HELP! Contracted but no signal at new property!

Nikki_Channon

Can anyone help? I am on a monthly contract to Orange until Oct 2010 but am moving to a property with no Orange signal. They say it's not their fault and will have to continue to pay! :mad: I am thinking the best idea would be to get a cheap Pay as you go phone with Vodafone or 02 who do provide good coverage and have a permanent divert from the Orange phone. Can anyone advise me if this is the best solution and, if so, the cheapest pay as you go I can get?? thank you! Nikki

Samtex9

The first thing to try in this case is another persons mobile phone that are on the same network to see if they get a signal. Make sure that its a different make or model and see if you get a signal.

Quentin

If you are determined you will not use the orange phone, then bear in mind if you do the redirect, you will have to pay for every incoming call to your new mobile number.

It would be cheaper to terminate your contract, pay the termination fee, get a PAC, and go elsewhere.

Nikki_Channon

Thanks you two.

Sam - Tried my husband's phone there which is a different model. No signal. He actually has the same problem as me but is under contract for a shorter length of time. He just called Orange who told him he can terminate the contract but it will cost the equivalent of 5 months contract (over £100) which is the time remaining on his contract. If they say the same to me it's gonna cost a lot more as my contract doesn't finish til Oct next year!

Quentin - I hadn't considered that I would have to pay for every incoming call to a new mobile number! Hmmm, any idea of the cost of that?

Samtex9

The other options you might have is to swop your contract with a member of your family that does not live in the same house... so you have their SIM and they have yours. If its a memeber of the family you are trust.

Also depending on the phone you could sell the phone on ebay and put that towards paying off your contract.

macman

How about using a landline phone at the new property and continuing to use your Orange phone for when you are out and about?
Early termination is never cost effective, as you just get billed the total you would have spent anyway up to the end of the contract. If you are going to have to pay that, you may as well use the airtime.

mluton

macman wrote: »

How about using a landline phone at the new property and continuing to use your Orange phone for when you are out and about?
Early termination is never cost effective, as you just get billed the total you would have spent anyway up to the end of the contract. If you are going to have to pay that, you may as well use the airtime.

This is what I do as the orange signal at my new property is very poor.

Occationally I divert calls or put up a voicemail message to call me at home.

Samtex9

Thats a good idea as when you are out then you should get a signal most of the time.

Nikki_Channon

Thanks to you all for your advice. I have progress and am reporting this in case it helps anyone else in future. I called Offcom and explained the situation. They gave me a number to call (not issued anywhere on line) which is the top dog office of Orange Customer Service and advised me what to do if I could not get the result I wanted. I called and explained the situation and was told as a "gesture of goodwill" they would terminate the contract for free but could not issue a PAC number for me to port my tel no to a new phone. Alternatively, I could change my service plan from £25 to £15 and pay 17 (amount of months left on my contract) x £15 to terminate the contract. Then I could port my number over but would have to wait til the start of the next billing month before the new service plan could be activated blah blah blah. Think I will go with the 1st option. So all in all - result! :j

macman

You've got a very good result there, as no network will guarantee 100% coverage-you were just unlucky in your choice of new home. Definitely option 1 is best.
BTW have you checked if any other networks can be received at your new home?-otherwise you could be in the same situation on another network.

Splurstywursty

Well done Nikki! Thats fantastic! I've had a similar problem with Orange that they've just decided to take down the phone mast near me and "we're not sure when we'll have another one up". So I tried to cancel on those grounds and they've said I've got to pay a contractual fee. They told me to write to the correspondance team if I dont want to pay who havent replied and dont have a phone number (conveniently!). WOuld you be able to tell me that number you got off offcom, or Offcoms number so I can sort this mess out? Thanks