T-Orange: And then there were four

T-Mobile and Orange reckon their merger will be good for shareholders, good for the industry and even good for the environment. But it is possible that customers might not be so enamoured. The new venture, which won't have a name until 2012, will be the largest network operator in the UK, with 37 per cent of the market. It …

[Dean 9]

Well I am leaving

I am looking forward to leaving T-Mobile after having numerous issues in regards to signal dropping for no reason. I have also had terrible phone customer service from them. It is a shame as I do think they do have good in store staff, offer good calling and data plans and allows.

I won't join Orange as I don't like how they brand their phones and I don’t think there plans are the most competitive. I was also left standing around in an Orange store, in Meadowhall while I was waiting to look at a phone and decided to leave.

It looks like I will be going back to O2, the better the devil you know, comes to mind.

[Captain Underpants]

Great, he mutters to himself under his breath

As an existing T-mobile subscriber who's satisfied with but not exactly astonished by the service they provide, I look forward to this joint venture with Orange with the aplomb and anticipation more commonly reserved for invasive colonic surgery. I have heard nothing but bad accounts of the service and support provided by Orange (which, given the stories about their callcentres being run so poorly that they use IE6 over Firefox, seems to be the rule rather than the exception for the entire company's ethos) and will most likely be migrating to another network in the near future. Can't imagine I'll be the only one either...

[Christopher Slater-Walker]

But can I get an iPhone?

I've got 2 contracts on T-Mobile for family members and they both want an iPhone. I'd like to know if this merger is going to put a spanner in the works of the rumoured expansion of iPhone availability to T-Mobile.

Mine's the one with the iPhone in it, obviously.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's obvious

Happen t'new company is going to concentrate on the t'customers in t'north then.

t'Orange

Nah then sithie, weere's me Whippet?

[Anonymous Coward]

</title>

and by "Reduce Churn" they mean "Prevent all of T-Mobiles customers fleeing at the sight of Orange"

[Richard 81]

Boo!

Just when I discovered the level of customisability in T-Mobile's 3G tariffs. Spend more on the phone today, keep more of your soul. Spend nothing on the phone, sell the whole thing for eternity. Beats O2 and Orange hands down.

[Nigel Callaghan]

What is 3G?

Maybe those of us outside the 'major population centres' can hope that fewer networks may mean that it's more economical for them to provide 3G over the rest of the landmass of the British Isles.

[lukewarmdog]

what is 3g..

I don't think anybody would suggest that even if they all merged into one giant telecommunications company that they would roll 3G out just because it was cheap and Mandelson wants it. Never happened with BT and not happening in the US. The operators reach a point where profit is satisfactory and there's really not much incentive to change that staus quo by massive investment in supplying Cornwall with 3G.

[Anonymous Coward]

Can it be worse than it currently is?

I live in a "major" population center (population >110,000) and T-Mobile's 3G coverage is frankly complete shite, even though they claim I live in a "good" 3G area. I've set my G1 to only use 2G networks if I'm anywhere near home because there isn't a 3G signal, and a lot of the time there isn't even a 2G signal. What is the point of selling phones/contracts designed round "always on" style data systems when its just not there? My G1 often can't even sync my Gmail account because of a lack of data signal.

I've heard horror stories about Orange and frankly the merger isn't going to make a good company. You can't take two crappy companies like T-Mobile and Orange and make one good one out them. So I'll expect the merged company to be as useless and as customer unfriendly as it currently is, but with the added arrogance of "We're the biggest mobile provider in the UK".

[Anonymous Coward]

that was close....

I was just about to take a new t-mobile contract. Not any more. Having left orange a few years back for many reasons but the final straw being their data costs (not to mention the conversation with the call centre rep trying to convince me that their 4mb for £4 was a better deal than the 1gb I got on a flex t tariff for free) I'm once more running for the hills. You know orange will cut costs their side and increase tariffs yours while the marketing guys think up confusingly expensive tariffs and call them after animals.

Shame because t-mobile have always been good. Never been on hold for more than a minute or so to talk to their call centre staff and they always seemed helpful.

Problem is I don't like voda or o2 and 3 don't have android phones.

[MrAFuller]

Looks like no one likes LTE, or 3G for that matter :(

Off on a rather remarkable tangent here: as well as LTE not being to high on the to-do list for T-orange, it looks like 02 doesn't want you to even use their 3G network; got a rather interesting message from 02 - I've an iphone - that basically asked me to use my wi-fi at home rather than their 3G network: "Get the most of apps and the web by using Wi-Fi, at home... especially for apps like video"

[Richard Jones 2]

Doh!!

@ <TITLE> - spot on!!

@ that was close - lucky you

I love t-mobile. They've been by far the best of the networks I've tried over the years (never tried Orange simply as they had no signal) so this news fills me with dread (and the possibility of losing my "Friends and Family" half price line rental!!)

Hmmm, decisions decisions

[Anonymous Coward]

arent we getting ahead of ourselves?

all this talk about leaving the network cos of the things that "might" change eg, tarrif changes and loosing friends and family discounts and all that garbage.

Fact of the matter is, they most likely will have new tarrifs and products but they cant take you off what you currently have if you dont request it. You simply wont be able to go back on that old tarriff if you move to another! (if its been discontinued)

In the meantime everyone just shut the hell up about what might happen and start worrying about it when its staring you in the face :-)

Paris, cos she knows how the shut the hell up!

[Chris Bradshaw]

I sense a Reg poll coming up

"The new venture, which won't have a name until 2012"

Can we have a new name poll please? I respectfully submit for your consideration the following:

Morbinge (my personal favorite)

Torbile

Mobile Orange

Mobor

Mobe*

* I also propose a limited lifting on the Reg ban for the duration of the poll and subsequent merge if this entry wins).

[John H Woods]

Orange Tea?

That is all.

[Steve Mason]

Minge!

that is all ;)

[Anonymous Coward]

From Pedants 'r Us...

As James Parker at MoneySupermarket.com puts it:

"If this merger does go ahead then it will ultimately mean one less mobile operator in the UK market..."

No, James, there will be one FEWER mobile operator...

Fail, because I can't ever trust an analyst that doesn't use proper English.

[dreamingspire]

Oranges a shrivelled fruit here

A few years ago I also left Orange, because the signal strength here dropped below working level. Much stonewalling but eventually it became obvious that, in this dense residential area (no significant business traffic, no school, etc, nearby), they had taken a cell out, no doubt because of shortage of spectrum capacity elsewhere. Happened to other places around this urban area, got rumbled by the press, I got out with no penalty and took my number with me, and in a well publicised case the customer was reimbursed and allowed (sic) to cancel the contract. Now use a smaller service provider that buys capacity from Vodaphone - excellent.

And now I out myself (a little) - I'm in Greater Bristol, Orange's HQ area. And the line of bad signal goes through my house, a mate's house and the pub (where we once collared an Orange employee and demonstrated the problem to his great surprise).

The merger just might improve the coverage - on TV I saw an industry expert refer to that in careful words.

[Wize]

If O2 and Voda are sharing...

...will my vodafone mobile drop out as often as O2?

[Steven Snape]

Does this mean an end to those sh!te T-Mobile adverts

I wouldnt go with T-Mobile just incase I turned into one of those singing zombies in the adverts.