I don't know if there was ever any method in my madness when choosing Orange as my mobile phone network supplier. I seem to recall that the nice salesperson in the Carphone Warehouse advised me when trying to pick and choose between a number of different Pay as You Go (PAYG) tariffs over the various networks that it would make sense given my planned limited usage to simply join the same network that most of my friends were on.

That, as you might have guessed, was Orange.

Back in those days (August 2000), when it came to the relatively new area of PAYG mobile tariffs, it was hard to pick a clear winner in terms of price. Each network had its own area where it would be better than others, but no one ruled the roost. There was an issue with coverage, too. At least one other network's coverage (Vodaphone, I think) for Northern Ireland wasn't particularly great, whereas Orange's seemed to be fairly comprehensive. So, I signed up to Orange, which was all done in about twenty minutes via the nice salesperson at Carphone Warehouse and I walked off with a nice Nokia 3210e on Orange PAYG for £99.99.

I've been an Orange customer since then and in all that time, I've not had any major problems.

Currently, Orange offers many different types of service plan for both PAYG and pay monthly customers. These can be found online at http://www.orange.co.uk/ and are laid out in an easy to read fashion. It's also worth noting that Orange also offers some exclusive online plans, too. I've no doubt that there's a plan for practically everyone, irrespective of what you're looking for. Additionally, they also have the Orange Value Promise in which they say that they will match any standard tariff offered by one of their main rivals. There is quite a lot of small print to this though, and I've never used it as yet.

Over the course of the four years, as far as connections and signal coverage is concerned, I've had no problems. No matter where I end up in the U.K., there's always been a signal and I've never had any dropped calls. I've been allowed roaming access whilst I'm in the Republic of Ireland too, although this is incredibly expensive (but handy for emergencies).

Text messages are always delivered promptly and rarely, if ever, have any gone missing. Text messages were 12 pence per message on my PAYG plan, which I think is slightly too high these days. [In fact, given the amount of data involved, it is widely known that SMS is by far the most expensive method of communication on the planet at this time.]

Orange give the normal services applied to any PAYG account - the ability to check your balance from your phone (a free call) and calls to your voicemail will cost you 10 pence per minute irrespective of which PAYG plan you've chosen.

Irrespective of whether you've chosen a PAYG plan or a Pay Monthly plan, the Orange web site is worth investigation. You have to register, but it's worth doing so. From here, you can get a free email address (10MB inbox), shop for new phones or accessories and a plethora of other things. Orange also offers thirty free SMS messages per month, sent from the Orange web site. They are limited to 120 characters, to accommodate the Orange signature "Sent from orange.co.uk by <phone number>". For PAYG customers, there was also an option of sending text messages via the website, but be charged from your remaining credit. This was a full 160-character SMS message, and a feature I thought was excellent. At this moment in time, sadly, it's not available to contract users though.

You can also access your account online and upgrade your contract and/or phone. For both contract and PAYG customers, there are options for paying bills or adding credit, and everything is explained clearly for you.

One point that's worth mentioning is that I recently upgraded from a PAYG to one of Orange's exclusive online monthly contracts (£15 per month for 120 minutes anytime, any network and 30 texts with a 60 text addition added at £4 per month plus a free Nokia 6610i). As I had some queries regarding this, I took a printout of my desired plan/phone and popped into my nearest Orange shop. The assistant (sorry, Phone Trainer) answered all of my questions and also told me that the shop could process my order and I could be upgraded within hours, rather than wait a week for a new phone to arrive in the post. However, a few weeks later, a colleague of mine tried the same thing, only for a different assistant to inform him that it was impossible to process a website order through the store before giving him the hard sell for a more expensive plan. The web site does indicate that the exclusive web offers are only available through the website or via phone.

Speaking of the shops, they're always quite busy, but speaking to a Phone Trainer can be very helpful if you can spare the time (avoid lunchtimes!) Not only do they know practically everything about the phones, but I once got a free hands free kit simply because I wanted to know if I could get roaming access in Dublin for a weekend away.

As a PAYG customer, I was always happy with what Orange offered. Until recently, my phone wasn't used that often, and I was paying perhaps around £15 per month in top ups. The services that came along with the PAYG suited me down to the ground and even the roaming access mentioned above was handy for emergencies (if incredibly expensive!)

