Orange Cost and limits of SPV GPRS

[Guest Bazz]

OK boys and girls, got my first bill since signing up. It consisted of the following (amongst others):

SPV Promotion Pack - £5.11 + VAT (a month)

GPRSdata charges £0.00

GPRSdata Inclusive megabytes used 22.7625

Total Megabytes used - 22.7625

So guess that answers a number of questions posted:

* Is the £6 a month inclusive of VAT - YES

* Is there a 10Mb a month limit on the SPV "unlimited" package - NO (well see additional comments below).

* Can Orange measure the amount of data you are using - YES

Not sure if Orange will start getting tougher on the 10Mb limit. I did see another post saying that it's a 10Mb a day and 50Mb a month limit, which is a lot better.

Also I've had the SPV for about a month and a half in billing time (got charged £5.11 + £2.56, but the dates make it clear that it is £5.11 a month). During this time I've been using the GPRS fairly heftily cause of the wow factor and cause it was free. I haven't used it to listen to streaming radio though. I reckon I'll be using it less in the next few months and I'll even start using the pass through option once the unlimited tarif is up. So all in all GPRS might not be as costly as I first thought.

Thought you guys might like to know...

[Guest chewie]

Well its good to know they didnt sting you for your GPRS usage.

I have been streaming media, downloading games, getting sounds and allsorts and my total Data calls time is 17:21, i have only had the phone for a little over two weeks.

I must have at least used 40MB of GPRS! Can't wait for my bill :D

[Guest mr_tim]

my total Data calls time is 17:21, i have only had the phone for a little over two weeks.

and i thought i was bad!!. i've had pictures off too just as a precaution. guess i'll turn the on again :wink:

[Guest Bazz]

Well mine is at 127:25:20 and, as I said above, I didn't get charged anymore :-)

[Guest r_fishman]

I have it on good authority that the GPRS limit is 30MB. Users on the corporate trial program for the SPVs are being advised to keep usage to 30MB, or be charged an additional £1.35+VAT for each additional MB.

[Guest chewie]

Well if i go overboard and orange sting me, i am just gonna play stupid.

Noone at the orange shop told me there was a limit :D

[Guest TZed9]

The promo pack is subject to 'fair usage', it means you can be charged if you abuse it, it doesn't mean you will.

[Guest xanadu]

I think this "fair usage" may depend on how much of an effect it is having on the capacity of the network.

GPRS usage has increased dramatically since the introduction of MMS.

At the present time, I am not aware of this causing any problems, other than an expected downgrade in speed, at peak times possibly.

[Guest smokedog]

I just got my orange bill and my total GPRS usage is 47mb :D

[Guest Shire29]

OMG, you lot.

I admit I was being careful thinking there may be a 10mb limit, I only notched up 6.7mb. Bill's not come through the post yet though I got it through the internet My Account option.

I got to say that it was abit of a pain getting it set up, but now I have it's pretty useful.

Also I splashed out the £10 for the GPRS monitor thingy, have got it on now so I can see how much I am using.

and yes £5.11 a month, but a chap from Orange (phoned me to ask how I was getting on with the phone) indicated that I was on a 10mb promotional pack. So I'm still confused.

Cheers, Shire

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

I'm goin to have to do some serious playing as

my 2MB is just pathetic :roll:

In three months time it will be another matter :wink:

[Guest one.ear]

Orange wont charge (or will have difficulty charging) for over usage of Mb. The fair usage policy states 10mb, but if a customer uses over and above that this is what the Term's and Con's state:

http://tinyurl.com/3jbu

Orange reserves the right to request that subscribers exceeding the limits set out below reduce their usage. In the event that usage continues to exceed these limits, Orange may at its discretion remove the Promotional Data Service from your account and refuse to allow reconnection to this service.

Nothing about charging, and there are no published rates for usage over the 10 mb, however, if customers did continually use way over the 10mb limit, i would expect a call from OCS :roll:

Ben

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

How are you guys finding your GPRS usage?

I don't think I will be using *much* more than my 10MB...

I might do if the battery life was better tho :D

P

[Guest Big Ron - No Longer a Mem]

While MMS uses the GPRS network, it's billed separately. MMS is free until 31st January 2003, again subject to a "fair usage" of 50 MMS's per week. If the GPRS counter is simply measuring GPRS traffic, my guess would be that it includes MMS. If my guess is right, as MMS uses comparatively large chunks of data per message, the counter is likely to be a South-pointing compas when it comes to billable data usage. But what the heck... Come April, when it stops being free Orange has some pretty good deals on GPRS access. The key is... work out how much you're going to use AHEAD of time, and get on the right tarriff. Data doesn't get charged like talktime; there's a subtle difference: flat rate AT THE PRICE OF YOUR PACKAGE. So, agree to buy 0.5meg or more, and the rate is £7.50 per meg (£4 for the first 512kb) Agree to buy 5 meg, the price per meg drops to (IIRC!) £3.50 per meg... and so on. The drop in price is quite steep - it's worth doing the sums ahead of time - the discounted "bulk rates" can make it cheaper to buy slightly more than you'll use, just to get the discount. And of course, you can switch tarriff every month if you want to.