Database Users

Orange Data E-Petition

I know its a long shot, but instead of moaning about the data charges, lets see if we can do something about them. Please sign and circulate this petiton link to any i.t./technology/mobile website you can think of.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/orangedata/
"We, the undersigned, ask that Orange U.K. offer an unlimited data plan for multimedia handsets.
We believe that constant internet connectivity is what makes these handsets great; it is the essential point: having omnipresent and fast access to the internet and our data. The terrific hardware, software, and platform design serve this purpose. For example, the new H.T.C. Touch H.D. is now being used by Microsoft in their "Life Without Walls" campaign. However low data allowances from Orange as opposed to other mobile service providers in the U.K., serves only to negate this inference of digital freedom.
If we cannot use our devices to their full potential for fear of 'going over our limit', then they cannot function as it was intended. If we must hesitate before using it, it is broken.
Therefore, we ask that Orange offer an unlimited data plan for our multimedia, internet dependent mobile telephones."

Why won't you just ask for a better deal?
When I have signed up for new contract with orange (used to be with o2) I have just told them over the phone, that I won't take it without them giving me higher data allowance. The guy put me on hold and after like 5 minutes he said that they can offer me upgrade from 250mb to 1Gb. No extra cost!
Well... today I have send the mobile back - sadly reception at work was so poor that there was no point keeping the contract and mobile - what use is it if you can't use it? I'm waiting for o2 - and I'm getting HD from them...

The Orange plan is marketed as 'unlimited'. But subject to a ridiculous 'fair usage' clause of 250MB (or is it 500MB).

ec30 said:
The Orange plan is marketed as 'unlimited'. But subject to a ridiculous 'fair usage' clause of 250MB (or is it 500MB).
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It's an enforced 250mb - instead of being a "we expect it to be about this much for average use" it's actually a case of "use more, and we charge you per MB"
Vodafone have their limit at 500mb, T-Mobile is 1GB
O2, however, does not state a limit at all for their consumer contracts (PAYG and Business are 200MB though!) and merely say "please don't take the piss"
Apparently it has been said that O2 semi-publicly state that they have not yet applied a limit to any of their consumer customers.
In my opinion the reason Orange is lagging behind here is that they've not really had a particularly well advertised or developed mobile internet service on their phones. O2 has iPhone and Bolt Ons, Voda has Blackberry (and possibly the most developed HSDPA network in the UK), T-Mobile has Web-N-Walk, Orange has...... um.....

oldmanofskye said:
Why won't you just ask for a better deal?
When I have signed up for new contract with orange (used to be with o2) I have just told them over the phone, that I won't take it without them giving me higher data allowance. The guy put me on hold and after like 5 minutes he said that they can offer me upgrade from 250mb to 1Gb. No extra cost!
Well... today I have send the mobile back - sadly reception at work was so poor that there was no point keeping the contract and mobile - what use is it if you can't use it? I'm waiting for o2 - and I'm getting HD from them...
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Do you think I didn't try that? This is part of the problem with Orange, they give one thing to one person and another to another. I have been with them for twelve years and am apparantly rated as premium (bill usually round the £100 each month) and was told there was no way they could offer an increased data allowance. If you don't mind pm'ing me your name, I might ring them back and ask why I was lied to...
However this is not the point. The point is is that these devices should be coming with decent data packages as standard now as they are multimedia devices.
I've actually got off the phone from a mate at Microsoft. I asked him about the 250mb limit wall in their "life without walls" campaign, and suggested that if Microsoft are advertising Orange products, they should be asking them to match what the rival iphone has as a data tariff. I also suggested that the phone should be better set up out of the box for the 90% of Joe Public who are never going to come to this forum, and think their new toy is broke because of no sms sent confirmation, rubbish alarm and the duplicate contacts issue.
He's asked me to put it all in an email, and is going to get the "Windows Mobile Team" to call me tomorrow to hear my ideas. Incidently, he has heard that no WM7 for a year from now, and hadn't even heard when/if 6.5 is due. He did say he'd played with 7 and it was, "****** amazing".

have a look at the business prices here:
http://www.business.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?c=OUKPage&cid=1044131837716&pagename=Business
I've just upgraded 2 handsets with Orange business this week and got the unlimited (5gb I guess?) packages for less than a tenner each after some complaining and being put through to retentions

That looks like mobile broadband,
Not quite the same thing, as one usually uses a usb stick and the other is data from phone.

500 Meg... It won't last very long, will it?!

Had my Hero on Orange for a few days now, and used loads of megabytes already! I installed NetCounter, and I'm using around 30 meg a day! Not sure what to do to be honest, installed Opera Mini and am using that for now, which saves a few meg, but I may need to get an additional bolt on! Any suggestions on how to save the megabytes? It would be silly to turn off all the widgets, as they'd half of what makes this phone so cool but there might not be much choice if you want to keep inside your allowance!

I find that I'm using 50-100 MB/day. Maybe it'll be less once the novelty wears off ;-)
You can switch off the "Always online" mode in the wireless settings. Or pay another 10GBP/mo for unlimited internet access...

I know its not very helpful...
I know its not very helpful, but that is half the reason I took my orange one back and got an upgrade on my T-Mobile contract which has a 3GB limit.
I did ask the Orange store guys and they said that you can buy extra 250MB allocations, can't remember exactly how much it was, but I don't remember it being that bad.
Also its worth bearing in mind that your data usage is likely to go down as you are likely to install less apps as you go. Of course I guess it depends on how often the authors update the apps that you have installed.
I would definitely keep a close eye on usage though, you don't want to start paying the £3 per MB tariff. And I guess trying to hookup to WiFi as often as possible would be a good idea.
I'm sure that if you get enough orange users together you might be able to pressure them into extra allowances as it could definitely hurt their sales if they get a bad rep for selling a phone without enough data allowance to use properly (this is why T-Mobile force you to take the upgraded data allowance package, less headaches for everybody all round).
Remember if you got an upgrade over the phone or online you have 7 days to return it (and swap to T-Mobile). If not I would start a new thread as a petition to Orange.

500Mb is not enough. I called Orange about this and said 500Mb is not a reasonable level of data with modern data based phones. She said she was unable to help and couldn't increase the amount of data on my account. So I'm using the recent T&C changes to get out of the Orange contract early and going to T-Mobile to get a Hero.

you can always ring Orange and check what they say in terms of the data you have used, mine is wildly under what my data counter is showing

you can get ann additional 1Gb bundle on orange, its £10 a month

think that's what I'm going to have to do... Disappointing that they don't sell a larger add on so I can use it as a modem too and not worry, eg a 3 gig bundle add on for £15.

you guys need to relax, lol the first few days i used a scary amount of data, but the novelty definately wears off now im uisng about 60mb a week as i mostly used wifi at home and i can steal carphone wearhouse wifi while im in work hehe. tbh i think 500mb is enough, altho 1gb would be nice and safe amount!
also ive heard that orange will let you off if you got over the 500mb they dont start charging right away. itso nly if you take the piss and go over by say 500mb evey month htye might charge you.

incorrect I'm afraid. Since Orange stopped advertising it as unlimited subject to fair use and started calling it 500mb they will charge you as soon as you go over.

I was concerned that 500MB was not going to be enough. T-Mobile offers 3GB. Much better.

TheBrit said:
I was concerned that 500MB was not going to be enough. T-Mobile offers 3GB. Much better.
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Note sure if its 3GB maybe 1GB????

100 meg in an hour if you like to stream music to your phone. 200meg a day of you tether. 500 doesn't make me feel comfortable.

robboy said:
Note sure if its 3GB maybe 1GB????
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I was told 3GB in the shop. I will check the T&Cs.

TheBrit said:
I was told 3GB in the shop. I will check the T&Cs.
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They don't have a limit now, its just "Unlimited". When I spoke to T-Mobile, they removed the cap, but do have a fair usage amount, "within reason" what ever that means.

In the small print, the fair use is defined as 3GB, but if you somehow manage to go over that they won't do anything unless you constantly do or by a really excessive amount.

Ok. I checked my T&Cs and I have w&w+ which is 3GB and also allows tethering. Standard w&w says tethering is against T&Cs and is 1GB.