As a contract customer, there are one or two issues that are not to my satisfaction. Firstly, it's difficult to keep track of my phone usage on the move. The only way I can view my remaining balance for the month is via the website (and even then, it only tells my how many airtime minutes I have remaining - there is no record of remaining SMS messages.) It would be far better if this information were available through my phone in some capacity.

Secondly, despite the fact that I am on a £19 per month contract, my bills are always around £25. Obviously, there are a few extras in there, like picture messages or international SMS messages (both of which are not inclusive in my contract), but there's nowhere near £6 each month which suggests that the pricing on the Orange web site is done ex-VAT. I have scoured the site looking for pricing information, but cannot find anything regarding this.

Those are minor irritations, but with my past experience of Orange, I would expect these issues to be addressed fairly quickly. There were two times in the past where I've needed to contact Orange Customer Services.

The first was a few years ago when I was in New Zealand for an extended period. I wished to unlock my phone while I was out there to use a SIM for a local network. Obviously, I didn't fancy phoning Orange from 12,000 miles away. I contacted Orange several times via email, but the options I was given for unlocking my phone were not great. (This was nothing to do with Orange, but rather the unique situation I found myself in.) The problem lay with the fact that Orange didn't seem to have a record of my dealings with them. That meant that each time I contacted them, I had to give a complete account of the problem (including each contact with Orange).

Eventually, I got a phone call one Saturday morning from Orange who had decided to call me in Auckland! All aspects of my problem were repeated, discussed and solved, although so much time had passed that I was only a few weeks from returning home.

Upon my return to the U.K., I contacted Orange via letter to suggest that they implement a system where customer's queries or complaints could be tracked. A few weeks later, I received a phone call from Orange, thanking me for my letter, and offering me £30 to use as credit or to unlock my phone and go to another network. I chose the former.

The second time was recently when I upgraded to a monthly contract and decided upon retaining my phone number. Despite having around £16 of credit left, Orange shut down my PAYG account within an hour of the new account being activated and giving me no time to make arrangements about using or transferring my credit. Once again, I contacted Orange via letter, and they quickly replied advising that any existing credit on my old PAYG account would be added to my new account.

Both times I found Orange customer services to be friendly, helpful, and pleasant and my queries have always been resolved to my satisfaction. I have been in contact with Orange regarding other matters - they have a "suggestions" form on their website, for example. All contact has been courteously acknowledged within a reasonable amount of time.

I like Orange. They've given me the service they promised and apart from one or two little quirks, there have been no problems at all. Any problems that did arise were sorted eventually (and Orange did go out of their way to ensure that they were). I suppose I could have gone to another network when upgrading my contract, but just as I'll probably always choose a Nokia phone, Orange have always provided a very good service and give me no reason to jump ship. There are one or two minor issues regarding my recent contract upgrade that concern me, but that wouldn't stop me from recommending them to others.

Update:

Exactly one year and four days after changing from a PAYG account to a contract account (and getting a new phone), my Nokia 6610i decided to die on me. Having called the Orange customer services dept., I was put through to a helpful chap called Tony who tried to diagnose the issue with my phone, but couldn't. So, he concluded that it was dead.

He also informed me that as the phone was outside the warranty period (only four days outside, but that's enough apparently) that Orange wouldn't entertain a replacement or repair. I could, however, upgrade if I chose to as I was eligible for a fee-free upgrade.

This was all done on a Wednesday night, literally an hour after the phone had died on me, and about a week and a half before Christmas. Trying to source the cost of a replacement phone that was comparable to my Nokia 6610i through the Orange shop on the Thursday lunchtime was a nightmare. The upgrades service was down (i.e. no-one answered the phones and the computer link wasn't working), so the girl promised to call me when it was up again. Luckily, I'd been able to borrow an old phone, so I wasn't entirely incommunicado. Suffice to say that come 5:30pm, I'd still had no call from the Orange shop. As I was passing it on my way home, I called in again only to find completely different staff members. I stood in line waiting to be served. After being ignored for the best part of ten minutes, I was finally served by a staff member who was more concerned with trying to sell me an "upgraded" call plan than deal with the issue at hand i.e. my handset or a potential replacement. When I prompted about a repair or replacement, I was informed, rather abruptly, that it was Nokia's issue, not Orange's.

Calling the upgrade line myself on the Friday had no more of a result. The upgrades system was still down, but explaining the situation to Jamie got a sympathetic reply, although nothing to do with a repair or replacement. Jamie offered to call or text me as soon as the system was up and running again, although he also promised to at least text if he was going off-shift and the system was still down. Jamie never got in contact.

