T-Mobile and Orange have been making puppy dog eyes at each other for ages now so it should come as no surprise to anyone that it was announced today that the two mobile networks are to officially merge. A big engagement party with streamers and delicious cake and everything was thrown in honour of the union (note: we made this bit up).
According to the Times Online, the merger has now been approved by the European Commission and will see rival mobile network 3 doing rather well out of the bargain as well.
The union of T-Mobile and Orange in the UK would have seen the super-networks’ customer base swell to some 30 million customers, which would leapfrog current market leader O2 and potentially stifle competition in the market. In order to allay regulatory fears, the UK’s smallest network 3 will be able to access 3,000 more T-Mobile masts, giving it greater 3G coverage.
Orange is still the best provider in the fruit basket when it comes to mobile broadband, according to YouGov. The recent survey shows that Orange still offers the best value for money when compared to the rest. The YouGov Dongle Tracker survey put Orange’s mobile broadband packages at the top spot in terms of ‘upload speeds’, ‘reliability’ and ‘customer services’.
Orange Mobile Broadband also topped the same YouGov Dongle Tracker survey which was published last November. That time round, Orange won the top spot for ‘overall quality’ and ‘value for money.
Asif Aziz, Director of Broadband and Home, Orange UK said: “Retaining our position as the top mobile broadband provider in the UK is a great accomplishment which we’re really proud of.”
The Mobile Broadband January Sale has begun. As well as vying each other for the most iPhone sales, O2 and Orange are now cutting the costs of their respective mobile broadband packages.
O2 is currently offering its 3GB Mobile Broadband package on 24 month contracts for just £10 per month for the first 4 months (£15 thereafter). The USB dongle comes included free of charge and the contract comes with unlimited Wi-Fi use.
O2′s Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband offering has also taken a price tumble. The USB dongle originally cost £30 (OK, £29.99) which has now been cut down to £20. Customers then pay either £2 per day for a 0.5GB (500MB) usage allowance, £7.50 for 7 days with 1GB or £15 for 30 days of 3GB. There is no contract or long-term commitment. As with the 3GB pay montly option, unlimited Wi-Fi is also included.
This Christmas you might wake up to find a different kind of Orange in your stocking. Orange is bringing two new laptops to the broadband bundle, the Asus 1005HGO and the Compaq CQ61 laptops.
These machines are available now on 18 or 24 month Orange mobile broadband tariffs, are compact and lightweight and both come with Windows 7 installed.
The Asus laptop is the lower-specced of the two and is ideal as a notebook for workers and students who travel a lot and want to be able to hammer out reports/dissertations on the train rides in between meeting/lectures.
Research company YouGov rated Orange’s Mobile Broadband packages the best in terms of ‘overall quality’ and ‘value for money’ in their recent Dongle Tracker survey.
In addition it was also rated highly in nine out of 15 categories, including ease of use and overall network coverage.
These results are yet another feather in Orange’s cap. Orange has recently acquired carriage rights for the Apple iPhone, breaking rival broadband provider and mobile network operator O2‘s long-held monopoly on the device.
Today is the day when Orange customers can finally get their hands on an iPhone on contract. Whilst the much hoped-for price war between Orange and O2 hasn’t quite erupted (yet), last night’s announcement by O2 could be the spark which ignites the kindling.
If you’ve got an iPhone and you’re on O2, signing up for the 3GB Internet Tethering iPhone bolt-on will see you getting the O2 Standard Broadband package (up to 8Mbps, unlimited downloads) included for FREE.
This offer is open to new and existing customers so if you’ve already got O2 Broadband in the home then you won’t be left out of the deal. Customers on the Premium and Pro O2 Broadband packages (top speeds of 16Mbps and 20Mbps, unlimited downloads) can also enjoy monthly discounts of £7.34 with the Total Connectivity for iPhone plan. This brings the monthly prices of the services down to £2.45 and £9.79 a month respectively.
The offer is available from today, the 10th of November up until the 31st of December. Obviously you can only sign up for this if you can get O2 Broadband in your area and you’re not already been supplied broadband by someone else.
Orange has recently revamped it’s broadband products, rolling out top speeds of 20Mbps across the board, and has been offering its mobile phone customers discounted broadband for some now. It’ll be interesting to see how or even if Orange responds to this recent development.
Orange and T-Mobile are said to be merging their UK mobile operations which will see the two become the biggest mobile network and mobile broadband provider in the country. The merger will see the companies pooling their resources, meaning that we’ll hopefully see increased coverage, faster mobile broadband speeds and larger amounts of monthly usage.
According to the BBC, the deal is not due to take place until November, after which the two brands will remain separate for 18 months before merging under one banner. We’ll either see the names merging a la ‘Orange T-Mobile’ or one of the two brands being dropped.
If the latter is the case, our money is on Orange being the remaining brand name, due largely to their stronger brand presence. There’s Orange Wednesdays, Orange Rock Corps and of course, Orange Broadband.
Either that, or the new company will go with one of the following names:
An Ofcom report published yesterday suggests that the average download speed received by UK broadband customers is only just over half the speed of the average advertised rate. Data from the report shows that while the average broadband package is sold as “up to” 7.1Mbps, the actual average speed delivered is thought to be 4.1Mbps, little more than half the average theoretical maximum.
Illegal downloads are on the wane in the UK according to a survey results published yesterday on Music Ally. A survey of 1,000 UK music fans suggested that illegal downloads and file sharing of audio content had decreased to 17 per cent in January 2009 from 22 per cent in December 2007.
Music streaming sites such as Spotify and YouTube are said to have contributed to the decline in P2P and torrenting.
Paul Brindley, the CEO of Music Ally said, “File sharing is a moving target, so industry and Government policies need to recognise this. It’s already being somewhat displaced by other means of accessing music for free. Some are licensed [Spotify] and some involve a bit of both [YouTube]…
Kids find services like YouTube much more convenient for checking out new music than file sharing. But even YouTube can become a source of piracy with some kids ripping YouTube videos and turning them into free MP3 downloads”.
3 has just launched a new 30 day rolling SIM-only mobile broadband deal which costs £15 a month provides 5GB data, and access to the net at top speeds of 3.6Mbps.
This is perfect for those who don’t want to commit to a long-term contract, but will want to be able to connect at odd months throughout the year, and get better value for money that Pay As You Go. As with SIM-only plans seen on mobile phones, customer only need to give 30 days notice to cancel the contract, so there’s no long term obligation.
This SIM-only mobile broadband package can also be bought with a USB modem, for those who don’t have a spare dongle lying around. The Huawei MF627, E156g and E1550 are all available for £19.99 each.
ADSL Broadband
Wireless Broadband
Unlimited Broadband
Student Broadband
Laptop Broadband
T-Mobile and Orange have been making puppy dog eyes at each other for ages now so it should come as no surprise to anyone that it was announced today that the two mobile networks are to officially merge. A big engagement party with streamers and delicious cake and everything was thrown in honour of the union (note: we made this bit up).
Orange Mobile Broadband
Today is the day when 
An Ofcom report published yesterday suggests that the average download speed received by UK broadband customers is only just over half the speed of the average advertised rate. Data from the report shows that while the average broadband package is sold as “up to” 7.1Mbps, the actual average speed delivered is thought to be 4.1Mbps, little more than half the average theoretical maximum.
