Anyone work in the Tech Dept. at Orange?

I'm on Orange and I got my Samsung i8510 through the Carphone Warehouse in September.

Everything was perfect until yesterday, and now I can barely get a signal. I usually got between 2 and 3 bars at home (normal network) and 4 bars everywhere else (3G), but now it changes between showing no bars (and the Orange sign, so i can just about recieve texts), and no bars and saying 'No Service' or 'limited svc'.

An Orange PAYG phone we have also has low to no signal here, but a friend (on the same contract) has no problems when shes at my house with her Samsung U600.

Its never been dropped or abused, so I'm at a loss for why its started acting up. I'm sure its my handset, as an 02 sim in it gives the same results (but used to work fine and make calls etc).

I phoned up Orange Customer Service and they were really helpful, they say that closest mast to me (other side of town, about 2 miles) has reached 'its bandwidth threshold for calls and needs 48hrs to reset and clear the backlog', and the reason I'm having terrible signal strength is that they've rerouted my calls/texts through the next nearest one (don't know how far away that is). I need to call back tomorrow if its not sorted. How common is this? I've never heard of that before.

How come my phone is doing it though, and my friend's one isn't? Would it mean I'm literally on the edge of the network coverage?

it needs to "clear the backlog", that doesnt make sense... are they trying to tell you there's a queue of people waiting to make calls it's trying to get through?

I phoned up Orange Customer Service and they were really helpful, they say that closest mast to me (other side of town, about 2 miles) has reached 'its bandwidth threshold for calls and needs 48hrs to reset and clear the backlog', and the reason I'm having terrible signal strength is that they've rerouted my calls/texts through the next nearest one (don't know how far away that is). I need to call back tomorrow if its not sorted. How common is this? I've never heard of that before.

Without an indepth knowledge of how mobile telecommunications work, but with an "appreciation" of how such technology *might* function, that sounds like the biggest load of complete bóllócks I've ever heard.

Mobile telephone masts, to my knowledge, may reach some sort of bandwidth threshold every now and again, but it will only be at times when users are absolutely hammering the network in that area (e.g. between 23:00 on New Years' Eve and 01:30 on New Years' Day). However, these will be network-wide problems, and as such you'd be able to see very similar problems with another mobile on the same network in the same location.

As Baj has highlighted, there can be no "backlog" in terms of network availability. Mobile telephony doesn't work on the call-centre principle of being put on hold until there's enough operators (bandwidth) available for you to use. There may occasionally be a backlog of data, e.g. SMS/MMS/GPRS e-mail, etc, but of actual network access? I wouldn't have thought so.

Orange sucks, i'm on it too and they suck. Was meant to be getting a new sim sent through on Saturday, taking 3 working days. Still not arrived, just phoned up and apparently they have 'post problems'

whats that i smell? oh bullsh*t

I suffered the same problem when with another network, luckily my mate was one of their field engineers and turned the output up slightly so that i could get a signal in my house. So they're probably waiting for the first available engineer to get to the mast and work their magic.

The only reason I went with Orange is that I wanted this particular phone, and at the time it was only Orange carrying it. I was happy with O2, and when this contract is up, I'll probably go back

Does anyone know what my problem could be (the handset or the network)?

Basically I:

-can't get a signal (or one long enough) to make/recieve calls and texts with my Orange contract Sim and i8510 handset

-can't get a signal (or one long enough) to make/recieve calls and texts with my O2 PAYG Sim and i8510 handset

which make me think its the handset, but

-can't get a signal (or one long enough) to make/recieve calls and texts with a completely different Orange Sim PAYG sim and different handset

which makes me think its a network problem despite what Orange say, but a friend living close has no issues.

If its still bad tomorrow, is there anything I can haggle for on my contract (Dolphin 35, 600mins unlimited texts) as I basically haven't been able to use the service to its capabilities the past couple of days?

No chance of getting the contract rescinded under the 'fit for purpose' line as far as I'm aware. I certainly couldn't when I went with Vodafone, who promised great coverage at my house, and it subsequently wasn't great at all.

Serves you right for being a shallow consumer.

I'm on Orange after the past decade on Vodafone. Where I am (in Pikeyland) - the signal's excellent & I never have a problem...better than Vodafone ever was. Of course; I actually live at the top of Portsdown Hill which may have something to do with it!

I do feel a tad embarrassed with Orange at times though. I mean...fancy calling your PAYG plans "Dolphin", "Water Buffalo" and "Wildebeast" or whatever it is. Plain silly...

I suffered the same problem when with another network, luckily my mate was one of their field engineers and turned the output up slightly so that i could get a signal in my house. So they're probably waiting for the first available engineer to get to the mast and work their magic.

I hope the number of kids getting cancer in that area doesn't increase

within the next few years

I hope the number of kids getting cancer in that area doesn't increase

within the next few years

Do you know something i don't?