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02/. orange . 3 . virgin etc


Titan

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Hi folkes, having read many threads on here it seems many use three 3 as there internet provider, i have been with orange for 11 years nearly, eligible for an upgrade, i can honestly say my experience with orange has been first class, really could not fault it. Some 6 yrs ago i guess i took out a premier account contract, and over due course and subsequent renewals, they have often quoted to me if i had to call for whatever reason ( as a premier account holder etc ) bla bla this (premier ) seemned to stick until now? Im simply due for upgrade but contract ends Jan, have 2 phones with orange. I call in for advice and whats new etc??? plan upgrade and options? Orange left me feeling that its time to look elsewhere, so i start to research forums etc, but it seems most networks are slated by there customers ?? especially 3. I pay 26.00 a month for a land line and internet, ive made 2 calls on l/l in 18 months, i pay orange 35.00 inc insurance and get lots :rolleyes: and good customer service. But if i read and understand correctly il get 3 txts calls and lots n lots of data for 33.00 ? Whats also troubling is orange could not offer insurance whilst upgrading ? there insurance was unavailable until a later date???? Im sure there are many that can offer advice, was tempted by 3 deal , but ive been a loyal customer and its customer service I wish for most. thanks if youve managed to read this to the end :blush: kind regards Martin

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We have moved all our phones to Tesco and their customer service has been first class. They provide extra benefits if you have more than one phone on a contract and some really good £10 a month deals. Also found that their coverage around the canals seems to be better than my works Vodafone.

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I too was a happy Orange customer for many years but this was when phones were mainly used for making calls so I also had a dongle which cost an additional £15.00 per month for 3 Gig. I then read a posting by Roger Gunkel extolling the virtues of the Galaxy S3 with unlimited data usage on 3. It is fantastic. It sits in a cradle attached to a window and acts as a Wireless hotspot so computer can be on all day (we're often on shorepower) plus its a smartphone so you can watch live TV or Iplayer directly on the phone if tv reception is poor or you can't be bothered to put up the aerial whilst out and about. I'm a bit of a technophobe so am only scratching the surface of what this phone can do. I did try to get a similar deal from Orange but they won't offer unlimited data usage and that is essential. I pay £31.00 per month and in effect have unlimited calls/texts/data.

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We have used Orange, Vodafone and 3 for mobile broadband.

3 have by far the best coverage and value for money but Useless technical support.

Vodafone are expensive, try to rip you off at every opportunity, but have reasonable coverage (though often only at 2G speeds).

Orange were by far the nicest people to deal with but have now moved to an overseas call centre, useless coverage.

 

If you stay in one place then find who has the best signal and speed where you are, though 3 will win on price.

If you move around (like wot a boat should!) then it has to be 3.

 

Don't believe what the sales people say, get on the www and find out who has the most transmitters and where they are. 3 win hands down.

 

SiteFinder

 

.....Dave

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Another one that piggy backs O2 is Giff Gaff. Their (PAYG) calls seem cheaper than some. Does anyone on here use Giff Gaff? (Not sure if that should be one word or two)

 

Dave

 

 

Yes we do, very pleased with them, enables the missus and myself to run two smartphones for £10 -15 per month.

 

It' one word.

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Another one that piggy backs O2 is Giff Gaff. Their (PAYG) calls seem cheaper than some. Does anyone on here use Giff Gaff? (Not sure if that should be one word or two)

 

Dave

 

SWMBO and me have the £10 goodybag on Giffgaff. 250 minutes, plenty of texts, and 1Gb of data. Good value, but the O2 web service is very flaky, whereas 3 and T-Mobile have been great over the years. You can make the data unlimited for £12 per month, but then you can't tether the phone.

 

I'll be looking seriously at 3's One Plan when my Mifi plan ends next September. SWMBO will probably stay on Giffgaff if they don't move the goalposts again.

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Another one that piggy backs O2 is Giff Gaff. Their (PAYG) calls seem cheaper than some. Does anyone on here use Giff Gaff? (Not sure if that should be one word or two)

 

I use it for my phone, but not the boat mobile internets (the terms do not allow tethering). Have a 3 and a t-mobile data sim for 10 quid a month each. 3 gets better coverage, but T mobile do not have horrific 10p a megabyte punishment pricing if you go over your limit.

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We've switched our iPhones from O2 to Tesco (£10 deal), they use O2 as the network, but also have a 3 phone fixed inside the boat on the One Plan and this provides all our internet via tethering. 3 definitely have the best 3g signal where ever we've been on the cut.

