Orange Data Plans Suck; So do their Bundles; And the Web Site; And their staff are drowning

Sometimes I get really sick of Orange. I’ve been with them a long time. There are some things I really like, such as their phone insurance which is the best in the industry. However, they’re pricing plans are really getting me down again.

When I upgraded to my Nokia N95 I asked them about data plans. Apparently they had just canned them all. They weren’t selling any more data cards, and the data bundles were laughably uncompetitive 4mb for £4. Obviously I wasn’t pleased and in order to make me stay from going to T-Mobile the guy gave me a competitive offer. I got more minutes and texts than I am ever going to use, but he did knock some money off my plan.

Then I saw this article in The Register on how Orange simplifies data charging. According to them Orange were providing an unlimited £5 evening and weekend bundle and an £8 anytime one for monthly subscribers. Not bad, thought I. However, when I called Orange to inquire the lovely lady I spoke to had not heard of either and said they hadn’t been trained on them yet. That’s something I’ve heard of a lot with Orange staff, the web knows information about Orange plans before they do.

After some chatting she couldn’t find these plans and suggested at 30mb for £8 bundle instead. It’s a slight extra cost for me but not much since I bartered during my upgrade and already had some. I figure I’m going to call back later and find someone else to ask. But, I thought I would also look on the web site. After much Googling I found a big nothing. I literally could not find any reference to data plans on the whole site, including the one I am actually on! The only thing I could find was in an obscure terms and conditions page Google trawled up. It stated that Orange gave a free 2 month 3G trial to people new to 3G. They got 1gb a month of data, which sounds great. Until you read further and see that they get forced onto the 4mb for £4 package as soon as the trial ends.

How can Orange be so reticent that they think it’s acceptable to not only have no sensible data plans but also to give a ‘trial’ package that is grossly misleading. If you really wanted to use 1gb of data a month on orange it would cost you hundreds of £s a month.

The only good thing Orange did for me today? They’ve improved their phone system. The main menu now has 4 options, one of which is to talk to a person. At least they get the voice bit of the their business right.

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