Or you have an unlimited data plan... I kept my plan after returning my Touch Diamond (introduced for a short while to counter iPhone madness) due to too may issues... Orange changed my handset and I kept the call plan.
Unlimited data is very relaxing to use... especially for tethering my then Nokia and using as a modem for my MacBook Pro.
Shame the Hero won't tether with my Mac

Benji Lad said:
500Mb is not enough. I called Orange about this and said 500Mb is not a reasonable level of data with modern data based phones. She said she was unable to help and couldn't increase the amount of data on my account. So I'm using the recent T&C changes to get out of the Orange contract early and going to T-Mobile to get a Hero.
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hi, what T&C changes - i would love to get out of my orange contract early - i have had a constant nightmare with them the last 6 wks over data charges on my hd touch phone

I've been on Vodafone for a week, and according to a text they just sent me, I have only used 30 MB of data. I'm pretty happy with that to be honest and might just ramp up my mobile usage. On the website however they do list every little fart you make. I have some things on the my Vodafone page where there is a usage of 9.1 KB.

supadupahands said:
you can always ring Orange and check what they say in terms of the data you have used, mine is wildly under what my data counter is showing
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Could you tell me how to do this?

HD2 on Vodafone v T-Mobile & Fair Usage Policy

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.

Slow Data Speeds? T-Mobile Contracts via 3rd Party Reseller

Not really Nexus S related but just wanted to make people aware when buying mobiles via a 3rd party reseller such as Phones4U etc.
Internet Speed
I found syncing emails, browsing and youtube to be painfully slow so decided to run a few speed tests. My download speed was being capped at 360-380kbps!
Decided to do some research and found that...
T-Mobile only allow 3rd party resellers to include the internet as an added booster which limits you to 3G only and no HSPDA ... hence the crap speeds!
I've had to call up and pay a further £5 a month to have the 'Internet Plus' booster added which increases my usage to 3GB and speeds up to HSPDA. This is included as standard if you buy any Android handset direct from T-Mobile.
Results are..
Before:
Test 1 = 35kbps Download & 24kbps Upload
Test 2 = 329kbps Download & 97kbps Upload
Test 3 = 317kbps Download & 57kbps Upload
After (1min after calling customer services):
Test 1 = 1175kbps Download & 475kbps Upload
Test 2 = 1726kbps Download & 446kbps Upload
I'm not a heavy data user but even I noticed how slow it was, the difference is shocking.
I tried to play dumb and get them to upgrade for free as i know a few people have had sucess with this but it appears all the technical support team are now clued up. They knew that i didn't purchase the phone direct.
Just a heads up

So you're saying that when you sign up for a T-Mo contract through Phones4U or possibly CPW they'll put a speed capped data plan on your contract?!
That's definitely something to watch out for in future, I bet it's hidden deep in their T&C where an average punter wouldn't find it or understand the implications.

Yep.
For example my plan is £25 500 texts 600mins.
Purchased direct from T-Mobile
500 texts
600 mins
Tmobiles Internet Plus (3GB Internet Package allowing HSPDA speeds)
Purchased via Phones4u
500 texts
600 mins
Tmobiles Internet Booster (1GB Internet Package only allowing up to 3G speeds)
That's why Phones4u can offer such a good deal .... sneaky tbh!

Reply from Phones4u...
http://support.phones4u.co.uk/pe/action/forums/displaythread?rootPostID=10127815&channelID=1&portalPageId=1002
Hi thoms04,
As this is one of the network's policies, it is not something that our advisors may have been aware of however I will certainly feed this information back throughout of business in order to ensure that this is known.
T-Mobile are certainly leading the way by offering their customers a 1Gb internet allowance as standard as most networks will only offer 500Mb, I am aware that T-Mobile however are changing this from the 1st February 2011 and will be lowering their 1Gb limit to 500 Mb for new customers (contract & upgrade).
This wont affect yourself however it may explain why they prefer to restrict the speeds available on their internet, we aren't legally required to make you aware of any of the network policies but we can make sure that we're aware if asked in future.
We're glad to hear that you have managed to obtain the speeds that you want however and thank you for providing this information so that we can make our teams aware.

