Mon, 02 Nov 2009 Orange confirms 10 November debut, tariffs for iPhone

David said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

Well I guess this means the price war is not going to happen, the deals are at best the same and at worst more expensive, guess I will stick with O2, stupid move Orange, with better pricing you could have had all the iPhone 3G upgraders come to you in January instead of staying with O2.

Tom said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

With prices that match O2 practically to the penny they're hardly gonna pull in the masses. Where's the competition? Come on O2.

Nevis said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

Well so much for all the speculation of a price war. These Orange pay monthly tariffs and handset prices are identical to O2. The only differentiation is Oranges superior 3G network coverage.
Orange must have lost thousands of customers to O2 with the iphone, and I thought that they would have tried to win some of them back with there tariff pricing, but it looks like its not to be.
What are the odds of Vodaphone coming in at the same tariff as well ?

grumpy Giraffe said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

Hmm...I was going to buy an iPhone on PAYG when Orange finally got around to this, but, with these price plans I think I'll probably just go for the iPod Touch for now and wait and see what happens to the prices when the likes of Vodafone and T-Mobile enter the fray. Maybe there'll be some competition then...

Nevis said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

Well so much for all the speculation of a price war. These Orange pay monthly tariffs and handset prices are identical to O2. The only differentiation is Oranges superior 3G network coverage.
Orange must have lost thousands of customers to O2 with the iphone, and I thought that they would have tried to win some of them back with there tariff pricing, but it looks like its not to be.
What are the odds of Vodaphone coming in at the same tariff as well ?

Tom said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

Does Apple have any say on the tariff pricing?

Roll said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

I'm with o2 and have a PAYG 3GS. I am seriously considering trying an Orange PAYG SIM to see if I get better coverage in areas where o2 has none. Is there any news on whether I can officially unlock the handset? It isn't subsidised- I paid £440 fo it so I feel I should be able to do with it as I please.

@Tom said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

After Apple have taken their large cut I doubt there is much the operators can play with.

Roll said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

I'm with o2 and have a PAYG 3GS. I am seriously considering trying an Orange PAYG SIM to see if I get better coverage in areas where o2 has none. Is there any news on whether I can officially unlock the handset? It isn't subsidised- I paid £440 fo it so I feel I should be able to do with it as I please.

Drew said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

I love the "unlimited*" 3G and Wi-Fi usage.

Except "* Fair Usage policy of 750MB / month applies."

Not remotely 'unlimited' is it?

Simon Saver said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

Why not just buy a £9.99 phone for god sake?its a phone nothing more.what a waste of hard earned.

Fred said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

Just buy an officially unlocked phone in Italy and connect it to whatever network you want. A plague on all their houses!

Mark Jones said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

Terrible plans from Orange - 750mb cap on data is awful and extremely low. I use much more than that a month - I'll stick with o2.

Glenboid said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

I just don't get why anyone would want to part with £30-40 a month for one of these?

What a con, I can always tell when an iPhone user calls me, I hear every other word.

That's a lot of money for an iPod strapped to a phone.

Get a cheaper deal and donate the money you would have spent to something more worthy!

Nick said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

I have an iPod touch and a £10 phone I bought from a hardware shop. In town, London, I can get online most places on my touch, can send the odd email etc. I use my phone a few times a week to make quick calls or send text messages. I'm happy with this set up and still can't see a reason to get an iPhone. I agree about the use of "unlimited" meaningless.

Phillip said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

This news has convinced me to remain with my bog standard 8GB 3G phone and upgrade in Jun 2010 when the next iPhone will hopefully be released.

John said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

So almost identical tariffs, a low data cap and no O2 Cloud access.
If that's not enough to stop considering them I used to be with Orange since I got my first mobile many moons ago and their customer service over the last couple of years was abysmal. I was so happy to leave after my last contract finished, never again!

iRoger said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

Shame people registered their interest as this will have allowed Orange to guage interest and price accordingly!

iTony said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

750mb a month isn't even a movie download (should you wish to)

Has nobody considered that Orange offer such poor service to its customers and should they not be able to cope with their current numbers adding several hundred thousand more is only going to add further issues!!

Pedro said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

To be fair, I doubt Orange had any intention of luring O2 customers away; rather, they'll be looking to retain those customer who would otherwise have switched to O2 in order to get a subsidized handset. Underwriting huge subsidies for new business acquisition is fine, but eventually the pot runs dry. What do you then do when trying to retain that new business at year one renewal? Better to generate new business at comparable rates to your competitors and retain it than blow your wad on new customers and lose them (and your investment) 12 months down the line. Marketing lecture over. As for the 24 month contracts... they can f@£$ right off!

Andrew said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

I have been assured by an Orange manager that Apple set the Tariffs, not Orange. There is not going to be a price war, no matter who sells the iPhone.

Christiaan said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

I was with Orange before I bought an iPhone and I've found O2 to be great in comparison. I'm in central London and haven't had any issues with coverage so I'll definitely be sticking with O2.

Al said on Mon, 02 Nov 2009

Get out of my way I'm first in line.

David said on Tue, 03 Nov 2009

Why would Apple force carriers to have expensive contracts, the cheaper it is the more they sell. Apple is more likely trying to strong arm the phone companies into giving unlimitted internet etc.

@Andrew said on Tue, 03 Nov 2009

If thats true i imagine OFCOM would be very interested in hearing about it

dom said on Tue, 03 Nov 2009

I hate O2 and am desperate to leave, when Orange announced they were entering the iPhone market I had no doubt in my mind that I would "jump ship" however, after seeing the T&C's "Not to be used for other activities (eg using your handset as a modem, non-Orange internet based streaming services, voice or video over the internet, instant messaging, peer to peer file sharing, non-Orange internet based video). Should such use be detected notice may be given and Network protection controls applied to all services which Orange does not believe constitutes mobile browsing." and the data cap, I'll sadly be staying with O2 for the time being... maybe vodafone....

markL said on Fri, 06 Nov 2009

Same deal? Yep. One thing though. I have an iphone with O2 and another phone with Orange. O2's customer sevice is much better than Orange's. I recently tried to hget through to Orange and it tok me over a week to actually speaK TO SOMEONE, KEPT GETTING "ORANGE CANNOT DEAL WITH YOUR CALL" message. With O2 you usually get through quickly, so unless someone comes up with a great deal, I am sticking with O2. Re the comments people have made such as:
"Why not just buy a £9.99 phone for god sake?its a phone nothing more.what a waste of hard earned."
This isn't the forum for that opinion:-) so shut the hell UP!

StevieRuss said on Fri, 13 Nov 2009

I fumbled around the thought of going Orange to escape the mediocrity that is O2. I had been a One2One (T-Mobile) user for 12 years. Never missed a bill but they let me go without a fight when their tariffs become uncompetitive. Went to Vodafone and realised how better the coverage and consistency of calls was. I reluctantly left Vodafone for the iPhone and O2. What a mistake. My phone doesn't work in my house or even (wait for it) in my back garden despite being virtually in the centre of Bristol. Their 3G coverage is very slow and their customer services is in a state of disarray. I love my iPhone but I need a good network to run it on and the only one is Vodafone. Their customer services is by far and away the best of the bunch. I've been on them all other that 3 and Orange. Orange doesn't work in my house at all. Not even standing in the road outside my house (remember half a mile south of the centre of Bristol on a hill).