Orange broadband

NSB_2

I'm on a broadband package which used to be Frreserve/ Wanadoo/ Orange unlimited broadband costing £17 or £18 per month using a Speedtouch USB modem.
My son now has a laptop, so we need to get wireless.

Our options:
1. Pay less for 10gb per month £10 Home Starter package with a basic wireless router. (up to 8mb speed)
2. Stay on the same package but buy our own wireless modem/router- any recommendations welcomed.
3. Pay £20 for 10gb broadband plus mobile dongle and mobile broadband (would only use this when on holiday once or twice a year).
4. Home select Pay £20 for unlimited broadband, Livebox wireless router and home phone

What I want to know is whether 10gb per month is likely to be enough, whether the basic orange wireless router is any good, or wheter we would be better to buy our own router, and if so, which one?

DatabaseError

NSB wrote: »

What I want to know is whether 10gb per month is likely to be enough,

If all you do is email and browsing, 10 gig is more than enough...add a bit of iplayer and 4od and it gets a bit tight...add a bit of downloading and you fall off the edge.
monitor your connection for a week to get an idea of your usage (unless orange provide that data?!)
To give an idea, I have 5 pcs running off 1 connection and we average ~2gb/day

I have no direct experience of orange broadband, I can only go on the opinions of others so I'm not gonna comment on their packages, I wouldn't consider any! (have you though of moving to another...which may be both faster and cheaper?)

NSB_2

Is there any way I can measure what I am using at the moment?
I think it's son's usage that is likely to be high- XBOX, message boards, messenger, music downloads, and hubby's subscription to listen to his football club online.

DatabaseError

all on 1 pc..or spread over a few?

NSB_2

One normal PC and son's laptop.

MissLissa_2

I have an orange livebox with unlimited broadband. My son uses his xbox perfectly (sometimes slightly laggy - but not enough to make it unplayable), we also have one desktop pc, which i use for general web surfing, and downloading, and we also use a psp and itouch all wireless without any trouble.

The livebox works well, sometimes we have connection problems but usually a reset of the box corrects it. You also get a second phone line though the livebox which to be honest we rarely use, but is a nice option especially if you are calling an orange mobile.

:money:We were paying them £19.99 a month, untill i rang them today to say i had found a better deal and was requesting a mac code, amazingly they had a brilliant offer for me. I am now paying £9.79 a month, with the first 3 months free, in a new 12 month contract :-) and also free evening and weekend calls through the livebox to landlines.
:T

mitchb

MissLissa wrote: »

I have an orange livebox with unlimited broadband. My son uses his xbox perfectly (sometimes slightly laggy - but not enough to make it unplayable), we also have one desktop pc, which i use for general web surfing, and downloading, and we also use a psp and itouch all wireless without any trouble.

The livebox works well, sometimes we have connection problems but usually a reset of the box corrects it. You also get a second phone line though the livebox which to be honest we rarely use, but is a nice option especially if you are calling an orange mobile.

:money:We were paying them £19.99 a month, untill i rang them today to say i had found a better deal and was requesting a mac code, amazingly they had a brilliant offer for me. I am now paying £9.79 a month, with the first 3 months free, in a new 12 month contract :-) and also free evening and weekend calls through the livebox to landlines.
:T

My mum did something similar a few months ago and got offered 6 months free, a free livebox and the next 12 mths for £5 a month as long as she agreed to a new 18mth contract. She said no but they gave her the offer anyway

diamonds

your mums daftie with £ LOL

stinky_daddy

I believe that we are also on a £5 p/month charge from Orange for unlimited broadband.

We got offered it when my wife renewed her contract with Orange about 2+ years ago!!:money:

diamonds

You can only get £5 Broadband Unlimited with a Unique handset these days, so OP could consider Orange contract for same price as paying now for just BB - £20 gets you a mobile plan & Broadband Unlimited - upto 8MB, 2nd line with calls to 100 countries landlines & 01/02/03, take Unique handset & O throw in Orange mobile calls aswell, line rental stays with BT, Unique bundle added to mobile plan ( see below ), BB Unlimited has more perks than Orange's BB current Home Max offering - without the restriction of your BT line or the additional cost of a non LLU'd exchange extra charge

Unique handset Nokia 6301
http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/show/handsets/pay_monthly/all/all/all/unique_phone

Orange Unique - Why ? Orange save money when you connect to wi-fi rather than the backhaul cost via a cell/transmitter/base station, its well worth it as they throw in bonus Unique mins ( 1000 mix of Orange, 01/02/03 & 30 International landlines where calls start* over wi-fi - FREE ) you always get a signal where wi-fi is if broadband provider supports it ( 95% success for me out & about ) & at home you always get a signal via Livebox

ie.. Orange reduces backhaul cost & customer gets more = everyone is a winner, defo one of Orange's better decisons for years

https://www.orange.co.uk/unique

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/show/handsets/pay_monthly/all/all/all/unique_phone
Unique customers have to ask for Technical level 3 ( WDS Global, Poole - yes, outsourced but saints compared to BB support in India ) for Unique support NOT Broadband support as many CSR's on 150 tell/transfer you ( again lack of management implementation of Unique )

When you call to register the Unique handset you tell them you need moved to Broadband Unlimited @ £5, and Unique bundle applied to your mobile plan a/c

*calls starting in wi-fi remain free from 1000 mins Unique bundle when you lose signal, you simply transfer over to the Orange mobile network, seemlessly you dont even know the change happens