iPhone 3G and 3GS to be offered by Orange UK -- official
By Vlad Savov 
posted September 28th 2009 4:07AM
posted September 28th 2009 4:07AM
[Via iPhone Bang; Thanks, Gears]
posted September 28th 2009 4:07AM
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Vodafone next please, as their coverage is the best in the UK, period. There are many out there who have held back getting an iPhone because it is not on Vodafone.
At last! Orange have the best 3G coverage and O2 have a genuinely rubbish network. The only place they win (O2 that is) is rural 2G because they have 900Mhz spectrum. See for yourself
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/28/iphone-3g-and-3gs-to-be-offered-by-orange-uk-official/#commentform
Doh! I meant see for yourself
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/licensing/classes/broadband/cellular/3g/maps/3gmaps/
"Vodafone next please, as their coverage is the best in the UK, period. " is this some kind of joke?
Ive got vodafone and O2 and i must admit that Vodafone coverage is not so perfect as you describe...
I find Orange and 3 have the best coverage in the Westcountry, unless your on the moors, in which case 02 is the way to go.
Hopefully, a bit of competition will bring prices down.
Oflife - If people really wanted the iPhone on Voda they would buy one and have it unlocked.
Vanilla - How could the orange network go from being good to terrible?
Did I miss something or did Orange decide to shoot themselves in the foot and tear down a few masts?
Uber - Im on o2 and can say the 3g coverage is fine by me.
Not that i'm not glad about this news. I am. Competition will bring prices down, which is good for us on the street level.
But your arguments are a bit fanboyish.
Where's the Verizon love?
@uberadept
do you work for orange?
The orange network is rubbish, even in and around london.
Try get a decent signal between the segment of greater london bounded by the M3 and M23 and you'd be lucky, only O2 has worse signal
Post hijack just to say I expect some seriously clever advertising!
Excellent, at last some competition to O2 in the UK, hopefully this will see prices fall (maybe?). O2 have been less than honest with 3G coverage so welcome the chance to see if Orange provide a better 3G service.
and you can't count - 3rd
I cant resist to say that i am second.
I can't resist to say... FAIL!
Can't resist to say you fail.
Let the identically priced tariff plans begin!!!
price war? are you kidding me? iPhone is too much of a cash cow. Orange will just duplicate O2's pricing and get what customers they can. Plus their reception (especially round southampton) licks balls.
PhonoDucky (ex-apple fanboy)
Not a gaudy lot you must have got there in UK :(
Yep - identical tarrifs, and the identical 24 month contracts :|
All the phone providers in the UK dropped 12 months, now they are dropping 18 months for the stupidly long 24 month contracts. They seem to be in competition not for the best service but for screwing their customers over the most.
And for those saying "can;t wait for tmobile to get it" you seem to have forgotten orange IS tmobile in the uk - they announced the merger earlier this month.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but are cell phone contracts in the UK decided primarily on what phone you get as to how much you pay per billing over the term of your contract?
atlast....
Im soo tired of O2s sick pricing, plans and monopoly.
Orange pricing is generally awful, so don't hold your breath.
monopoly... over the iPhone market?
Orange plans are not great.. i agree but they are better than O2, atleast.
O2 has monopoly in UK telecom market and they dont care about the customers anymore. I dont want a f***** unlimited dataplan on my phone a minimum 500MB is more than enough and O2 wont let me have a plan without their overpriced data plan. Also, where i live, the free wifi doesnot exist so whats the point of getting a iphone with free wifi and bullshit when i cant use it?
im not a apple person but i totally hail the app store. im not a fan of orange either. i was on o2 for the last 4 years and i still love the coverage. i spend only 15 pounds a month on my phone i get the same amount of minutes as of £35 iphone contract. My work phone is on orange and im sure they will get one iphone for everyone once our contracts expire in 3-4 months.
What price war?
Apple ties these distributors to a tight contract that ensures a high income for Apple therefore end users will never see anything like an acceptable monthly fee.
Blackberrys are the same. Excessive charges designed to make fortunes with competition limited by those who control the phone networks.
