Orange broadband and phone

clare_bear26

Hi
I am planning on switching my broadband and phone package and am after some advice.

We already use Orange BB, so know what to expect, but we're paying a lot for it as it is an old package. There current deal on BB and evening/weekend calls is a total of £19.00 per month if you have an Orange mobile. We are not Orange mobile customers, atm.

Having just spoken to their Customer Services, I've been advised to buy an Orange sim plus £10 top-up and then I can have their best rates. Is this is a sensible thing to so? Do we only need to top up the once to be considered an Orange mobile customer?

This deal seems like a better one than anything else we can find that matches our needs.

Thanks in advance.
Clare

pixelchick10

I've just renegotiated my BB with Orange - paying £22 a month for unlimited bb, free national and local calls anytime, line rental (and got one month free out of an 18 month contract - was trying for more). I'm not an Orange mobile customer either and certainly didn't buy a sim! - if you go through to their retentions dept they can cut a better deal ... good luck

clare_bear26

pixelchick10 wrote: »

I've just renegotiated my BB with Orange - paying £22 a month for unlimited bb, free national and local calls anytime, line rental (and got one month free out of an 18 month contract - was trying for more). I'm not an Orange mobile customer either and certainly didn't buy a sim! - if you go through to their retentions dept they can cut a better deal ... good luck

Sorry about the late reply, but thanks very much for that. I'll try the retentions route.

qpop

Either way the buy a SIM card for a tenner trick is noted on MSE's broadband section, so I'd say its legit.

clare_bear26

qpop wrote: »

Either way the buy a SIM card for a tenner trick is noted on MSE's broadband section, so I'd say its legit.

Cheers for that.

TBH, trying to find the right BB/phone provider to use is a flippin' nightmare, isn't it? None of them are perfect, so there's always loads of horror stories, then there's contract tie-ins. What happens if you go through to a retentions dept, can't get a deal and then end up with no provider and having to start again with less time!

I kind of want to use Sky BB/phone as we're already customers, but we'll have to reduce our package in the near future and maybe even drop it altogether, so that's a spanner in that works! Not sure we should tie-in with Sky BB in case we find we can't afford to keep any of it!

Decisions, decisions....now I know why we've been paying over the odds for so long....it's hard work to pick another provider!

qpop

I would try playing the two retentions departments against each other.

Ring Orange and explain you're planning to leave due to their high prices. They'll offer you something, umm and arr on the telephone and then ask what the leaving procedures would be; they'll probably offer you something better. Ask for their name / extension number and explain you'll give them a call back after you've talked to OH.

Then ring Sky, explain that you're thinking of leaving because they're too expensive, and you've got to pay your phone bills seperately, see what they offer for the whole package. Explain Orange have just offered you a really good deal to stick with them and they may well improve their offer.

My gut feeling is that you'll get a better deal taking everything with Sky.

Although to be fair, why not just stop lining the Murdochs' pockets and settle for Freeview? Biggest con invented, paying for a TV subscription and then still watching the adverts 4x an hour that pay them even more revenue...

clare_bear26

qpop wrote: »

I would try playing the two retentions departments against each other.

Ring Orange and explain you're planning to leave due to their high prices. They'll offer you something, umm and arr on the telephone and then ask what the leaving procedures would be; they'll probably offer you something better. Ask for their name / extension number and explain you'll give them a call back after you've talked to OH.

Then ring Sky, explain that you're thinking of leaving because they're too expensive, and you've got to pay your phone bills seperately, see what they offer for the whole package. Explain Orange have just offered you a really good deal to stick with them and they may well improve their offer.

My gut feeling is that you'll get a better deal taking everything with Sky.

Although to be fair, why not just stop lining the Murdochs' pockets and settle for Freeview? Biggest con invented, paying for a TV subscription and then still watching the adverts 4x an hour that pay them even more revenue...

Thanks very much for that - I'll give it a whirl!

As for Freeview, it's the movies we love on Sky, so if we get rid of them, then Freeview might make more sense.

Randomdavid

In general i would advise not to go with Orange BB at all. They have a policy in place to throttle web speeds on the 4 8 and 20 meg unlimted packages they have offered. It is measurable that at the same specific time each night usually about 6pm until 11pm online gaming traffic, downloads and browsing. They will deny this on the phone but it is possible using speedtesting sites (BTs one that orange actually use) to test and map the slowdowns.

clare_bear26

Randomdavid wrote: »

In general i would advise not to go with Orange BB at all. They have a policy in place to throttle web speeds on the 4 8 and 20 meg unlimted packages they have offered. It is measurable that at the same specific time each night usually about 6pm until 11pm online gaming traffic, downloads and browsing. They will deny this on the phone but it is possible using speedtesting sites (BTs one that orange actually use) to test and map the slowdowns.

Thanks for that David. Orange have offered me a reasonable deal but, even though I currently use them, I'm a little reluctant with the evening BB slow downs! I think I'll go with Sky.

BTW, anyone know if it's possible to take your old email address with you to Sky?