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Just found an amazing deal for orange SPV M3100
a FREE SPV M3100 on Dolphin 35 which gives 500 x net mins, 500 texts and unlimited magic number calls (to a nominated orange number)
This offer also includes their free wireless broadband deal (which i had previously been told was only available when buying direct from orange)
They can also transfer your orange PAYG number to Orange contract (again i was previously told this was only available buying direct from orange)
AND 9 months 1/2 price rental - so total cost for 18 months is £472.50 (less than £26pm including phone and broadband)
There are other similar deals available, by far the cheapest i have found and much cheaper than orange direct / online / shop
checkout:
http://www.cheapest4mobiles.co.uk/display.asp?hs=m3100&network=&tariff=&gift=&phone=Orange_M3100
also some amazing deals on the Vario II as well - lots of offers if you click on the link, they are actually cheaper than those listed when you select (as theres currently a £5 per month discount as well)
http://www.cheapest4mobiles.co.uk/d...rk=&tariff=&gift=&phone=T-Mobile_MDA_Vario_II
HTC TyTN deals are also there, but tend to be more money (but are available with an O2 connection)
http://www.cheapest4mobiles.co.uk/display.asp?hs=tytn&network=&tariff=&gift=&phone=HTC_TyTN
Someone pmd me to say the deals i had mentioned werent there!
It said on the site that over the weekend not all the deals were listed due to some technical issue with power failures and BT !!!
The issue has now been resolved and all deals are listed once more.
sounds like a good deal!
one word of warning though - i bought my orange m3100 from a different company on the internet - www.directmobilephones.com - because of the good deals etc, and whilst i had no problems recieving the phone, and they had good customer service during the buying process (replying to emails promptly etc.) i found out after a couple of weeks that they hadn't given orange the details for my number port or direct debit even though i had filled out these details on their online form!
so it's worth checking with orange when you register your phone that they have all the details if you don't buy direct...
hopefully this company is a bit better than the one i dealt with!
They look like good deals, but i thought the unlimited broadband was only available on panther 75 and even then you are limited to off peak unlimited broadband? Can you point us in the direction where is says you can get unlimited on dolphin 35? Cheers
i think he's refering to the unlimited home broadband rather than the unlimited mobile broadband.
Doesn't seem like any of the shops listed have either the Orange or the T-Mobile branded handset in stock
Doesn't seem like any of the shops listed have either the Orange or the T-Mobile branded handset in stock
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???
listed as 'in stock' on their website...
http://www.directmobilephones.com/spv_m3100_orange.htm
please note: if you do use them, check with orange about your number transfer / direct debit details if you're using those services!
bigshape said:
i think he's refering to the unlimited home broadband rather than the unlimited mobile broadband.
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Ahh, yep, your probably right. Even though them deals are good, i think I'll go with t-mobile online and get the unlimited mobile data. You end up paying more in the long run, but i think it'll be worth it! ;-)
Yes i was referring to unlimited home broadband, sorry for the confusion. Just to mention though that all the standard t-mobile deals are available through:
http://www.cheapest4mobiles.co.uk/d...rk=&tariff=&gift=&phone=T-Mobile_MDA_Vario_II
just click on any of the deals, and it allows you to select any available online T-Mobile tariff option.
As has already been pointed out, T-Mobile are offering a £5 per month line rental discount on some plans plus other incentives as well.
ONLY Buy from T-Mobile Direct, else you will get screwed
I have been looking for two days and called scancom, who told me that T-mobile cut their commisions on phones back 40%, so they can never beat their prices, and they were right, they couldn't. SO IW ouldn't bother, go for the T-mobile sales people and you'll do better
Deals on m3100
I bought my Orange SPV M3100 from OneStopPhoneShop (part of CarPhone Warehouse).
£9.99 for the handset and 12 months on the Canary package at £30 per month. Includes 200 cross-network, anytime minutes and 2 months free subs to Orange World (their 3G service) as well as few other perks (30 mins video calling etc).
Total cost £370 over 12 months - now that's not bad IMO.
Hope this helps.
padlad said:
bigshape said:
i think he's refering to the unlimited home broadband rather than the unlimited mobile broadband.
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Ahh, yep, your probably right. Even though them deals are good, i think I'll go with t-mobile online and get the unlimited mobile data. You end up paying more in the long run, but i think it'll be worth it! ;-)
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This is a very good point. There's no advantage to going with Orange apart from the slightly more attractive veneer on their version of the TyTn.
The online deal quoted earlier?
Well is that 9months half price line rental (in logical human terms)....
Or 9 months' worth of cashback after 6 months if you fill in a form on time...
Or two months half price, another two months full price, then two months full price.....
I don't trust these online companies as far as i can throw them.
Mikeycolllins is right when he says to go through T-mobile, it's just easier to get things sorted that way. And slightly off-topic, but if you ever get to know anyone who works at T-mobile they can only offer you half price line rental if you've gone directly through them, and not a third party.
To get anything like i currently do on Tmob on Orange we're talking 26quid for the dolphin package (as quoted earlier) plus 88 quid for unlimited internet (based on their online data price guide, and limited to 1gb as opposed to Tmob's 2gb). The free broadband will be useless to most people on here who are already contractually obligated to NTL/BT/TALKTALK etc.
Thats an average of 114 quid a month times 18 = 2052 quid.
I know that's taking things to extremes, but it proves a point - the only way you're gonna wind up with a better deal on orange is if you only use wifi. And that would be crap.
So basically i'm stickin with T-Mobile for now methinks.
I think we can all agree on that. For most phone users those Orange deals are very very good. For this specific phone with its data capabilities and the type of users we have in this forum, the T-Mobile deal is just heads over heels better than anything else out there.
I think the comments made are quite right, Orange is definitely the more expensive option (despite the freebies) if you are wanting a high mobile data usage.
I have just heard that Orange are cutting their commissions by £60 on 18 month contracts as from 1st October, so looks like the freebies will start to disappear shortly.
I have noticed that the onestopphoneshop deals have all disappeared within the last hour or so. Their cheapest deal was 12 month on Dolphin 25 at £360 (which is the one bigshape got) but now the same deal is £459 - a £99 increase since 8pm tonight.
The orange deal suits me, as i dont need much mobile data as i have wifi at home and work, and my home broadband is up for renewal anyway, so I have effectively got a FREE M3100 for £26 per month, but saved £17 by switching my broadband deal - so an M3100 for £9 per month including 500 texts and 500 minutes?
sounds unbeatable to me!
just to re-iterate though, :!:
The T-mobile deals on www.cheapest4mobiles.co.uk are actually direct from T-mobile themselves, - It is quite correct that the best discounts at the moment are direct from T-Mobile, thats why they are listed as such on the website.
The website simply runs a search over all available deals from a selection of retailers (one of which being T-mobile) and shows the best deal it can find. It also does Carphonewarehouse, onestopphoneshop, Orange, O2 and many more.
Am I the only person who thinks that rival companies should consider adopting T-mobile's simple 'credit' principle instead of drowning consumers in 'freebies' (20 minutes of video calls for the first 35 days, 'mate rates' half price line rental* free Msn [till october])I think 3 are the worst for this, but all the mainstream companies revel in confusing the less-sharp amongst us with verbiage and tantalising 'extras', seemingly in the hope that we'll forget that their freebie often doesn't last forever.
Of course this tactic has been prevalent in consumer marketing for years - but I believe T-mobile will win through with their straightforward and fair price plans, and their data bundles - as we have ascertained in this forum - are streets ahead of the competition.
3 have just brought out a 3g datacard. I noticed it in Superdrug this afternoon. I spoke to the 'advisor' about it briefly and by the end of the conversation he had told me rather enthusiastically that he was going to take out a t-mobile web n walk datacard plan!
I considered many price plans, and been on many different networks. From my experience I have concluded that the decisive factor in my skyrocketing phone bills was simply apathy. We are all guilty of it, and phone companies rely on it to make the big bucks. How many times have you overshot your minutes allowance, or forgot you only had texts instead of minutes?
The Flext plan is incredibly reassuring in its simplicity, and really does adapt to my changing needs (some months i call a lot, others i text a lot)
Though Orange and O2 may potentially offer more minutes and texts as a whole, this clouds the fact that many consumers NEVER use all of both their minutes AND texts, unless they make a concerted effort to do so.
Adaptability, simplicity and value for money are I believe important to most consumers.
Certainly they are to me.
P.s. What is 'Orange World'? Is that an open 3g browsing experience, or another Vodafone Live! ?
Personally I didn't buy my Vario II so I could check train times and download Novelty ringtones.
*for the first 3 months.
Now, I have a question.
Will any of these places ship to a US address? I ask cause it would almost make sense to get the phone with the cheapest plan and pay the money every month for a year and then cancel. But I am not sure how the european providers are and how long are their contracts. I do have some friends in england I could ship the device if I needed too. but what is everyones thoughts on this?
Not sure about this question as i dont know the vetting procedure, but I would assume you have to go through a UK credit check, part of which would probably be to check you were a UK citizen on the electoral register. I know my cousin had loads of problems because she was in the British Army stationed in Germany. Her parents had emigrated to France and she effectively had no valid UK address except her barracks. Orange were very awkward about this and would not give her a contract phone at all, despite the fact she had been an Orange customer for 3 years already.
All links to the MDA Vario II from your link, to the T-mobile site seem to be broken. In fact there is now no mention of that phone on their website. Anyone any ideas ???
looks like a problem with the T mobile site maybe they are doing some late night maintenance ? try again later methinks!
shadowman said:
Not sure about this question as i dont know the vetting procedure, but I would assume you have to go through a UK credit check, part of which would probably be to check you were a UK citizen on the electoral register. I know my cousin had loads of problems because she was in the British Army stationed in Germany. Her parents had emigrated to France and she effectively had no valid UK address except her barracks. Orange were very awkward about this and would not give her a contract phone at all, despite the fact she had been an Orange customer for 3 years already.
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You usually have to be a UK resident for at least 5 years i think and have lived at the same address for at least 3 years to normally get credit, and even then if you have had no credit, like for example, a credit card, loan, mortgage etc, then you will have no 'credit rating' and will struggle to get any credit at all.
Hey there, I own the Touch HD on Orange, I really was finding the internet service through T-mobile and three great, they have good Fair usage policies.
I was told by the person who sold me my phone that I would be warned or have a flag applied to my account if i were to go over 500MB!
Not the case.. I've been hit with a huge bill, and I've argued with 3 customer representatives and unfortunately have not gotten anywhere. I've read a few people on forums who have not had this problem but have been warned and told the same story!!
I have the 500MB Add-on Internet (told it was a fair usage policy), but it turns out ive used about 700MB and been charged roughly £1.10 per extra MB which is shocking!!!
Any assistance would be much appreciated, Ive cancelled my direct debit in hopes to get this matter resolved, I couldn't believe it!
Thanks.
G.Matharu
Sounds grossly unfair, and you can cite examples of other users receiving different treatment to yourself. Ask them why you are being treated differently to other customers, and if you get nowhere ask to speak with a supervisor in their customer services team. Quite often the "first line" support you get follow a prescribed course of action and cannot operate on too much discretion.
Good luck.
Perhaps other users on Orange (or O2 for that matter, who also have a ridiculously small data cap) can post up their experience of exceeding their data ceiling, and we can keep a dossier of evidence on here? Just a thought.
I recently got my Touch HD and with my renewal i blagged the free unlimited internet (or 500mb as you say)
Before i took out the contract i asked what the fair use was, they said 500mb and she said, and i quote "You will have to be on all day every day to exceed it" so if this happens to me, which i expect it will, i shall be getting a copy of that conversation recording and see what their excuse is
I have exceeded the data limit on my plan with O2 (here in Germany) twice before - and both times they took the amount for the extra data off my bill in good will!
But I didn't exceed my plan as much as you did...
BTW: O2 has by far the best customer service have encountered so far! Atleast here in Germany...
That sounds horrible, I hope you manage to get that sorted out. I have never been with 3 but I know these operators are tricky characters.
I am on O2 £30pm with no data package, the O2 lady said on the phone that if I use my data connection then I will get charged for data upto £1 and that is it (fair usage policy applys) so if i reconnect within those 24hr of a give day then it wont cost me anymore than the £1 already, which if you did this everyday then it would cost about £35~.
This is why she said they recommend the 'unlimited' bolt on for £5.99, which is 500Mb per month but i didn't ask about if I went over that, I would hope the £1's worth of data deal would kick in but I'm betting the money grabbers will not honor that for all thier customers.
i have had this trouble but with pay as you go sim, i found out a few things that was using my credit.
the weather update, go into options and deselect them so that it doesnt download new weather data when not in active sync. just go into active sync n do it that way.
quickgps thingy, disable the updates as before active sync updates this everytime the phone is synched.
wap, when you close the internet, it leaves the connection open , well it does on occasion on mine. just go into the settings / communication in manilla and make sure data connection is off.
hope this helps. but i went through 10.00 within a few days without using the phone well to call anyway so hope this helps with others.
if thers anything i missed post it and a solution
Orange data rates are so uncompetitive it's unbelivable, I was on the phone to CS this evening about an unrelated matter but asked if there were any plans to change this, and the answer was a resounding no
I got my HD in from Orange in March on a 'Panther' plan whch came with the 500Mb package included, but they also said should I go over the limit the MAXIMUM they would charge would be £1.50 a day. While still seriously poor that would result in a charge of £46.50 in a 31 day month assuming that 500Mb+ was used on day one. It might be worth seeing if there is any mileage there, perhaps offer to change plan if they would consider bringing these outrageous charges into line with that plan?
I had a stock unlocked Kaiser and was with o2 on a 3Gb monthly package and was to impatient to wait until I had the money to buy a stock unlocked HD. I was in the Orange Shop with my wife upgrading her phone and I just couldn't stop myself, I asked if they had one in stock and they did. So that was that I had to have one................................. I wish I'd have waited
Anyway, Good Luck.
Thanks so much everyone for your input seriously!!
I'm going to see what I can do, I'l report back here, Unfortunately I really don't think they're going to listen, the last guy I spoke to, told me that I can't keep phoning up to keep speaking to different representatives. The way he said it, was just really rude.
I've been with T-mobile and Three's data tariffs, and they've both been great, Three does fail to connect sometimes, and T-mobile is sometimes slow, but Orange had none of these issues but clearly has a bigger one!
Thanks a lot again. I'll post soon, Bill is due 14th April.
Whilst I love Orange Service (coverage/signal are great for me), Orange Customer Service is absolutely useless to the degree of insanity.
I had difficulties with their Upgrades team not providing me with a good upgrade onto the HTC Touch HD. I ended a rather frustrated and unproductive conversation with "Thank you for your help but I think I am going to look elsewhere as Orange are not offering me a competitive deal". Two minutes later, a call on my mobile from another mobile... it was the customer representative from Orange calling me to complain, say that I was rude and my comment was unjustified.
They offered me a £35pm 18mo contract and Id have to pay £X for the handset whereas I picked up the Touch HD from Phones4U online for £30pm 18mo contract, free handset. Cost me £15 to unlock, £1 for a T-Mobile SIM, £5 to top up and 1 week to transfer my number from Orange to T-Mobile and back to Orange.
It does not surprise me that Orange have been flagged up here and I thank you for your post. Since receiving my Touch HD approximately 3 weeks ago, I have used £1.69 of data outside the Free Evenings/Weekends Orange World usage plan which is tacked onto your contract for free.
It also saddens me that Orange has probably the worst data rates of all of the providers. I would have switched if only I was able to get the HTC Touch HD on another network.
One piece of humour I found when talking to a guy from Phones4U in store is that both O2 and T-Mobile refused to stock the Touch HD because it failed to meet their quality standards, same with previous HTC models. The Phones4U stores refused to stock the Touch HD as the previous HTC's had too many problems. I have to say, I loved my LG Viewty when I got that 18 months ago but the Touch HD blows away anything I have used previous.
gmmatharu12 - I hope your issue is resolved and I will be keeping a close eye on this thread regarding the data situation with Orange. We can only hope they improve their customer service to meet the standard of network service tthey provide.
I had a similar problem with Orange, only I didnt have any data package to exceed. I didn't really even use it to any great ammount, browsing for football scores a few times in the month maybe.
Then I recieve a bill for £130, £70-odd pounds worth of data.
Naturally I queried it and I stopped my direct debit until they could explain it a bit more. At the time I had a SE K850i and I was supposed to have downloaded over 30MB of data in the six times I connected up over the course of the month.
Because they cannot log where you visited or what you downloaded there was no way of proving I had used that ammount (I assure you I couldn't have d/l that much just browsing a few times).
Anyway, the customer services chap explained that ALL Orange tarifs should have a policy where the MAXIMUM data charge one could acrue over the space of 24hrs is £1.47 and my account must have "slipped through the net". So I agreed to pay the maximum daily charge for the 6 occasions I did use the web, and they credited the rest.
Try to see if this is stated anywhere in their T&C's, you definately have a case.
Elcs said:
Orange Customer Service is absolutely useless to the degree of insanity.
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Amen Brother.
Elcs said:
I had difficulties with their Upgrades team not providing me with a good upgrade onto the HTC Touch HD. I ended a rather frustrated and unproductive conversation with "Thank you for your help but I think I am going to look elsewhere as Orange are not offering me a competitive deal".
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Snap. I ended up going to O2 from a mobiles.co.uk deal. I guess Orange actually did me a favour trying to charge me for the phone. I had renewed 12 years in a row and really wasn't getting value compared to new customes or customers on other networks. Them forcing my hand saved me a few bob so for that - I thank them.
Elcs said:
Two minutes later, a call on my mobile from another mobile... it was the customer representative from Orange calling me to complain, say that I was rude and my comment was unjustified.
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Can you believe I could have had exactly the same contract from mobiles.co.uk that Orange were offering me, only with a free phone, and Orange would have had to have paid mobiles.co.uk a commision. And they still wouldn't match it!
3 weeks into my O2 contract - no issues so far.
3 weeks using my Touch HD - Lovin it.
Nasher79 said:
Amen Brother.
Snap. I ended up going to O2 from a mobiles.co.uk deal. I guess Orange actually did me a favour trying to charge me for the phone. I had renewed 12 years in a row and really wasn't getting value compared to new customes or customers on other networks. Them forcing my hand saved me a few bob so for that - I thank them.
Can you believe I could have had exactly the same contract from mobiles.co.uk that Orange were offering me, only with a free phone, and Orange would have had to have paid mobiles.co.uk a commision. And they still wouldn't match it!
3 weeks into my O2 contract - no issues so far.
3 weeks using my Touch HD - Lovin it.
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Much the same story for me. I've been with Orange for about 14 years and where I cannot complain about the signal/call quality in that time I have noticed a complete disintegration of their customer services.
Same issues where I wanted the HD for free but they said I'd have to pay £179 - even though their own website was offering it for free (all be it on a 24 month contract which i didn't mind signing because like I say the signal/call quality where I am is excellent).
In my experience - Orange have always charged £1 per meg for internet access but one word of warning people - their inclusive 500Mb is only orange world pages - I was told that if you navigate away you will be told that the page is going to be charged for but I don't think that is the case - you seem to be told that "this page is free" and I assume that if you don't see that then you are charged. It's only my opinion, I have yet to confirm this from customer services but can't be bothered spending the 45 minutes you have to wait to actually get to speak to someone
Maybe it is just me but... i've been with orange for about 10 years and i have never had a bad experience with their customer service. Of all the companies i've ever dealt with they have by far and away the best customer service. always been helpful and polite to me.
When the guy on upgrades couldn't offer me a decent deal on the HD he gve me the direct line number for retentions and told me what to say to them to get the best deal and it worked.
Also found there insurance to be excellent, i've rang up at 10pm at night with a dodgy handset and had a shiny new one there at 9am the following morning... can't really get any better than that.
I have an option on my account for the 500mb unlimited bundle but my account also shows up as having the OW capped daily usage so i guess this is what was referrend to earlier about being charged a maximum per day.
Well I've very recently switched to Orange from T-Mobile, I wasn't having great signal coverage with T-Mobile and decided that I could switch to Orange for the HD.
When I brought the phone I queried the Data plans, I had seen a deal on the t'interweb and ws happy to sign up as long as I had similar flexibility with connection as I did with Web'n'Walk.
What I was sold was an 'unlimited' data plan.
2 days later I read online that there's a 500MB limit.
So I ring back and ask about this, as I wasn't told of the limit, I REALLY had to push to get a 'yes' response from them, that there was a 500MB limit.
I got a lot of 'You should be fine, its practically unlimited' and 'No-one really uses the full quota you'll be fine' and after I finally blew at them and basically said 'Look...you twats, yes or no 500MB limit or not?' then finally I got told yes.
So they do not clarify this data plan, over the phone, the description on the internet is not descriptive, you do not get warned about the upcoming 500MB boundary, sounds like an easy cash in for Orange.
Having read this thread, I will re-install my GPRS data counter that I used to have on my Kaiser, sounds like I'll need it.
I bet business users get treated a whole lot different.
i had the same problem with orange in m first month £60 pounds worth of data.
I argued with them and they said there was nothing they could do and billed me for the rest of the contract lenth!! £700 please.
so i Tried A orange pay as yo go sim card and for £10 a month(Dolphin Package) you get 300 hundred messeges and free access to facebook, Bebo and myspace a month but ive never got charged for going on the wap on my phone no matter what i access or i download!! BRILLIANT
And i get to keep this brilliant PHONE
Freypal said:
Maybe it is just me but... i've been with orange for about 10 years and i have never had a bad experience with their customer service. Of all the companies i've ever dealt with they have by far and away the best customer service. always been helpful and polite to me.
When the guy on upgrades couldn't offer me a decent deal on the HD he gve me the direct line number for retentions and told me what to say to them to get the best deal and it worked.
Also found there insurance to be excellent, i've rang up at 10pm at night with a dodgy handset and had a shiny new one there at 9am the following morning... can't really get any better than that.
I have an option on my account for the 500mb unlimited bundle but my account also shows up as having the OW capped daily usage so i guess this is what was referrend to earlier about being charged a maximum per day.
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I would have agreed with you up until recently. When it came to upgrading, they just werent interested in keeping my service, and actually got quite rude about it. Its pot luck whether you get a helpfull person answer your call or one of their not so helpfull staff, which to me seemed the majority towards the end.
Im pleased your content with their service. And im equally pleased I now have nothing to do with them.
Freypal said:
When the guy on upgrades couldn't offer me a decent deal on the HD he gve me the direct line number for retentions and told me what to say to them to get the best deal and it worked.
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I spoke to two people on their online customer services that suggested I would be able to secure the £30pm 24 mo contract for the HD which was an online exclusive.
The upgrades team, on my second attempt I got a helpful young gentleman who advised me that he could not offer that plan and the handset but he passed me through to retentions as he suggested they had access to better deals and as such should hook me up with something suitable.
Retentions were rather rude at which point I said that Orange Customer Services cant tell their "bum from their elbow" and asked for a definitive answer on my situation from a supervisor only to have no success.
I found it relatively easy to get my PAC off them and to transfer my number back in (even if customer services told me to ring 150 from my Orange phone and press option 1 option 1 for Transferring numbers)
Try the (very old) trick of speaking to the Executive Office. I don't know how - there's probably a number knocking around somewhere.
I check my usage online at the Orange site and would suggest others do the same.
For example:
data
250MB Internet Browsing megabytes remaining : 223.4153
Also, when you first get your phone, call them up and check with them what the package offers. Go through it word by word - and record the call (er, do stock ROMs include call recording software?) Failing that make notes of the deal, and the time of the call, so you can refer them back to it in a couple of months time.
TBH I'd do this with any operator, not just Orange.
It's probably not helpful to those of you on Orange contracts, but the O2 equivalent is actually effectively cap-less.
The 200MB only applies to PAYG, and when I phoned up to get the data bolt-on added to my account (contract through Mobiles.co.uk) I asked them about the data limit, their reply was basically along the lines of "there's no limit, as long as you don't take the piss". I use the mobile web on my HD very heavily, RSS feeds, mobile internet, weather updates, email, and I've never had any problems with the data.
I've never gone over my limit, but I was told by Orange customer service that due to the fact it's fair usage policy rather than a straight 500MB limit I'd have to use well over 1GB before they would start to charge me. I feel pretty cheated by them if that isn't the case, I guess I'm just lucky that I'm near Wi-Fi most of the time.
It seems ridiculous to sell a device that does all these things online, when the network won't even allow it. I'm talking about the 500mb fair usage policy (FUP) Vodafone place on their 'unlimited' mobile internet, when T-Mobile seems to allow you a 3GB limit.
But stop the press! I just got off the phone with Vodafone today and was told that they are in talks to INCREASE their FUP limit by Christmas! (in time for their take on the beloved iPhone). Does any one have any more information on this!? Because the FUP is the ONLY thing stopping me from getting the HD2 out from Vodafone now and not wait for T-Mobile!
Also, does anyone have any experience with Vodafone/T-Mobile voice and data coverage in the UK? That would be a big factor too in deciding which network provider to sign with.
I use TMobile in the Midlands and have no problem with voice and data reception, still waiting for my HD2 to arrive so cant comment if the reception is any better or worse than my Kaiser
serk1284 said:
It seems ridiculous to sell a device that does all these things online, when the network won't even allow it. I'm talking about the 500mb fair usage policy (FUP) Vodafone place on their 'unlimited' mobile internet, when T-Mobile seems to allow you a 3GB limit.
But stop the press! I just got off the phone with Vodafone today and was told that they are in talks to INCREASE their FUP limit by Christmas! (in time for their take on the beloved iPhone). Does any one have any more information on this!? Because the FUP is the ONLY thing stopping me from getting the HD2 out from Vodafone now and not wait for T-Mobile!
Also, does anyone have any experience with Vodafone/T-Mobile voice and data coverage in the UK? That would be a big factor too in deciding which network provider to sign with.
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The 500Mb FUP is the reason I left Orange when I had an Omnia HD. Stupid limit.
T-Mobile are excellent - even though they didnt work out for me - heres why:
I went in to get a HTC Hero - did the Street Check online - had excellent coverage and good 3G coverage. Got a great contract and the staff were very good. Got home - which is in a little town called leek (just outside Stoke) and had no 3g coverage at all. Left it a few days just in case it sprung to life then rang customer services. The very nice lady told me they have two versions of the coverage checker - one for customers and one for their Techies - the Techie one showed zero 3G coverage even though the online street check showed good coverage.
The T-mobile guys were great and I returned the phone no fuss - but be wary of the street checker - ring them to double check. There network seemed excellent and they will soon be merged with Orange who have a significant 3G network. If I had coverage I would defo go with T-mobile...
serk1284 said:
I'm talking about the 500mb fair usage policy (FUP) Vodafone place on their 'unlimited' mobile internet, when T-Mobile seems to allow you a 3GB limit.
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T-Mobile nearly always has a one gigabyte limit. They make an exception for one or two Android-based phones, such as the Hero, which have a lot of constantly updating widgets - for those phones only, if you buy the phone from T-Mobile, you will get a 3GB limit. As far as I'm aware the limit on an HD2 will be 1GB - but it might be worth checking this with T-Mobile customer services.
T-Mobile also block some ports on their standard internet service so you can't use MSN Messenger on it, or access certain websites at all (e.g. iPlayer).
I just went with Vodafone as the T-Mobile signal is poor where I live. Almost went with O2 as there have the same Fair Usage Policy as T-Mobile but the Vodafone have a pay as you go option which is a max of 50p per day with a limit of 25 Meg. As I would not use my Phone for internet all that much it is the best option for me. As I don’t need to pay an extra £7.50 a month but can us it when ever I want and not pay through the noise for it.
For myself, the benefits of Vodafone, outweigh the downside of having only 500MB of data. I've never gone over my data for the month, and find it quite hard usually, to go over 15MB a day (roughly what 500MB is over the month). I use SPB Wireless Monitor to keep track of it.
It is nice to hear that Vodafone might be increasing this limit tho.
Shasarak said:
T-Mobile nearly always has a one gigabyte limit. They make an exception for one or two Android-based phones, such as the Hero, which have a lot of constantly updating widgets - for those phones only, if you buy the phone from T-Mobile, you will get a 3GB limit. As far as I'm aware the limit on an HD2 will be 1GB - but it might be worth checking this with T-Mobile customer services.
T-Mobile also block some ports on their standard internet service so you can't use MSN Messenger on it, or access certain websites at all (e.g. iPlayer).
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lol. T-Mobile have 3 versions of internet for mobiles. Basic Web and Walk with 1Gb fair use policy and blocked ports. Web & Walk plus with 3Gb fair use and open for MSN etc and Laptop Tethering, and Web & Walk Max which has a 10Gb fair use policy and is open for everything including Skype and other VOIP calling. The difference in price between basic and Plus is about £3 -£5. All of these packages are available to all phones.
Shasarak said:
T-Mobile nearly always has a one gigabyte limit. They make an exception for one or two Android-based phones, such as the Hero, which have a lot of constantly updating widgets - for those phones only, if you buy the phone from T-Mobile, you will get a 3GB limit. As far as I'm aware the limit on an HD2 will be 1GB - but it might be worth checking this with T-Mobile customer services.
T-Mobile also block some ports on their standard internet service so you can't use MSN Messenger on it, or access certain websites at all (e.g. iPlayer).
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I have standard TMobile web and walk and can use MSN Messenger with no problems
Gajet said:
lol. T-Mobile have 3 versions of internet for mobiles. Basic Web and Walk with 1Gb fair use policy and blocked ports. Web & Walk plus with 3Gb fair use and open for MSN etc and Laptop Tethering, and Web & Walk Max which has a 10Gb fair use policy and is open for everything including Skype and other VOIP calling. The difference in price between basic and Plus is about £3 -£5. All of these packages are available to all phones.
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All of these may be available, but the point is that you have to pay extra for them. By contrast, other providers don't block ports in their standard Internet packages.
Shasarak said:
All of these may be available, but the point is that you have to pay extra for them. By contrast, other providers don't block ports in their standard Internet packages.
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Depends how you view it. I would argue that their standard is web & walk plus, that allows you to tether, which O2 for instance would charge you an extra £15 on top of your data bundle to do. However T-mobile also offer a budget basic package for people who just want the football results on saturdays.
Gajet said:
Depends how you view it. I would argue that their standard is web & walk plus, that allows you to tether, which O2 for instance would charge you an extra £15 on top of your data bundle to do. However T-mobile also offer a budget basic package for people who just want the football results on saturdays.
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My point is that if you pay the advertised price for a T-Mobile phone you will not get Web'n'Walk Plus (unless it's a G1 or a G2, which are special cases). You get the Plus version if you pay £5 more per month than the advertised price. If the purpose that you want to use the connection for requires one of the ports that is blocked on the standard service, you need to be aware of this.
The discussion started because someone suggested that a 3GB limit is standard on T-Mobile, and it isn't - it's only standard if you buy a G1 or a G2. Otherwise it costs extra. You could reasonably argue that T-Mobile's upgraded package is better than other carriers' upgraded packages, but we need to make sure that people who decide to buy (say) an HD2 from T-Mobile aren't expecting to get the "Plus" package without playing extra for it.
I think there are also heavier restrictions on Web'n'Walk Plus than there are on a standard "Mobile Broadband" package. If you get a 3GB per month package from O2 you can do pretty much what you like with it up to the the 3GB limit. But (under the terms of your contract) you're not allowed to download audio or video over a Web'n'Walk Plus connection, or make Skype calls. (You need to upgrade to the Max version for that).
Shasarak said:
I think there are also heavier restrictions on Web'n'Walk Plus than there are on a standard "Mobile Broadband" package. If you get a 3GB per month package from O2 you can do pretty much what you like with it up to the the 3GB limit. But (under the terms of your contract) you're not allowed to download audio or video over a Web'n'Walk Plus connection, or make Skype calls. (You need to upgrade to the Max version for that).
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With O2 you can't tether to your laptop
T-Mobile said:
How does Mobile Broadband Plus work?
As well as basic browsing and emailing, you'll be able to take full advantage of what the web has to offer, which means you can:
Send instant messages - chat with your friends in real-time
Stream video - watch clips on YouTube
Update your blog - write when inspiration strikes
Download - save and view music, image and movie files
How does Mobile Broadband Max work?
It's exactly the same as web'n'walk Plus except you can use voice over the internet (VoIP) software, such as Skype and Jajah.com, which allows you to make phone calls and instant message with people all over the world.
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Also with T-mobile you build your own package, so not sure what is advertised The final cost of the total bill determines the handset price. Which is why I've always had W&W Plus and never paid more than a standard £35 pm contract.
Gajet said:
so not sure what is advertised
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Then allow me to enlighten you. If you go, for example here:
http://www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk/Brands/HTC/b509/n447/p27241.aspx#tabsAnchor
you will see an HD2 for sale on contract with T-Mobile. It costs £35 a month, 18-month contract, phone is free, it gives you 700 minutes, "unlimited texts", and "unlimited mobile web". Do you imagine that this deal will give you Web'n'Walk Plus? Obviously, it won't. If you see a T-Mobile deal advertised as "unlimited internet" or "unlimited web", then what that means is that if you pay the amount of money mentioned in the advert, you will get the basic Web'n'Walk package. If you want the "Plus" package then you will have to pay another £5 per month over and above the cost of "unlimited web" to get it.
T-Mobile's own advertising is similar: if you want Web'n'Walk Plus you have to pay £5 a month more than you have to pay for the same phone with the standard Internet package.
Now seriously, this discussion is getting boring, so let's leave it at that.
Never had a problem with T-Mo, even the 2 months I went over 1GB (only by a hundred MB or so). Didn't even hear from them. On the other hand the only horror stories I've read with people getting enormous over-data charges (both local and roaming) have ALL been with Vodafone.
Data was slow at times a year ago but seems ok now. I also get far better reception at home & work on T-Mo with poor/no reception last time I was on Voda, but that's obviously a local issue and will vary, but it was a deciding factor for me..
Likewise despite the T&Cs saying messenger isn't allowed on the baic service, I've always been able to get on no problem.
recently tmobile had a promotional offer which ended in febuary pay and go £10 top up unlimited txt n web.i got the sim because i use it as modem on my shift i can access many sites the only problem i have is msn i dont know if w7 is causing the issue of signing in or tmobile.but when i use the sim on my hd2 msn works fine as long as i untick proxy.i discoverd if the proxy is ticked the auto update of email dosent work or msn so i unticked it.i have used the tmobile sim from streaming to large file downloads they havnt complained although they do have a slower connection then o2.i stopped using o2 they started complaining then they barded me.
i used tmobile sim as modem for few months i think i used more then 3gb
If you go over your plan limit then T-mobile will throttle your usage between 16.00 and 00.00 (midnight) by restricting your access to gprs speed for certain connections (streaming of video is barred etc).
Other than that it's business as usual.
Hey guys, like you, even though we have to manually do alot to get our HD2's in perfect condition. I wanted to hip you all to something that I'm currently taking advantage of, which is saving me major money each month.
Went to Wal-Mart on the lauch date of the infamous HD2, and paid full price for one, thinking that it would end up saving me money in the long run, because I had my own equiptment, therefore, I wasn't under a 2 year aggreement for T-Mobile.
Went to the T-Mobile store to get setup with service. Deciding on getting the T-Mobile unlimited everything plan (voice,sms,data) it ended up costing me around $92 a month (including taxes, fee's, and the $5 discount). So, I began thinking, "this is not the significant discount I was looking for". I asked the salesman what was the benefit of me purchasing this phone outright, he told me that if I got the same package and features, with the phone discount, under contract, it would cost me around $120-$130 a month. I began to seek other options to lower my bill. However, I was hesitant to lower anything, because I did one time, and got fuked over with crazy overage charges! I even thought about switching it over to AT&T, but then realized I'd be loosing out on the high speed data, because of the incompatibilities of the 3G radios between the 2 networks (and who wants edge speed on a smartphone these days!).
Then I did some research and found out about Simple Mobile, this is a Virtual carrier of T-Mobile (like how Virgin is to Verizon, and Boost is to Sprint). Anyway, after a couple of emails, and phone calls, I decided to make the switch. I found a nearby retailer (or u can check them out online) And I never looked back!
I now play EXACTLY $60 a month, for unlimited everything (voice,sms,data). And I was able to port and keep my same number. While this is truly great in of itself. Another great feature is because it's still a subsiary of T-Mobile, I didn't have to software unlock the HD2 at all. It was literally a matter of taking the old Sim card out and putting the new one in. The only thing that I did have to reconfig was the internet settings and the MMS settings to be able to have those 2 things function correctly. (which is very easy, I provided a link to the instructions below)
Instructions on changing internet settings and MMS settings.
http://www.mobile-files.us/showthread.php?2245-HD2-wap-mms-settings-for-SimpMo
The internet is exactly the same, I'm still getting the H icon at the top, with about 4 MB sec speeds. Call quality and range is the same, and so is the txting features. Because it's using the same T-Mobile towers as before. (which T-Mobile is very good, in Costa Mesa, CA )
Don't know about you all, but especially in these times, when money is tight, I have to really buckle down to budget and plan for big ticket items. So when I spend $400+ on a device. I truly want to be able to see more of the savings, in the long run. And thats how I cut my bill in half! They even offer plans at $30 and $40 if you don't want or need unlimited data for your phone, therefore saving your even more money.
This may not help some of you guys out there, but if your like me, and not in a contract, or you may be in a contract, and thinking this may be a better route for you in the long run (make sure you do your math beforehand, and make sure your savings outweigh your ETF from T-Mobile) I just wanted to let you know, that you do have an option out there.
Simple Mobile
http://www.mysimplemobile.com/
Hope it helps!
Eddie
so are you truly getting 3g speed? this sounds promising.
smokeingit said:
so are you truly getting 3g speed? this sounds promising.
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Yes sir, I sure am, it displays the H icon, so I know its the HSDPA speed, which is alittle faster then 3G...however, i'm not sure if its the new HSDPA+ that you might have been hearing lately. I say that because, I dont believe WM have a status icon to show you that (because the technology is so new), so my theory is that, IF the HD2 supports it, AND its is getting the HSDPA+ signal, it'll still show the H icon at the top right of the device. But to answer your question, its DEFINITELY gets the high speed, because its still using the same towers!
I have friend that works in one of those smokes, cell, and gun stores and he has been trying to get me into this program.
It's good to go and legit.
Unfortunately I am only 6 months into my new 2 year contract...had to for my $190 Leo.
dangit.
I believe this has been discussed many times already.....
Simple mobile does not provide unlimited data. I believe it's still capped at 1GB/month. Which is a big no no for people who like to tether and abuse the network.....
calc said:
I believe this has been discussed many times already.....
Simple mobile does not provide unlimited data. I believe it's still capped at 1GB/month. Which is a big no no for people who like to tether and abuse the network.....
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So your saying their "Unlimited Everything Talk, Text & Web" plan, which is labeled as "New", is not actually unlimited?
Paten said:
So your saying their "Unlimited Everything Talk, Text & Web" plan, which is labeled as "New", is not actually unlimited?
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http://consumerist.com/2010/07/simple-mobile-unlimited-data-plan-is-of-course-secretly-limited.html
http://www.prepaidreviews.com/blog/mvno/simple-mobile-limits-unlimited-data-plan-36148/
Both reported and the end of July of this year.... so unless something has changed in 3 months time, NO it is not unlimited.
I was suckered into a new mobile phone plan with a new company called Simple Mobile. They are a T-mobile MVNO (essentially a reseller) claiming to offer UNLIMITED talk, text, and data for $60/mo.
The reality is... Their $60 plan is NOT unlimited. When you hit 1000MB in one month your data service is simply terminated without warning.
They will offer to sell you an additional 100MB for $10. This policy is not stated anywhere on their website. If you call or write and complain, they will simply tell you to go elsewhere and will not provide any refund.
