Catchy Title

“Fair Usage policy of 750MB applies. Usage above this amount will constitute abuse and Orange may monitor usage, apply Network protection controls which may result in reduced speed of transmission and/or withdraw the Offer from your account if the fair usage policy is abused. Not to be used for other activities (e.g. using your handset as a modem, non-Orange internet based streaming services, voice or video over the internet, instant messaging, peer to peer file sharing, non-Orange internet based video).“

Quoted from the Orange iPhone terms and conditions.

Well, there it is.  I feel like having a rant, but what would be the point.  It is all there in black and white.  The mistake they have made is obvious, the result of it is obvious, the inevitable backlash is obvious, and the stupity is of course obvious.

There are a couple of points I would like to mention though:

1)  My O2 iPhone came with YouTube pre-installed.  Was that an Apple thing or an O2 thing?  I would guess it was Apple, which would suggest the Orange one would be the same.  Hardly fair to dangle it in front of your nose. ‘Hey valued customer, look what EVERY other iPhone user in the world can do! ….What?  No, silly!  Of course you can’t!!  You have to use OrangeTube, there are only a few vids at the moment, but I’m sure you’ll love it!’

2) Will they put a restriction on the App Store?  This is only a guess, but I’d think approx 70% of the App Store applications would fall into the “streaming services, voice or video over the internet, instant messaging, peer to peer file sharing, non-Orange internet based video” categories.

3) Finally, these fair usage policies only apply when on BT Openzone and 3G.  So stay at home and use your new Orange iPhone….or you could just….you know….use your computer.  Orange haven’t grasped the full meaning of ‘mobile’ yet it seems.

I can’t speak for anyone else but I can sometimes be found guilty of acting like a spoiled child.  If I see something shiny (like a whizzy new iPhone app), I want it, and if I can’t have it when others can, then the people around me suffer (imagine a ‘toys out of the pram’ scenario).

I’m guessing that the powers-that-be at Orange copy and pasted that text from a previous Terms & Conditions file and forgot to edit it, and that we’ll find that after a few days of media attention they’ll skulk away and have a re-jigg of the rules.

Until then, the likes of FB, Twitter and YouTube will find a small increase in their traffic as Orange is lambasted, further tarnishing its reputation.

I am also an Orange customer, I have been for 12 years (or there abouts).  I went to O2 just for the iPhone.  I was originally irritated when Orange announced that they were buying the iPhone.  Now I’m pleased I took the plunge.  Ever since France Telecom bought Orange I have suffered a loss in Service reliability and Customer Service.  I am also paying more, for less features.   This is a shame, because before the company was bought, Orange was by far the best customer oriented company I had ever experienced.   Leave it to the French to balls things up for me again….

Aurevoir.

Related Articles:

Orange iPhone Terms & Conditions: http://www1.orange.co.uk/mobileterms/pay-monthly-iPhone-terms.html
BBC Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/11/oranges_unlimited_iphone.html

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I’m fed up.  Fed up with all the sites that verify celebs not verifying the ones that I want to be sure of quick enough.

They all seem to want contact with the celebs or agents themselves, which is fine, if you have all the time in the wqorld and the true aim of the site is to socialise with the rich and famous.    So I’ve done it myself, using my own criteria:

1. Outright recommendation from a previously verified Celebrity (the likes of Philip Schofield (@schofe) and Simon Pegg (@SimonPegg) are good at this).
2. Previously verified celebs having Twitter conversations with other celebrities that they either work with or previously have worked with.
3. Professional Media reports that include links to Celebrity Tweets.

That all seemed good enough for me in the short term, and now it appears good enough for my friends, so I created @ProperTwits.

There is a (VERY) basic website to explain the theory, but everything else is through the Twitter feed.  If you see someone being followed by @ProperTwits then they have been verified using the rigorous tests listed above.

If any celebs wish to knock on my door to verify themselves then that is okay too, although I don’t encourage it.  I am after all very busy.  If there are too many, then I will prioritise  the young, male, gay, single and promiscuous over everyone else.  A-list only get priority if they are well endowed.   See my P.A. or drop me an email if you wish to book an appointment.

Now click on the happy soul below: