Orange Home Starter Broadband, Phone (& Mobile) Bundle

• Reliable up to 20Mb Orange broadband connection
• Unlimited usage allowance
• Free activation and setup!
• Free evening and weekend calls
• Free wireless modem when you sign up online

Orange broadband review: Home Starter

AS a basic broadband starter package, this Broadband Starter from Orange ticks about all the right boxes: it is well priced, packed with some excellent features and serves as a fantastic starting block for broadband access.

Get it for even less

This Orange Home Starter package promises speeds of up to 20Mb with a newly increased unlimited download limit.

What's more, you can get it for less if you are a new or existing Orange mobile customer.

It's rare to find unlimited and fast broadband this cheaply and part of the reason (Orange's large-heartedness apart, of course) is a certain looseness with the words 'unlimited' and '20Mb'.

Orange's fair-use policy is notoriously unfair - see our investigation of fair use policies for more on this - so this broadband won't be suitable for heavy internet users.

20Mb is, like all broadband speeds, an 'up to' amount, the actual speeds that you can get will vary significantly based on your location.

Neither of these problems should put you off Orange broadband altogether - if you're not a heavy internet user then fair-use won't affect you and Orange will estimate your speed fairly accurately before you sign up - it's just worth being aware of these things!

Free off-peak home phone calls

Incredibly for the price, the Orange Home Starter broadband package also includes free evening and weekend calls to all UK landlines.

You will still have to pay line rental to BT, though.

The one downside to this is that Orange will perform a credit check on you to ensure you're not going to be a liability to them. This check takes around 10 days, on top of the approximate 10 days to get the broadband up and running.

If you know you have a bad credit rating, it is probably not worth applying for this package.

The only Orange broadband package that doesn't require a credit check is the Orange Home Select, as this doesn't include home phone calls.

Now with free setup

While all Orange packages used to include a £30 setup and activation, a recent change has seen Orange drop this, making set up absolutely free.

On the downside, Orange has introduced a £2 levy on all payment methods other than Direct Debit. So if you were planning to pay in buttons, you'll need to factor in an extra £2 to the monthly fee.

Not the livebox, but wireless router nonetheless

Orange are generous enough to include a free wireless router with this broadband package.

Unfortunately this is not the cool Orange 'LiveBox' which not only operates as a wireless router but also acts as a second phone line (you'd need to take out the Orange Home Ultra deal to get that).

Expensive telephone support

In terms of support, we feel that despite the Indian call centres (which are surprisingly good in this case), Orange have done well to provide excellent free online support but they are losing lots of fans with their expensive and, frankly, unfair telephone technical support for this package.

Standard customer support is charged at 5p per minute and is open from 7am to 11pm, but try asking them a technical question and you'll be kindly asked to call a 50p a minute line. Not good, Mr Orange.

(Note that this charge only applies to Home Starter customers. Users of the Home Select and Home Max packages get technical support at 5p per minute)

Excellent protection

Putting a glaze back on the package though is Orange's free inclusive McAfee Privacy Service software which is great for checking and removing unwanted spyware as well as protecting the personal data on your PC.

Orange also offer 20% off McAfee Internet Security Suite.

In a nutshell, Orange has created a robust and ample starter broadband package with plenty to recommend it. Let's just see them sort out that expensive support!.

A little more detail...

Broadband		Special Note...
Package:	Starter (Market 3)	-
Connection:	ADSL2+	Telephone line
Max Speed:	Up to 20Mb
Usage Limit:	Unlimited
Totally Unlimited:	No
Hardware:	Wireless Router	-
Internet Security:	Included free	McAfee Privacy Service included free. McAfee Internet Security Suite available to buy with 20% off.
Online Gaming:	All major consoles supported

Home Phone
Summary:	Evening & Weekend call plan BT line rental required
Choose a package option to see more details

Mobile Phone
Summary:	Orange contract mobile phone customers save up to £5 a month
Choose a package option to see more details