Orange-horror itemised phone bill from Canada

Hooloovoo

NFH wrote: »

Not true. Orange quotes many of its UK data prices by the gigabyte, because it is representative of typical quantities that people use.

My experience is that most network providers (Orange included) still quote their data allowances in hundreds of megabytes.

In fact, looking here, I see that half of Orange plans (12 out of 24 listed) are quoted with a data allowance in megabytes.

Sure, where the allowance is greater than 1000MB they do change to quoting gigabytes.

This of course makes the assumption that consumers are intelligent enough to know that an allowance of 5GB is larger than an allowance of 250MB.

If we trust them to know this when purchasing a data plan, then obviously we can trust them to understand that £8/MB when roaming is going to cost a rather considerable amount per GB.

NFH

No, I still disagree. Prices for UK usage are quoted, as you point out, in amounts such as 250MB, 500MB or 1GB. Therefore quoting data roaming prices as just a tiny fraction of this such as 1MB, 100KB or 1KB misleads the consumer by hiding the magnitude of the charge. It's like quoting UK call charges per minute but roaming call charges per second. The networks only get away with it on data because many consumers don't understand the difference, whereas all consumers would understand the difference between minutes and seconds.

grumbler

NFH wrote: »

Prices for UK usage are quoted, ..., in amounts such as 250MB, 500MB or 1GB.

It's the contract allowances or bundles that are quoted this way. So are roaming bundles.
UK PAYG and out of allowance prices are quoted per Mb - the same as for roaming. It's not a rocket science to multiply £8/Mb by 250, 500 or 1000.

Earthworm

Ideally out of allowance data charges abroad should be quoted the same way they quote UK data (I believe as £x for every 250-500MB over you go). Quoting per MB is like saying it costs 1p a second out of your plan.

I am surprised this thread is still going as I thought Orange had already wiped 90% of the cost to the OP.

spannerzone

Hooloovoo wrote: »

T-Mobile don't allow you to use data at all unless you buy one of the roaming data bundles. And then access stops as soon as the bundles are expired.

That's how it should be.

No one is denying that Orange are rip-off merchants. But their charges are all clearly detailed for anyone that cares to check. If a user goes abroad and uses data without care or consideration for the cost, it's no surprise when they come home to a big bill.

OK that's helpful to know but I'm sure (but not 100%) that on one trip Tmob sent a text when in the US advising on data (may have mentioned bundles, but second trip no text at all was received about calls or data.

NFH

Earthworm wrote: »

I am surprised this thread is still going as I thought Orange had already wiped 90% of the cost to the OP.

The remaining 10% is still a significant amount of money.

grumbler

Earthworm wrote: »

... should be quoted the same way they quote UK data (I believe as £x for every 250-500MB over you go).

What is your belief based upon? Or is it just a wish?

Quoting per MB is like saying it costs 1p a second out of your plan.

Well, 100Mb and 250Mb allowances are not uncommon. And even for 500Mb pricing per Mb is more convenient IMO, then, say per 10Mb or per 100Mb.

lulubelle41

Hooloovoo wrote: »

My experience is that most network providers (Orange included) still quote their data allowances in hundreds of megabytes.

In fact, looking here, I see that half of Orange plans (12 out of 24 listed) are quoted with a data allowance in megabytes.

Sure, where the allowance is greater than 1000MB they do change to quoting gigabytes.

This of course makes the assumption that consumers are intelligent enough to know that an allowance of 5GB is larger than an allowance of 250MB.

If we trust them to know this when purchasing a data plan, then obviously we can trust them to understand that £8/MB when roaming is going to cost a rather considerable amount per GB.

You mention 'we' in the last paragraph. So which branch of EE do you work for exactly?

lulubelle41

Earthworm wrote: »

I am surprised this thread is still going as I thought Orange had already wiped 90% of the cost to the OP.

I am so thankful for everyone who has spared the time to input so much information for me to tackle this problem and explain things to me. So a huge thanks to all for everything and that, Earthworm, is why these forums exist. Please don't bother to follow if you're bored.

grumbler

lulubelle41 wrote: »

You mention 'we' in the last paragraph. So which branch of EE do you work for exactly?

This is a too farfetched implication.

Originally I did feel sympathy with you. Where has it gone and why?:think: