Orange offer 'no commitment' 1 week 3G Test Drive

[A1c]

Orange are offering to let customers try their 3G service for a week before commiting to a contract or their extended 3G Trail period.

Apparently you just contact the local Orange shop and they arrange a handset and train you how to get the services from it. (Prusumably some credit check and identification will be required before you walk out of the shop with £300's worth of 3G handset!).

I suspect this offer might work well for Orange customerts seeking to upgrade.

For Info Click here: http://www.orange.co.uk/3g/?flash=true

[delinquentwoody]

well, this is a big bunch of offers!

[A1c]

Yep, it looks as if France Telecom have decided its time to get some money out of that 3G investment at long last!

I think Orange must nowe be fairly confident about the quality of their service in terms of 3G as they have always been very careful to ensure they dont shoot themselves in the foot. it does'nt pay them to anyway with the Orange Network Guarantee which applies to 3G too. Any dropped calls are credited automatically and reconnected. They also back up their 3G service with a dedicated support line on 350 from Orange handsets.

[new2three]

It's about time one of the big four started advertising their 3G service. I guess the 3G war is about to get much hotter.

It can only be good for us (the customer), because now we can choose which network provider we want for 3G.

[A1c]

Hey.....

Dont forget one very simple thing.....

People dont buy technology, they buy what it can do for them.

Orange are highlighting what 3G does in relation to 2G services. Customers have to be won on the basis that new products have some value and its only when the benefits outweigh the cost that they succeed.

Thats what all the glossy advertising is all about now!

[superfakename]

Check out the "Try 3G for free section"

1000MB of data a month for the first 3 months:confused:

Surely that can't be right??

[A1c]

It is! But can you use that amount? Orange are gamblng you will be browsing using your handset and not the modem facility I suspect.

[tony_iow]

Would this be the same offer that took the best part of 2 and a half hours for my local orange shop to process, 1 and half of which the Orange shop rep was on the phone to the excellent UK Orange customer service centre while they tried to figure out how to process the offer?.

I have to say i am totally disappointed with the range of handsets Orange has to offer, I had wanted to try the Nokia 6630 but the only handsets available were the Z1010 and LG8150 (I already own an LG8120 so wanted to try something different) What a nice launch handset the Z1010 is! NOT! What were Orange thinking of?

All in all i was not impressed with the Orange 3G coverage, hands-up I'm on the Isle of Wight but having checked the 3G coverage, Ryde, Newport and Cowes appear to be covered. In reality my 3 phone performed much better, the Orange signal was patchy to say the least!

I happily took my trial phone back and reassured myself that life with 3 is not as bad as some people make out.

[stickystickman]

I have to say i am totally disappointed with the range of handsets Orange has to offer, I had wanted to try the Nokia 6630 but the only handsets available were the Z1010 and LG8150 (I already own an LG8120 so wanted to try something different) What a nice launch handset the Z1010 is! NOT! What were Orange thinking of?

All in all i was not impressed with the Orange 3G coverage, hands-up I'm on the Isle of Wight but having checked the 3G coverage, Ryde, Newport and Cowes appear to be covered. In reality my 3 phone performed much better, the Orange signal was patchy to say the least!

I happily took my trial phone back and reassured myself that life with 3 is not as bad as some people make out.


LOL

This guy so obviously works for 3 or one of its associates. Granted the selection of 3g handsets with Orange is limited (as are all the 3g offerings from the big 4) but at least they are modern handsets. 3 offer a large selection of handsets but half of them are old chunky models, many of which have a great big question mark over them regarding reliability.

Granted 3 have wider coverage but at least Orange switches seemlessly to 2g and vice versa UNLIKE 3. That was the main reason I left 3 after 9 dreadful months. I was sick and tired of being cut off when I left 3's coverage, waiting 60 seconds for my phone to connect to O2, restart my call and then have the phone cut me off again when it picked up a sniff of 3's signal, cut me off, connected to 3, allowed me to make a call, cut me off, took 60 seconds to connect to O2 etc etc etc. Annoying and embarrassing if you're on a business call.

Oh and 3 have a 'walled garden' policy which means you don't have the freedom to surf other sites or do your own thing. I know 3 offer a 'wide' selection of their offerings but a lot of it is aimed at either the teen or chav market.

If 3 spent more time actually taking note of the complaints made to them instead of fobbing their customers off, then they could now be in a real position to kick the opposition. They were in a good position to take the lead but have let it slip due to their own short comings.

