Guest Saif Posted July 17, 2003 Report Posted July 17, 2003 Could this be for real...??? well I have heard the following: Firstly you must already be with Orange. Secondly you need to have gone over your 12 month contract date If so, and you ring the customer relations team, and ask very nicely, or perhaps hint not very subtley that you want to go to "3" (the 3g network) they will offer to match the "3" tariff - if you upgrade your phone. The "3" tariff is either 500 any network any time minutes for £25pm or 750 any network any time minutes for £35pm. Your current cross network fee on orange is probably £0.35 a minute. 750 x £0.35 = £262.50...... that's a possible saving of £227.50 per month With regards to the upgrade - it seems they aren't offering "free" upgrades if you want this tariff (for obvious reasons) but a Nokia 6100 will cost you 60quid a Sony Ericsson T610 50quid - still a bargain considering the tariff. No other department in Orange is able to offer this tariff match - not even the executive office. The number for OCR is 0800 792288. (this number isn't always working - go through the menu system and select 'considering leaving orange') obviously being a 2g network they cannot offer the 3g services like video calling etc - but the tariff itself is probably the best tariff available on 2g networks. Orange are going to lose serious money on this ------------------------------------------ So, basically you need to have been with orange for a while and then phone them up and tell them you want to leave for the better priced tarriff from '3'. Need lots of negotiation skills to get this deal I am told... but it is out there and there are people who have managed to get it. I have yet to try.. but I have ages to go before my contract is up for renewal. Apparently 'O' will use this as a means of keeping their levels of active customers high and transfering customers low... very expensive... but it all depends on the stats I guess. Hope this helps somebody.... could be a very nice deal. SS
Guest Saif Posted July 17, 2003 Report Posted July 17, 2003 am hearing that a couple of people (literally in the single figures) have been allowed to change tarriff mid-way through their contract. Don't know the full story yet. will keep you posted.
Guest Pagemakers Posted July 17, 2003 Report Posted July 17, 2003 Orange told me they could NOT mimic the 3g tariff because they can not offer all the features 3g do and that is the whole purpose of their price matching policy.
Guest Posted July 17, 2003 Report Posted July 17, 2003 It's the old bargaining that all networks do if you threaten to leave - they want to keep their "churn" rates down. When you say that you are considering leaving you are in a strong bargaining position - Orange (or any network) want to keep you, and the staff in that department have more leeway in the offers that they can produce. It's not uncommon for these departments to offer a free upgrade, subject of course to you signing up for another 12 months. I would guess to get Orange to price match 3 you would have to sound serious in leaving, and then see what they offer. Phoning up and asking directly for them to price match will probably get the response that Pagemakers received. Often the only way you can get an exceptional deal is if the network thinks you are going to leave.
Guest Pagemakers Posted July 17, 2003 Report Posted July 17, 2003 I can't see how they can price match it because 3 offers more than orange can. Free video call minutes for example. How would Orange match that? My understanding is they can only match like for like exactly. Voda/O2 tariffs etc.
Guest Posted July 17, 2003 Report Posted July 17, 2003 That's what I'm saying, they can't do a typical 'official' OVP (Orange Value Promise) match because they can't provide the same service; but if you phoned up threatening to leave, saying that 3's cheap call bundles tempted you Orange might turn round and say "Ok, how about if we give you the same ammount of calls for the same ammount of money". They aren't really matching, they are just making an offer to make you stay. It's not going to be an offical OVP tarriff, but it might be something you can negotiate if you threaten to leave (and hope that they don't call your bluff and say "Bon voyage!").
Guest vijay555 Posted July 17, 2003 Report Posted July 17, 2003 They "bon voyaged" me in the past, the buggers. Isn't the 3 tariff promotional only tho? I thought the prices were going to change once it's more established? How many have tried this? V
Guest xanadu Posted July 17, 2003 Report Posted July 17, 2003 AFAIK the official policy is that Orange will no longer attempt to price match '3' The Orange network is far superior to '3' , so it's like matching the price of a Mini to an Aston Martin. Most calls on '3' are actually on the O2 network as '3' coverage is very poor. (Only major roads and cities)
Guest Posted July 18, 2003 Report Posted July 18, 2003 Most calls on '3' are actually on the O2 network as '3' coverage is very poor. (Only major roads and cities) Good point! They hide that little fact in thier adverts quite well
Guest doyle_am Posted July 19, 2003 Report Posted July 19, 2003 Spoke to OCS the other night trying to swithc to a 3 tarrif. They wouldn't have it even when I told them I wanted to drop to the lowest tarrif (for the rest of my contract) and move to 3. Not that I would anyway - love my SPV too much! :) Just a shame O doesn't do more to keep us punters happy.
