Moving from Orange...where to?

TheAces

Some years ago when I switched from dial-up to Broadband, Orange offered that if I had an Orange mobile number and was willing to switch my home landline calls from BT to Orange, they would give me free evening and weekend calls and free broadband.

At the time I had a company orange mobile and gave them that number which they said was acceptable, and I took the offer up and basically I pay my landline rental to BT (about £14.50 per month) and I pay my calls to Orange (next to nothing as I dont make peak time calls from home) and I get free broadband.

However now I've had one of these letters from Orange saying that they are going to cut off my free broadband next month as I no longer have an Orange mobile (which I don't as the company switched all mobiles to o2 last year).

They say i can keep my free broadband if I switch to a broadband plan with Orange home line rental. (which presumably means taking my landline rental away from BT and giving it to Orange instead). But the letter seems a bit vague on the mobile part. I'm guessing they still mean I'd need to have an Orange mobile as well (which I haven't).

So if the lack of an Orange mobile means they are telling me to go away, where do I go to?

PLUSNET seem to be offering line rental of £9.49 (if I pay in advance) plus Broadband of £3.24 (rising to £6.49 after 12 month). Even at the dearest £9.49 + £6.49 = £15.98 this isn't much more than I pay now, so it would be OK.....but it says the BB is limited to 10GB monthly usage (which it says is 5 hours of iplayer viewing). Now 5hr of iplayer per month doesn't seem a lot, so I'm worried I would exceed their limits and end up getting charged more.

TALKTALK seems very similar to Plusnet £9.50 line + £6.50 BB, with the first 12 months BB at 1/2 price. They don't seem to have any limit, but I've heard bad reports about Talktalk service....would they be OK?

Is there any other provider I should look at? I don't care who I pay my landline rental to. I make next to no peak-time landline calls, and I just want an ordinary wireless Broadband connection that is reliable and doesn't cut off. It doesn't need to be superfast.

Where do i go, and how easy is it to arrange the switchover?

badgermum

Its not just "lack of an Orange mobile " thats causing the loss of your free broadband, My husband has been a mobile phone customer with Orange for years and part of his contract has been free broadband, a few months ago he was offered a free handet upgrade as long as he signed in for a new 18 month contract and he agreed that nothing else would change ( i.e data allowance, free broadband) and he was reassured it would all stay the same, but he too has had the same letter telling him that from November he will have to pay £14 for broadband which was promised as free with his mobile, he has spoken to 8 different people at Orange today and they don't want to know One called Jessica hung up and another called Nabila just laughed at him when he asked her what she expected him to do, absolutely disgusting service from Orange

swift1_2

I seem to be in a similar position to you, I'm also with orange and looking where to go next. I've also identified talktalk and plusnet.
Have the same worries whether talktalk service is any good.
Dont' forget with both of them you can get cashback via topcashback, which brings net monthly payments for talktalk to £7.70 and plusnet to £9.53 for the 10gb limit. Plusnet do have a 60gb limit net monthly payment would be £12.03.
Did you get the same spiel about hidden charges with talktalk from the orange retentions team? I wonder if plusnet also have any hidden charges?

bod1467

https://www.samknows.com

That has to be your first port of call, to see which operators (especially LLU) service your exchange.

It then boils down to your individual requirements on bandwidth and price.

smithers1981

SKY very good BB around £12 line rental including free evening weekend calls then £7.50 unlimited BB but lots of offers of 12 months half price £3.75 around.

BuntyB

Just moved from Orange BB to Sky BB & phone with no complaints so far. It was important to us to find an unlimited BB deal as we all enjoy Netflix throughout our house on various computers and game consoles. It's £22 pm for phone and unlimited broadband. Better deals to be had online than through the Sky kiosks that you might find in your local shopping centre