Orange yesterday held it’s hands up and admitted that it’s data network was having a massive hissy fit leaving Orange users without mobile data access.  Voice data seemed to be unaffected but email and web browsing completely failed for many users. The full extent of the problem isn’t known, but forum posts and other articles are suggesting that many users had been having issues with the data network for a good while before Orange admitted the problem existed. Me included.

While this may have been a minor inconvenience to some, roaming buisness users were no doubt livid, and were made more so by Orange’s admission that they had no scheduled fix for the problem.

No information has been forthcoming about the cause of the outage.

Earlier this year the advertising standards agency upheld a complaint about Orange’s claim that its “3G network covers more people in the UK than any other operator“, the ASA ruled that because orange could not show that they had gathered data for the performance of their rivals in the same way that they did for their own network the claim was misleading.

A big company misleading people? Advertising people lying through their recently whitened teeth?
Surely not.

I can’t help feeling that this outage and Orange’s response is a fairly standard fare for big business nowadays. If you work for a big company, feel free to print out and keep my handy guide to managing major technical problems:

1. Say NOTHING until someone goes to the media. Arrange for your forum to be  ”down for maintenance”.  Spend more on advertising.

2. Deny the problem and stonewall any questions.

3. Keep denying the problem until several high profile third parties have confirmed it beyond the point where anyone with half a brain still believes you.

4. Issue a vague, non committal statement that the problem may possibly be real but only affects a few people and it’s probably their fault anyway. Stupid customers.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the problem is fixed or the media lose interest.

6. If the problem gets fixed, either:

a) SAY NOTHING, that would mean admitting you were wrong.

b) Announce the fix amidst great fanfare, casting yourself in the role of hero whilst glossing over the fact that it was your stupid fault in the first place.

7) If you are still getting flack, a member of management may have to do a Captain Oates.

Sound familiar?

HTC have now introduced the popular Desire in a black casing. This new look makes the Desire look ultra chic and stylish making it a truly ‘desirable’ phone.

The black Desire is currently only available on Orange from £25 a month with 400 minutes and unlimited texts as well as all the great Orange extras including Orange Wednesdays.

The Desire from HTC is one of the most advanced handsets on the market. Similar to Google’s Nexus One the Desire has a soft curved design and a fantastic 3.7 inch AMOLED display. There is an optical trackpad to navigate through the phones many features and with Android 2.1 sitting above a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU the Desire really does give you an incredible user experience. The Desire has a fully customisable home screen using HTC widgets including weather, photo album, music and messages. There is a 5 megapixel camera on board with autofocus and LED flash and with expandable memory up to 32GB there is plenty of storage for all your favourite music and photos. Users can browse the web with 3G connectivity and make sure they are always in the right place with GPS and Google Maps. The HTC Desire weighs 135g and measures 60 x 119 x 11.9mm, with it superb design and excellent user interface it is one excellent smart phone.

Click here to see all HTC Desire deals.

SIM only deals are fantastic if you love your existing phone but want to cut your monthly deals down significantly. They are also a great option for those who are unsure about committing to a contract for as long as 2 years as they can be cancelled with just a months notice.

As you are not in a contract you can leave if you are dissatisfied with the service or if you spot a better deal elsewhere.

An important factor when looking at SIM only deals is to be realistic with how many minutes and texts you actually use to ensure you don’t go over your allowance  and end up with a hefty bill!

All the major mobile networks now offer SIM only deals which is great as competition for the best deal has increased giving you a great range of SIM only options.

If you love to text then the Virgin Media Liberty SIM is a superb option with unlimited texts and 200 minutes for just £10 a month! Orange also offer a fantastic option if you use your phone for business with 1200 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited mobile internet!

To compare all the best SIM only deals follow this link. To refine your search you can select the network you want to be on, your minutes or text usage or how much you want to pay each month.

Mobilesplease compares thousands of deals every day and often spots some stand out deals that we just can’t take our eyes off!

If you are a gaming junkie then there are a number of deals that include a FREE PS3 Slim with Gaming Bundle! The PS3 Slim has a slimmer, more compact design with quieter operation. All games are in high-definition, it has an easy-to-use interface, doubles as a Blu-ray and upscaling DVD player. The is also built-in Wi-Fi, 120GB hard drive, HDMI output with 1080p support, no external power supply, built-in Web browser and free online gaming service. The Sony Playstation 3 Slim also comes with the Uncharted 2 game, Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time game as well as Batman: The Dark Knight Blu-ray movie.

