End of Orange Contract - Reduction?

eschaton

My current 24 month Orange contract ends on Tuesday.

I have an iPhone 4 and would prefer to wait a few months to see if the 5s comes out before renewing.

Has anyone had any luck getting line rental reduced out of contract? I currently pay £36.34. Contract was originally £45 with a 25% discount but the two price hikes has made it £36.34 now.

As I need 1GB data, the cheapest monthly SIM only plan is £23.

I have been an Orange customer since January 1995, majority on contract but some PAYG in the middle if it makes any difference.

19lottie82

Hi OP, just to avoid any confusion your contract does not end (unless you have handed in your 30 days notice that is), the minimum term ends, and you are free to give orange your notice to leave.

Orange will sometimes offer existing customers a better than advertised deal, if they threaten to leave (usually after you ask for your PAC code, to port your number to another network), but these deals seem to be getting further and far between these days, maybe because they want people to go to EE?

Anyway, I'm afraid your 18 year relationship with Orange is most likely worthless, they don't care about that, what they care about it how much money you have made them over the length of your last minimum term contract, ie do you spend a lot more than your basic tariff cost every month?

Also if you are holding your breath for a great deal on a new iPhone, once it is released, don't. These phones will be in huge demand anyway, so orange don't have to offer you a decent deal on one,they are flying out of the door anyway, plus they are restricted in tariffs due to business arrangements with apple.

A lot of people (inc myself) are turning to third party companies such as mobiles dot co dot uk and affordable mobiles, for the best deals.

If you have your heart set on a new iPhone my advice would be to move to a 30 day rolling sim (prob get it cheaper elsewhere, I got a sim only from virgin when orange wouldn't match their deal) and then once the 5s is released do some research online to find the best deal. I would make an educated guess that it won't be via orange directly.

d123

eschaton wrote: »

As I need 1GB data, the cheapest monthly SIM only plan is £23.

.

You might want to consider moving then, there are significantly cheaper plans from other networks offering 1GB or more data.

Buzby

I pay £12.60pm for mine - on SIM only. I think you should give notice and go!

NFH

Switch to a SIM-only contract, perhaps with a 12-month minimum commitment which might give you a better deal. Then buy the iPhone 5S at full price from Apple when it is launched. Over 24 months, the overall cost is usually much lower this way, and your iPhone won't be SIM-locked, leaving you free to switch networks as you wish.

For example, I pay £9/month to Orange for 325 minutes, 800MB, 150 texts and unlimited calls to Orange numbers or landlines. I paid £599 for my iPhone 5 32GB from Apple.

eschaton

19lottie82 wrote: »

Hi OP, just to avoid any confusion your contract does not end (unless you have handed in your 30 days notice that is), the minimum term ends, and you are free to give orange your notice to leave.

Orange will sometimes offer existing customers a better than advertised deal, if they threaten to leave (usually after you ask for your PAC code, to port your number to another network), but these deals seem to be getting further and far between these days, maybe because they want people to go to EE?

Anyway, I'm afraid your 18 year relationship with Orange is most likely worthless, they don't care about that, what they care about it how much money you have made them over the length of your last minimum term contract, ie do you spend a lot more than your basic tariff cost every month?

Also if you are holding your breath for a great deal on a new iPhone, once it is released, don't. These phones will be in huge demand anyway, so orange don't have to offer you a decent deal on one,they are flying out of the door anyway, plus they are restricted in tariffs due to business arrangements with apple.

A lot of people (inc myself) are turning to third party companies such as mobiles dot co dot uk and affordable mobiles, for the best deals.

If you have your heart set on a new iPhone my advice would be to move to a 30 day rolling sim (prob get it cheaper elsewhere, I got a sim only from virgin when orange wouldn't match their deal) and then once the 5s is released do some research online to find the best deal. I would make an educated guess that it won't be via orange directly.

No confusion here and thanks for the effort put into that reply, but I was looking for the answer to my question which you slightly touched on with the last bit of your reply.

eschaton

d123 wrote: »

You might want to consider moving then, there are significantly cheaper plans from other networks offering 1GB or more data.

I have noticed that but would prefer to stay with Orange.

Buzby wrote: »

I pay £12.60pm for mine - on SIM only. I think you should give notice and go!

What do you get for £12.60? I'm not bothered about a lot of minutes/texts but would prefer 1GB data.

eschaton

NFH wrote: »

Switch to a SIM-only contract, perhaps with a 12-month minimum commitment which might give you a better deal. Then buy the iPhone 5S at full price from Apple when it is launched. Over 24 months, the overall cost is usually much lower this way, and your iPhone won't be SIM-locked, leaving you free to switch networks as you wish.

For example, I pay £9/month to Orange for 325 minutes, 800MB, 150 texts and unlimited calls to Orange numbers or landlines. I paid £599 for my iPhone 5 32GB from Apple.

How did you get that deal? What you have would probably suit me. I hadn't considered buying phone outright but it's something to consider.

robbies_gal

ive just read today the iphone 5s is set to be released end of sept if that helps

d123

robbies_gal wrote: »

ive just read today the iphone 5s is set to be released end of sept if that helps

There's been no official announcement, everything is still guess and rumour.

September is pretty likely though, and the latest rumour is both an iPhone 5s or 6 (no one knows what Apple intend calling it yet) and a cheaper model aimed primarily at emerging markets.

eschaton

Ended up just upgrading to the iPhone 5, less hassle.

New free phone, £31.50 per month, unlimited minutes/texts and the 1GB data that I needed.

Nearly £5 cheaper per month than I was already paying with a new phone and I can also sell my immaculate iPhone 4 which I am getting unlocked.

Buying the phone from Apple outright wouldn't have been cost effective.