Orange to T-Mobile

crippstar

I have an Orange contract which is coming to an end soon. Where I work, I can get excellent Orange (and therefore also a T-Mobile) signal because our office mobiles are Orange and we have an Orange antenna on the roof of the building. Being a little bit out in the sticks (Skipton), all other networks are poor to non-existent, especially for data.

I want to get a cheaper tariff with T-Mobile, and the phone I want is cheaper on T-Mobile too.

But obviously they are both owned by EE. Does anyone think I'd have a problem if I ask Orange for a PAC code and rock up to T-Mobile as a new customer, preferably via Quidco for some cashback? Are either Orange or T-Mobile likely to block it, because as far as the parent company EE is concerned, I'm not a new customer? Or are Orange and T-Mobile not talking to each other?

Thanks for any help!

Tony5101

They still operate as separate companies, so you're free to move between the two etc.

Ultrasonic

Bear in mind you're not guaranteed exactly the same signal at work if you switch. As I understand it, if there is a T-mobile signal as well as Orange you'd connect to that by preference, only switching to the Orange signal if the T-mobile one is very poor.

reclusive46

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Bear in mind you're not guaranteed exactly the same signal at work if you switch. As I understand it, if there is a T-mobile signal as well as Orange you'd connect to that by preference, only switching to the Orange signal if the T-mobile one is very poor.

Smart signal 95% of the time means this doesn't happen. Anything below 2 bars of T-Mobile, it will just go onto Orange if possible (And if its better).

Ultrasonic

reclusive46 wrote: »

Smart signal 95% of the time means this doesn't happen. Anything below 2 bars of T-Mobile, it will just go onto Orange if possible (And if its better).

Do you find 'smart signal sharing' works well for you? I've read plently of things written by people complaining about it, but have no idea how representative they are.

For the OP, details here (confirming it tries to switch at 1 bar).

Edit: my point to the OP was just to be aware it wasn't absolutely guaranteed that signal would be as good as currently on Orange.

Ultrasonic

The T-mobile website also has the following question and answer on it:

With using Orange signal, will I always be on the network which has the best signal strength?
No. Your phone will always ‘look’ for the home network first, whether this is a 3G or 2G signal. If the phone can’t find the home network signal the phone will automatically switch to the other network.

Does that mean there is a danger of ending up on a T-mobile 2G signal rather than an Orange 3G one? It's not clear to me.

(Source here)

reclusive46

Ultrasonic wrote: »

The T-mobile website also has the following question and answer on it:

Does that mean there is a danger of ending up on a T-mobile 2G signal rather than an Orange 3G one? It's not clear to me.

(Source here)

From personal experience in two places (Work and Home). Also bare in mind the bars vary between phones. Mine is an iPhone 5.

I get 2 or 3 bars of T-Mobile at home (I'm on T-Mobile) and after a few seconds it tends to drop to two and switch to Orange. (Which has a full signal). Pretty much the same thing happens at work but the opposite way around. It goes back to T-Mobile.

Ultrasonic

reclusive46 wrote: »

Also bare in mind the bars vary between phones.

Yes, I know, which I must admit makes me find the T-mobile 1 bar statement odd, but that's what they say!

It's 'bear' and not 'bare' by the way, no need for anyone to be taking clothes off ;-)