I am currently with Orange on PAYG and I want to upgrade to iPhone 4.

The service I receive at my local Orange shop in Blackburn is extremely poor, so I do not want to deal with them, however I do want to stay on Orange PAYG.

If I buy my iPhone4 from the Apple store, will they be able to upgrade my existing PAYG sim, so that I can keep my existing phone number, or do I have to deal direct with an Orange shop?

BTW I don't really want to be cutting my SIM down to micro sim size 'cos it always ends in tears with me

Hope I've made myself clear

I called into the Orange store in Bury St. Edmunds yesterday and enquired about an iphone 4 SIM. I was basically told that they're not available for PAYG and would only be able to get one on contract. I was offered the 1 month rolling contract at £25 a month but told him I wouldn't be getting the phone until mid-July so would leave it for now.

I'm an existing PAYG customer currently using a Sony-Ericsson K550i. I don't really want to leave Orange because in this area they offer the best 3G coverage along with Vodafone, while the other networks don't even bother with 3G around here at all.

I'll try calling their customer service, won't be bothering with their shops again. I don't mind going onto contract but don't want to pay £25 a month, most of my data usage would be on wifi at home or work but being able to use it on 3G when needed would be useful.

Has anyone here managed to get an Orange PAYG SIM?

I called to change my sim to a microsim and was fobbed off, saying that they had no stoke. It took speaking to a manager to get them to admit that they can and will send me a new sim. They can certainly do it!

Back to my original question....
Does anyone know if Apple can upgrade my existing Orange PAYG sim so that I can retain my phone number?

Ignoring that I just answered yes to that question. Charming!

Sorry... I was unsure if you were talking about the Orange Shop, or the Apple store

I want to know if the Apple Store can transfer my Orange PAYG sim to a new micro sim.

The answer is more than likely yes, but as ohirome said, Orange CS can send out a new micro SIM, so you don't have to deal with the Orange shop.

Excellent! Thanks for the clarification Eddy

I had the same problem trying to get a 3g sim card to replace an old 2g one. The shop assistant swore blind the phone wasn't 3g when it was. At times, Orange seem desperate to drive customers away!