636 replies to this topic

[sili]

I signed onto this 'Orange World Unlimited Bundle' about a week ago.  I'm on Orange Premier and I got a text from O on the 17th July about the offer.  It said I had to reply to this text (see T+C). by the 19th, but I call them and I signed on.

Not sure if you can still get it now, definately worth a try.  If the Orange CS don't know what you are talking about just refer them to the link below. (the offer runs till the 1st Sept)

http://www1.orange.co.uk/ow1/

There is also another T+C (the one about replying to this text)

http://www1.orange.co.uk/ow2/

Here are some of the main points:-

-The Bundle is subject to a monthly "subscription fee" of £8

-Once the Bundle is applied to your account you will continue to receive the Bundle for the remainder of your contract period up to a maximum period of 18 months

-At the end of the Period you will automatically revert to a 10MB per month subscription or a subscription of your choice

-Fair usage policy: To ensure the fair allocation of network resources for all customers the Bundle may not be used for: modem access for computers, internet based streaming services, voice or video over the internet, Instant Messaging, peer to peer file sharing and non Orange internet based video. If such use is detected, notice may be given and Network protection controls may be applied to all services which Orange does not believe constitute WAP browsing. This may result in a reduced speed of transmission, inability to use such services and, at the discretion of Orange, removal of the Bundle

I hope this helps and good luck guys

[Dr Who]

Use as a modem is fairly essential to me but only very occasionally. I would be quite happy to risk them warning me about my contract if you can actually use the phone as a modem - is there any way for them to block the use of a 3G phone as a modem? I take it you don't actually dial an ISP number like the *99# number for a GPRS phone? In which case it will just show up as traffic through the phone? Or am I mistaken about this?

[julianmclean]

sili, on Jul 27 2006, 10:55, said:

...refer them to the link below. (the offer runs till the 1st Sept)

http://www1.orange.co.uk/ow1/

There is also another T+C (the one about replying to this text)

http://www1.orange.co.uk/ow2/

This seems to be only for unlimited WAP use on GPRS unless I'm missing something? What is needed is unlimited data on all data protocols for all internet. If Orange really are going to do something to match T-mobile, then they better not mess it up by ring-fencing where you can access!

[spacerace]

Dr Who, on Jul 27 2006, 11:26, said:

Use as a modem is fairly essential to me but only very occasionally. I would be quite happy to risk them warning me about my contract if you can actually use the phone as a modem - is there any way for them to block the use of a 3G phone as a modem? I take it you don't actually dial an ISP number like the *99# number for a GPRS phone? In which case it will just show up as traffic through the phone? Or am I mistaken about this?

I think you're right, I don't see any practical way for them to determine if phone generated traffic is actually coming from the phone itself, or a bluetooth'd pda/laptop _requesting_ the data through the phone. Obviously traffic levels would be higher and potentially stand out over time but as you say sporadic use would be hard to detect...

[nforsans]

spacerace, on Jul 27 2006, 10:52, said:

OK the CS rep rang back to say that there WAS a restriction on using the phone as a modem to another device (tethering) but there was nothing he could find re: any IM restrictions. basically he was told the data must be used directly by the handset e.g. the handsets built in browser or other on-board software...

Interesting - browsing Orange offerings for August through one of the wholesale companies (the house that supplies most mobile phone shops in the UK), i can see the SPV M3100 with a trade price of £323 (that's the price a retailer would pay to acquire it and sell it to us with a contract) and this handset attracts a £30 commission for the retailer. £323 trade price is about the same as for the SPV M2000 (any idea what this is?) which attracts a similar comm for the retailer. For comparisons, the SPV M6000 is at £217 (trade price) and the C600 at £181.

Retailers also earn comm through the talk plans they sell with the handset (£225 comm for the retailer on the dolphin at £35 for new connections), and they use that commission (or parts of it) to subsidise the handset for new connections. So... £323 should be the highest amount one is expected to pay for the handset when it is sold (almost) unsubsidised on low-value contracts.

Interestingly, although I can see all the bundles (data,, text, travel, etc) on sale in the August edition of the listing, there does not appear to be a new unlimited bundle at £8 a month. At least it is not listed in the document that was last updated earlier today. It may well be that they decided to create such a bundle only after the document had been released to the wholesalke house. sort of last minute-kind of thing (a follow-up on our various complaints we made during the MoDaCo event at Orange earlier this month?!!). [/b]      

Also interestingly, the TyTn/SPV M3100 was listed in the July edition at the same trade price - which means they genuinely hoped they would be able to release the device sometime in July, as opposed to August.

Cheers

[PaulOBrien]

SPV M6000?!?

P

[Pondrew]

I'm guessing that's just typing one too many 0

[kam_]

Isn't this £8 bundle exactly what t-mobile are offering for £7.50?  I don't really see the argument about the restrictions as t-mobile also have them.  I guess if your on orange already, or prefer it over t-mobile for other reason, say reception in your area, your not going to switch to t-mobile for 50p a month.

[waroffice]

Orange seem to be almost but not quite there again....WAP browsing afaik is select websites not the entire internet which is poo.

as for traffic from the phone or via a modem could be tracked, i've notice when i have my c500 and mpx200 that there are different gateway/proxy setting for different things (MMS/WAP etc) so they may ba able to track what data comes through via some sort of configuration in the modem driver software.

I wish tmob would release the vario II so i could play. my SE k750 is rubbish

[FragMeister]

The concerns over whether IM (MSN Messenger) are permitted or not, may not be of great importance today, but with M$ Live round the corner, and the new version of Live Messenger offering the ability to send and receive files from the mobile device, and do skype style voip calls, the potential for large amounts of data to be "from IM" changes greatly from the few kb/min which the current MSN messenger we know today uses.

[nforsans]

Paul (MVP), on Jul 27 2006, 13:12, said:

SPV M6000?!?

P

sorry, M600..!

[nforsans]

kam_, on Jul 27 2006, 15:00, said:

Isn't this £8 bundle exactly what t-mobile are offering for £7.50?  I don't really see the argument about the restrictions as t-mobile also have them.  I guess if your on orange already, or prefer it over t-mobile for other reason, say reception in your area, your not going to switch to t-mobile for 50p a month.

and remember Orange's unlimited bundle is for current and new Premier and Dolphin customers ONLY, unlike TMobile's which can eb added as long as you've got a compatible handset irrespective of how much you spend ev month...

[Saif]

nforsans, on Jul 27 2006, 15:57, said:

and remember Orange's unlimited bundle is for current and new Premier and Dolphin customers ONLY, unlike TMobile's which can eb added as long as you've got a compatible handset irrespective of how much you spend ev month...

This could prove to be a real downer... however I am willing to wait till next week to see how this pans out... could be exactly what I need to push me over to T. But then I'll just be waiting for them to get on and release their Vario II....

I hate waiting for handsets... maybe I should just go for the Blackberry! It has IM too now you know!

Does anyone know when the Samsung Blackjack will be out on a network... don't really want to fork out for this offline.

[hotphil]

kam_, on Jul 27 2006, 15:00, said:

Isn't this £8 bundle exactly what t-mobile are offering for £7.50?  I don't really see the argument about the restrictions as t-mobile also have them.  I guess if your on orange already, or prefer it over t-mobile for other reason, say reception in your area, your not going to switch to t-mobile for 50p a month.

Ah, but 50p and free sat nav may do it

[Saif]

hotphil, on Jul 27 2006, 16:51, said:

Ah, but 50p and free sat nav may do it

ah... now there is that...

but how long does one wait

[RufusA]

The "Orange World Unlimited Bundle", looks very similar to the old "Orange GPRS Access Pack" of yore (circa 2003?). Both offering "unlimited" browsing but restricted to their WAP gateway.

FWIW the old Access Pack was open to anyone with a GPRS enabled phone (rather than selected tariffs) and cost just £4 a month.

Good old Orange - restrict the service, double the price and sell it as something new/better.

Unless something miraculous happens in August I'll be ending my 11+ year relationship with Orange, and taking all my families/business contracts with me (prob to T-Mobile).

Rufus.

