Orange Announces UK iPhone Pricing

[MacRumors]

UK wireless carrier Orange today revealed pricing plans for the iPhone, which will launch on the carrier on November 10th. iPhone pricing ranges from free with certain plan prices and term commitments up to £539 for the 32 GB iPhone 3GS on a contract-free pay as you go plan.

Monthly consumer plans begin at £29.36 for 150 minutes of talk time and 250 text messages. All plans include "unlimited" data mobile Internet browsing, which is actually defined in a footnote as 750 MB per month, significantly below the unofficial "soft" cap of 5 GB per month used by AT&T in the United States.

Orange's pricing structure is nearly identical to that of O2, which has been the exclusive iPhone carrier in the UK since the device's launch there in November 2007, although there are a few differences. Orange's entry-level offering is unmatched by O2 on a 24-month contract, and offers twice as many minutes and text messages as O2 on the entry-level 18-month contract. Orange is also offering a £122.34-per-month plan for 24 months carrying unlimited minutes and text messages as well as a small amount of European roaming minutes and data. On the flip side, however, O2 has not as yet appeared to employ caps on data usage.

Customers in countries such as the United States where the iPhone is currently offered exclusively through a single wireless carrier have been following the developments in the UK to see how pricing and other contract terms might be affected in countries where exclusive arrangements have been transitioning to multiple-carrier models.

Article Link: Orange Announces UK iPhone Pricing

[P-Worm]

Yikes. I'm guessing that it is rather easy to go through 750MB per month if you watch YouTube enough.

P-Worm

[ri0ku]

I dont understand there pay as you go pricing... how much will it cost me for a flaming pay as you go iphone.. none of this tarrif crap i just want a phone i can top up and use as normal.

Rubbish

[notjustjay]

So it's unlimited, up to a certain limit?

Who's going to fall for that?

[pjac]

Given O2's policy of 5GB/month, 0.75GB/month hardly counts as unlimited does it? If Orange calls it "unlimited" data access in an advert, everyone please report them to the Advertising Standards Authority, http://www.asa.org.uk

[pjac]

Old thread here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=8746979

[andylyon]

Originally Posted by notjustjay

So it's unlimited, up to a certain limit?

Who's going to fall for that?

Many more people than you think, will only be in the small print.

[Mr Skills]

Anyone notice that the "up to 750MB" asterisk also appears on "WiFi"?

[speakerwizard]

its under 800mb data usage

[hiimamac]

Originally Posted by P-Worm

Yikes. I'm guessing that it is rather easy to go through 750MB per month if you watch YouTube enough.

P-Worm

the US has a cap????

[mike...]

Well I was hoping for a little more competition in the marketplace, but I guess not.

I'm currently an O2 PAYG customer and was hoping to get a better deal on Orange PAYG.

Currently I get 100 'credits' each of which can be either 1 SMS or 1 any network anytime minute, 150 off-peak minutes to any network, 10% of my topups back, topup surprises (got a £5 firebox.com voucher this month), and truly unlimited data and wifi. On top of that, I get to keep the £15 to spend on calls and texts once my allowances are used up. Nothing Orange has to offer can beat this. lol at the 250MB limit.

[KPJLK]

I waited so long for this?

Instead of a monopoly, we now have a cartel. Bah.

[Yixian]

750mb...

What the ****?

[jglavin]

The ATT "soft cap" that keeps getting brought up is on datacard accounts, not the iphone. Check the fine print again.

Edit - the specific text: (note the fact that this section applies to specific wireless data services, and the "dataconnect plan" in particular)

II. ADDITIONAL TERMS FOR SPECIFIC WIRELESS DATA SERVICES
[...]
DATACONNECT PLANS
DataConnect plans may ONLY be used with AT&T certified LaptopConnect (PC Data) Cards and other devices [...] If you are on a data plan that does not include a monthly MB/GB allowance and additional data usage rates, you agree that AT&T has the right to impose additional charges if you use more than 5 GB in a month; provided that, prior to the imposition of any additional charges, AT&T shall provide you with notice and you shall have the right to terminate your Service.

I am pretty sure the above statement can't simply be taken out of context given the surrounding text. If someone has actually experienced these charges for going over 5 gigs on their phone, then, I stand corrected.

[Kilamite]

Wonder what Orange's 3G reception will be like.. O2's sucks.

[star-fish]

Originally Posted by pjac

Given O2's policy of 5GB/month, 0.75GB/month hardly counts as unlimited does it? If Orange calls it "unlimited" data access in an advert, everyone please report them to the Advertising Standards Authority, http://www.asa.org.uk

Well...'unlimited' clearly can't be given a number in the first place if you're using that logic.

Fair usage and unlimited statements have tons of loopholes. Orange can claim it's based on customer numbers, what they deem fair use, compare it to unlimited policies they've used previously...blah blah blah.

[The Samurai]

I've always preferred 02 - gettin a cracker of a deal with them. Basically, their £35 deal... i'm getting for £25.

I was on Orange a few years back and they were horrible. I paid the contract off a few months in advance, was sick and tired of their bull.

[star-fish]

Originally Posted by Kilamite

Wonder what Orange's 3G reception will be like.. O2's sucks.

My 3G reception is pretty good, and reliable too. But I live in the Midlands/north west and I have a Samsung phone.

[t0mat0]

Any word on Orange offering free wifi ala O2's The Cloud coverage?

[jambobowron]

Originally Posted by Mr Skills

Anyone notice that the "up to 750MB" asterisk also appears on "WiFi"?

OMG no actually....

probably because it doesn't say that!... the phone carrier cant put a limit on WiFi usage, only your ISP can.

[Goldmangun]

Disappointing ... very disappointing. Nothing to persuade me to buy an iPhone through Orange.

[OllyW]

Originally Posted by The Samurai

I was on Orange a few years back and they were horrible.

I can't believe their customer support is worse than O2?

Originally Posted by jambobowron

OMG no actually....

probably because it doesn't say that!... the phone carrier cant put a limit on WiFi usage, only your ISP can.

It had the asterisk next to the wi-fi earlier today but they have since corrected it.

[pjac]

Originally Posted by Mr Skills

Anyone notice that the "up to 750MB" asterisk also appears on "WiFi"?

Not any more - Orange updated the page during the day to make the mobile broadband vs wifi limits clearer.

[hafruit]

Well, I was waiting to see if there would be a better deal with Orange PAYG but guess not. If I get an iPhone it will be on O2 because of the unlimited data.

[MattJessop]

The 'unlimited' data thing is a bit irksome, particularly since O2 effectively employ no limit as far as I'm aware (I've gone well over 20Gb in a month, and never heard anything from O2) - this is quite important to me, so no chance of me switching.

Having said that, I've never ever had a single problem with O2's customer services, nor T-Mobile nor Orange. I can safely say that Vodafone, whatever the heck they do, have pretty poor customer services, though I have no idea how on earth this is possible, since I'd assume the CSA training isn't too hard. I do know that Vodafone have extremely unreliable systems with regards to porting in numbers however, so would be extremely hesitant to ever transfer to them. I've seen a few people lose their numbers completely because of Vodafone. Shame, since they seem to have good coverage.