I will be coming back to the UK in the new year and one of the first things needed will be a mobile phone and a network. I left 5 years ago and was with Orange at that time, but in 5 years whats changed, who recommends what and why.
Andy
I’ve always stuck with orange, they’re not expensive and you get excelent coverage.
Only drawback with Orange is if you want the latest phone you have to pay for it, whereas O2/Vodafone they’re generally free.
i’m with orange,you get free phone’s on contract 
From personal experience stay away from 3. I’ve gone back to Orange. Good coverage, reliable service and accurate billing. When you need to speak to them you speak to someone from the same continent too.
Qhunter:
From personal experience stay away from 3. I’ve gone back to Orange. Good coverage, reliable service and accurate billing. When you need to speak to them you speak to someone from the same continent too.
I’d agree with that also I’m with Virgin and if I wasn’t so ■■■■ lazy I’d be with someone else! Bought a phone from them last year and have have FIVE replacements over two different models and customer service is poor in my experience
dennisw1:
Only drawback with Orange is if you want the latest phone you have to pay for it, whereas O2/Vodafone they’re generally free.
If you spend enough money with orange they will give you a free phone you just have to stand your ground with the threats to leave i spend £70 a month on mine and my wifes and orange upgraded me 2 sony K750i’s with extra free text packages this year
simon
I’ve been with Orange for ages. Get a new phone every year for free and only spend about £25 a month.
Coverage is excellent although I’ve had a few problems with my bills. However, they’ve sorted any problems out very quick.
One thing to note with them is that they will match the tarriff’s on other networks.
I have just left Orange basically because of 2 bad things .
1: You cannot cap your bill with Orange.
2: There is no way of ever finding out your total running bill throughout the month you can only find out at the end of the month( i dont mean the amount of minutes you have left i mean the total financial cost at any given time).
I spent about £800 last year with Orange and they couldnt have given a ■■■■ when i left they offered nothing extra or any enticements, apart from a new phone but i was quite willing to keep the one i had saving them a fortune.
I have just switched over to 02 pay as you go and the rewards are fantastic they are by far the cheapest for calling landlines.
I’m on O2 contract and they are fantastic. I get 300 mins and 150 texts for about £22 / month. And they gave me a Sony Ericsson W800i the first week it came out - free of charge with a free Sony Ericsson bluetooth headset.
The longer you are with them, the more minutes they’ll throw at you to stay. Don’t bother with the like of Phones4U, Carphone Warehouse etc - they are difficult to barter with. They will say something like ‘that’s what it costs - take it or leave it’
Go direct to O2, and they will tailor a package for you over the phone.
Coverage is excellent - I’ve never not got signal. And whenever I ring them, they always answer within a minute or so.
I really rate them. 
Thanks for the replies so far. I was one of the first people to use orange, the time when if you were on the M1 you had a signal. As they got bigger it slowly got less and less good, more in dealing with them one to one, but never felt that I would leave them. In Denmark we have orange, although they have been bought out now by telia. I have looked at the o2 web site and it does seem to be very good from what I can see.
Andy
Its everyone to their own i`m afraid…but personally…i stay with Nokia…and vodafone…mainly because V.fone is the largest company…and has the largest coverage…but like all companies…they rip you off when abroad…you end up paying to receive calls…
I got my first Moblie with Cellnet, as it was called then, (about 16yrs ago) then went to Voda, Orange and back with 02, and I have kept the same number all the time, Carphone W/h is where I went wrong, manager of the local branch coulnd’t care / had no clue, & was always to busy talking to her boyfreind, I even sent C/W an E-Mail about the bad service I was getting, basically I went in said I want the most upto date mob, Bluetooth / Tri Band / GSM + Bluetooth earpiece & lap top connections, went through 2 Nokia 6600, 2 Nokia earbits, 3 motorola & ended with sony erick earpiece… lots of grief, only if they would listen… had a Sony Erick K700i for a year now, car charger connecter pain in the Bum, not easy to put in / easily broken, main centre button to precise sometimes, others times dont work… my contract is now finished but will stay with 02 but go direct, on internet they are offering very good deals for 18 mth contracts, which is what i will take on… my worst monthly bill was £625.
my normall monthly bills are between £48 & £200, depending how long I am abroad for, so i am now looking into this Skipe thing on the Laptop…Free calls to another internet user… p.s. 
there is a few dodgy scams 
out there involving doubling your mins on Pay as Y Go…so for £10, you get £20 worth… thats more like it…
just changed to orange,after suffering horrendus problems with O2,will never ever deal with with those idiots at o2 ever again.had no problems with orange found them very good and a lot cheaper than o2.