Oh, and YES life with 3 IS as bad as people make out! If you do work for 3 then you'll know this - just listen to your staff! If you don't work for 3 and you've not had problems, then you're dead lucky.

I'll get off my soap box now ;)

[tony_iow]

LOL

This guy so obviously works for 3 or one of its associates.

I don't work for 3 or any of its associates and yes I have had my share of problems with the 3 network! :)

My point was that i'd had a bad experience with the Orange 3G phone 1 week trial and that in my opinion I dont think that the launch handsets were that fantastic. I would have liked to try the Nokia 6630, having put up with an LG phone for the past 12 months (though at least mine has worked in the sense that i have been able to make and receive calls without problems!) but as that was out of stock (or temp withdrawn) and i didnt fancy the LG8150 my choice was a bit limited!

Having read back over my original post I can see that i didnt explain myself to well, when stating (the Orange signal was patchy to say the least) I was referring to the 3G signal not the 2G. Thanks for the info re the 2G/3G handovers cos that was a question i was gonna ask in a different part of the forum. I had an Orange phone for 7 years prior to switching to 3 and always found the 2G coverage very good.

I'm into month 11 of my 3 contract and can't decide what to do. I'm not at the stage as some people clearly are that i'm desperate to leave 3 bang on the end of my contract. BUT i am getting fed up with the my LG handset. I've always found 3 to be very good value and generally found the network to perform ok. I've had the usual problems with Customer Service and I made the unfortunate choice to originally take the Nokia 7600 handset.

Having had an Orange phone before I was surprised that they seemed to screw this trial offer up, also maybe i was unfortunate to end up with the Z1010. I certainly like the look of the upcoming Nokia 6680 and will get a friend to take one on trial to see how it performs.

[JB's Best Mate]

LOL

This guy so obviously works for 3 or one of its associates. Granted the selection of 3g handsets with Orange is limited (as are all the 3g offerings from the big 4) but at least they are modern handsets. 3 offer a large selection of handsets but half of them are old chunky models, many of which have a great big question mark over them regarding reliability.

Granted 3 have wider coverage but at least Orange switches seemlessly to 2g and vice versa UNLIKE 3. That was the main reason I left 3 after 9 dreadful months. I was sick and tired of being cut off when I left 3's coverage, waiting 60 seconds for my phone to connect to O2, restart my call and then have the phone cut me off again when it picked up a sniff of 3's signal, cut me off, connected to 3, allowed me to make a call, cut me off, took 60 seconds to connect to O2 etc etc etc. Annoying and embarrassing if you're on a business call.

Oh and 3 have a 'walled garden' policy which means you don't have the freedom to surf other sites or do your own thing. I know 3 offer a 'wide' selection of their offerings but a lot of it is aimed at either the teen or chav market.

If 3 spent more time actually taking note of the complaints made to them instead of fobbing their customers off, then they could now be in a real position to kick the opposition. They were in a good position to take the lead but have let it slip due to their own short comings.

Oh, and YES life with 3 IS as bad as people make out! If you do work for 3 then you'll know this - just listen to your staff! If you don't work for 3 and you've not had problems, then you're dead lucky.

I'll get off my soap box now ;)

LOL

This guy obviously works for Orange or one of its associates
:o

[jonat8]

@tony-iow:

What did the guys in the Orange shop need to process your one week trial period? Credit card/ ID/ proof of address?

Thanks :)

[rossonthenet]

@tony-iow:

What did the guys in the Orange shop need to process your one week trial period? Credit card/ ID/ proof of address?

Thanks :)

Deposit of the handset price, Photocopy of your Card you use for payment, and 2 forms of ID, or just 1 if you have a PhotoCard Driving License/Passport.

They do a quick ID check via your home address and Debit/Credit card to make sure its registered at your home address.

[tony_iow]

@tony-iow:

What did the guys in the Orange shop need to process your one week trial period? Credit card/ ID/ proof of address?

Thanks :)

Cheers Rossonthenet!

Jonat8 - also for info my desposit was £150 for Z1010, not sure if it varies depending on the handset taken though?

[rossonthenet]

Cheers Rossonthenet!

Jonat8 - also for info my desposit was £150 for Z1010, not sure if it varies depending on the handset taken though?

My mate paid £150 for LG8150 as well, so it must be a standard deposit.