I have been with the Orange network since owning my first mobile phone at the age of 16 (13 years ago) and (touch wood) I have encountered very little problems with them.

At present my partner and I have both our mobile phones and our home broadband with Orange because we believe they offer good customer service as well as cost efficient prices. The Broadband we get from them amounts to just £5.00 with unlimited downloads which is an offer they advertise should you have a phone contract with them. They also offer free internet should you have a contract with them but with limited downloads instead.

Orange offer a wide range of contracts to suit all needs. There are 3 different groups of contract offered by orange which are named Racoon, Dolphin and Panther. Should you be after inclusive text messages then a Dolphin contract would suit you best. If you are after inclusive landline minutes then Dolphin would be best for you and should you be after offers on email/talk packages then Panther would suit your needs best. Each grouping offers a wide range of packages to suit each individuals needs.

For pay as you go customers you can generally find offers from Orange on their website with regards to obtaining free sim cards which then also give you a certain number of free text messages or minutes (or sometimes both) if you top up by a regular amount (usually £10.00) a month.

To this day I have never had any trouble with the signal on my Orange phone and can generally pick up a signal anywhere, a problem which I know friends have had on other networks have have subsequently changed over to Orange for that reason.

The best offers on phones and contracts can usually be found on their website WWW.ORANGE.CO.UK. Their website is one I use regularly. I have my email account with them which I check on a daily basis and I have registered my phone account online too which shows me all outstanding balances, outstanding minutes and text messages and all bill information needed. I like the fact that you can also have a live web chat with a customer service rep if you have a problem. This is great if you need an instant answer without having to wait for an email back or wait in a queue should you have to phone them.

Orange contracts range greatly in price. The cheapest online contract is just £4.89 though obviously for this price you only get a limited amount of texts and inclusive minutes for this price. The most expensive online contract is £68.50 which includes many minutes/texts as well as internet browsing and emails. The one thing to watch with orange contacts is that some contracts, especially the special offer ones, now have a minimum term of 2-3 years so if you are only after a 12 month contract you are more limited to which contract you are able to have.

Should you wish to phone Orange customer services you can do so by phoning 07973 100150 from any phone or if you are already an orange customer you can phone 150 from your orange mobile if you are a contract customer or 450 if you are a pay-as-you-go customer. As with any company nowdays it takes you at least 2 minutes to even get through the options before you are even placed on hold which I do find really annoying. However, as said, this tends to be the case with all companies nowadays.

When you upgrade to a new handset when your contract allows, Orange have a wide range of handsets on offer. The majority of these can be found on their website and are offered from a range of suppliers including Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry and LG, amongst others. Some are offered for free, depending on what contract you are on.

Durkng peak times I have found the longest time I have been on hold for is 20 minutes but generally my calls have been answered withing 3/4 minutes. I have never had a language barrier problem with the customer service rep on the end of the phone and have found that generally my problems or queries have been answered sufficiently. Orange recently did charge something to my contract which I had not received and after one phone call it had been took off my bill and a good-will gesture credit added to my account which I was very pleased with.

As said previously the most cost efficient contracts can be found online but should you find a contract online which you believe suits your needs I recommend phoning Orange first before buying it as I did the same and they managed to get me a large discount off what was already a contract on offer online and saved me an extra £10.00 a month, so its always worth a try.

Through the Orange shop they also have a wide range of phones on offer from many different manufacturers. They have the latest models as well as cheaper ones. With a contract you generally get a phone free though for the top of the range phones you may have to pay a premium towards this phone, depending on the price of the contract you are buying.

The Orange website is great to browse around too. As well as your account info and the Orange shop they also have all the latest news, sports, weather, entertainment news available to peruse.

All in all I personally can't fault Orange. Everyone has different experiences with companies as big as this and im sure not everyone will agree with my opinion. However, to me Orange offer great prices, good customer service, a wide range of phones and contracts and I have never had a problem with their Broadband connection either. I find them highly reliable and easy to use. Their website offers a great deal and is easy to navigate around too, hence the reason why they have been my phone provider for 13 years.

Highly recommended