Guest Hax Posted July 19, 2003 Report Posted July 19, 2003 The Orange network is far superior to '3' , so it's like matching the price of a Mini to an Aston Martin. Most calls on '3' are actually on the O2 network as '3' coverage is very poor. (Only major roads and cities) TBH though, how many of us actually care which network our calls travel over? Yes, the 3 network maybe extremely inferior when compared to the Orange network, but as said, calls are routed via the O2 network where 3 isn't available. All I care about is the ability to make calls anywhere (more or less) and the number of free minutes and text messages included in my bundle each month. IIRC people have already said that you can use the 3 SIM cards in the SPV - obviously without the 3G services, but you'd still get call and text messaging facilities if I understand this correctly.... As soon as my 12 months are up, then I'm jumping ship unless O start to offer similarly competitive tarriffs.... Hax
Guest Hax Posted July 19, 2003 Report Posted July 19, 2003 Yeah, O might be rolling out their 3G network next year, but I can't see them offering tariffs with a similar number of inclusive minutes per month for similar prices to those offered by 3 can you??? Hax
Guest Matt Kirby Posted July 20, 2003 Report Posted July 20, 2003 Yeah, O might be rolling out their 3G network next year, but I can't see them offering tariffs with a similar number of inclusive minutes per month for similar prices to those offered by 3 can you??? Hax Depends on the uptake; if (as in 3's case) people don't rush to join Orange's 3G offering they will be forced to drop prices in the same way 3 have done. They may be forced to make thier whole 3G operation a loss leader initialy to encourage users to switch from 2/2.5G.
Guest morpheus2702 Posted July 20, 2003 Report Posted July 20, 2003 Don't you think though that the whole 3 offer just smacks of desperation? Can they be making any money from this offer? I doubt it and my take is that Hutchinson Wampoa are prepared to fund it to get the customer base. Orange probably know this and so aren't too fussed about keeping a customer they will lose money on by matching 3's tariff?
Guest Hax Posted July 20, 2003 Report Posted July 20, 2003 Depends on the uptake; if (as in 3's case) people don't rush to join Orange's 3G offering they will be forced to drop prices in the same way 3 have done. True, but this then leaves me wondering if they'd be forced to drop the prices on their 2G network. Let's face it, not everyone wants video calling - I don't (shudder to think of accidentally pressing the wrong answer button on the phone when you've just rushed out of the shower to answer and it's your dear ol' gran on the other end!) and on top of that, I think O are saying that their 3G network will initially have only 40% coverage in UK. So, like the 3 scenario, unless you live in London or one of the other major cities (or even on one of the major motorways it seems) you won't be able to be able to take advantage of the 3G services offered. This would also mean that O would be forced to route voice and other comms via their 2G network and so trying to justify the higher prices on 2G networks to 2G only subscribers would start to become hard methinks..... For me, the only attraction of 3G is the high speed internet acceess it would provide, but I have broadband at home on a proper PC and have very little need to check my e-mail when out and about so unless it's priced far more competitively than O's current GPRS pricing, there is no real draw for me to choose a 3G service at the moment (personal opinion here of course - I realise that not everyone will be the same) Hax
Guest Matt Kirby Posted July 20, 2003 Report Posted July 20, 2003 I agree, at the moment GPRS is too expensive to seriously use, and I wouldn't want to pay more for 3G speeds. Also with video calling it's a bit chicken and egg; I won't buy a video phone until I can call someone I know that has one, and my friends won't buy one until they know someone, who wont..... etc, etc. I also wonder whether inter-network video calls will work from the start, or will it be the same as SMS and MMS? No point having a video phone if you can't call anyone with it!
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