MSE News: EE reveals 4G prices... which aren't cheap

Honey_Bear

Thanks everyone. It seems I have misunderstood something, but not everything. I still have £7.43 credit on my phone and yet cannot send texts, but Orange seems to want me to sign up for a £5 a month (at least) package which includes music (I have a radio for that) rather than just allow me the existing random top ups so it will be more than I've been spending, but that's progress for you. Having had some advice and help from various contributors, I'm going down that road. Thanks everyone.

thor

Paying £5 per month sounds more like a contract than a pay as you go deal to me. Are you sure they are not forcing you in to a contract?
If your Orange payg sim is not working properly there are loads of non-orange ones you could switch to. I have not had a payg sim for years but I don't think any need to be topped up monthly unless you want to. Orange are acting a bit fishy here and it suggests there may be something else going on.

diamonds

HoneyBear, I would be making a complaint and requesting explanation & resolution politely to [EMAIL="executive.office@everythingeverywhere.com"]executive.office@everythingeverywhere.com[/EMAIL] - I dont think 450 have a clue what they are talking off, did you end up talking to payg customer (dis) service in India or one of the old T-Mobile call centres in other third world pay a pittence wage countries I assume ?

BEAR in mind exec office is as busy as hell with the mis-selling issue of Orange broadband at the moment though, they are probably more stressed than you are with whats happenening to your payg account/balance so stay calm & keep that in mind, two stressed people = tension = no satisfactory resolution

NFH

I think I've realised why the SIM-only prices on EE's web site are so expensive (£21, £26, £31, £36). They are not true SIM-only prices, because they also apply to people who are locked into an existing 24-month iPhone 5 contract with Orange or T-Mobile. Therefore these charges need to be high enough to recoup the subsidy given by Orange or T-Mobile on the iPhone 5. EE really ought to have additional lower truly SIM-only prices if they want to attract, for example, those who bought their iPhone 5 directly from Apple at full price. These people don't want to be paying back a subsidy that they didn't receive.

diamonds

Orange dont do unlimited calls/texts under £36 with a phone or T-Mobile Unlimited with mobile data (browsing) £41 with a phone, Orange iphone Extra £51 has unlimited data included. all 24 months.

Only sim only deals are Full Monty 12 months £31 (current £21 offer), Orange FREE/£5 broadband removal seems to be paying for 12 month EE sim only deals if anything, all with tiny data allowances even for 3G !

Other 4G handsets are sold by O/T-M so its not a Apple exclusive. Sim only £21 on EE only works for those who dont need loads of data &/or roaming for £5 a month.

Moving to EE from O/T-M with no 4G handset also charges £100 extra ontop of EE handset price if you are in your first 6 months of contract, even 18 months will be moved to EE 24 months.

Orange Broadband also merges to EE & goes up to to Fibre prices, we will all be forced eventually off ADSL/ADSL2....RIP OFF !

The £21 deal is a good one for low data users, and if you have a decent mobile wifi hotspot at cheap cost, 3 perhaps ? you could be quids in...

I use a Blackberry Playbook so to move to EE is a no good unless I wangle a good retention deal for minimal cost on my Orange Blackberry contract sim due for upgrade and use it as a modem for email/internet tied to the Playbook, there is no EE Blackberry so Orange have to appease me with that to get me on a EE4G contract as I have no choice.

I can cope with carrying Blackberry modem for Playbook cheap from Orange if they want me on 4G also, as for EE Fibre its way overpriced & gives me less than I do now or most other Fibre providers ! NO chance !!!

I will take the EE £21sim only plan no worries, but Orange have to play very fair ball with my wifi only Blackberry Playbook/email/data needs. Apart from that I'm happy to £21 unlimited 12 month sim only it as I pay £15 odds to Orange already, even T-Mobile cant match Orange Blackberry contract now, so moving there is a dead dodo.

NFH

I want 4G on my existing Orange tariff. I currently pay £7.50+VAT per month for 325 minutes, 150 texts, 800MB of data and unlimited calls to Orange numbers. I do not want:

• Unlimited calls to all landlines and mobiles
• Unlimited texts (given that most people I send texts to are on iMessage)
• To move from the Orange brand to the EE brand so that my family (all Orange customers) can no longer call me for free as another Orange customer.
• To pay anything more than a reasonable additional charge (e.g. 20%) for the increase in speed above the 7Mbps that I currently enjoy on 3G and possibly a higher data allowance.

The good news is that Orange customer services confirmed to me that Orange will be offering 4G on Orange tariffs and SIM cards at some point, but they have no idea when.

Bluedan

Really? Will Orange remain as a brand then, I thought it would just become EE..? So if Orange start offering SIM and Tariffs for 4G, won't it be competing with EE, surely they will have to be the same price as the EE tariffs?

I know there are good and bad stories from every network, but can anyone give me confidence in Orange? I am about to leave Vodafone after 10+ years, because I get no signal at work, and Orange is better.

I also thought Orange would be good because of the EE, 4G etc..but yesterday somebody told me about something they had heard from the chief of Vodafone, saying their network would reach further and be stronger, in time, and the EE one has been rushed out purely to beat the competition.

Why is it when people buy technology these days its with intrepidation, fear, confusion to the point of it being overwhelming?

RichStubbs

I can't help but notice a few people aren't sure about a couple of issues.... Firstly, the data on 4G uses the same amount of data as if you were on 3G...just does it quicker. For example, if you watch a 50MB YouTube video it will use 50MB on both 3G, 4G and wi-fi. The only difference is that using the wi-fi and 4G options you will have finished watching the video sooner. The allocations for data are greater on the 4G plans simply because if you're finished sooner you might watch/browse/play more.

Also the friends and family discount does apply on EE, if you're lucky enough to know someone who works for EE you'll be able to get a document that looks similar and says this... This is only the EE bit of the document but it states that you can get 40% off your line rental on ANY phone contract with EE. Even the iPhone.

Phone type
Network
Monthly Plan cost
Contract length
All
EE
£36 minimum
24 months or more


Hope this helps a few people.

GooliesOfFire

I was standing in front of my local EE shop for about a minute while waiting for my Mrs this afternoon. The doors wide open. Not even one customer inside

GeorgiaF_2

Bluedan wrote: »

Really? Will Orange remain as a brand then, I thought it would just become EE..? So if Orange start offering SIM and Tariffs for 4G, won't it be competing with EE, surely they will have to be the same price as the EE tariffs?

I know there are good and bad stories from every network, but can anyone give me confidence in Orange? I am about to leave Vodafone after 10+ years, because I get no signal at work, and Orange is better.

I also thought Orange would be good because of the EE, 4G etc..but yesterday somebody told me about something they had heard from the chief of Vodafone, saying their network would reach further and be stronger, in time, and the EE one has been rushed out purely to beat the competition.

Why is it when people buy technology these days its with intrepidation, fear, confusion to the point of it being overwhelming?

Not sure who you spoke to at Orange, but my friend was told the 4G stuff was only available as part of an EE tariff, and not on OUK or TMUK. She was offered the ability to move to one of the 4G tariffs as long as she paid a fee (she was still in contract) but was told unequivocally 4G was ONLY on EE.....also, regarding the VF claim, i suspect thats a bit of gamesmanship on their part.

What you won't hear VF or O2 shouting about is that fact that the iPhone 5 won't be compatible with their 4G network as its not designed to work on their wavelength / bandwith / technical thingymajig!