All this can be yours with the fantastic Samsung Genio Touch on Orange which includes 400 minutes and Unlimited texts for just £25 a month!

The mighty iPhone has been sold to 100,000 customers in just over a week after the network Vodafone launched it. The popular phone is also available on Orange and Tesco after a 2 year exclusive deal with O2.

Vodafone UK CEO Guy Laurence said: “The demand from both consumer and business customers has been phenomenal. They want an outstanding phone on an outstanding network and we’re delivering that.”

To see all available iPhone deals click here

Mobilesplease now compares all the available iPhone deals from Orange and O2! 

The iPhone 3G S is the revolutionary handset from Apple. Combining three amazing products in one, a stunning phone, a widescreen ipod and a ground breaking internet device the Apple iphone takes mobile phones to a new level. Following on from the iphone 3G, the 3G S features 3G wireless technology, maps with GPS and access to the Apple store with nearly 50,000 fantastic applications. So what’s new? The 3G S is the ‘fastest and most powerful iphone yet’ and with up to 32GB of storage and video capabilities it provides much more than previous models.

A new feature of the 3G S is Voice Control which recognises names in your contact list aswell as songs on your ipod making it easy if you have your hands full! Make calls simply by tapping the 3.5 inch touch sensitive interface, it even syncs your contacts from your laptop and visual voicemail lets you listen to your message in whichever order you like – just like your emails. The iphone uses fast 3G and Wi-fi connections to deliver fast broadband speed internet and is the most advanced web browser on a mobile phone, Google and Yahoo are even built into the browser.

Being an Apple phone the handset doubles as a multimedia machine with a widescreen ipod which allows you to enjoy all your music, videos, pod casts and audio books plus transfer files directly from your pc via itunes. Other new features on the phone include a 3 mega pixel camera with built in auto focus, a compass, world wide weather updates and cut, copy and paste abilities.

The Apple iPhone has just been voted the coolest brand in the UK, knocking the Aston Martin off the top spot after 4 years. With Apple trying to boost sales of the extremely popular handset the iPhone is branching out to Orange and Vodafone after two years of exclusivity with rivals O2. Over 1 million iPhones have been sold in the UK through O2 and Apple have their sights set on the other 49 million mobile phone users, making Orange (which has the largest 3G network covering more people in the UK than any other operator) the ideal network to increase sales. Orange and Vodafone have not yet given any details on tariffs and prices or a release date yet over 65,000 people registered their interest on the Orange site within hours of Orange releasing the news.

Unfortunately Vodafone fans will be unable to grab an iPhone until early next year but it is expected that O2 and Orange will battle it out over the Christmas period in an exciting price war. Orange do have an advantage with pricing as they don’t share revenue with Apple like O2 do, however, O2 have exclusive rights to the Palm Pre, the iPhone’s rival.

So it’s great news for all those Orange fanatics who have wanted an iPhone for years or those who want to see tariff prices drop for the must have phone. To make sure you get the best iPhone deal in the run up to Christmas register your interest to ”iphone at mobilesplease.co.uk” to be notified as soon as the deals come in.

It’s that time of year again where thousands of fresh faced students set off for a life of beans on toast, hangovers and maybe a few lectures! Here at Mobilesplease we understand that every student needs a cool looking phone to organize the next night out and occasionally ring home to tell their parents they are still alive, so we have piled through thousands of deals to get you the perfect one on a budget!

Mega Budget!

If you are on a really tight budget Vodafone Anytime Talk 10 24 Month has a great range of phones for free with contracts starting at £7!! This cheap contract gives you 100 minutes and 500 texts a month making it a great all rounder.

Text Wiz

For those who never have their thumbs away from their keypad, Orange Dolphin 20 (24 Months) gives you unlimited texts and a handy 200 minutes for when you really need to ring home. The contract offers some great phones and some brilliant cash back deals.

SIM Only

If you love your current handset then there are some super deals available on SIM only 30 day contracts. You have total freedom on the length of your contract and most networks have great offers. Orange Dolphin Sim 20 (1 Month) is our favourite with a whopping 600 minutes and unlimited texts.

Free Netbook? Surely not!

Mobilesplease offer a great range of free gifts to go with your contract. We recommend the G502 on the Racoon 30 UNLIMITED LANDLINE CALLS contract that includes a FREE Hannspree Netbook!

Grab these great offers now to make sure your loan lasts until Christmas!