Could they be clearing stock for newer 7.2 "out the box" models ?

Ooooh. It would almost be rude not to get one of these, yes?

Can anyone save me the hassle of reading the specs and highlight the differences between the models available? I'd be using an XP machine.

Perhaps the penny's dropped?

If I were him though I'd forget about a focus on mobile TV - does anyone actually use it? And rather than more shops, how about enough staff in the existing ones? My local one has a dreary oppressive feel that even the fishtank fails to alleviate and you're usually waiting for 45 mins+ to speak to anyone.

I'd put money on part of whatever settlement agreement was reached was that he can't talk about it

I think car manufacturers specify that if a car is used for instance as a minicab then the warranty doesn't apply....

Good luck with that

That is WAY cool. It's got to have put the wind up T-Mobile! Perhaps Vodafone will steal T-Mobile's crown?

Cool. But are there many 7.6meg handsets out there yet?....

I'd give them another call and insist on speaking to the duty manager and explain that the onus is on them to prove that kind of abnormal usage. There's nothing in the Data Protection Act that would prohibit them from sending you information about your account. Don't stand for that kind of twaddle from them. I would contact your bank too and get them to return any Direct Debits the operator intends to take using the "Payer disputes charge" code they have available (means that the operator won't get even more wound up that you've cancelled the DD) but they won't be able to take money from your account.

oooh. intriguing....

My local T-Mobile shop suggested that if I took their ?7.99 insurance then I could get the handset even cheaper. And the insurance (unlike the handset itself) has a 14 day cooling-off period. Bit crafty but might be an option for some folk.
Personally I don't bother with the insurance anymore. Never needed to claim on it and figure the money I've saved over the years would be less than that I'd have to shell out for a new handset. Especially now they seem to have a ?30 minimum excess.
Should really check my house insurance I guess.

I don't think webmessenger.msn.com will work because it relies on pop ups. perhaps something like agilemessenger would work. not tried it myself though - my msn still works fine!

The handset I bought from them on Saturday has MSN Messenger installed and it still works - guess they've not banned it yet.

Having been with Orange for 10 years or so I am really enjoying the change and agree with Martley's points.

Ah yes. The bain of my life is DNS. One day it will once more all work. I should learn to stop fiddling with it!
Cool. Thanks for your prompt answer. I was doubting that it was really that simple - even after trawling through the 14 page MS "how to do it" doc where it said no configuration was needed on the device. I am SUPER impressed with how well and easily this works. I was dreading it. Thought I'd spend weeks getting it set up - not seconds.
Next step - VPN to firewall for Terminal Services into the Domain. Bring it on!
Also have to say that if anyone else is thinking of ditching Orange for T-Mobile MDA Vario/Sat Nav/Web N Walk deal - go for it. The Sat Nav tipped it for me - my local shop had them in stock and T-Mobile say that the offer keeps dropping off their site due to stock issues, but is still a "current" offer. Did I mention the WiFi? Nice working in a city centre where the council provides some free hotspots too.
Can you tell I'm a happy bunny?
Orange's 4Mb/?4 deal really does seem like a distant nightmare already!

I have access to an Exchange server that has SP2 and all the mobile-related bits activated. I've ditched Orange a month early and got myself an MDA Vario/Sat Nav/Web n Walk deal. When I plugged it in for the first time I entered the external IP of my Exchange box as my DNS setup is screwed :-) and activated the Microsoft DirectPush option in the Vario's Comm Manager. It seems to be all working fine - device ActiveSync sets itself to "as items arrive". Is that really all I needed to do? Or am I just "ActiveSyncing" permanently - I'm conscious that the GPRS icon is constantly in use. Can someone put my mind at rest that I've either done it right (save for opting for any encryption) or tell me what I've misuderstood.

That's what I thought - I've often had the dealers ringing "on behalf of Orange". As I understood it, Orange will never directly call you to do this.

Ah yes, the rules seem to change when they owe you money! All reason goes out the window and they'll hang on to your cash for as long as possible, but when you owe them money it's a different story.
I think they'd go along way towards resolving far more customer complaints if they started to realise that as customers we don't like them holding on to our hard-earned cash for up to 7 weeks when they make a mistake.

They're lying there! If they really wanted to, they could amend it. If you prefer them not to take the overcharged amount from your account you can ask the bank to return the payment unpaid but leaving the DD active, you could then pay the correct amount over the phone and when they've sorted themselves out the correct amount would go through next month.

If the customer's duty was to provide payment and the customer (or their bank) failed to do so, they can't take it up with the bank.
Any contact by them to the bank will be met with a "we can't discuss individual customer's affairs with you". They're not even allowed to admit to a 3rd party that you hold an account with them (without advance, express, written authority).
Unfortunately the onus falls to back to the customer. You need to verify that the details held on the claimant's system are correct and that the details held on the bank's system are correct. Both parties should be able to provide you with screen prints to confirm this (check for originator ID, sort code and account number). If Orange attempted a claim with the correct details and the payment was unpaid, ask the bank which of the numerous 'codes' was used to reject the payment and why they chose to do so.

The DD guarantee offers you a full and immediate refund in the event of an error.
It doesn't ensure that any contractural obligations to provide funds to a DD recipient are met.
DD may be the preferred payment method, but it is separate from your phone contract. If your phone contract states that you'll pay them on a certain date, and your chosen/preferred method of paying them fails, then they are "in the right" so to speak.

From their side I guess that as it's your contractual responsibility to ensure they receive the money on time, any non-payment (be it your, or your bank's error) is just that - a non-payment.

You're right. The inbox stays "unread".

I think Orange have always offered poorer value for money than the other networks, but I was prepared to put up with it for the excellent customer service/good range of handsets. Sadly the other networks have caught up whilst Orange has slipped. I'll be jumping ship when this contract's up along with at least 6 other people I know.
I think they're only interested in customers now if they spend ?100+/month or are on a business tariff. Fair enough I suppose - they exist to make money after all, but if they have no intention of being even vaguely competitive for the "light" non-business user, why remain in that market?

It had some real issues for the first few days, but seems to be a stable service now. I think they've disabled the SMS alerts that were configured for my Orange mail account. Had a few issues with the MMS's causing my phone to lock-up completely, but it seems to have stopped now. It is quite useful to have emails sent to my home mail server pushed reasonably quickly to my phone. And is a service I'd be interested in keeping going if 1) it stays free to receive them (no doubt they'll start charging thereby ruling it out for all non-business users) and 2) I hadn't already decided to ditch Orange and go with T-mobile's attractive data offers asap!

I thought the DPA only applied to UK data? Surely randomly dialling someone in the UK from a number outside the UK can't be subject to the DPA?