Is the OVP (Orange Value Promise) dead?

DonnyDave

NFH wrote: »

Surely it's better for Orange to retain this revenue, albeit small, than needlessly to lose the revenue to competitors.

In business, retaining revenue from all customers at all costs is not the objective. Driving up profit and responding to changes in competitors' offerings is important.

In response to these changes by Orange, each customer will do one the following:

1. Stick with the tariff at the new rates.

2. Remain with Orange, but migrate either to a pay monthly service or to a pay as go you service.

3. Move to another provider.

Whilst those who choose option 3 will be loss of revenue, option 1 and option 2 generally mean increased revenue.

Businesses are interested in security of incoming revenue which is what bundles provide. The market as a whole has tended towards strategy for this reason and Orange's abolition of the 15ppm/5ppm OVP Virgin is simply another change in this direction. Because other providers have withdrawn similar offerings, from a competitive point of view, there is less pressure on Orange to retain OVP Virgin.

Phones4Chris

Roger1 wrote: »

we currently use Dial-a-code prefixes http://www.dialacode.com/ for cheap international calls. The service is available with O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Three lines (but not Vodafone, it seems). Will this be available on MVNOs using O2, Orange, T-Mobile or Three?

I have some SIMs on MVNOs using O2 and Vodaphone networks, and shortcodes beginning with 6 don't work. My guess is a lot of others won't work either

Roger1

Thanks.

Dial-a-code short codes begin with a 2 - e.g. for most of Europe, the code is 29 03 29, with the 03 showing the rate is 3p/minute.
http://www.dialacode.com/available-countries.aspx

When I'm sorted, I'll try with MVNO SIMs using 02 and Orange. I fear the same result.

Stuart_W

Roger1 wrote: »

When I'm sorted, I'll try with MVNO SIMs using 02 and Orange. I fear the same result.

As I mentioned in post 24 of this thread, The Phone Co-op (an Orange MVNO) does not allow calls to short code numbers such as dialacode's 290329. As Phones4Chris says, it is a fairly safe guess that most won't work - otherwise the short code operators would be the first to be promoting this fact!

Roger1

Indeed. That's why I said 'I fear the same result'.

DavyS_2

I have had the letter notifiying me of the >100% price increases. So will probably go to another provider.
The problem is that I have always understood that with OVP the phone (not just the SIM) is locked to the contract; certainly I have never been able to replace my phone except through Orange. Will this make it difficult to transfer; will I need a new phone?

Roger1

It sounds as though your phone is locked to Orange. If so, you have these options:

• order a new Orange SIM (probably T-Mobile or EE would also work)
• unlock the phone
• buy a new phone, preferably unlocked

I imagine the first is not the way you want to go! Unlocking the phone is fairly simple. There's probably a local store that can do it for £5-10 or you can look online for offers at eBay and elsewhere.

I'd go for the 2nd or 3rd of these suggestions, depending on whether you would like a new phone or are happy to carry on with your existing phone. In either case, you can then insert your choice of SIM.

In my case, my phone was already unlocked. I inserted an Ovivo SIM and after a week, all is going swimmingly. I already have the PAC from Orange and am about to transfer my Orange number to use with the Ovivo SIM.

Good luck.

DonnyDave

DavyS wrote: »

I have had the letter notifiying me of the >100% price increases. So will probably go to another provider.
The problem is that I have always understood that with OVP the phone (not just the SIM) is locked to the contract; certainly I have never been able to replace my phone except through Orange. Will this make it difficult to transfer; will I need a new phone?

As Roger1 says, you may need your phone unlocking in order to work on a different network, or even with a different operator on the same network.

I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I wonder if the phone would work on other operators that use the Orange network. These other operators are 'virtual' ones which means that they don't have their own network of base stations and instead use another operator's network.

I suppose it depends on whether the lock is to the network or to the operator.

I've started a thread on SayNoTo0870 which lists mobile operators. There are certainly quite a few out there. The smaller ones are usually pay as you go and compete on price. Indeed, the pay as you go rates, without a bundle applied, from the biggest providers (3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone) can be bettered.

Roger1

DonnyDave wrote: »

I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I wonder if the phone would work on other operators that use the Orange network.

Good point! I think it would be likely.

Now off to take a look at the thread you mention.

DonnyDave

Roger1 wrote: »

Good point! I think it would be likely.

Now off to take a look at the thread you mention.

This page says that some ASDA Mobile phones are locked to a "sub-set" of the network operator, Vodafone, and therefore won't work with Vodafone SIMs. So it may be possible to restrict only one particular operator but it depends what the one you have has done in practice and I don't think there's any easy way to find out other than to try another operator's SIM.

Still, I wouldn't restrict myself to a virtual operator on EE in the hope that my locked Orange handset "might" accept it. If it has to be unlocked then that is what has to be done — that's the way I see it.