[spacerace]

RufusA, on Jul 28 2006, 11:42, said:

The "Orange World Unlimited Bundle", looks very similar to the old "Orange GPRS Access Pack" of yore (circa 2003?). Both offering "unlimited" browsing but restricted to their WAP gateway.

FWIW the old Access Pack was open to anyone with a GPRS enabled phone (rather than selected tariffs) and cost just £4 a month.

Good old Orange - restrict the service, double the price and sell it as something new/better.

Unless something miraculous happens in August I'll be ending my 11+ year relationship with Orange, and taking all my families/business contracts with me (prob to T-Mobile).

Rufus.

I don't think the Orange World Bundle sili posted (http://www1.orange.co.uk/ow1/) is the same thing that we initially started talking about.

My conversations with the CS rep regarding a _future_ add-on (not currently available) made no mention of walled gardens or WAP only restrictions. I was specifically asking about full internet browsing from both the handset and a tethered device (PDA/Laptop) and he came back to confirm that using a PDA/Laptop was NOT allowed but email and internet from the phone itself was fine. (He also mentioned the fair use clause and also the restrictions on IM and streaming video or audio)

[jchamier]

waroffice, on Jul 27 2006, 15:01, said:

as for traffic from the phone or via a modem could be tracked, i've notice when i have my c500 and mpx200 that there are different gateway/proxy setting for different things (MMS/WAP etc) so they may ba able to track what data comes through via some sort of configuration in the modem driver software.

Almost nobody in the UK uses mobile data (apart from people on this forum) and others with smartphones and devices. Why? Because of the unpredictable cost.

If this plan exists for unlimited, it should have a max limit, perhaps 100gig per month, for the £8. Then they shouldn't care what you do with it.

What happens to people with TomTom devices that download traffic info via GPRS from a connected mobile, and other similar products?  Is that called "modem use" and banned?

Why don't the mobile networks realise they spent a lot of money on 3G licences, and if they don't start getting some income from us today utilising these, then in the next 3 years, WiFi will become the preferred method of "on the go" data usage.

Today large companies are mandating employees not to use mobile data, due to the costs! Madness....

[spacerace]

jchamier, on Jul 29 2006, 22:48, said:

Almost nobody in the UK uses mobile data (apart from people on this forum) and others with smartphones and devices. Why? Because of the unpredictable cost.

If this plan exists for unlimited, it should have a max limit, perhaps 100gig per month, for the £8. Then they shouldn't care what you do with it.

What happens to people with TomTom devices that download traffic info via GPRS from a connected mobile, and other similar products?  Is that called "modem use" and banned?

Why don't the mobile networks realise they spent a lot of money on 3G licences, and if they don't start getting some income from us today utilising these, then in the next 3 years, WiFi will become the preferred method of "on the go" data usage.

Today large companies are mandating employees not to use mobile data, due to the costs! Madness....

It does have a fair use 'limit' and although the person I spoke to didn't actually quote anything, most of the 'unlimited' plans have a fair use cap of 1GB / month. I think 100GB is a little optimistic, I don't see anyone averaging 3.3GB / day especially from the handset...

It's still the first round of 'unlimited' data plans for the networks, and naturally they are going to restrict it a little as they have no idea how it will be used. As the next round of offers comes around I'm sure things will ease up a bit.

[danwatson1974]

I agree that data costs can mount up, and I also think that the Web 'n' Walk offer is about the only sensible one on the market at the moment.

I also think that Orange will have to follow suit very soon, or risk losing a lot of good customers.

It seems odd that Orange were at the very forefront of the Smartphone revolution with the various SPVs, and now are in danger of dropping the ball because the services they want people to use are too expensive  

Still, on the bright side, I can remember when so called 'High Speed Data' (HSCSD) was charged at 21 pence per minute on a maximum 28.8 kbps  

I also think that some of the convergance solutions, and the increase in WiFi availability will render the whole debate obsolete by some time in 2007 .... we will all be using WiFi on our smartphones and pocket PCs.... even for voice calls - hence all the Networks (and CPWs) scramble to own their own ISPs and provide you with a wireless modem / router.............

Cheers,

Dan.

Edited by danwatson1974, 30 July 2006 - 01:07 PM.