Mobile phones. Most of us seem to have one now, and they're used a hell of a lot - from work calls to calls to friends to the quick text message to check if someone is going to be on time. To be honest, I don't know how I coped before I had my mobile!

I got my first mobile at the age of 16 - bad news for my mum, as it was a contract phone, and, because I wasn't 18, she was the one who was billed. I was supposed to pay her back, of course, but with bills reaching £100 a month, I had trouble finding the money. I was on One2One at the time, and as it was my first mobile phone, we hadn't properly researched the tariffs to find the best one for me. And the network coverage is appalling, hence the fact that they became commonly known as "One2None".

Then I switched to Vodaphone - seemingly all good, unless I wanted to use my phone at home - network coverage being a problem once again. I live in a small village with a lot of trees. Trees have a tendency to completely screw up network reception, so when the contract was over, I was happy to get rid of it.

Time for a change, I thought, and started to investigate Orange. As soon as I started reading up on them I was much happier - read on to find out why!

***************PAY AS YOU GO***************

Even with Pay as you Go, Orange gives you flexibility. You can choose from a number of different options to make sure that you're paying for what is convenient for you, whether it be cheaper calls, with no peak and off-peak times, cheaper text messages, choosing your own peak and off-peak times or having fixed call rates all day....the possibilities are endless! And with pay as you go, you get answer phone, WAP access, GPRS.....and you can use your phone abroad. For more information on call costs, check out the Orange website.

*****************CONTRACT********************

This is where the fun starts! There are currently three different service plans available, each of which are explained in detail below:

YOUR PLAN: Basically, you choose bundles of talk time at a fixed charge, and bundles of text messages if you want them, and thus create your ideal package. £15.00 gets you 30 minutes of talktime a month, at any time during the day - the number of minutes goes right up to 2000 per month, if you're willing to pay £185! Also, if you choose the 30 minutes package, you can get a special "evenings and weekends" or "late nights and weekends" package for only £16, which gives you an extra 1000 minutes per month either in the evenings and at weekends, or late nights (after 10pm) and weekends. With Your Plan you can also include text message bundles, which work out at 6.6p per message rather than 10p - ideal if, like me, you spend the majority of your phone bill on SMS.....

Other services are also available on Your Plan, such as Orange Care insurance, GPRS bundles and the Orange Access Pack, bringing sport, news and entertainment to your phone. A great way to tailor your phone bill to your needs and avoid excessive spending.

ORANGE VALUE PROMISE: Orange think of themselves as a great value mobile phone network. With this in mind, they've created a plan that ensures that you get the best deal around. Basically, Orange offer the widest range of tariffs on any UK network, but if you find a network with a better tariff than Orange, then tell Orange and they'll produce a similar tariff for you. So it's basically the benefit of a better tariff, with the added benefit of being an Orange customer - more about these benefits later. Please note, however, that the Orange Value Promise plan only applies to proper tariffs - not those on a promotion.

ORANGE HIGH SPEED DATA PLAN: This involves sending and receiving information with the aid of a laptop or PDA - I'm guessing it's more suited to business customers. With this plan, you still get answer phone etc, it just means that your data calls, i.e., sending and receiving files from your computer, checking email, browsing the web and so on, will be cheaper. Worthwhile if you use these services on your phone.

*****************EXTRA SERVICES*******************

One of the benefits of being an Orange customer, apart from the excellent price plans, is the range of additional services you are offered:

STANDARD SERVICES:

Orange Answer Phone: As with most others, you can record a personal greeting or leave it as standard. If your price plan includes free minutes, these free minutes can be used for receiving answerphone messages.

Messaging: As well as SMS, Photo Messaging and Picture Messaging are available, as well as International SMS.

International Calling: You have to call Customer Services to set this up, but it is a useful service, and international calls with Orange are up to 28% cheaper than using your BT home phone. Orange also offers a handy service called Memory Mate, which means that you can automatically add international dialling codes to numbers in your phone book.

Directory Enquiries: This is incredibly useful - you can ask them to search for up to three numbers at a time, and they'll send them to you for free in the form of a text message, meaning you don't need to fumble around for a pen, and you'll have them stored in your phone. Simple!

WAP Services: A little expensive, I find, but this comes as standard on web-enabled phones. Useful for playing games, looking at train timetables, checking your email, finding the nearest cash machine.....

OPTIONAL SERVICES:

Orange Assistant: A bizarre idea - if you can't get to the phone, an Orange Customer Service Representative will take your call for you, if you are subscribed to this service, and send the caller's message to you in the form of a text message. Bizarre....

Wildfire: Another personal assistant, created using the latest speech recognition technology, Wildfire can take messages, store contacts' names and numbers, receive faxes, store them and send them to any fax machine in the UK when you tell it to. Apparently it's quite good for when you're drunk as well - you can ask her to marry her and the like and she has preprogrammed answers to such questions....!!

Other optional services include text message bundles, a second phone line, Orange Care Insurance, and, if you want a number that's easy to remember, you can pay for a new, more memorable one.

So all in all, the services offered are pretty good, and not too expensive (except WAP), especially if you have a contract phone.

******************UK COVERAGE*********************

Something that's very important to me - as I said earlier, I live in a small village in a house surrounded by trees - I want a network that can provide coverage where I live!

According to Orange, they have 7.500 sites in operation covering 99% of the UK's population. This, technically, should mean that for most people, lack of coverage should not be a problem. To ensure that people don't get annoyed if they get cut off by lack of reception, Orange have come up with an idea: if you've called someone and you then get cut off because of lack of coverage, then just phone them back in the next few minutes and you'll be given a maximum of one minute of talktime back. It all adds up!

If you're unsure about whether Orange covers the area in which you live, log onto the website, and you can type in your postcode, and Orange will tell you if your area has network coverage.

*******************CUSTOMER SERVICE*********************

A contentious issue. I personally think the Orange Customer Service is great, but I know that there are others who disagree.

Orange offers customer service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you have a contract phone, the calls cost nothing - another advantage of their service. Unlike other networks, Orange seem to have enough Customer Services people working - I remember when I was on Vodaphone I sometimes had to wait for about 15 minutes before I would be put through to anyone, for Orange, the maximum so far has been 5 minutes...and that only happened once. Problems are solved quickly and efficiently, and the staff are really friendly.

********************BILLING*******************

Itemised billing, thankfully, comes as standard - there are no extra charges for itemising it. The bills are laid out very well, and are very easy to understand - you can see which calls were included in your free minutes, how many text messages you sent, and so on. The bills are also sent out in good time, i.e. well before you need to pay them. As for payment, this can be done via Direct Debit or paying by card or cheque - I prefer Direct Debit, as it is less hassle....just make sure you have enough money in the bank, or they'll get a bit annoyed! The charges laid out on the bills are incredibly accurate: Orange charge you by the second rather than by the minute, so you don't end up paying for more talktime than you've used.

*******************OVERALL VERDICT********************

Great value for money, great selection of tariffs and extra services. Orange, despite being one of the newest networks, are doing a great job, and really make an effort to be customer-oriented. If you want a network with a wide range of different tariff options to suit you and your pocket, you know where to look.