Hi Catherine,As I'm exitting Orange as a very unhappy customer of theirs, I'm delighted to tell you as much as I can. (See my answers to your questions below)
I had graduated to a £15 monthly contract where only a month's notice had to be given, because I thought I was on the way out! Well, usually with contracts they say they still charge you ... even if you go ...1. Could I leave before my contract's up? How do I even find out
If you've been paying much over the odds, do what I intend to do and that's to go to OFFCOM, if they don't give me the money back they've taken falsely!
You ask them for a PAC (Port Authorization Code) which they will send you in the post. Then you sign up with another provider and they import the number. There's a short delay, so you may have a temporary number for a few days, but it works out OK. I've done it once already and am just doing it again with two phones.2. What happens, if/when you switch providers, about keeping the same phone number?
I'm sticking to Pay As You Go for the first three months to look at various contracts with O2. Even if I was having a contract, I'd keep my own phones running because TALKS gets expensive to keep changing. Yes, you can swap the sims, unless you have very old phones and then they may not work. The 6630 should be OK.3. Has anyone got any comments accessibilitywise about particular providers? Or phones for that matter. I'm happy with my Nokia 6630 with Talks and a hefty crack in the screen, but if switching means I get a new phone which I can instal Talks, MobileSpeak or SmartHal onto I'll do it. On the other hand is it possible to sign up for a new contract and use my existing phone? I think they usually give you a phone as part of the contract but would I be able to swap the sim over and use it in my old phone? If this is possible I may do it to save money.
4. Has anyone any recommendations for websites that compare different packages/tariffs? I had a quick look on moneysupermarket.com and found the phone comparison tool's search results a bit hard to understand, though I've used it before for credit cards.
I suggest you may want to look at http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/ Or, if you prefer, call in and talk to them.Can't help you much with your final question, but hopefully this will get you somewhere.
Write again if you think I can give you any more and of course privately if you want a bit more info about my problems with Orange.
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