Thanks!

would this work with a uk-routed vpn connection (since I'm not currently in UK...)?

tb

Provided you're having it delivered and billed to the UK I shouldn't see there being any problem with or without a VPN, I've bought stuff to be delivered at home whilst traveling and it's always tracked!

Thanks all for your help. Getting where I wanted was a bit of a ride. Here's what I learned when I did a bit more research and when I went into an Orange shop here in the UK:

- Firstly, going down to a lower tariff on Orange would have meant extending my contract anyway
- Second, even on the lowest monthly tariff, there is always a fairly significant network subsidy (as in worthwhile)
- Surprisingly (bearing in mind they can do pretty much what they want), Orange take into account your spend with them and place you into an investment category.

Upshot? At the Orange shop, they quoted me (from the paper price list) £300 for a Samsung Galaxy S3 on a far lower tariff (still a good £200 less than buying it SIM free). I went for this.

Orange's sales system then talked them down to £50 for the handset. It really is nice having a computer fight your corner.

Clearly, my stock will not be so high with them next time I do another upgrade.

So:

- Samsung Galaxy S3 - £50
- £15.50 per month contract gives me 50 minutes, 250mb of data, unlimited text messages and BT Hotspots in the UK
- All more than I've used in any one month in the last 12 months (bearing in mind we don't pay to receive calls in the UK).

Key feature to me in all this? I can buy myself out of my contract at any time without even going into my discretionary saving account.