It would seem to be between Orange and o2 at the mintue. The o2 site impresses me more than the Orange site, o2 appear to have a good small business package and the phone I would prefer (Nokia 9500), not found the same phone with Orange. I will sit down and do the cost of calls, sms, data which is the important bit, then its down to who picks up the phone first or how long you get put on hold. I will be in the UK for a visit in January so can check out the shop side, but for the information from everyone so far, its been very useful.
Andy
try vodafone, been with them for 4 months now, exelent coverage cheap 200 minutes +s50 texts with a motorola razer v3 for £25.
echo whats been said about 3 the coverage is just short of [zb], orange has a few coverage problems ,i lost signal on the m1 the other day wit the cab phone.
does t moblie still exist?
jon
drew128:
It would seem to be between Orange and o2 at the mintue. The o2 site impresses me more than the Orange site, o2 appear to have a good small business package and the phone I would prefer (Nokia 9500), not found the same phone with Orange. I will sit down and do the cost of calls, sms, data which is the important bit, then its down to who picks up the phone first or how long you get put on hold. I will be in the UK for a visit in January so can check out the shop side, but for the information from everyone so far, its been very useful.
Andy
If you can get the 9500,then good luck to you,i am with o2 and have had the 9000 coms phones since they come out,the first one cost around £3000 when it came out,last one i had was the 9200i they wouldn’t upgrade to the 9500 as i wasn’t going abroad as much…that is my only moan about o2,
tartanraider:
Qhunter:
From personal experience stay away from 3. I’ve gone back to Orange. Good coverage, reliable service and accurate billing. When you need to speak to them you speak to someone from the same continent too.I’d agree with that also I’m with Virgin and if I wasn’t so ■■■■ lazy I’d be with someone else! Bought a phone from them last year and have have FIVE replacements over two different models and customer service is poor in my experience
I must be the lucky or odd one out here then!!
My first mobile (about 11 yeras ago) was with Cellent but after a year I went to Orange and a long a ‘happy’ releationship with them.
A bit of surfing around the other month found me a stunning deal with ‘3’ via Dial-a-phone. I spoke with Orange and gave them a chance to match or better it and they simply couldn’t. 
I was aware of the reputation of 3 being the new ‘One-to-No-one’ i.e. crap coverage but I can honestly say that I believe they have come past that. I carried both phones around with me for a few weeks and there were plenty of times where 3 coverage was stronger than Orange. The exception is the ‘wild bits’ of Scotland where only Vodaphone will do.
In summary, I now have two Nokia 6630’s which I have sorted out with bluetooth headsets and TomTom Mobile (Satnav); admittedly, one of them is wasted on Mrs Tandy as an ‘Early Learning Centre’ phone would be better for her ( 
). My monthly bill is now £60 and we still have mins & texts to spare at the end of the month; I was paying £90 to £120 with Orange!!! 
I really recommend the combination of 3 and Nokia and appreciate the access to your usage tally at any time etc. I’ve even downloaded the JCB Song/video already…
I’m on Vodaphone (Pay as you go because I find that it suits me) and I haven’t had any problems with them up to yet. Had various phones, ranging from Motorola to Nokia, I’ve found Nokia to be the best up to yet, plus I’ve found that the coverage is good. Sorry I can’t be of more help than that.
I’m on Voda contract, got a Nokia at the start and then they TOLD me to update… Oh shame… I didn’t 1st time 'round, but 2nd time got a very neat and superb V3 Razr. I’ve still got the old (?) Nokia on as an emergancy 'phone. VERY handy when the *ank Manager refuses to pay the bill…! £20 O/Drawn… utter utter illegitemate person! Total monthly IRO £30. 200 mins and 24 text. I love it! Mind you, the XS texts do add to the bill a tad…! Got to choose my own number as well!
but 2nd time got a very neat and superb V3 Razr.
i can honestly say this is the best and most regoruse phone ive ever had as mine ways ran over many times last night in our yard when it fell out of my pocket in the wash
jon