I did this for free the other day, it might depend who you get I spoke to some American woman, just asked for the uncapped speed as I have an android handset and she added upgraded my unlimited data to Web & Walk Plus for free. I have been with t-mob for over a year though with a crappy nokia till I just got a nexus-s. original phone+contract was bought via third party, I'd give them a call and try again until you get someone who will do it for nothing

blueghostuk said:
I did this for free the other day, it might depend who you get I spoke to some American woman, just asked for the uncapped speed as I have an android handset and she added upgraded my unlimited data to Web & Walk Plus for free. I have been with t-mob for over a year though with a crappy nokia till I just got a nexus-s. original phone+contract was bought via third party, I'd give them a call and try again until you get someone who will do it for nothing
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I tried with 4 different people, you must have got a nice customer service rep! I know a few others had it upgraded for free also.
It used to be that you could pretend you purchased the phone direct from T-Mobile and they would just assume it was missed off and add it. However when i tried this they knew straight away that my handset was purchased via a 3rd Party.
They have also updated their T & C's recently stating that the handset needs to be purchased direct for it to qualify.
I'm not really that bothered as i have what i want, just wanted to make people aware so they don't get caught out.

thoms04 said:
I tried with 4 different people, you must have got a nice customer service rep! I know a few others had it upgraded for free also.
It used to be that you could pretend you purchased the phone direct from T-Mobile and they would just assume it was missed off and add it. However when i tried this they knew straight away that my handset was purchased via a 3rd Party.
They have also updated their T & C's recently stating that the handset needs to be purchased direct for it to qualify.
I'm not really that bothered as i have what i want, just wanted to make people aware so they don't get caught out.
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i negoiated my upgrade with T-Mo via their loyalties team. Once I did that I got my rate and specified I am using an Android smartphone I was put the smartphone FPU
What Phones4u sold you is the default tariff.
I had to get my phone from CPW I payed and extra 20 quid for the handset and CPW did not modify my plan.

dragon546 said:
i negoiated my upgrade with T-Mo via their loyalties team. Once I did that I got my rate and specified I am using an Android smartphone I was put the smartphone FPU
What Phones4u sold you is the default tariff.
I had to get my phone from CPW I payed and extra 20 quid for the handset and CPW did not modify my plan.
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I know that lol.
T-Mobile recently changed their T&C's so that it states that you must purchase the handset/contract direct from them.
Before they only stated that you needed to be using an Android handset on the T-Mobile network.

I read this on the way home just after buying my nexus s from carphone warehouse.
I rang T-Mobile and was told that to get decent data speed you need to have a bolt on called web and walk plus. I managed to get them to swap me over for free but still its bad pratice that they don't tell you about it up front.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

High data contract deals on the One (UK)

Hey all, yes I have searched through the various threads and used search but not finding very much posted about this anywhere so please don't all jump on me at once for creating another contracts thread...I want one specifically for high data users that will be buying or already own the 'One'.
I specifically use a fairly large amount of data, Usually around the 2.5gb mark each month. Sometimes bordering on 3gb....
Anyone else use this sort of data? If so who have you got a contract with?
Or if I'm the only one that has such a large data usage, how the hell do you all keep yours so low? I use wifi at home as well so in the mornings and evenings and most of the weekends I'm using that rather than my mobile data. But still somehow using lots of data (and no I'm not tethering. Have done once, but it's not regularly part of my usage)
So yeh, basically. Any tips on good deals with high data, low calls and texts, or tips on how to keep data usage down??
And although this could have been posted as a question, I would assume that there are other high data users that will be interested in the info posted here.

Re: High data contract deals UK
I've went with 3 as they're the only company that do Unlimited data as far as i know.

The War Horse said:
Hey all, yes I have searched through the various threads and used search but not finding very much posted about this anywhere so please don't all jump on me at once for creating another contracts thread...I want one specifically for high data users.
I specifically use a fairly large amount of data, Usually around the 2.5gb mark each month. Sometimes bordering on 3gb....
Anyone else use this sort of data? If so who have you got a contract with?
Or if I'm the only one that has such a large data usage, how the hell do you all keep yours so low? I use wifi at home as well so in the mornings and evenings and most of the weekends I'm using that rather than my mobile data. But still somehow using lots of data (and no I'm not tethering. Have done once, but it's not regularly part of my usage)
So yeh, basically. Any tips on good deals with high data, low calls and texts, or tips on how to keep data usage down??
And although this could have been posted as a question, I would assume that there are other high data users that will be interested in the info posted here.
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There are only three options for contracts for high (>1GB) data users. The best choice is the One plan from Three which gives you truly unlimited data including tethering and generally has good coverage IMHO. You can get a HTC One on the One Plan for £36/month on a 24 month plan.
The other option is the Full Monty plan from T-Mobile. Also a relatively expensive option vs. the very cheap Orange 1GB deals on dial-a-phone for example but it does give you unlimited data. I think is also £36/month but with £70 up front.
Alternatively you could get a 3 or 5 GB 4G plan from EE but that is the most expensive option and not unlimited but does give you high usage options and is 4G. (3GB is £46/month and 5GB £51/month)

