Orange Broadband Reviews

About Orange

Orange is a French based telecom company that provides internet services and mobile services in the UK and other major Euorpean nations. Orange had been a better mobile phone service provider than an ISP. However, Orange recently revamped its packages to provide increased cost-effectiveness with their packages.

Orange offers three packages - Home Starter, Home Select and Home Max. We find Home starter as one of the excellent entry level packages wtih a monthly cost of just £12.

Home Max provides unlimited download limit and can be considered by homeworkers who look for high-speed connection without monthly cap.

Where do Orange stand in our rating?

Our assessment of a provider/packages is based on various criteria like speed, reliability, customer support etc. The over-all rating of a provider or a package often helps you to pick the right package for you even if you are unsure of your priorities.

Speed
Reliability
Customer Support
Value for Money
Overall Rating
 

Comparison of Orange Packages

  • Package
  • Type
  • Can be bundled?
  • Speed
  • Unlimited? [Usage]
  • Suitable For
  • Value For Money
          Light Average Heavy  
Click on the package name to read more information
Attractive features of Orange packages

Things you need to consider before you take up Orange broadband packages

Orange - Consumer Reviews

We have some reviews written by consumers for making your choice easy. You can also contribute a quick review that would definitely help others by visiting our Broadband Reviews page.

Reviewed by James  on  2012-04-12
The UK support team are very polite and helpful. I'm happy and the line works fine. Good price too.
Rating: Good

Reviewed by John  on  2012-04-12
The UK support team are very polite and helpful. I'm happy and the line works fine. Good price too.
Rating: Excellent

Reviewed by David  on  2012-04-12
Had major problems with Orange. Router not working properly. Just waiting for contract to get over. Will then be switching at least without costs.
Rating: Good

Reviewed by Amy  on  2011-10-27
A Good Provider. Good Service and Good customer care centre. I am satisfied. Though I was a bit confused initially before signing the new contract, I am happy now. Good work done by Orange.
Rating: Excellent

Reviewed by Sam  on  2011-09-22
Worthless!! One of the worst broadband providers. It was also a bit shocking to see them rated as one among the best customer service providers a couple of months back. Though their customer care people are polite, they are of no use.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Jim  on  2011-09-14
Hate Orange! I am really dissatisfied with the service I received from Orange. I simply just cannot understand how their customer service centre functions. The speed to is very poor with frequent break downs. I could not even send a mail. Worst provider.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Jim  on  2011-08-15
One of the worst providers I have come across. The connection is very slow and the email is not working as well... I had raised a complaint regarding this but of no use...They have a very hopeless customer service too. Will never recommend Orange to any one.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by James C  on  2011-07-05
Being with Orange for nearly 8 months now, I must say that they are neither too bad nor good. They have their positives as well as negatives. Their customer service is really good with polite people providing helpful advice. At times the connections are disruptive and speed is comparatively less.
Rating: Good

Reviewed by Joseph M  on  2011-06-28
I regret having renewed my contract with Orange – a very unreliable connection. I received a mail last month saying that they will be providing better service and since then, it has been even worse. The speed is also very slow and at times no connection at all.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Andrews  on  2011-06-21
After using Orange broadband connection for the past 3 year, now I am planning to move to BT. Orange is one of the worst connection that I have come across. Their customer service is even worse. Not just me, most of my friends have similar issues.
Rating: Average

Reviewed by James P  on  2011-06-08
I recently switched from BT to Orange and I am happy with the change. I get better speed than what I got with BT. The line is stable too. Till now there have been no disconnections. Touch wood! Hope is remains the same always.
Rating: Outstanding

