of Data Charges on my account - I find this odd given the contract I'd agreed to, I was down in England when I checked this, so I waited until I got home on Monday to call Orange.

Upon doing so, I find out the following;
- My Account only has a 2 month trial of Unlimited Evening/Weekend Data on it, no Unlimited Anytime (this would explain why the charges seemed inconsitent to me)
- According to the person I spoke to on Monday, there is no Unlimited Anytime Data package
- So I've now added an Anytime Data package to my account, with a 30MiB Usage limit for £8 a month, which I think its very poor - but she said it was the best she could do at the time

So, my opinion of Orange is pretty low at the moment, and I want to get something better than what I have - I have a SIM only contract, so its a minimum 1 month contract so I can leave next month if I want.

Given this, can anyone point out any better deals on other networks, or give me some advice on how to come back at Orange and get a better deal for me...having been lied to quite blatantly by a salesman on the other end of the phone?

Cheers Folks!

[finlay666]

Given this, can anyone point out any better deals on other networks, or give me some advice on how to come back at Orange and get a better deal for me...having been lied to quite blatantly by a salesman on the other end of the phone?

If they record the calls, surely if you know when it was and who you spoke to (guessing it will have their name on the documents somewhere) then you can complain and cancel your contract.

O2 seem pretty good for data phones, best have a look around though

[nichomach]

I'm with O2's Simplicity Online 25 - by default it's 600 mins, unlimited texts, but you can change the bolt-on to the unlimited web bolt-on; you still get 1000 texts as well, and it's been knocked down to £20pm.

[fred1979]

I'm with O2's Simplicity Online 25 - by default it's 600 mins, unlimited texts, but you can change the bolt-on to the unlimited web bolt-on; you still get 1000 texts as well, and it's been knocked down to £20pm.

i think you get 1000txts if you order online- its only 500 txts if you do it instore. But double check.

But this is a great deal in my opinion.

[nichomach]

It's been working great for me; I've got a hosted Exchange mailbox with Sherweb, and Activesync's been flawless.

[charger]

Yo Kidzer
I just recently upgraded my fone to the htc touch diamond on orange as well and I managed to haggle free unlimited data package from a very helpful guy PM me and i shall give you his name and extension number if you want. There is such a thing as unlimited data package with orange you just have to be talking to the right person, if ur shoved through to a call centre in India they are less likely to oblige with your requests as they tend to play by the rules. Try getting through to someone in the UK otherwise PM me and i can steer you to the great CS people at orange that have helped me over the years. As far as im concerned you should not have to pay anything at all for the data packages.

[Paul Boy]

hi, I've recently got an exchange server, and wondered how much my direct push would use (headers only), so switched in on and 2 days later i called Orange. to check my usage and to see what deals they could do, they advised me that in those 2 days i'd used about 1 mb, and offered a 30mb service for £7 per month............................any way after a bit of chat (keeping them on the phone chatting about anything helps) he said he would see if he could find any other deals, after more meaningless chat he offered me 200MB for £7 Pm, again i said that £7 was too much just to have email pushed, find me something cheaper i said...........................well after some more rubbish chit-chat he said because i was an Orange customer for so long, and because i have a £30 PM contract i could have 250MB for FREE

All this happened last week, so ring them, talk to them, keep talking to them and you may get somewhere.

[luckyfives]

I'm with O2's Simplicity Online 25 - by default it's 600 mins, unlimited texts, but you can change the bolt-on to the unlimited web bolt-on; you still get 1000 texts as well, and it's been knocked down to £20pm.

I've just signed up on that as well, seemed to be the best non contract deal going out there. Sign up on line for the 1000 texts or it's 500 in-store.