Re: High data contract deals UK
My ee contract is £33.50 a month for 1000 mins 2000 texts and 4gb of data .
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

Razwaz said:
I've went with 3 as they're the only company that do Unlimited data as far as i know.
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They are amazing for data but are totally crap as far as CS goes so it'll be good to see any other possible options as I too am only aware of them as being good for high data users
tdingene said:
There are only three options for contracts for high (>1GB) data users. The best choice is the One plan from Three which gives you truly unlimited data including tethering and generally has good coverage IMHO. You can get a HTC One on the One Plan for £36/month on a 24 month plan.
The other option is the Full Monty plan from T-Mobile. Also a relatively expensive option vs. the very cheap Orange 1GB deals on dial-a-phone for example but it does give you unlimited data. I think is also £36/month but with £70 up front.
Alternatively you could get a 3 or 5 GB 4G plan from EE but that is the most expensive option and not unlimited but does give you high usage options and is 4G. (3GB is £46/month and 5GB £51/month)
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I think T-Mobiles 'Unlimited' data is in-fact really quite limited. Something like 1.5gb data I think, but I could be wrong
allmine1976 said:
My ee contract is £33.50 a month for 1000 mins 2000 texts and 4gb of data .
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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Where did you get this deal? And was it an upgrade?

Just out of interest, I've added a poll because I would really be interested in knowing what the data plans people have bought their one with......It seems not many have super high usage so I'd like to see what the rough figures were so far.....Are heavy users really as rare as they seem?

anything less than 1GB seems odd

ant78 said:
anything less than 1GB seems odd
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You never know. Lots of people I know use about 500 so maybe I'm just a madman for using almost 3gb lol.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using xda app-developers app

I decided to buy the handset SIM-free and then put a GiffGaff SIM in it. For £12 a month I get 250 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data, and I can cancel that any time I like, even just a single day before my next payment is taken.
Virgin has some quite good SIM-only deals too; if you don't mind being limited to 300 free texts a month, you can get unlimited data for £10 a month top-up.
My thinking was that, right now, I really don't want to get locked into a long contract because it's not at all clear what the different providers' 4G services are going to be like.

Shasarak said:
I decided to buy the handset SIM-free and then put a GiffGaff SIM in it. For £12 a month I get 250 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data, and I can cancel that any time I like, even just a single day before my next payment is taken.
Virgin has some quite good SIM-only deals too; if you don't mind being limited to 300 free texts a month, you can get unlimited data for £10 a month top-up.
My thinking was that, right now, I really don't want to get locked into a long contract because it's not at all clear what the different providers' 4G services are going to be like.
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I tried GiffGaff for a while last year but found they do very heavy image compression on their network which makes using the internet and any apps with images really really ugly with pixellated images. There was no way to turn this off. I don't know if this has since changed though.

one of 3's All you can eat plans all the way due to free upgrade to 4G at no extra cost when launched in the Summer

Yes 3 do definitely the best all you can eat packages. But its annoying how they know you don't really have any other option hence they.don't bend on price at all!
Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using xda app-developers app

I am in the same boat . I use anywhere from 6GB to 9GB per month as I haven't got BB so do everything on my mobile lol. It seems we are just limited to 3 atm?

brainimpact said:
one of 3's All you can eat plans all the way due to free upgrade to 4G at no extra cost when launched in the Summer
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Hope thats true, where did you hear about the summer upgrade?

allmine1976 said:
My ee contract is £33.50 a month for 1000 mins 2000 texts and 4gb of data .
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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24 Month Contract?
Upgrade?
Fee upfront for phone?