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We have just cancelled or sky tv, phone, Broadband package moved to freesat and Three MiFi 15gb 2 year contract at £18 monthly. Works great far quicker than my original BB (due to crap connection area) and no cable here. I cant fault it and it will go with us if we are out f the house!

 

 

David and Doreen

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  • 1 month later...

I left Orange in a mega huff (even paid to end my contract early) after encountering some of the worst customer service I've ever had. I'd been a customer with them for over a decade. I moved over to Three.

 

I pay less and get a better deal on calls, texts and data. I've been happy with the phone (Samsung Galaxy S3) and the coverage. I have heard that their coverage is better in London, but it works fine at my in-laws (not London) where other networks seem to struggle, and Orange never worked.

 

I haven't really had to test Three's custome service, as I haven't needed any so far. The folks in the shops have been really nice though.

 

Regarding insurance, Three don't offer their own insurance for phones. I chose to buy insurance with another provider, but it's notoriously hard to get a pay out on phone insurance. This: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cheap-mobile-phone-insurance is a good resource to help you decide what's best for you,

 

HTH, Lucy

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Hi folkes, having read many threads on here it seems many use three 3 as there internet provider, i have been with orange for 11 years nearly, eligible for an upgrade, i can honestly say my experience with orange has been first class, really could not fault it. Some 6 yrs ago i guess i took out a premier account contract, and over due course and subsequent renewals, they have often quoted to me if i had to call for whatever reason ( as a premier account holder etc ) bla bla this (premier ) seemned to stick until now? Im simply due for upgrade but contract ends Jan, have 2 phones with orange. I call in for advice and whats new etc??? plan upgrade and options? Orange left me feeling that its time to look elsewhere, so i start to research forums etc, but it seems most networks are slated by there customers ?? especially 3. I pay 26.00 a month for a land line and internet, ive made 2 calls on l/l in 18 months, i pay orange 35.00 inc insurance and get lots :rolleyes: and good customer service. But if i read and understand correctly il get 3 txts calls and lots n lots of data for 33.00 ? Whats also troubling is orange could not offer insurance whilst upgrading ? there insurance was unavailable until a later date???? Im sure there are many that can offer advice, was tempted by 3 deal , but ive been a loyal customer and its customer service I wish for most. thanks if youve managed to read this to the end :blush: kind regards Martin

 

I have had orange for some years. I get a signal everywhere. My missus is on O2 it is useless and there are many places where we can be stood together and she gets no signal and I get a good signal. Cannot fault orange coverage.

 

Tim

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I have had orange for some years. I get a signal everywhere. My missus is on O2 it is useless and there are many places where we can be stood together and she gets no signal and I get a good signal. Cannot fault orange coverage.

 

Tim

 

I have an Orange phone and an Orange dongle. Several times over the past couple of years I've had no or very poor phone signal even outside the boat, while the dongle is working OK. DAK how this can be? (I'm well, well behind on mobile technology).

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SWMBO and me have the £10 goodybag on Giffgaff. 250 minutes, plenty of texts, and 1Gb of data. Good value, but the O2 web service is very flaky, whereas 3 and T-Mobile have been great over the years. You can make the data unlimited for £12 per month, but then you can't tether the phone.

 

I'll be looking seriously at 3's One Plan when my Mifi plan ends next September. SWMBO will probably stay on Giffgaff if they don't move the goalposts again.

 

Before switching it Giffgaff you should be aware that you can't tether an iPhone with them unless you jailbreak it. I'm definitely dumping Apple and Giffgaff soon, for a Samsung Galaxy S3 on The One Plan. Giffgaff is fine for SWMBO.

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I got Orange pay as you go this time round, because for some reason Swedish Three have cut them selves off from UK providers. And I was surprised how expensive Internet was on the mobile! 100mb for ten pounds Dolphine topup! I'm used to get 4gig for 20 pounds. And I didn't quite enjoy wading through levels and levels of support pages until finally finding the APN setting for my HTC. Nice and fast 4g though.

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We are in a flat near Salisbury at the mo and until recently our O2 signal with Giffgaff has been too weak for usable broadband but ok for calls and texts, however the signal has improved recently and provided I don't need pics or videos it's almost as fast as our contract 3 data sim in a router (5gb for £8pm, very happy) if I need to download a pic or video I can activate my smartphone's wifi and use the 3 router. Also now that Giffgaff allow tethering on their 1gb £10 goodybag we both have that as a fallback option. We have a Mifi with a 3 PAYG sim for when one of us is out and about leaving the other at home with the router. Missus uses a £5 goodybag and I use a £10 one.

 

All a bit belt and braces perhaps but for a total of about £25 pm we run two smartphones + 5gb on 3 contract, 1gb on 3 PAYG and 1gb on my O2 goodybag. Gives us flexibility and some fallback which I like.

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I use it for my phone, but not the boat mobile internets (the terms do not allow tethering). Have a 3 and a t-mobile data sim for 10 quid a month each. 3 gets better coverage, but T mobile do not have horrific 10p a megabyte punishment pricing if you go over your limit.

I have a £7.50 1Gb monthly plan for my iPad. For the first time, this month I went over my data limit. Curses! Ran up about £11 of extra charges until I was cut off. However, I emailed 3 asking for the data to cut off straight away in future, rather than allowing the limited over-run ( have a 3 one-plan on the iPhone to which the iPad can be tethered). I expected some resistance because clearly this is a good way for them to make more money, however I received a call on my mobile a couple of days later (they had tried to call my home number first) and the gentleman on the other end basically said they had done what I requested. Although he was from an Indian call centre, he was clear, polite, intelligent and efficient.

 

So apart from the irritation of the initial charge for going over (which was of course really my fault) once again I felt that 3 customer service was very good. And the moral is that others should consider doing what I have done to avoid unexpected charges.

 

As other have said, 3 seems to have by far the best 3G coverage at least around the midlands where we cruise. It is very unusual not to have a signal even when stopping in remote countryside.

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I too was a happy Orange customer for many years but this was when phones were mainly used for making calls so I also had a dongle which cost an additional £15.00 per month for 3 Gig. I then read a posting by Roger Gunkel extolling the virtues of the Galaxy S3 with unlimited data usage on 3. It is fantastic. It sits in a cradle attached to a window and acts as a Wireless hotspot so computer can be on all day (we're often on shorepower) plus its a smartphone so you can watch live TV or Iplayer directly on the phone if tv reception is poor or you can't be bothered to put up the aerial whilst out and about. I'm a bit of a technophobe so am only scratching the surface of what this phone can do. I did try to get a similar deal from Orange but they won't offer unlimited data usage and that is essential. I pay £31.00 per month and in effect have unlimited calls/texts/data.

Me too!

My Orange contract is due for renewal and they're tempting me with a free HTC oneX and a 600min, unlimited texts and 500mb data package for £22 with loyalty bonus. I also use a 3 dongle for internet access on a 10gig for £15 rolling contract.

The 3 "all you can eat" contract does seem attractive though. They offered me a Galaxy S3 for £19 with a 5000min, unlimited texts and unlimited data for £34 a month. They assure me that tethering to a laptop is acceptable use. Although more expensive than Orange I would save by not only getting rid of my dongle contract, but also getting rid of my landline and home broadband!

Can the S3 be used as a mi-fi unit, transmitting wirelessly to a laptop or pc anywhere in the home or on the boat while simultaniously being used as a phone? If it can I think that would clinch the deal for me

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Can the S3 be used as a mi-fi unit, transmitting wirelessly to a laptop or pc anywhere in the home or on the boat while simultaniously being used as a phone? If it can I think that would clinch the deal for me

 

Don't know about the S3 but the iPhoe certainly can, although it doesn't have the same range as a "proper" router. Since I got my 3 all you can eat contract, the old MiFi has remained in the cupboard with no data being bought for it.

 

The downside is that (for iPhone anyway) the phone has to be "woken up" to initially connect over WiFi by going to the "personal hotspot" screen on the phone, a bit of a pain if you are used to a normal router. And when in use as a router, battery drain is fairly fast.

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Can the S3 be used as a mi-fi unit, transmitting wirelessly to a laptop or pc anywhere in the home or on the boat while simultaniously being used as a phone? If it can I think that would clinch the deal for me

 

Yes it can. I have an S2 with the 3 contract and it works brilliantly for wi-fi in my narrowboat with my laptop tethered. The only issue I have at the moment is with the signal to the phone being a bit intermittent, but that's down to the location of my mooring. With a signal I get more than enough bandwidth to watch TV on iPlayer at the same time as uploading photos and receiving emails.

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My very limited knowledge of mobile broadband is, two of my sons have iphones. they have unlimited mins and unlimited internet. They are with,I think, '3'.

 

I also have an iphone 4. I only have 500 something or other for internet. I treated my self to a dock so that I can have the radio on via the phone. I went over my limit. I called Orange/T'Mobile/EE and asked if I could reduce my minutes and go unlimited on internet. You can probably guess their decision. Obviously they could see that I had gone over my limit and thought i was a heavy user, or summut.

 

Thought I would add me little bit.

 

Martyn

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