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I mean really............. just think about it for a minute, do you really think T-Mobile is going to allow another company to use their network and infrastructure all the while having them undercut their own prices too.....not to mention the toll and expense of all pushing out all that bandwidth at "unlimited" rates.
calc said:
I believe this has been discussed many times already.....
Simple mobile does not provide unlimited data. I believe it's still capped at 1GB/month. Which is a big no no for people who like to tether and abuse the network.....
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All I can do , is speak from my experience. Since having this service, I KNOW that I used more than 1GB (stream music all day, watch YouTube, use it for general internet browsing, and logging into my Orb media server at home, and streaming TV from my PC). So I would definitely consider myself a above average data user, and have not once, been capped or throttled (trust, I would be *****ing and complaining, with everyone else). I've even checked my usage online to see it and its a little under 2Gigs of data transfer, and everything is ok. I not sure if maybe I have a magic bean, VIP, IMEI on my device (joke-e-joke ) , which is given unlimited data usage, without penalty, or maybe they've modified their contract and upped the data usage cap or something. Again, I can only speak from my personal experiences, within the last 3 months, reguarding my device and service. I don't use my phone for tethering, but I do consider myself a heavy data usage user and not had any problems regarding their quality of service thus far.
Get rid of the unlimited voice and txt, then with this guide I wrote:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=19619155#post19619155
You can cut your phone bill even more sharply. I'm paying about ~$20/month right now depending on my voice usage when out and about.
This could have a big impact main reason I went with them was for the 3 gig fup that come with Android handsets
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=907530
Yep me too. I ONLY picked T-Mob cos of the 3GB FUP.
I'll be complaining about this and will go to Ofcom as well just to see what stink I can kick up.
Shamefully, T-Mob are still advertising the 3GB FUP and sales staff are still selling it to new customers. Disgrace. As of 12/01/01 T-Mob still advertising their wonderful 3GB FUP: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/uk/fairuse/?WT.mc_id=fup
Bait & Switch anyone?
Daz555 said:
Yep me too. I ONLY picked T-Mob cos of the 3GB FUP.
I'll be complaining about this and will go to Ofcom as well just to see what stink I can kick up.
Shamefully, T-Mob are still advertising the 3GB FUP and sales staff are still selling it to new customers. Disgrace. As of 12/01/01 T-Mob still advertising their wonderful 3GB FUP: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/uk/fairuse/?WT.mc_id=fup
Bait & Switch anyone?
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according to T&C's we are supposed to have 30 days notice of changes (at least according to which?), personally not that fussed as I am saving on my line rental (having come from Vodafone) and data limit will be the same, except T-mobile wont charge me if I go over the limit, unlike Vodafone
ghostofcain said:
according to T&C's we are supposed to have 30 days notice of changes (at least according to which?), personally not that fussed as I am saving on my line rental (having come from Vodafone) and data limit will be the same, except T-mobile wont charge me if I go over the limit, unlike Vodafone
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Correct but once you do go over that limit you'll be able to browse only, no youtube, no gmail downloads... I have read that everything bar port 80 is blocked & any app which needs others will refuse to work. Very sneaky & undrhand Which are involved with this now too.
smudgelab said:
Correct but once you do go over that limit you'll be able to browse only, no youtube, no gmail downloads... I have read that everything bar port 80 is blocked & any app which needs others will refuse to work. Very sneaky & undrhand Which are involved with this now too.
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I agree, however at least they do not charge £5 or more if you go a little over limit but Tmobile should just at least increase the limit to 750MB like on Orange's Panther price plan.
The 3Gb data allowance was a huge factor in my continued business with T-Mobile. I appreciate that the small print allows them to do what they like but an 80% cut??? That is outrageous. I signed up for two years to a service that no longer meets my needs. Who do we complain to?
Didn't you guys get the text , I got it on ky original desire 'T-Mobile customers can now cancel they're contract with immediate effect due to changes in T-Mobiles T&C. For more information call Mobile Outlet ' bruv you don't have to pay as well so if you take out another contract very similar its like getting a free phone
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
You are saved!
http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=home&cat=DATA_CHANGES
T-Mobile Statement:
“On Monday 10 January 2011 we announced that, in line with the rest of the industry, T-Mobile would be reducing its Fair Use Policy for data usage to 500MB a month for all mobile phone customers. Following a further review of our policy, these changes will now be introduced from 1 February, to new and upgrading customers only - not existing customers.
There will be no change to the data packages for existing customers for the duration of their contract and we apologise for any confusion caused. The revision to the Fair Use Policy is designed to ensure an improved quality of service for all mobile internet users."
Lysa Hardy, VP, T-Mobile UK
Information on new data policy:
From 1 February 2011 new and upgrading customers will be given a monthly 500MB data allowance. There will be no charge for those customers exceeding that limit, and those who do will still be able to access important services such as email and web browsing, however file downloading and streaming services will be restricted. Customers will then have the option to increase their monthly Fair Use Policy to 1GB a month by purchasing a Mobile Broadband Booster. This will ensure an improved quality of service for all of our mobile internet users.
i feel so much better now phoned up and had a right good complain about it and it seems everyones threats to cancel have worked they have back tracked
T-Mob have a made a right hash of this but at least they have had a flash of good sense and now left existing customers alone.
This leaves me not having to be concerned about this for another 18 months by which time the market will have moved again.
If they make any changes to my contract ill quit and move to giff gaff (www.giffgaff.com) really unlimited internet (well downloaded 15gb and got a warning which I think is a big limit to go over anyway)
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Just been on the phone to T-Mo cancellations and can confirm they've back tracked and that now existing customers still get their 3GB allowance for the duration of their contract.
Good job too, 3 network were soooo close to getting a new customer today!
A win for people power
Tmobile backs down after a day but now i wonder how much the "mobile broadband boaster" will cost if I want to keep my 1GB. Full Tmobile statement here
I wanted to cancel and take out a new one ah well
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