[Hands0n]

Its no use, I simply cannot wait until 26 October 2005 for an upgrade. So yesterday I thought that I'd phone Orange CS and try and blag my way to an early upgrade to a Nokia 6680 and 3G USIM.

The lady at Orange CS was very nice, very helpful, very supportive, very not giving me my upgrade unless I part with £88.13 for the early upgrade and £79.99 for the handset.

WTF???? I thought that I was a "valued Orange customer" said I plaintively. But she was built of sterner stuff than I had thought. "Giz yer money or sling yer hook" she alluded. She did, of course, put it so very much more politely than that. So politely, in fact, that I opted for a Text add-on as she identified that I am spending more on text than I need to! She must be Arkwright's daughter - dont let them leave the shop without buying something.

She did hint that I should keep a watch on the website for further developments on the program to retain existing customers. She did suggest that I might want to voice my dissatisfaction at not being able to upgrade without such cost - so I sent them an email (see what happens next). She did suggest that things were about to change that may be in line with my thinking.

So wait and watch a bit longer it is then ...... I'd probably somewhat happily pay the cost of upgrade but I hate doing this as they usually change the scheme to "free" four hours after I've parted with my cash!

Meanwhile, my jitters continue .......... I need a techno-fix :eek:

Anyone else got early upgrade experience on Orange?

[getti]

Im always getting them. Xmas eve i went to Orange and picked up a 6630 with an upgrade fee of £250.

Lucky it goes on your bill :D

[Jon3G]

The only time it ever happened to me with Orange was in 2002 when I hade a communicator. I was told it had GPRS and it didnt, so when I came to use and have it activated then I was advised my phone does not support GPRS. So I wrote to the exec team and some guy called me and offered a truim mondo that had GPRS. I didnt pay an upgrade fee or anything for the phone.

This was a real claim and not just a cry for help for new tech stuff

[Ben]

lol hands0n, my renewal comes up in August and my upgrade fee and handset costs are far higher than yours! You're obviously much more of a 'power user' than me, but the costs seem quite reasonable... not all networks have to give their products away.

[Hands0n]

@Ben - I know, I know, it really is not such a huge amount of money to upgrade early and satisfy my lack of patience :) But it is my personal experience that when I do this, about a week later they change the offer! It happened with the SE T610 to me - although to be completely fair to Orange, when I discussed it in passing during an unrelated call they refunded me th £29.99 I'd paid for the handset AND gave me a free month for my troubles!! Could anyone possibly imagine 3 doing such a thing!!! Quite.

[Jon3G]

Just pay and get one - its worth it

[Hands0n]

@jon3G - LOL, you and Ben really are not helping me any :)

BTW Ben - when did you last check your upgrade fee? I did before the weekend and it was over £175, a couple of days later it was down to £88.

[Hands0n]

Here's a question that I can't seem to find an answer to.

The 6680 is a Symbian handset. What PIM does it synch to? Does it have it's own PC desktop PIM software or does it sync with MS Outlook (without the need for independent i.e. non-Nokia-supplied software)?

I thought I knew the answer to this until about 2 minutes ago :confused:

[bsrjl1]

It uses MS Outlook, Lotus Organiser (who uses that?!), Lotus Notes or Outlook Express (Windows Addressbook).

As for upgrades, why don't you go onto Orange Permier & upgrade every 9 months?

[Jon3G]

The phone uses the Nokia software and its very good and stable. It can use several apps like outlook for the contact sync.

The software is top notch

[Hands0n]

Thats excellent! I'm all for a seamless transfer from the SPV C-500 to the Nokia 6680. I'm a fish out of water without my PIM (would miss my own birthday!!!) :)

[Hands0n]

As for upgrades, why don't you go onto Orange Permier & upgrade every 9 months?

Y'know, if it wasn't for the two contracts (Orange and 3) I'd be cheaper going Premier and get exactly what I want. I reckon on doing that at the upgrade time in October so the overlap is not too financially heavy at 3 months or so. Its a nice package, I didn't pay it much attention previously.

[Jon3G]

Thats excellent! I'm all for a seamless transfer from the SPV C-500 to the Nokia 6680. I'm a fish out of water without my PIM (would miss my own birthday!!!) :)


It will work nicely with the SPV C500. I use a XDA2i and it syncs between them with no issues. All the contacts appointments and calendar entries are on both devices.

The only downside to this is I get a warning that my Vat or Inland revenue payments are due on 3 devices and normally when I am in a bad mood lol
;)

[Jon3G]

Y'know, if it wasn't for the two contracts (Orange and 3) I'd be cheaper going Premier and get exactly what I want. I reckon on doing that at the upgrade time in October so the overlap is not too financially heavy at 3 months or so. Its a nice package, I didn't pay it much attention previously.


I would think, but dont qoute me. You would need to be on Orange Prem for 9 months before you could upgrade or you upgrade date, which ever was sooner. Worth checking out

[getti]

You can upgrade on Premier after 9 months free of charge. Also you can upgrade before that but with a charge.

its something like

0-3 months = £250 + VAT
3-6 months = £100 +VAT
6-9 months = £50 + VAT

This also changes depending on how much a month you spend

[Jon3G]

Just get one there great, but saying that the Orange website has them out of stock for upgrades :mad:

[Hands0n]

The 6680 is still out of stock on the Orange website! Checked in Canary Wharf Orange shop the other day, they out of stock also!

The last time I saw such a "stock shortage" on Orange was the advent of the SE T610 - and then it was due to the UK charger having a potentially dangerous fault, a subsequent recall [of the charger] ensued.

Not that I'm suggesting for one moment that is the case with the 6680 :rolleyes: