Hands0n
25th October 2010, 06:24 PM
I have recently been using Orange PAYG by way of picking up one of their San Francisco PAYG Android handsets (more of that elsewhere on Talk3G) and busily assessing their Dolphin (http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/plans/paygPlanList.jsp?selectedTariffName=Dolphin) price plan. It leaves me somewhat underwhelmed.
Orange say ...
You can text, poke or tweet as many times as you like with Dolphin. Just top up £10 or more each month and we'll give you free texts and free internet on your phone.
£10 top up = 300 free texts plus free internet
£20 top up = 600 free texts plus free internet
£30 top up = 240 free international calling minutes
Free Internet sounds very exciting. That is, until you get to drill down a bit further, open up a link on the page where you find that "*Dolphin internet usage capped at 100MB per month." I just hate those darned little asterisks. Don't you?
Orange say
Free internet (mobile internet browsing) - usage is UK only and subject to a 100MB cap - any usage over this will be charged at standard rates. Orange considers 100MB sufficient for typical mobile internet browsing usage. It is insufficient for streaming of audio/video content, peer to peer file sharing or Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) calls and internet tethering. If customers do any of the above they should expect to exceed the 100MB cap and will be charged at standard data rates.
Digging down a bit deeper one finds that if you go over the 100MB in that month the "maximum daily charge for mobile Internet browsing £2" (or
However, all is not lost. If you have a need, or indeed a penchant, for more than 100MB per month of PAYG Internet then Orange is there to support you. "If you think you'll need more, you can text WEB 5 to 6620 and enjoy 250MB for £5".
Well thats alright then.
Of course, I am being completely sarcastic. It is not alright at all. In fact, it is very not not alright!
Brace yourself to be ripped off
Lets just look at this for a brief moment. Orange are selling an Android smartphone that has all of the functionality and capability of pretty much any Android you could care to mention and that is available today.
Perhaps, just perhaps, with very judicial use an aware user will be able to operate within those tight tolerances. 100MB really is not anything at all. For example, I have already used 156.81MB (thank you NetCounter for Android) this month on my Nexus One with extremely light and occasional use. That is, a few Foursquare footprints, some Twitter on the train, a little bit of browsing of News, and whatever an Android device does all by itself when not attached to the WLAN at home or in the office. Thats it.
Oh, and remember that ""maximum daily charge for mobile Internet browsing £2"? Yes, that is a daily charge. It expires at midnight. So, if you've used up your generous 100MB then each time the Android handset uses the Internet for whatever purpose - and it does, believe me it does - you will have £2 removed from your top up each day. Unless you realise in time, before hand would be better, and purchase that 250MB for £5. Otherwise you could well find yourself running out of top up in days just because your Android decided to sync its Mail, Contacts or Calendar.
And it gets worse!
That "maximum daily charge" of £2 is further caveated, elsewhere on Orange's website. Look a bit deeper still and you will find "£2 daily capped rate (up to 25MB)* so you never pay more than this in a day"
Did you notice that pesky asterisk again? Those little boogers are not to be ignored, or if you do then it is at your financial peril that you do so. And so scrolling down a bit further one finds this little gem "*Beyond this limit, UK mobile internet will be charged at standard mobile internet rates (see the pay as you go Price Guide (http://www1.orange.co.uk/service_plans/payasyougo/services_price_guides_overview.html) for details)."
The actual guide is a PDF linked to here http://www1.orange.co.uk/service_plans/downloads/PAYG-PG-20100928.pdf
After this it all gets very fuzzy - but as best as I can ascertain, and I am inviting Orange to correct me here, the Orange charge for going over any of your "bundles" is £1.55 per MB. Remember, the MB figure for mobile Internet is an accumulation of both ways, uplink and downlink. So it is not as much as you may think it is.
Happy now?
Didn't this all start off with "free Internet"? Blimey! That could work out to be quite an expensive bit of "free".
I do think that Orange are taking the proverbial with the Dolphin PAYG tariff. It seems, to me, to be purposely designed to consume top-up credit aggressively. It certainly is not at all friendly to the consumer of Orange's services.
My Orange San Francisco is unlocked ($3, yes, dollars) and will be accommodating another network's SIM. The Orange SIM value will be consumed and then it will be consigned to the bin where it belongs.
You wouldn't believe that Orange once set the standards bar for quality product, tariffs and customer service. Not anymore, they don't.
Orange say ...
You can text, poke or tweet as many times as you like with Dolphin. Just top up £10 or more each month and we'll give you free texts and free internet on your phone.
£10 top up = 300 free texts plus free internet
£20 top up = 600 free texts plus free internet
£30 top up = 240 free international calling minutes
Free Internet sounds very exciting. That is, until you get to drill down a bit further, open up a link on the page where you find that "*Dolphin internet usage capped at 100MB per month." I just hate those darned little asterisks. Don't you?
Orange say
Free internet (mobile internet browsing) - usage is UK only and subject to a 100MB cap - any usage over this will be charged at standard rates. Orange considers 100MB sufficient for typical mobile internet browsing usage. It is insufficient for streaming of audio/video content, peer to peer file sharing or Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) calls and internet tethering. If customers do any of the above they should expect to exceed the 100MB cap and will be charged at standard data rates.
Digging down a bit deeper one finds that if you go over the 100MB in that month the "maximum daily charge for mobile Internet browsing £2" (or
However, all is not lost. If you have a need, or indeed a penchant, for more than 100MB per month of PAYG Internet then Orange is there to support you. "If you think you'll need more, you can text WEB 5 to 6620 and enjoy 250MB for £5".
Well thats alright then.
Of course, I am being completely sarcastic. It is not alright at all. In fact, it is very not not alright!
Brace yourself to be ripped off
Lets just look at this for a brief moment. Orange are selling an Android smartphone that has all of the functionality and capability of pretty much any Android you could care to mention and that is available today.
Perhaps, just perhaps, with very judicial use an aware user will be able to operate within those tight tolerances. 100MB really is not anything at all. For example, I have already used 156.81MB (thank you NetCounter for Android) this month on my Nexus One with extremely light and occasional use. That is, a few Foursquare footprints, some Twitter on the train, a little bit of browsing of News, and whatever an Android device does all by itself when not attached to the WLAN at home or in the office. Thats it.
Oh, and remember that ""maximum daily charge for mobile Internet browsing £2"? Yes, that is a daily charge. It expires at midnight. So, if you've used up your generous 100MB then each time the Android handset uses the Internet for whatever purpose - and it does, believe me it does - you will have £2 removed from your top up each day. Unless you realise in time, before hand would be better, and purchase that 250MB for £5. Otherwise you could well find yourself running out of top up in days just because your Android decided to sync its Mail, Contacts or Calendar.
And it gets worse!
That "maximum daily charge" of £2 is further caveated, elsewhere on Orange's website. Look a bit deeper still and you will find "£2 daily capped rate (up to 25MB)* so you never pay more than this in a day"
Did you notice that pesky asterisk again? Those little boogers are not to be ignored, or if you do then it is at your financial peril that you do so. And so scrolling down a bit further one finds this little gem "*Beyond this limit, UK mobile internet will be charged at standard mobile internet rates (see the pay as you go Price Guide (http://www1.orange.co.uk/service_plans/payasyougo/services_price_guides_overview.html) for details)."
The actual guide is a PDF linked to here http://www1.orange.co.uk/service_plans/downloads/PAYG-PG-20100928.pdf
After this it all gets very fuzzy - but as best as I can ascertain, and I am inviting Orange to correct me here, the Orange charge for going over any of your "bundles" is £1.55 per MB. Remember, the MB figure for mobile Internet is an accumulation of both ways, uplink and downlink. So it is not as much as you may think it is.
Happy now?
Didn't this all start off with "free Internet"? Blimey! That could work out to be quite an expensive bit of "free".
I do think that Orange are taking the proverbial with the Dolphin PAYG tariff. It seems, to me, to be purposely designed to consume top-up credit aggressively. It certainly is not at all friendly to the consumer of Orange's services.
My Orange San Francisco is unlocked ($3, yes, dollars) and will be accommodating another network's SIM. The Orange SIM value will be consumed and then it will be consigned to the bin where it belongs.
You wouldn't believe that Orange once set the standards bar for quality product, tariffs and customer service. Not anymore, they don't.