Orange have a mobile phone package called Business Sense. If you wish to access the Internet on your smart phone, to send emails, use Google etc. then they charge a small fee of £4.25 per month for you to do so. This used to be called their “unlimited mobile internet” package. It seems quite reasonable.
However, should you exceed this 500Mb limit, rather than charge you per Mb at a fair rate (the standard rate works out at 0.85 pence per Mb) they charge a massive fee which is about 100 times more per Mb. In one case where a user (me) went over by 157Mb in June 2010 Orange decided to charge an additional £126.00. Yes, that is right, £126.00. This is the equivalent of 80.25p per Mb used. Staggering.
It seems that Orange’s current policy is to severely punish small businesses that use mobile internet. I run a web design and web content management business. When on the move I need to access multiple websites to update them, moderate communities, write new content etc. It is what my business is all about. So to be charged an excessive fee to do my job is absurd.
When I was with T-Mobile they had a real “unlimited” mobile internet deal. I paid about £5 a month to use my 3G connection on my Google mobile phone and was never charged for “excessive use”.
What is Excessive Use?
Orange describe this as file sharing, downloads etc. etc. As a business customer I find it pretty degrading to be thrown in the same category as media pirates, file sharers and the like. Come on, this is a business package sold to me because I am running a business. I obviously use the mobile Internet more than the average plumber, bank manager, pilot or butcher, but why should I be punished severely for it?
If a salesman went over his 1000 minutes per month limit would Orange charge him 100 times more per minute he talked? I think not. They would charge a fair amount. If someone sent more that 1000 text messages in a month, would they be charged a small fortune? No.
So why punish a web content manager? I am in my first year of business, just starting out. I thought that by changing from a standard T-Moble account to an Orange Business account I would receive superior support. But no. So far Orange have told me:
- They do not support me or my phone. Apparently I have the wrong type of phone, i.e. a Google G1 running Android.
- They do not support my business – i.e. an internet business.
- They will not cancel the contract to let me go with a provider that will support my phone and mu business.
I have less than 2 years to go now. 2 long years though, that could cost me about £5000 if the last bill is anything to go by. That is a massive chunk of my earnings.
But hey, must look on the bright side, at least my tax bill will be less than I thought. The future is bright, the future is Orange. Just make sure you are an Orange shareholder, not a customer.
