The future may not be Orange

[calorific]

Over the last few years we have enjoyed the benefit of "free" broadband from Orange (well, free inasmuch as we have 5 mobile contracts for which we give them about £150 pcm give or take). Orange have decided that they are going to withdraw this facility and instead let us have the broadband for nothing on the condition that we move our line to them and pay £14pcm for the honour, with addtional fees for phoning and the usual other add-ons that we may wish to purchase.

So, the question is... who and what do you use? Pro's/Con's? I've got a month or so to look at all available packages for price comparisons (who knows, maybe Orange will prove to be the cheapest/best after all). Any advice or heads-up on customer services of other companies would be most helpful

 

[securespark]

We use O2 for home phone and broadband (both unlimited) and it is around £20 per month. It can be a bit more as some numbers are not included.

You do need to have an O2 mobile (otherwise the cost is £5 more) but as Mrs Secure has one, that's no probs.

What attracted us to them is that they have good CS, unlike some.

Also worth looking at is Plusnet.

They are recommended by Which.

http://www.plus.net/12halfprice/packages/?WT.mc_id=sem_006b

 

[Diane2]

always worth ringing them up and say that you are seriously considering leaving them.....see what they offer.

 

[calorific]

always worth ringing them up and say that you are seriously considering leaving them.....see what they offer.

Tried that and got nowhere. Somewhere along the line, Orange has decided to go for a hard sell tactic. If I find cheaper alternatives then I'll get back to them and look for a negotiating point. After all, loyalty works both ways on these things

 

[JohnD]

I use Virgin cable/fibre because my road is cabled up.

However although they tempt you in with cheap offers for new customers, they operate a loyalty penalty where they punish established customers by charging them extra.

 

[EddieM]

not sure i'd recommend plusnet. very slow for me.

 

[ellal]

I use Virgin cable/fibre because my road is cabled up.

However although they tempt you in with cheap offers for new customers, they operate a loyalty penalty where they punish established customers by charging them extra.

Just use the phrase "I'm thinking of getting sky"...It works wonders.

Currently on 20mb broadband, phone line, free landline calls and basic tv package for £18.50 pm

 

[Inky Pete]

BT Infinity. Up to 38Meg speed for £18 a month plus £11 line rental. (40 GB usage limit, but you get the free use of all BT hotspots across the country)

If you shop around I'm CERTAIN that you'll be able to save at least that much on your 5 mobile contracts.

Orange won't get serious about trying to keep you until you actually phone up and ask for PAC codes to take your numbers elsewhere. Only then will you get put through to their "customer loyalty" team who have all sorts of offers not available to the front line call centres.

 

[calorific]

The current offer that Orange have is line rental for £13.50pcm (the BT one at £11 assumes you pay a year up front, otherwise it's over £14 and there's apending price hike to all their contracts next March) which will include free broadband up to 8 Meg speed and unlimited usage. Adding on an extra £5 will give unlimited off-peak calls and up to 14Meg speeds which is ample for my usage which currently averages at about 4, whereas £10 extra to the line rental would give unlimited calls whatever the time.

Orange have outpriced BR, who are unable and/or unwilling to make any effort to negotiate. BT contracts are for 18 months, and Orange for 12.

So my search continues, but Orange don't sound too bad at present. With the exception of a few weeks blip last year when they upgraded my line, they have provided me with a faultless service and customer service.

 

[joinerjohn]

Never ceases to amaze me. These broadband offers for only £6 or £10 a month. Then when you read the small print, you also have to have a phone line £15 (or whatever) rental per month.
My brother used to be on Sky for TV BB and phone . He had the up to 20Mb service because there were no download limits. The speed they provided was only ever around 2Mb though. He's now moved over to Virgin Media and now enjoys 60 Mb speeds (although VM do throttle the connection at busy times, but he very rarely gets anything less than 40Mb)