Fancy an extra 1GB of free mobile Internet? How about unlimited UK calls and texts to anyone on Orange or T-Mobile? Sounds great! Are you 24 or older? Bad luck, granddad.
Orange's new U24 deal gives younglings calls, texts and data for free, as long as you're paying at least £15 per month on contract or pay as you go. It's available to both new and existing customers.
For £15.50 per month, Orange is offering the four-star Orange San Francisco 2 or Nokia Lumia 610 phones for free with (for example) 50 minutes, unlimited texts and 250MB of data, plus an add-on. That's a pretty meagre data allowance, but with an extra 1GB on U24 it should be more than enough for a month of surfing.
A new app to go with the service identifies which of your contacts are on Orange or T-Mo, so you can see who you can call and text for free. It's available now for Android and BlackBerry -- the iPhone version hasn't yet hit the App Store and there's no word on a Windows Phone version.
The app is pretty simple -- it shows all your contacts and puts a little orange and pink logo next to the ones you can contact for nothing. It also breaks down your usage, so you can see how much use you're getting out of the deal. It's not restricted to under-24s, so anyone who has a friends and family deal can use it.
"U24 will go down well with university students who are paying hefty tuition fees on top of general living costs," said uSwitch.com's communications commissar Ernest Doku (no relation). "You could feasibly see whole student households signing up to this deal so they can text and call each other at no cost.
"Expect other providers to quickly follow suit and offer similar packages aimed at a younger audience," he added. "It may take a lot more than Orange is offering to keep them beyond the contract period."
The free calls are likely to be less of a draw than the texts and data -- new research from Ofcom shows virtually everyone aged 16-24 uses texts, IM or email every day to keep in touch with friends. Smart phone ownership has jumped in the past year too, with nearly four in ten Brits owning an Internet-connected blower.
Are you shopping around for a new contract? Would this deal sway you to join the citrus side? Are you 24 and hopping mad you've just missed out? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, or on our Facebook page -- and check out our mobile deals section for loads more.
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Comments 6
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anonymous 18 July, 2012 13:16
And of course giffgaff don't do a similar thing at all... Free texts and calls as well as all round much better deals!
Rich Trenholm 18 July, 2012 13:31
And you can be as old as you like on GiffGaff. Which is lucky, because I remember when it was all fields around here
boristhespie 19 July, 2012 12:52
Good to know discrimination is alive and well.
I've been with Orange since I got a mobile. Years. Good to see how such loyalty is rewarded. That's annoyed sarcasm obviously.
anonymous 31 July, 2012 21:32
Well done Orange, I have been a loyal customer for many years and this has now persuaded me that you are a company that discriminates against your loyal and slightly older customers. Time to move mobile provider.
anonymous 1 August, 2012 20:42
interesting to note people slamming a network for helping others save money. most of the major networks now have unlimited plans (granted most have a 1GB data limit but that's still fairly large) meaning that this sort of thing is clearly desgined to attract new customers - most of who happen to be young.
They are more than likely getting their first contracts as well as being the most likely to use phones more than ever before so most will want a smart phone of some description as well as get value for the money they spend.
At the end of the day, most users will go onto a tariff that suits their usage so they don't pay for what they don't need and this will - on the whole - only be used by the few of us that make the most of what we pay for!
anonymous 10 September, 2012 21:29
Orange U24 is ageist, simple as.