Orange 'Free' Broadband

Eva49

Totally agree Gadgetmaster! Well put and my thoughts exactly

bod1467

IMHO the "free" broadband was an implied term of the mobile contract, especially if this was documented or confirmed (e.g. call recording) when the mobile contract was taken out/renewed. As such, anyone currently in a mobile contract with Orange who is losing their "free" broadband are losing a material aspect of their contract - ergo Orange are in breach of contract. As such these people should be able to cancel their mobile contracts without penalty.

neil9313

A lot of brand new posters coming on here re "Orange" Some seem to want to cut their nose off even if offered a good future deal.

Lizzie2995

I have been following this thread because I too have had a mobile with Orange since they offered broadband with this package. I have always kept my mobile with Orange only because of the included broadband. I certainly would not want to move my home phone to Orange because I find their customer services to be absolutely awful. An indication of this is when I tried to send an official complaint to their customers services department - it does not work and e-mails bounce back!

Everytime I renew my mobile phone contract I confirm that I will continue to receive home broadband with this package. I have told Orange that I consider the free broadband forms part of the contract for my mobile phone. Therefore I would expect that when I agree a new contract next year they are able to withdraw any services they wish.

I would also add that I find the other poster comments about a soldier dying quite unecessary. I have very sad things happening in my life, but I still have bills to pay.

Benno1uk

From the original terms and conditions for the Orange Free Broadband Offer...

18. Orange reserves the right to replace, amend or withdraw this Offer on reasonable notice.

I think Orange have been pretty flexible with this offer up until this point (e.g. the contract states that users have to be on a £30 per month contract to stay eligible for the offer but my contract has since reduced to £16 a month due to loyaltly bonuses etc) and are now being castigated for finally ending what was a genuinely very good 'perk'.

I can understand people getting frustrated if they have taken out phone contracts especially to carry on the offer, but I don't understand why those contracts have to be so high (as mine was reduced in price and others have been on PAYG!).

I am also slightly bored of the continual Orange bashing and slating of their awful service. I personally have found it absolutely fine. If it's that terrible, why be with them in the first place?

nobby1963

Because of the free broadband !

Jazzyjeff_2

The honourable thing would have been for Orange to keep the free broadband until the end of everyone's mobile contract - the problem with this is they are simply not capable of doing this. The fact that so many people have continued to receive free broadband even with no mobile contract shows their systems are not capable of administering it (along with all the people now receiving letters saying they don't have a mobile contract when they do).

Therefore to end the deal their only option was to take the blanket end it for everyone with 2 months notice. This is the cheap and simple option, take the complaints now and hope it blows over.

Normski3

I posted a while ago to say how annoyed I was with my treatment by Orange after many years as a loyal customer but I had eventually concluded that the Orange deal was still a good one - a similar line rental to BT plus free broadband worth perhaps £18 pm. My landline is currently with BT and on my last bill I paid £19 pm for line rental plus BT Anytime. Few other calls incur charges as any mobile calls are made on my mobile so that is all I pay. I now discover that Orange have no equivalent to Anytime and all their landline calls are charged at 7.2p a minute. We are retired and make most of our calls during the day and on our last bill we had made an average 7 hours calls per month. WITH THE NEW ORANGE PLAN THIS WOULD COST US £25 per month in call charges. So Orange's new offer would cost us an extra £19 pm over BT's line plus Anytime!

Many of these posts suggest that Orange are not making any money out of this. Not true! They will make it on the call charges.

David_P_4

beelzecubz wrote: »

1.] Orange are offering you a cheaper landline than BT and the continuation of your free BB.

2.] The home broadband is not part of your mobile contract either, it's a perq that having a mobile made you eligible for.

1.] So what if Orange Landline PCM is cheaper than BT?
Thats absolutely immaterial.............
I dont have my landline with BT, and I am paying £10.71 pcm for my landline. Orange want to increase that cost to £14.60 pcm.
Thats nearly a 40% increase.

2.] The home broadband was NEVER a perk. That is Utter Waffle.

Prior to Orange offering Broadband as a bundle with your mobile, the standard monthly rental on the mobile phone contract was £15 pcm. I had a mobile phone account with them for years at £15pcm.

As soon as Orange acquired the internet service they increased that £15 pcm charge to £30pcm. It doubled overnight.

Yet they [were allowed to] called this internet service 'FREE'
They saw a loophole and used it.

Orange staff also clearly stated that the broadband would be free for life.

Whats your definition of FREE? If you are not an orange customer can you use their Broadband? Of course not. That would be free.

Oh, and you have only ever been allowed, according to Orange, to use up to 2mg per month as a 'free' broadband customer. I know. I've had the conversation with them many many times over the years.

The beancounters have figured out that they can squeeze all the customers for more corporate profits. Thats all this is. Another [Ofcom approved!] scam.
And just because an Orange customer service person says its legal, doesnt make it so. Just means they havent been challenged in a court.

I personally think Orange will back down in a second if enough of their customers wrote to Ofcom.

Ofcom should step in, and sort them out.

These regulatory bodies seem to exist to give the appearance of impartiality, yet in reality they seem to exist to protect the corporations at the expense of the consumer

epsilondraconis

I posted on the first page of this thread describing my phone call to the Orange Executive office.

Although I'm annoyed at having to pay more and don't begrudge Orange making money, my main issue is the way Orange have gone about it. Like many, when renewing my mobile contract I confirmed that the BB was free for the duration of the mobile contract, only to find that isn't the case.

I'm not going to cut my nose off to spite my face and so am looking for the best deal for unlimited broadband (even if that is with Orange). The issue I have is that I am locked in with BT for another 6 months because I paid upfront for line rental. I'm therefore trying to find the best broadband only deal (not including line rental) that allows unlimited usage.

The best I have found was with Orange at £13.50 per month on a 12 month contract (this is their standard £18.50 pm broadband only offer with a £5 discount per month). They said the line rental portion can then be added for the extra 50p per month taking it to £14pm - this includes the evening and weekend calls. This £14pm is the same as the offer in the letter that most of us received to tell us that the free broadband is no longer free.

Is anyone out there in the same situation as me and found a cheaper deal i.e. locked into your current line rental and wanting unlimited broadband?