Reviewed by Rachel M  on  2011-06-03
Don’t trust Orange. They don’t provide you the advertised speed. They have the most horrible customer service. I have not come across such an unreliable broadband provider. I had problems since the day I have started using it.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Hannah L  on  2011-05-27
Sadly, I am using Orange for three years, don't ask how and why. For me, charges of the connection are fair and affordable. The problem is with the speed of the connection and range. Connection faces sudden extrication (at least ten times in an hour) and need to reconnect if I want to proceed. Day by day the speed is going down. I have made calls to the service provider and I was told that it is due to technical problems and will be cleared within a short period but no improvements so far. Do you people have any solution? If not, I want to think about a new connection.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Warren  on  2009-09-14
orange have put my price up 4 times over the past 3 years.. They advertise free livebox phone calls that NEVER work , the speed is rubbish , i live 2 minutes from my exchange and i get the maximum of 3mbps instead of 8mbps.. The customer service WELL!!! dont get me started , they dont understand what your trying to get accross , they place you on hold for maximum of 30 minutes which costs like £10 for the call , they say the issue will be resolved within 72 hours and it NEVER is. In terms of value orange has to be the worst ever broadband provider in existance , there has been times where i may as well have been on dial up.. The drama got worse in July of 2009 when they wrote to me saying that i no longer live in a active orange area therefore i have to pay £23.00 a month JUST for broadband alone! I would'nt reccomend orange to any one , stay away from them and get your self a much better provider !
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by pol  on  2009-01-25
3 years customer of Orange. Havent had a month without problems with their network. Last 5 weeks i have got network 2hours per 2 days:( any professional help. Changing from next month for Be.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by W Kanw  on  2008-11-11
Servioe is frequently disconnected. Calling the help desk is best avoided as the staff appear to have little knowledge. For some time now my email has been most unsatisfactory and as I write i have been without any service at all for 3 days.I could not recommend this ISP to anyone.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by ann  on  2008-06-17
Very unhappy with the service which frequently cut out and customer service is almost non existent.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Bennet  on  2008-05-29
In the beginning, that was a year ago, Orange was good. I was getting good speeds. However, speeds have become awful for the last three months. Their customer support is non-existent.
Rating: Average

Reviewed by Mary  on  2008-05-29
I am unhappy with Orange service. My connection stopped working last week. Their helpdesk is utterly useless. I wont recommend Orange to anyone.
Rating: Average

Reviewed by James  on  2008-06-08
Speeds have dwindled in the last month. I contacted their help desk and they dont understand what went wrong with my connection. Although, they said that they have fixed up the problem, it again crops up. Poor service.
Rating: Average

Reviewed by Robert  on  2008-04-10
Orange Home Starter is a great value package for light users. You need to check whether you can get speeds close to what they advertise. Often we don't assess that and we blame the ISP later. If you are looking for cheap broadband deal, Home Starter is a great option
Rating: Good

Reviewed by Smith  on  2008-04-09
Speeds are sometimes amazing but most of the times they let you down. This has been happening ever since I signed up with Orange. Compared with it, Orange mobile is excellent as I am an Orange mobile customer support. My Max package offers free calls on the second line that is good from price point of view. As for reliable speeds, I am really disappointed.
Rating: Average

Reviewed by Paul  on  2008-04-05
Speeds have improved lately. So is their customer service. Free line rental also helps me to cut the monthly cost. I would stay with Orange as long as it maintains good service.
Rating: Good

Reviewed by Arthur  on  2008-03-29
Orange Live box modem is really fantastic. It offers real wireless broadband experience. Lured by their half price offer, I signed up Home Starter. Speeds, sometimes slow down, that is the only thing I can complain. So far, everything is fine with my broadband connection
Rating: Good