I spent over 9 years on 3 paying for their premium contract (and a data allowance I never came near to scratching.)
Eventually though their CS got to be beyond a joke. Their refusal to offer even a free phone to keep me on their One plan and total inability to hire anyone to man the call centers that could actually speak English drove me away.
I have since been blown away by the difference on Orange. My 3 contract is still in it's final days and that phone manages an astounding 225Kb/s compared to the 19.7Mb/s I get on Orange (both phones show H data connection although the Orange connection spends a lot of time trying to actually hang onto 3G instead.)
Read into this what you wish but it will take wild horses to drag me back to 3.
Sent from my Tricked out HTC One via xda-developers application

Hey I just wanted to chime in here with a bit of info I came across via a friend. Staples do a weird membership plan thing that might interest some people. I've been looking in to it and it seems interesting but I'm not sure if it's really for me as the monthly cost seems to stand above average as far as I can see. They also don't have availability of the One yet but have told me that it should be coming to them soon.
Essentially you are not tied in to a contract and can swap your phone at any time, change you plan at any time or leave at any time and all you have to do is give 30 days notice. They claim that should you wish to leave you would only have to return the phone. No buyouts or extra costs unless you wanted to buy the phone from them which you could do should you wish to. Also you can essentially build your own package to suit your needs and choose any network except for 3 to have the selected package on. And should yo go over your allowance there are NO charges...Though on talking to him he said they gave you a 20% buffer to go over and if you kept going over they'd be in touch and saying to tweak your package a bit, but of course again this can be done at any time. Essentially it's a totally fixed price per month with no nasty surprises.
The guy also claimed that there were other membership benefits such as up to 6p off a litre of fuel every time you fill up and insurance discounts etc...But again I'm not sure how much these pro's outweigh the costs...And of course it's only up to 6p off so for the next 2 years it could only be 1p off per litre....You see what I'm saying anyway...
So obviously as he couldn't accurately quote on the One because he didn't have it yet I asked for some quotes on similar priced phones (I shant name them as this post is about the One, I just did what I needed to to get a picture of potential costs)
For a membership plan with
250 mins
500 mins
2GB Data
Approximately £60 a month
If you lose some data and go for 1GB it drops a bit to £50ish
I looked at 2 plans specifically for me which were
250 mins
250 texts
2gb data or 5gb data
and the quotes were £52 and £58
You also have to pay the first 3 months upfront, though should you wish to leave after a month you get 2 months back of course.
So you see they're much much more expensive then you're average contract but then again for that price you can get a new phone every single month should you wish....I dunno. I'm still haggling with him so I'll let you know how I get on. But it's work looking in to really, especially for people who use a lot of data at times as the odd month you use more and maybe go over you wont be hammered for it.
Anyway here's a link to the site should anyone want to check it out/enquire.....http://www.staples.co.uk/connect_home_subsite

You can buy a lot of coffee for £60 a month and you can rinse a lot of free wi-fi while you're at it.
Trust me, blagging free wi-fi is easier and cheaper than an expensive data plan.

compact_bijou said:
You can buy a lot of coffee for £60 a month and you can rinse a lot of free wi-fi while you're at it.
Trust me, blagging free wi-fi is easier and cheaper than an expensive data plan.
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This is true....The only real benefit I can see by going this route is being able to potentially have an iPhone one month then maybe try out the S4 then go back to the One, then try out the new Nexus 5 when it comes....etc etc...I mean it would be cool to have the flexibility but it's such a lot of money....I have emailed back this morning stating that if I was to keep the phone for the full 2 years I would end up paying approximately £600 more over the course of 2 years compared to the highest data contract available on the phone! Which is MENTAL considering the phone is available to buy sim free for less then £500 atm! And that's not taking in to account depreciation etc....So anyway I'll see what he comes back with and let everyone know....
Oh and I also asked if the monthly cost includes insurance or anything, which of course would make it almost seem a bit more worth the price, but it's still high....

I came from Vodafone to 3 as they don't offer unlimited data.
Its 12.90 a month (rolling contract) 200 mins, either 1000 or unlimited text (can't remember) and unlimited data. The difference was phenomenal compared to Vodafone.
I think it matters where you live really. I can drive round most of Bristol and beyond streaming Di radio to my stereo (aux) with hardly any buffering. I can also watch catchup TV almost anywhere.
I have no issues with calls either.
Why not try it, if you don't get on after a month just cancel it.
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