New Orange roaming charges from June 1st..

...and unfortunately, it represents another roaming price increase from what
I can see.

www.orange.co.uk/away

Chris

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› See More: New Orange roaming charges from June 1st..

On Sat, 06 May 2006 18:16:35 GMT, "Chris Boyd"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>..and unfortunately, it represents another roaming price increase from what
>I can see.
>
>www.orange.co.uk/away
>
Yes, it can't be described in any other way then a blatant and
unjustified rip off.
The sooner the new European directives come into force the better.

Remove 'no_spam_' from email address.

On Sat, 06 May 2006 19:53:43 GMT, Brian A <[email protected]> wrote:
>On Sat, 06 May 2006 18:16:35 GMT, "Chris Boyd"
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>..and unfortunately, it represents another roaming price increase from what
>>I can see.
>>
>>www.orange.co.uk/away
>>
>Yes, it can't be described in any other way then a blatant and
>unjustified rip off.
>The sooner the new European directives come into force the better.

Then only real improvements there are GPRS rates down to a flat £8/MB
abroad, down from between £8 and £25/MB, and some old Europe 2 locations
are now in the Orange Zone (same prices as Europe 1).

New Zealand is hit the hardest, going from the Australia zone to the more
expensive Rest of World 2 band, making roaming there even more expensive
than China.

--
-- Michael "Soruk" McConnell
Eridani Star System

MailStripper - http://www.MailStripper.eu/ - SMTP spam filter
Mail Me Anywhere - http://www.MailMeAnywhere.com/ - Mobile email

"Chris Boyd" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> ..and unfortunately, it represents another roaming price increase from
> what I can see.
>
> www.orange.co.uk/away
>


Cheaper data though I suppose, which is good for texting via an alternative
sms provider.

Brian A wrote:

> Yes, it can't be described in any other way then a blatant and
> unjustified rip off.
> The sooner the new European directives come into force the better.

So that they'll have to reduce roaming rates and then they'll just
increase home usage rates in compensation? Yes, I'm _really_ looking
forward to that too.

Tariq

Tariq wrote:
> So that they'll have to reduce roaming rates and then they'll just
> increase home usage rates in compensation? Yes, I'm _really_ looking
> forward to that too.

Now why would they do that? A few years ago when UK contract charges
were still about 30p per minute, roaming charges on Orange were
actually cheaper on some networks, eg Belgium, France, around 20p Hong
Kong about 5p

The word then that it was merely passing on the other network charges,
plus a slight margin, was true. Since then all network charges have
fallen and roaming has multiplied by factors of 3 and 5, such as from
51p 3 years ago to £1.30 now, or even higher factors over a bit more
time. Now the 'only passing on other networks charges' has become one
of the most blatantly cynical lies

andy wrote:

> > So that they'll have to reduce roaming rates and then they'll just
> > increase home usage rates in compensation? Yes, I'm _really_ looking
> > forward to that too.

> Now why would they do that? A few years ago when UK contract charges
> were still about 30p per minute, roaming charges on Orange were
> actually cheaper on some networks, eg Belgium, France, around 20p Hong
> Kong about 5p

Because everytime we see government intervention in one aspect of
mobile phone charging, everytime we see costs of another aspect of the
service rising - it's happened before and it will happen again.

Tariq

Chris Boyd wrote:
> ..and unfortunately, it represents another roaming price increase from what
> I can see.

I love it when things are "simplified":

Before: "Although Orange calls are normally charged by the second, some
of our partner networks make charges in different ways. If you make
calls in our Calling Zones for Europe 1 and Ireland, you may be charged
by the second, or in increments of up to a minute - it depends on the
foreign network you use."

New regime "All calls made abroad will be charged in 60 second
increments"

At 70ppm in the Orange Zone that's potentially a HUGE increase in
calling costs.

AJ wrote:
> Chris Boyd wrote:
>> ..and unfortunately, it represents another roaming price increase from what
>> I can see.
>
> I love it when things are "simplified":
>
> Before: "Although Orange calls are normally charged by the second, some
> of our partner networks make charges in different ways. If you make
> calls in our Calling Zones for Europe 1 and Ireland, you may be charged
> by the second, or in increments of up to a minute - it depends on the
> foreign network you use."
>
> New regime "All calls made abroad will be charged in 60 second
> increments"
>
> At 70ppm in the Orange Zone that's potentially a HUGE increase in
> calling costs.
>

Orange have run of feet to shoot themselves in. Last one out, please
turn off the lights.

--
Ian Edwards
The past was bright, the past was Orange.

"andy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>>Tariq wrote:
> >So that they'll have to reduce roaming rates and then they'll just
> >increase home usage rates in compensation? Yes, I'm _really_ looking
>> forward to that too.

>Now why would they do that? A few years ago when UK contract charges
>were still about 30p per minute, roaming charges on Orange were
>actually cheaper on some networks, eg Belgium, France, around 20p Hong
>Kong about 5p

>The word then that it was merely passing on the other network charges,
>plus a slight margin, was true. Since then all network charges have
>fallen and roaming has multiplied by factors of 3 and 5, such as from
>51p 3 years ago to £1.30 now, or even higher factors over a bit more
>time. Now the 'only passing on other networks charges' has become one
>of the most blatantly cynical lies


Especially when they own or partner with the foreign network. Orange
Thailand and Orange Hong Kong are just two examples.

Ian Edwards wrote:
>
> Orange have run of feet to shoot themselves in. Last one out, please
> turn off the lights.
>

Indeed. Today both T-mobile and Vodafone announced significant cuts in
roaming charges, though with some rather slimily cynical rhetoric that
this was a response to feedback from customers, rather than the threat
of a big boot up the arse from the EU.

Ornage looks dramatically out of step

Tariq wrote:
>
> Because everytime we see government intervention in one aspect of
> mobile phone charging, everytime we see costs of another aspect of the
> service rising - it's happened before and it will happen again.
>

This is about as cynical as the claims made today by the CEO of
Vodafone and certain investment analysts that only competition not
regulation can improve the market

Get this - UK call charges have fallen; so have other countries, but
the mobile networks have increased roaming charges by factors of 3 and
5 in the last few years - and are under investigation for alleged
anti-competitive practice.

How do you explain that a roaming Orange call in Hong Kong a few years
ago would have cost a few pence a minute, 3 HK charges only a couple of
pence a minute for local or UK bound calls, but Orange sustains the
blatant lie that they are only passing on the other network charges if
they charge you £1.45 a minute?

Or that in 2003, Orange snubbed the imminent new entrants to the EU by
increasing roaming costs there from 51p to £1.10, and have now called
the drop to 70p an improvement?

Or a visitor to Norway will now pay about 3 times as much for a call of
a minute and a quarter?

Not one of these measures was introduced by government intervention

Chris Boyd wrote:
> ..and unfortunately, it represents another roaming price increase from what
> I can see.
>
> www.orange.co.uk/away

I've just got a text from Orange about new PAYG roaming charges from
May 25th (see www.orange.co.uk/travel) and they do mainly seem to be
reductions - the new Orange Zone is 'only' 70p/minute, Ireland/Channel
Islands is 80p, Europe 1 is 90p, all down from £1.20. There may be
some countries which have been moved to more expensive zones, however,
and the new 'Rest of World 2' zone is £1.75 call/£1 receive.

Mike

mike wrote:
> I've just got a text from Orange about new PAYG roaming charges from
> May 25th (see www.orange.co.uk/travel) and they do mainly seem to be
> reductions - the new Orange Zone is 'only' 70p/minute, Ireland/Channel
> Islands is 80p, Europe 1 is 90p, all down from £1.20. There may be
> some countries which have been moved to more expensive zones, however,
> and the new 'Rest of World 2' zone is £1.75 call/£1 receive.

Did they happen to highlight that they have changed all calls to per
minute billing, instead of copying the roamed network, eg 60s/15s or
30s/01s units?

The EU countries are now all in the 70p zone; this is the only
improvement. Some other European countries have been put up from 70p to
£1.30.


Get a foreign SIM card, either local or one of the global ones with
free incoming calls, then use callback to make calls for between 5p and
20p for most of the world

andy wrote:
> mike wrote:
> > I've just got a text from Orange about new PAYG roaming charges from
> > May 25th (see www.orange.co.uk/travel) and they do mainly seem to be
> > reductions - the new Orange Zone is 'only' 70p/minute, Ireland/Channel
> > Islands is 80p, Europe 1 is 90p, all down from £1.20. There may be
> > some countries which have been moved to more expensive zones, however,
> > and the new 'Rest of World 2' zone is £1.75 call/£1 receive.
>
> Did they happen to highlight that they have changed all calls to per
> minute billing, instead of copying the roamed network, eg 60s/15s or
> 30s/01s units?

Yes, they did.

> The EU countries are now all in the 70p zone; this is the only
> improvement. Some other European countries have been put up from 70p to
> £1.30.

This isn't right.

The cheapest PAYG zone was £1.20, no countries were 70p.

EU countries are now all either 70p or 90p, and Switzerland is 70p.

Norway, for example, has moved from Europe 1 to Europe2 and has
therefore gone up from £1.20 to £1.30.

> Get a foreign SIM card, either local or one of the global ones with
> free incoming calls, then use callback to make calls for between 5p and
> 20p for most of the world

I have a Riiing card which I used in Iceland and Spain last year, and
Sweden earlier this year, and now an 0044 card; yes, I could
investigate callback for cheaper calls.

Mike