Competition is a myth in cell phones. All this talk of 'new technologies' and 'features' is tripe. Compare what you pay compared with land lines - and I don't mean just one element of making calls. No one can tell me that radio transmission is dearer to maintain than copper wires buried underground. Its just another rip-off like the one enjoyed by the 'premium charges' villains.
So where are the 'regulators'? Why, enjoying the benefits of working with such people.
Where do you think Apple's high profits come from?
Probably old 'technology' overcharged for, like Microsoft's operating systems and applications. Old stuff, well milked.
Orange normally are pretty expensive e.g the HTC Hero so i wouldnt expect it to be cheaper than 02. If T Mobile got in the game then i could imagine them trying to undercut the competition
Orange aren't expensive for the Hero. It's actually pretty well priced - you can get 900 mins + unlimited texts + 500mb data for 30 pounds a month. Or 600 mins + unlimited texts + 500mb data for 25 pounds a month.
I always used O2 but i'm very happy that orange have joined. Just for some healthy competition
What a shame it went to Orange, they have THE worst coverage i have ever seen, where O2 has full signal on 3G i had 1 bar to none on Orange.
Their customer service is terrible, they dont care about their customers, O2 have nothing to worry about!
Full 3G signal doesn't mean anything on O2. I've recently moved over to O2 from T-Mobile (just for the iphone, doh), and a full signal still means really crappy speeds. I've also found just general coverage for phone reception to be a lot poorer with O2, and I live and work in central Birmingham, where coverage should be spot on for any carrier. (I used to bemoan T-Mobile, now I miss them)
I also agree that O2's 3G service in Birmingham is unbelievably slow
I have O2 and it works just fine in Dale End
Ah betafrog!!
Shame on me. >_
Brillant news, been contract on orange ran out 3 weeks ago and the only thing stopping me get an iphone was been forced to change to O2.
English has been around for quite some time in the UK, has it not? ;-)
You call THAT English!?
He's speaking Scottish, not English.
Comparing this... whatever you want to call it, would be like comparing apples to oranges. Wait...
No wonder O2 wanted the Pre...
and htc hd2 :D
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/25/htc-leo-looking-confirmed-for-o2-uk-debut-will-be-free-on-the-r/
Indeed, it's becoming clear why O2 have been acquiring phones like the Pre and Leo/HD2, they're losing their iPhone exclusivity.
Agreed. The trouble is that I really want the HD2 which means that after all of that I will probably be moving away from Orange after all.
@ZSX
There's always the Expansys/Clove route.
I wanted the Touch HD, but didn't want Orange so I bought a Tuch HD from Expansys, subsidised with a T-Mobile contract.
Paid about 20% more than if I'd have gone with Orange, but for that I got an unlocked device, with HTCs' ROM, no branding, and the phone and network combo I wanted.
All I can say is Unlock and talkmobile Sim just SUPER!... ;o)
"...and we can also probably look forward to T-Mobile joining in on the fun. Let the price war begin!"
Errrrm, no, I don't think so. I thought Engadget would have already known, but obviously not...Orange and T-Mobile are now officially merging, so I cant see T-Mobile joining any price war.
Do your research Engadget!
Yes, this is true. But they are keeping the brands separate for 18 months I think was the report. May make it over to T-Mobile, but I doubt it.
iPhone Smephone. The iPhone is so 2005, its the HTC Leo that I'm more interested in now. Shame its on O2 :(
I wander if Orange will screw around with the firmware like they do with all other smartphones. At least every one I had when I was with them came with a crap hacked firmware that was plastered with Orange logos and more difficult to use than the original!
Its hard enough to find an iphone in the o2 shops nevermind orange as well. Apple dont seem to be shipping enough.
Hopefully this will make things a bit more competitive. I wouldn't switch to Orange though. I'm in Central Scotland and the coverage is awful where I live. I get a full signal on O2 (not 3G) but no signal/1 bar at best on Orange. I wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not.
I just wish Apple would sell the iPhone on a sim-free basis where the user is not tied to a contract and can choose the network. (I'm discounting the sim-free models available in Europe at a ridiculous £650-£900).