Finally on the Sunday, I was able to get through to the Upgrades dept. (the website refused to recognise my account number) where the person told me that as I was a "low" user (paying just under £25 per month inc. VAT) that my upgrade options were limited. What "limited" meant was that, in order to get a phone comparable to my Nokia 6610i (I was looking for another Nokia with a specific features), I would end up paying at least £79.99 as the "free" phones were not suitable.

Deciding to see what was really up, I called Nokia who told me that any repair would cost money and pointed me towards my local Nokia repair centre. Handily, this happened to be a Carphone Warehouse located in the city centre, and I popped in on the Monday morning on my way to work. The nice person in the Carphone Warehouse told me that it wasn't Nokia's responsibility, but that the first line was Orange's as they were the retailer. He was incredulous that Orange had even tried such a thing, explaining that if a CW employee had said what Orange staffers had said, they'd get crucified by the watchdogs. Helpfully, he pointed me towards the DTI website where I'd find further information.

I browsed the DTI website (http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/salegoodsact.htm) where I found out that it was indeed the retailer who was the first line in complaints. I wanted more confirmation, so I also called my local Trading Standards department and explained the situation to them. They told me that there are two 'contracts' when getting a mobile phone and tariff - one deals with the service that is being supplied and the other deals with the handset. In this instance, I was informed that Orange had breached the handset contract and I was reliably informed that, should I choose to resolve the situation through the small claims court, victory was practically assured.

With this in mind, I once again tried Orange customer services with the same result. They refused point blank to take any responsibility for the handset. Christmas, by this point, was less than a week away and I wanted to be sorted out in time for the festive season. Upon browsing the internet, I spotted a few other tariffs on other providers that would match my needs and were competitively priced to my current deal with Orange. I had, though, tied myself into an 18 month contract and tariff with Orange, so I wasn't sure exactly would happen if I tried to cancel it. On the Wednesday afternoon, 21st, I called Orange one last time and asked to cancel my account. I was put through to the retentions department, which was a department that was renowned for it s ability to bargain to get you to stay as a customer. I had no desire to leave Orange, but I wasn't going to pay for a service that Orange were providing that I could use due to Orange's refusal to deal with my situation in a satisfactory manner.

I was put through to a person called Michelle who asked why I wanted to close my account; I explained the situation to her and was advised that my only options were to take out Orange Care (their insurance) at £5 per month plus expenses or upgrade. I explained that none of the free phones in the upgrade offer matched my current phone for features that were important to me and that upgrading to my own satisfaction would cost at least £80 and that I was only in this position because of a faulty phone that should last a lot longer than one year and four days, the options being presented to me by Orange were wholly unacceptable.

When I pointed out Orange's responsibilities according to the DTI website and my local trading standards officer, Michelle had taken to raising her voice towards me and told me that if I was right, why had Orange told her that all handset queries outside of the manufacturer's warranty were the manufacturer's responsibility? When I was again queried about my intentions, I stated that they had not changed and that I wanted to cancel my contract. This was done and Michelle got off the line. I had to dial back 10 minutes later to get a PAC code for transferring my number and this was done by another (pleasant) staff member with a minimum of fuss. I immediately sat down and compiled a detailed letter of my issues and concerns to Orange Customer Services which I posted on the Thursday morning via Recorded Delivery. That afternoon I started a new, 12 month contract, similar to my last one with a new Nokia 6230i for £25 per month.

The reply from Orange arrived on Friday 6th January. Usually, my experiences with Orange had always been positive, but this letter was anything but that. While the overall letter was pleasant enough in tone, it failed on all accounts to address any of the issues that I'd encountered and just repeated that I could take out Orange Care or upgrade my phone before closing with the sentence "Should you have any further queries not directly related to the above, please contact Orange Customer Services Helpdesk…"

This has taught me a few valuable lessons. Firstly, never to enter any contract longer than 1 year, even if it costs slightly more (18 month contracts usually offer more for your money). Secondly, that from April 2005, Nokia's European warranty is 24 months and lastly there's not really much that you can do when a company refuses point blank to take responsibility.

For some reason, the letter from Orange stated that I was on a 12 month contract, though I know that my tariff was an 18 month one, but as his meant that my contract had been cancelled without further expense to myself, I wasn't going to quibble. If you'd asked me at the start of December if I'd recommend Orange, I would have done so, hands down, on the basis of my experiences alone of their customer service standards. Today, however, that is not the case.