Reviewed by mike  on  2008-01-29
Had nothing but problems right from the very start.I will not go into details but finaly after 2 months customer services admitted the service i was supposed to get was inadequate!!. i moved on.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Hamish Dunlop  on  2007-11-30
Customer service is terrible. Do not believe their Fair Usage Policy (FUP). I was disconnected for having 'high usage' FUP states you will receive two warnings and they will contact you to discuss ways of reducing usage. I received no warnings or calls - just a letter with a MAC code and given two weeks to move before disconnection. In reponse to my complaint I was sent a letter that explained my 'ublimed service' was capped at 40 Gb, but they do not publish this as it is always subject to revision. 3 months after I changed to anoyher provider I received a further letter saying that my service was to be stopped due to a missed payment and they have started legal action to recover. Call centre agrees that I owe nothing and account was closed previously but they have continued to charge me, but am still fighting for a favourable outcome
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Julie Asquith  on  2007-11-01
I waited 23 days and made numerous lengthy phone calls to orange because I was not receiving broadband. I was paying £21.99 per month and when we asked to cancel the contract we were told we must give 30 days notice. Communication was very poor we couldn't understand them they couldn't understand us. After about 8 line checks they allowed us to cancel without notice. Who knows what my phone bill is going to be like this month. I wonder if there customer service division is going to refund that.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Lisa  on  2007-10-23
Don't ever sign up for Orange broadband, their support staff are totally useless and rude. Everthing was fine until I got an error message no dial tone. I phoned up support and she got me to do everything I had already tried. When I told her I thought it was a filter issue she ignored this and said they would test the line and I would have to phone back in 6 days! I did and was told they couldn't help me or check if the line had been tested and I would have to phone a premium rate number (50p/minute)! I tried to sort it out my self and it was a filter issue! I am now in the process of changing suppliers, but was informed that I would be charged £85 to cancel as they had signed me up for a 12 month contract without my knowledge. Their support staff struggle with the english language, ignored my suggestions and quite often put you on hold for ages or hang up. This is the worst service I have ever experienced.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by David Passmore  on  2007-10-04
Despite having had limited problems with freeserve and wanadoo, I have to state that since Orange have been my ISP,I am now in a state of desperation. The old adage that you should never judge the service a company is providing when thing are running smooth but wait until things go wrong and assess the reaction has certainly been proved right with Orange. I have had intermittent connection problems for over two months at time of posting and the matter has still not been resolved. Orange have admitted the problem is at their end and despite many calls to their call centres and hapless agents, the matter has still not been resolved. Their India call centre is something else - you cannot understand their agents and they do not appear to comprehend basic English. You will dicover when they cannot give a reasonable explanation that they will"transfer you" and you will be hanging on forever. Their Teesside call centre is no better, with rude and unprofessional agents. They have threatened me with "third party" retrieval agents if I do not pay the hundred and odd quid cancellation fee. I have told them go ahead!!! Avoid this provider like the plague - All the postings on this site who have had no problems with Orange may disagree - Wait till you have problems and I am confident you will concur with my findings! Oh by the way, do not bother with their online technical enquiries - they will not respond!
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Strange - Hereford  on  2007-10-03
Have been using Broadband through Freeserve / Wannado / Orange for the last two years with no issues. Can't comment on customer service, as the product has been sufficiently reliable not to need intervention. Hope this redresses the balance slightly.
Rating: Excellent

Reviewed by alison swain  on  2007-08-05
have just read the reveiws by others, couldnt agree more Orange is truly appaling,to make matters worse, am finding it really difficult to ditch them,i have never been hung up on so many times waiting for a mac or mat? number.DONT DO IT WITH ORANGE
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Graham Phillips  on  2007-08-11
While the customer service department may need to return from their lunch break sometime this century, the package as a whole has been good - little trouble with connection (at least in my area) and it is reasonably priced. While perhaps not as good as others, it's still a solid package.
Rating: Good

Reviewed by Andy  on  2007-07-24
I have been with Orange since it was Freeserve, and i have never experianced such a poor customer service and even worse poor service. Like many others I have had no connection which they keep telling me is a line fault, connection speed has never been over 1.1mbs, their so-called tech team wouldn`t know the truth if it hit them in the face, if your with Orange i suggest you look elsewhere for Broadband, i`m going to give Sky a try. by the way it isn`t even worth the 1 star rating i`ve been forced to give ;-)
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Malone  on  2007-05-15
Do not go with Orange. Simple. I have had nothing but poor customer service and unreliable connections. As many other users have found, I am always told it is a line fault and then upon discussing this with BT there is no such thing. I have changed supplier and may even change my Orange mobile phone as a result. Shame as their mobile service has always been great.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by TONY  on  2007-05-14
HAVE BEEN WITH THE OLD FREESERVE AND WANADOO MANY YRS AND WHEN ORANGE TOOK OVER WE EXPECTED AT LEAST THE SAME SERVICE WHAT A JOKE THAT WAS I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR A REFUND NOW 6MTHS AND STILL NOT HERE AND WHEN THEY SAY THEY GIVE YOU FREE MONTHS FOR THE HASSLE IT DOESNT HAPPEN MAKE SURE YOU CHECK YOUR STATMENTS ON THIS ONE AS FOR TEC SURRPORT A WASTE OF TIME YOU HAVE TO GO AROUND YOUR HAT EVERY TIME IM NOW LEAVING ORANGE AND MANY OF MY FRIENDS ALSO WATCHDOG GOT IT RIGHT FOR SURE ABOUT ORANGE THEY DONT CARE ABOUT THERE EXSITING CUSTOMERS LET ALONE NEW ONES ALL I CAN SAY DONT JOIN ORANGE
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Shirley  on  2007-04-08
I have been with Freeserve which was sold to Wanadoo then sold to Orange for a few years. The connection is ok but the email service is rubbish since Orange took over. I have changed my settings but it hasnt made much difference to the hit and miss email sending and delivery service. I am looking to change ISPs as a result.
Rating: Good

Reviewed by ann northallerton  on  2007-03-19
I had problems with my connection. So I rang orange and was fob off from one person to another, then they said they was a fault on the line, so I rang BT who checked and rang me back there was no problem with my line. Again rang orange and said we will do a test and can I ring them back this happened over half a dozen times so I cancelled and went with another server. And all I got at ther end of this was a large phone bill.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by BLING  on  2006-11-22
I have never loathed anything so much in my life. It is such an irritating service that I have ever experienced. The problem started from day one of the connection. Those people in the customer service are very much reluctant to sort out our problems. There’s nothing that I can say is good about orange. My latest problem is, no net for the past three weeks.
Rating: Good

Reviewed by Shashank  on  2006-11-14
To be short and not very sweet, orange broadband doesn’ t work. Once in a blue moon I get connected to the internet for which I will have to pay 14.99. Not even a day I can remember when the connection has lasted 24*7. The customer service they provide is simply nil, to add, they don’ t speak good English. Neither we understand what they speak nor we. It is excruciatingly slow. I don't recommend it.
Rating: Excellent

Reviewed by Joel  on  2006-10-17
I had a line fault i took over 4 months and never got fixed.. they said id get a refund from when the fault began.. they then denied this and said i should have rung every week.only got one month back... terrible call centre ..Suprised by Orange Useless.
Rating: Poor

Reviewed by Florin Ciocan  on  2006-11-02
I have been using Orange broadband for a couple of years and satisfied with its reliability. They have great connection speeds and I am impressed with their advanced packages offering wireless router that allows me, connecting to multiple computers. However, I feel that they have to improve on their poor customer support.
Rating: Excellent

Reviewed by BillyBolton  on  2006-10-20
After hunting for great broadband deals, I finally ended choosing Orange Broadband. Usually, I spend a lot of time in telephone and I was not shocked with heavy telephone bills even after spending hours over the telephone. In fact, I was able to save more using their beneficial packages for free off-peak calls. I had a problem with my connection last month and that was rectified with in 24 hours and after that I continue to experience the high speed connection status without any difficulty. I think, I am in to the right choice.
Rating: Excellent

Reviewed by janet  on  2007-11-14
I have been using the Orange service for a year and very much pleased with its connection speed and reliability. I wonder why few people are complaining against it. With the use of advanced packages from the orange, I can connect to multiple computers. How ever the customer service could be better.
Rating: Good

Reviewed by janan  on  2007-11-15
I have never hated anything like this and also the people in the customer service are very much hesitant to take our problems out. Really annoying and an irritating service that I ever experienced in my life time. Too bad service!
Rating: Average

Reviewed by Anoyd  on  2007-10-20
I work with Orange, and NO I am not telling this coz I work for them, but their service is very good. So far I have not had a problem with Orange, it has been a year and still I have not met with a single complaint. It works really well, with good speed. I find many negative reviews about Orange in this page, but I have not faced all the above mentioned problems so far.
Rating: Good

Reviewed by R Hart  on  2007-10-05
I had a 1MB connection from Orange and the connectivity was bad. Also the speed was very slow between 7pm – 11pm. Finally they offered me to upgrade my package to 2MB, for additional charge, and after I was promised by them that the connectivity would be good this time, I again went for it. This was the second mistake that I did to believe their words! Not only was the same thing repeated, just that I was paying more for this nonsense! I am just FEDUP with Orange. Awful customer service as well. Taking customers in the wrong direction.
Rating: Average

Reviewed by Rosy  on  2007-10-10
Pros: nothing worth mentioning! Cons: Many! Awful speed, horrible connectivity, impossible customer service! I don’t know why only I had a problem with Orange. All my friends seemed to be happy with it. Yesterday I got my new broadband connection from Eclipse Internet. I really hope I don’t have a similar problem with this as well.
Rating: Poor

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