Response from Orange Media Centre, re: GPRS Charging

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Here it is, the official response from the Orange Media Centre re: GPRS Charging.

I challenged them regarding their future plans, and asked how they would respond to T-Mobile launching flat rate GPRS.

Nothing we didn't know here! :)

The promotional SPV tariff - which provided UK customers with access to data services for £6 per month - came to an end at on April 30. Customers were no longer offered the tariff from this date.

Customers who are already on the tariff will be moved (as of their June/July bill date) to a 2mb bundle (£4 per month) and can increase their data requirements as desired. Orange has contacted all customers to make them aware of this.

With regards to future plans, we've already got a competitive GPRS pricing tariff in place for our customers. If there are any other movements, I'll give you a call!

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Same old, same old.

People will still pay, they always do. We'll wait for the natural progression before the prices drop i reckon.

[Guest Gorskar]

I wonder if we will see a mass migration to T-mobile? (Unlikely given that the T-mobile GPRS package is also time limited I suppose)

Still, I will be on the lookout for cheaper deals...

[Guest Pagemakers]

TMobile have just released an unlimited plan in the US for $19 per month

[Guest Richie M]

TMobile suck in my area, so it dont really matter to me what their offers are :roll:

[Guest FragMeister]

Does anyone know whether we could go onto the Orange "Open Access" Pack (free for first 3 months, and £4/month thereafter). Would this only be for Email and we would still be charged separately for internet usage? if so, we could all move over to that and get another 3 months for absolutely free (not even the £6 we pay presently).

[Guest amo]

There is much debate over this. Some people on customer services tell us that the Access Pack is classed as "unlimited" usaged via CSD or GPRS which indicates it should work on the SPV or P800 smartphones, however - my area manager tells us not to allow Smartphone users to use the Access pack and to advise users to purchase a GPRS bundle.

Im still waiting for definite clarification but I beleive its going to be bad news. :)

[Guest clivewilliams]

Hmmm. Interesting. When I bought my SPV in November (ish), the thing that attracted me was the GPRS promotional pricing ... and it struck me as the only predictable and fair pricing plan on the market. If T-Mobile are still offering a similar deal come renewal time in November, and Orange aren't, it's bye-bye Orange.

[Guest Simon Desser]

The Access Pack is just for Wap (over GPRS or CSD) so would not include full internet access like the GPRS bundles do.

[Guest fozzie]

Don't forget, you've still got a month to register for the Free GPRS Mobile Email promo. 3 months of 30Mb p/m capped GPRS for nowt :)

[Guest Will]

Is this some sort of 'secret plan' to overlap the 'promo' gprs until you cannot sign up for the mobile email promo??

Big Ron? where are you? :)

Will

[Guest morpheus2702]

Bloody hell, never knew about that 3 month e-mail promo. Cheers Fozzie! :)

Shows you how crappy Orange's marketing is!

[Guest fozzie]

Is this some sort of 'secret plan' to overlap the 'promo' gprs until you cannot sign up for the mobile email promo??

Big Ron? where are you? :D  

Will

LMAO :) Oh no, the suggestion of a conspiracy theory - that's like a red rag to a bull. Stand by for the full page response ;)

Bloody hell, never knew about that 3 month e-mail promo.

And I can confirm that on my bill last week, I wasn't billed for any GPRS useage, email or otherwise (although I only used about 7Mb). I haven't used my SPV as a modem for an external device but pretty sure that would be treated the same.

[Guest cybercamel]

Orange has contacted all customers to make them aware of this.  

No they haven't, not heard a bean!!!!

[Guest davidhorn]

Well, I looked at my bill today (July 1st - my billing date) and I've got the promo through into August. I never received the letter, either.

The trouble is, if I sign up to this I KNOW I'll go onto a limited bundle in three months. If I don't, I might get moved onto the limited one on the 1st of August.

[Guest Chronos]

Amazing- for once we're ahead of the curve in the US! I've got the $19.99 unlimited GPRS account w/ T-Mobile and love every minute of it. Streaming audio, video, etc. I'm pretty surprised that AT&T hasn't matched the price yet.

[Guest Dylan]

I wanna live in the US....

[Guest drblow]

Surely this just shows that Orange aren't really sure what they are doing!!

Most people seem to still be on the £6 promo, and yet they say we are still being moved to the £4 for 2mb package??!!

I'm pretty sure at this stage that they have no intention of doing anything to the gprs packages in the meantime, coz they are s**t scared of losing business. They sure aren't selling as many phones as they hoped, so they need to keep customers using their services. Seems to me that the fear of losing a couple of thousand gprs users might just be influencing someone at Orange!?

Let's hope so! :wink:

[Guest tekin]

i'm getting really confused now.

when i got my spv, i was asked if i wanted to have free WAP access for 3 months.

now, i'm assuming this doesn't mean i have free GPRS access for three months (although if i'm not mistaken, i connect to WAP through GPRS right? :? )

does this mean when i collect my email via the send/receive feature, i'm using up GPRS bandwidth and will be getting charged for it?

i've phoned orange a few times and i can't get a straight answer out of them.

http://www.orange.co.uk/business/small/gpr...mail/setup.html

according to this, i can get a free email access through GPRS for three months. is this what i'm getting with the free WAP trial? i can't see how.

when i asked an advisor at orange about the free GPRS/email trail, she told me such a thing doesn't exist....

apparently i'm on a pay as you use GPRS setup, and i could sign up for a bundle, but that it wouldn't be free.

please, someone clarify for me.

tekin

[Guest tekin]

thoughs crazy cats.

i just phoned orange again and asked for the "Mobile Email GPRS free promotion" as it is called in the terms and conditions and got it set up straight away.

why the two previous people i spoke to couldn't do this, i don't know.

[Guest martin]

thoughs crazy cats.  

i just phoned orange again and asked for the "Mobile Email GPRS free promotion" as it is called in the terms and conditions and got it set up straight away.  

why the two previous people i spoke to couldn't do this, i don't know.

I suspect there aren't many people asking for Mobile E-mail Promotion so its likely that customer services may have to actually look it up. Also you may have to download one of the E-mail configurations at the orange website although I'm not entirely sure because I've never set it up. The E-mail promotion will allow access to all GPRS services.

The WAP promotion (open access) will give you three months free WAP browsing for connections over GSM or GPRS. WAP software is for viewing WML pages only and will not include standard Internet HTML browsing, E-mail, Messenger, etc.

I'm surprised that you got the E-mail promotion on PAYG :shock: cool 8)

[Guest iworkinorangetech]

I didn't say this but......

if you ask for the mobile email promotion you get unlimited GPRS (any kind of GPRS) usage in anyway for three months. I didnt say that thought and you DID NOT read it here.

Also you dont have to download any software thats just to "help" you - you can just go ahead and make your day...

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Old news i'm afraid... :)

[Guest fozzie]

That'll be the same promotion that was discussed a month ago in this thread then ;) (and in this one more recently)

Welcome to the forum :)

[Guest morpheus2702]

I love the secretive name though! :wink: