Speed
Orange have increased their speeds dramatically recently and for the first time have displaced Vodafone to top our mobile broadband speed league tables with customers averaging a very respectable 1.8Mbs download speed with Orange. Given that Orange was previously one of the poorer performing providers for speed this is an impressive turn around. Hopefully Orange’s merger with T-Mobile will improve speeds, coverage and reliability for even more of their customers.
Reliability and coverage
Having worked to upgrade their network and speeds reliability and coverage are relatively good with Orange and should improve further when they combine their networks with T-Mobile’s. We still see some complaints of dropped coverage or very slow speeds but these seem to be decreasing.
Customer Service
Orange perform OK when it comes to customer service but there’s definitely room for improvement with T-Mobile, O2 and Vodafone being ahead when it comes to customer satisfaction ratings though Orange certainly are not the worst either.
Choice of plans and value
A reasonable choice of plans and reasonable value for money, they’re not quite the cheapest and Orange doesn’t win any prizes here but neither does it fall a long way short of any of it’s rivals. There’s a decent range of plans to suit most providers and some better deals for existing Orange customers. There’s also the value adds such as Orange Wednesdays which, amongst other things, give you access to cheap cinema tickets which boosts Orange’s score to a respectable 4 out of 5 in this category.
Overall verdict
Scoring well in all areas other than customer service which is average Orange mobile broadband has seen improved speeds and coverage recently hence it’s good overall score. Hopefully their merger with T-Mobile will improve coverage further which is still an issue for a small number if customers. The added extras adds such as Orange Wednesday discounts for cinemas and other benefits are a great addition for some customers.
