So the question is: will Orange and Swisscom do this or not?
Aaah, but I don't want to use OWA. The new iPhone 3G will have native support for Exchange in its own mail client (based on Active Sync). But AFAIK, the operators can block this feature and unlock it only for business plans.
Sorry about the double posting.
Actually if you look at this link http://iphone3g.swisscom.ch/pdf/NATE..._grande_en.pdf - it says that calls to any other network provider will cost 0.50 a minute. That means if I call my brother who has Orange for 10 minutes it will cost me 5 francs. I will stick with the Orange plan but i'm not sure if to get the 44 franc a month deal or 61 franc deal .
Hey guys, right now I'm really attracted to the orange plans, but the thing that bothers me the most is that people say that orange network coverage is really poor comparingt to the swisscom one. So would the orange coverage cause a lot of problems for a person who travels a lot throughout switzerland?
It's not "really poor" - the problem is, that Orange doesn't have EDGE (= faster GPRS speed). So once you leave their 3G network coverage, which is being expanded but far from complete, you only get normal GPRS (somewhere between 9.6kb/s and 56kb/s, which is REALLY slow). Especially since the iPhone doesn't compress web-traffic like Opera Mini etc. It'd take minutes to load a website over, say, 1mb of size. So no fun browsing there. Also, you can't use VoIP services over normal GPRS.
If you will be traveling / working all over Switzerland, go for Swisscom.
I don't know any companies who are on Orange - probably for that reason. Not only does Swisscom have EDGE, they're also about a year ahead of Orange in their 3G expansion plans.
If you're manly staying on or near the main railway lines and / or in major metro areas, Orange is probably the better (= cheaper) choice.
peter
Hey,
I just got the following mail from Orange:
Dear Mr XXX,
Now’s your opportunity to be among the first to get your hands on the new iPhone 3G and enjoy the full iPhone experience. As an exclusive welcome gift at Orange, we are opening our e-shop 2 days earlier for you, before our official market launch on 11 July.
All you have to do is choose one of our attractive offers combined with an exclusive iPhone price plan including everything you need to get the most out of this revolutionary mobile phone, iPod and internet device.
[Here comes an image with the table with the offers]
So put the 9 July in your agenda now. But don’t worry, we will be sending you a reminder email with direct access to our iPhone e-shop.
Your iPhone will be shipped as of 11 July. Rest assured that we will be handling your order with priority as stock allows.
Thank you for choosing Orange.
Best regards
Your Orange Team
So I guess in the end I'll go with Optima 30. I am really curious if I get it on the 11th. It seems it pays off the fact that I've filled that form a week ago or so . Also, they might give priority to new customers to Orange (I've never been a customer of them, so they might want to attract me )
I think the 3G network of Orange will have to improve, in order to remain competitive. Before Euro 2008, Swisscom's network was so bad I couldn't even make a call from my workplace in Basel.
I also got this e-mail today.
IIRC, I entered on the reserve page the day it came up. I'm already a customer with Orange and stated so, so that is not necessarily a factor.
Lucky people. Do any of you know how many iPhones will be released in the Dataquest in Zürich (the one in Bahnhofplatz)?
I got the mail, i'm not up for handset renewal so can't get it, the missus is so she can get it.
I'll speak to them anyway and see what I can do, we spend enough money with them for them to show me some love.
I'm worth more that 300chf/month to them, I generally find Orange in Switzerland pretty unaccommodating though. In the UK they used to send me loads of free stuff.
When I ordered my orangeclick abo, it was done completely online. I had to validate my identity with my permit when retrieving the SIM card at the post office.
All that said, what about the mandatory in-store activation they've promised in the US? I suppose that won't be the case here?
Well, what does this activation mean? With all the phones I've bought, the process was as follows:
- went into the store, picked a model;
- the guy asked for my papers, filled the contract and I signed it;
- the guy let me pick a number from, like, 5 to 10 available;
- gave me an unopened box with the phone I chose;
- asked me if I know how to put the SIM in the phone;
- that's it.
What would be different with the iPhone?
With Orange, on the 9th we will be able to order and buy online. I suppose that when we click on "Submit" we agree to enter into the contract we picked and they'll probably send 2 copies of the contract by post and we have to send one signed back.
With orangeclick is different because there's no contract. It's prepaid.
The previous iPhone had to be "activated" before being usable. Activating meant connecting it to your computer and going through some process in iTunes.
This time around, AT&T in the US have announced that the iPhone has to be activated in the store at the time of purchase, presumably to stifle hacking/unlocking. No carrier in Europe has announced a similar process though as far as I know.
AFAIK both Orange and Swisscom require in-store activation. When I asked Swisscom if I could use their pre-paid package with a different Swisscom SIM-card, they told me yes, but the old card has to be activated in-store for the iPhone to work.
That's exactly what I was wondering about with the Orange online offer. If they post it to you, how will they cover (or get round) the in-store activation requirement...
Either they'll send you the iPhone already activated (with a new SIM-card / contract) or you'll probably have to go to a store to get it activated.
peter
I got a slightly different letter from Orange, annoyingly they posted it in German (their other emails were in English).
So original, followed by a google translate,
So I guess I can still get one at a discount. Might just do that.
If you don't mind losing your number, I'd get a new contract. The 10% discount is a joke, if you ask me.
Ugh, I hate losing my number, so that's a no no. Don't swisscom have a scheme to steal you from other companies contracts? Might be worth looking into.
To my knowledge, all three major providers are able to transfer existing phone numbers.