I'm looking to upgrade my phone soon. I am sure that Orange looks at the price plan that i am currently on. Is it possible to up my plan the month before my upgrade to get a good phone for next to nothing, then a month later dropping my plan to a cheaper one. Anyone done this????????

no this wouldnt be possible because changing the price plan would start a new contract which you would be tied to for 12 months.

Dan

But i have moved from lower to higher price plans in the past and vice versa, without taking out a new price plan. Its just that i have not done this just before an upgrade.

to be honest then i am not sure.

Dan

When you get a new contract you are tied to the higher price plan for 120 days (then you can go on a lower on for the next 8 months), but I'm not sure if anything similar applies to upgrades.
I think they actually base upgrade options on your average bill rather than the price plan you are on that month. So there's not much point in going on a £50p/m option just before you upgrade if you usually only spend £15.

When they offer you the upgrade price they have a certain amount of discression.

They are looking at how good a customer you HAVE been. and how much they want to keep you.

Your best bet for cheap handset upgrade is to phone them and say...

'but if i just move to [anyothernetwork] i can get the handset for £xx, and i can still keep my number. Why shouldn't i do that?'

When I upgraded my phone with T-Mobile I had just dropped my price plan, but apparently when upgrading with them, it doesn't matter what price plan you want or are on, there is a fixed price towards another phone... which mine was £70.

Hi,
Orange work out the amount of upgrade allowance you get from the monthly line rental you pay so if you are on Orange 200 min and pay £30 including vat per month then any dealer will give you the top deal any lower and the handset price would go up.
You must remember that the dealer will get commissions taken back if you cahnge to a lower price plan within 120 days and that dealer may come after you for the loss, so the best thing may be to stay where you are and pay the going rate for the handset or a cheaper option would be to port your number to another network and get the phone cheaper as handsets should always be cheaper on new connections.

Just threaten to leave, they'll bend over backwards to help you, and at the moment they are very keen to give away camera phones as they are trying to get us to send piccys to each other.

As an example a friend of mine was with t-mobile on a 750 off peak and 50 txt package. for £15pm, now he hardly ever uses his phone so when his contract expired he asked them to move to PAYG. they offered to halve his line rental. that's a good deal.

Cheers Flagpole, did what you said and they offered me a great deal. It just shows if you don't ask you don't get.