[crowfield99]

To what it says on The Register, Orange are now going to start to charge 1p on top of the normal price for Delivery Reports!!

What the hell is going on? And customers are no longer to be classed as humans.

ORANGE WHHHYYYY!!!!!!!

[getti]

It's official.... they now suck.

1p charge to make sure the message you sent gets there in the 1st place is a joke. Add to that the lame names to new price plans and increased prices (and poor 3g handset range) and Orange are really going backwards as a network

[Hands0n]

Here is the link to the El Reg article http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/06/orange_animals/

Having read the article I can only say that I am quite delighted that I left Orange when I did at the end of 2005. They have replaced uninspiring tariffs with a mess that appears to be as transparent as 1960's London smog. And why on earth have they [seemingly] made "inclusive 3G minutes" (whatever they may be) the exclusive province of their most expensive tariff. Do Orange see 3G as a premium service? Why?

Orange now have absolutely nothing to offer me in the least that I'd be interested in. If this is the influence of France Telecom [and it continues like this] my forecast is that Orange will be relegated to 5th position in the UK mobile ops during the remainder of 2006.

Well done boys, how to snatch defeat from the hands of success.

[Ben]

Would that mean that, even when using an inclusive bundle, if you have reports turned on it'll cost you 1p a pop? That's just outrageous! I use delivery reports all the time because you simply can't trust SMS messages if the content is time-critical. The insult if charging for a delivery receipt on a message carrying a cost already inflated some 1200% is, well, pathetic amongst other things.

[solo12002]

What a B joke, has Orange gone mad?

Thank god I dont have a contract with them if I did I cancel it, due to the increase in prices and not being classed as humans.

Oh well maybe the Ch Ex of Orange is a PIG!

[Ben]

Of course, I believe these changes only affect the new tariffs. Existing customers are not forced to migrate AFAIK.

[solo12002]

"Only affect the new tariffs"

Good point Ben,

But who would want one T-Mobile Flet I think beats them hands down!

[Hands0n]

I'm still coming to terms with Orange pricing themselves out of the market!

Why would anyone actually want to do that in the face of stiff competition? Is this the Gallic influence? Will Orange be claiming EU Farming subsidies to feed their livestock? Thus negating the need to actually sell any mobile contracts at all, us EU taxpayers can simply fund the operation because it exists.

I am really, honestly and truly trying to think of one good reason to either buy into or recommend Orange to someone else, and for the life of me I cannot! But not so long ago there was a time ...........:confused:

[fat jez]

Sadly it looks as though Orange are on a downward spiral. I spent 7 years working there before I left, fed up with the way the company is being run. I wouldn't recommend them to anybody, either as an employer or as a customer. It is my belief that profits are dropping as people leave Orange to go to other networks and are replaced by new customers with higher aquisition costs. I suspect that they will continue to add on small charges here and there to try and remain profitable, but I can only see them ending up last in the market if things don't change.

The irony is that Orange became successful for having simple and clear tariffs with no hidden pricing. When I left the company and lost my Liberate tariff, I struggled to find a tariff I wanted to go onto with any network, not just Orange. What this industry needs is somebody to come along and do what Orange did back in 1994 and bring back the simple price plans.

Cheers,
Jez

[solo12002]

"What this industry needs is somebody to come along and do what Orange did back in 1994 and bring back the simple price plans"

Sorry has t-mobile not done this. they give you a sum to spend on month on either voice, text or mms ans a flat rate of 20pppm for calls, 10p for text and 20p for mms.

[Ben]

I agree, T-Mobile does seem to be the 'new' Orange at the moment. They've finally reached a point where they're quite desirable!

I'm sorry to hear of your feelings towards Orange, Jez. Sadly it confirms what many of us Orange customers have been suspecting for some time now. My spend used to be around £50/month, but they've seen that drop to ~£13 as I switched my usage to Vodafone (where the combined total of my monthly bills is still less than £50!) I'd imagine a lot of customers are doing the same.

[Jon3G]

I have to agree T-Mobile seem to be starting to lead.

The web and walk tariffs and the Flext tariffs are amazing

Orange WHAT ARE YOU DOING

[Ben]

getti has heard that Orange plan to hike the charge to 7p in September... anyone heard anything similar?