Orange mobile and/or dongle reception

[adey]

i read a while ago people were having issues with orange mobile/dongle reception in ED which apparently was due to network infrastructure upgrades resulting from the t-mobile (?) & orange merger. are these issues now resolved?

at the moment i have a vodafone dongle thingy which isn't great to be honest but orange have offered me one for ?10 less a month. any thoughts/recent experience welcome.

thanks

adey

[Gavin]

I'm on t-mobile in SE5, and have had a bit of a nightmare over the last month with network problems (something to do with a dodgy local transmitter according to t-mobile). Seems to have settled down in the last week, but regular removal/refitting of the USB seems to be required to keep the connection working well, and download speeds vary enourmously from one minute to the next.

[felt-tip]

i have an orange dongle and mostly if works fine but sometimes the connection goes down and i cant use 3G I have to use a normal connection and its slower.

[Manda]

I have an Orange mobile contract, don't do it! They have been awful, drop out rate on all calls is really high, I don't get messages for days after they've been left, can't make or receive calls even from my garden and get nothing at all when inside my flat and my 3 complaints to Orange have been ignored. Also they have no cooling off period so you can't road test them, once you sign that's it! For me that has meant 2 years of crappy mobile reception and service. I hate them.

Should have stayed with 02 they are streets ahead (only 9 months of my contract left to go :-() and i will never use them again.

[Bic Basher]

I use a 3 mobile dongle and surprisingly it works properly. Can't say for other parts of ED though.

[Gavin]

t-mobile have a 'service check' where you can input your postcode to check you should have a good mobile broadband service before signing up. If it confirms that you should, I think I am correct in saying that you then have 7 days to change to your mind after receiving the dongle. 3 has a mobile wireless broadband modem which looks like a good bet, if a bit more pricey, if you have more than one computer.

For what it's worth, t-mobile also do a rolling 30-day sim-only contract for phones which I reckon is good value (no I don't work for them).

[ratty]

I have Orange and have to say it is not a patch on Vodafone who I was with previously!

[Growlybear]

Orange is the only mobile network I can pick up reliably from my house, so I have no choice. However, I've always found Orange customer services to be really good and efficient, and have always been 100% happy with the service I've received. They've also always be willing to do brilliant deals with new phones and packages when I've threatened to leave at the end of each contract period. I had a contract with 02 a few years back, and thought they were one of the most appalling companies I've ever come across.

I haven't had any recent problems with the network as a result of any work that Orange might be having carried out.