From Freeserve to Wanadoo to Orange....

[nwtv2003]

Wanadoo is to make way for Orange

Internet service provider Wanadoo is changing its name to Orange.

Both Wanadoo and mobile phone business Orange are owned by France Telecom, which said the name change would create a more unified business identity.

Wanadoo is to be phased out both in the UK and across all its other European areas of operation, starting next year.

The France Telecom name will however remain for the company's core fixed line operations, and continue as the name of the parent company.

In the UK, France Telecom's specific Equant fixed line service for businesses is also to be renamed Orange.

Second name change

France Telecom did not say how much the rebranding would cost, but some reports have suggested a figure in the region of £134m.

Until last year Wanadoo was known as Freeserve in the UK.

The announcement of the end of the Wanadoo name came as the once heavily indebted France Telecom announced its much-awaited three-year growth plan.

This includes plans to double its dividend for shareholders, and continued cost cutting measures.

This is quite interesting as it hasn't been Wanadoo for long, whether Wanadoo has been a success or not I don't know, but choosing a more trusted brand name seems like a better idea. If they really wanted to make sense then the whole company and it's services should be called France Telecom, but that wouldn't be liked in the UK.

Anyone else think of any other pointless rebranding? (Jif -> Cif, Kelloggs Coco Pops etc)

[Ant]

Channel 5>five is one.

[russnet]

I've been with Freeserve since 1998 when it first started and to this day, I still call it Freeserve. So from a branding point of view, Wanadoo has not worked on me. Besides I have problems typing it in when I want to go to the site. lol

[babyben]

I think it makes good sense. Wanananadoooo wasn't accepted by the UK public, most people thought it was a stupid sounding name, thus the company reflects badly. The advertising campaign didn't really help. Orange is a respected name which everyone knows - so they should really have jumped form Freeserve to Orange me thinks.

re: Channel Five to five, I think this was a good move, it's a fresh start for the channel subconciously in peoples mind the channel has 'changed'.

[Orry Verducci]

I've been with them since 2001 back in the Freeserve days. I never did understand the change to Wanadoo. It should have just been left Freeserve (which sounds like a British name) or should have changed to Orange skipping Wanadoo.

[scottishtv]

I think it makes good sense. Wanananadoooo wasn't accepted by the UK public, most people thought it was a stupid sounding name, thus the company reflects badly. The advertising campaign didn't really help. Orange is a respected name which everyone knows - so they should really have jumped form Freeserve to Orange me thinks.

I'm not sure. Orange is a really strong brand at the moment. Although beginning to tire a little, the 'wise man' ads are pretty amusing as are the cinema 'film funding board' trails at the cinema. They usually raise a chuckle from the crowd. Plus, I know a lot of people who go to the movies for the 2 for 1 Orange Wednesdays deal thing.

It's good as it is. A strong brand for a mobile phone company. Orange = mobile phone network. Making it a internet service provider will just complicate a nice simple brand. Will they have to change it to "Orange Internet" and "Orange Mobile"? I think the internet business could become percieved as an 'add-on' from the mobile phone company (ie. look like a new venture) rather than a progression from an existing, established company.

I'll wait for the ad men and marketeers to persuade me otherwise.

[Pete]

Also whilst the orange phone network is good freeserve is a poo isp so it would dilute the brand

[Nick Harvey]

Also whilst the orange phone network is good freeserve is a poo isp so it would dilute the brand

An interesting view there, Hyma.

I've been on Freeserve/Wanadoo as long as I've been on the web, have never had any problems with them, am very pleased with the service and see them as a very good ISP.

'Er indoors has had an Orange phone for about nine months and we've had nothing but trouble with their network, their customer service and our attempts to administer the phone through their web site.

Different experiences for different folks, obviously, but I have to say that I'm, personally, hoping that the current Orange customer service ethic doesn't spread to the Freeserve/Wanadoo part of the company.

[Gavin Scott]

I've been very happy with Orange as a mobile provider, but I have heard comments of dissatisfaction similar to those of Mrs Harvey.

Wanadoo was possibly the worst name to give to an ISP as their slogan suggests the spelling "wanna do", which of course it isn't. Silly move really.

Freeserve was my first experience of the net and I had no trouble with it.

[Spencer For Hire]

I know someone who used to work for Freeserve who admitted that their service in the North was really poor and unreliable - apparently they took on too many subscribers and couldn't cope. However in the South their service was much better... which could account for Hyma and Nick's different experiences of the company.

I also used to use Freeserve and had a dismal service from them - if I was lucky enough to be able to connect at all, the connection would drop out regularly, often with no chance of reconnecting. Plus nobody seemed to answer their phones if I called to complain.

[Pete]

That might be it. I was only with them for a little while after leaving BT Yahoo! In disgust after they introduced useage limits. Their ISP was fair but was less stable than the service I'd had with BTOpenworld / BTInternet for the last three years. Mind you it was nothing as poor as the old BT Click PAYG I first went online with back in *thinks* late 99 / early 2000

I have only ever been with Orange with regards to phones. Back in 2000 Orange was the *only* nework you could get in Kelso. It was Orange or patchy Cellnet. Vodaphone was very patchy and One2One was impossible to get. Nowadays you can get Vodaphone, O2 and 3 (not 3G though) very good but Virgin/T-Mobile are still very dodgy.

Anyhow Orange have always been very helpful to me on their customer service, they were very good when I lost my phone a few years back and retained my details and credit for a good few months before I bought my new phone.

Mind you I'm still a PAYG customer on my phone. I've been considering going contract but I'm not sure whether I'd get better VFM. I'm currently just shoving £20 in and buying a 400 textsaver which I use up in about 20 days as I'm (sorry Nick) more of a texter than a talker.