Orange seem to have gone crazy

[andrewducker]

Twice a year I get emailed with a Best Plan update, telling me if there's a better calling plan that would save me money based on my current usage.

The most recent one seems to have been created by a madman who thinks I might actually double the amount of money I spend on my mobile, even though I never go over my current inclusive minutes/texts...

	your current plan	your Get More Plan
Plan name	Dolphin 30	Dolphin 75
Monthly subscription	£25.00	£75.00
Inclusive minutes	400 anytime minutes	3000 anytime minutes
Inclusive texts	Unlimited anytime texts	Unlimited Texts
Inclusive mobile internet browsing	0	0
Addtional benefits		500 MB anytime browsing
Orange Care insurance	£5.00 per month	£5.00 per month
Itemised billing	£1.50 per month	included free
your average monthly spend	£41.79	£89.93

Comments

[robhu.livejournal.com]

Which phone did you get in the end btw? I remember a blog post about it a while ago.

I'm looking at getting the HTC Desire when it's released next month.

[andrewducker]

I'm also going for the HTC Desier when my contract is renewable (end of April).

How come you're switching from the iPhone?

[aitkendrum.livejournal.com]

Is this a Fantasy Plan?

[robhu.livejournal.com]

I've never had an iPhone.

I've had one of these for the last 3 years but it is now doing things like being silent rather than ringing when I get calls.

I had an iPod Touch a while ago, which was very cool, but I sold it (I generally sell gadgets after having them for about a year so as not to lose too much money on them).

I'm considering a HTC Desire over the iPhone because:

• I can get one more cheaply than the iPhone (and it's hard to justify spending money on the Desire...)
• The Desire has a much higher screen resolution, and I found the screen res on the iTouch non-fantastic for reading the Bible on (which is one of the main reasons for me getting a smart phone)
• I've tried the iTouch/Phone and now I want to try something new

[andrewducker]

Aaah - didn't realise that you had an iTouch.

I also didn't realise that the Desire was cheaper - I thought they were both on the same range of contracts-ish. In fact, checking the details here:
http://shop.orange.co.uk/iphone/choose-your-plan#
and here:
http://www.knowyourmobile.com/blog/437070/tmobile_announces_htc_desire_tariffs.html

it looks like the iPhone is a bit cheaper if you go for the 3G (but a fair bit more expensive for the 3GS).

[robhu.livejournal.com]

You can get the Desire on cheaper contracts than that, take a look at these.

There is a plan there that is 300 minutes/texts, unlimited internet, for 15/month over 24 months with the phone costing 199.99. There's also Quidco for that site of 50, making the overall cost 21.25/month. The same plan where you pay 119.99 for the phone works out at slightly more, 22.87/month.

According to the forums I've been reading, they speculate that there are the following two differences between the official tariffs and this one. In this one the Desire comes with a 4GB card instead of a 8GB card (although I don't see that that is likely to be true), and that the 'unlimited' internet is 1GB/month rather than 3GB/month (as it is on the official Android tariff).

[andrewducker]

Oooh, handy. I'll take a look when it gets closer to the time!

[matgb]

Wow, see, they're right to suggest you should be changing plan, if you're spending £40 a month on a £25 plan, they should be able to give you a plan that makes sense for what you actually use.

For 3 years, I'd get a 6-monthly text saying "you're on the perfect plan", when I changed last month I changed plan for my planned usage instead of past usage, and they worked me out a good one for that as well.

Weird, someone must've messed up something for that suggestion.

[andrewducker]

The thing is, I pay £25 for the plan, £5 for insurance, £5 for extra data, about £2 for calls to 0845 numbers and other things that none of the plans cover, and the rest is tax! I can't see how they can save me cash...

[matgb]

Ah, ok, if the only charge is an extra £2 for something you'll not get free, then no, they can't save you money.

Only way they can sort you out is a plan that includes data; I'm probably going to buy the extra bit for my contract soon, some of the functions on my phone won't work with wireless, so my next bill might be silly :-(

[andrewducker]

Yeah, if they wanted to offer me unlimited data then I could be tempted, but as it is I only ever go over my data limit when I use my phone for tethering.