T-Mobile rival is giving free ChatGPT Plus, worth hundreds, to its subscribers - but there's a catch

EDMONTON, CANADA - FEBRUARY 10: A woman uses a cell phone displaying the Open AI logo, with the same logo visible on a computer screen in the background, on February 10, 2025, in Edmonton, Canada
(Image credit: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

  • Orange is offering free ChatGPT Plus for a year with its 5G+ plan in Europe
  • The Special Series 180 Go 5G+ plan also includes 180GB data, calls, and Netflix
  • It costs €41 a month, but younger customers get reduced pricing

ChatGPT gives users free access to OpenAI for general conversations, answering questions, generating content, and the like, but if you need more, there’s the premium version, offering access to GPT-4 alongside benefits like priority access and faster performance during peak usage periods, which can be useful for those who use the service a lot.

ChatGPT Plus costs $20/€23 per month, but mobile users in Europe can now get it free for a year. As you’d expect, this isn’t something that everyone can benefit from.

The 12 months of free ChatGPT Plus – worth nearly €280 – comes as part of Orange France’s 5G+ consumer plan, and is the first such promotion in Europe.

New ChatGPT Plus users only

Orange’s Special Series 180 Go 5G+ plan costs €41 per month with no commitment.

As well as the free ChatGPT Plus it also includes 180GB of mobile data, unlimited calls, SMS, and MMS in mainland France, and dedicated bandwidth to help maintain service quality during periods of high usage. Six months of Netflix Standard with ads is also included.

Younger users aged 18 to 26 benefit from reduced pricing – Orange charges them just €25 per month – as well as stronger data protection features.

There is another catch for anyone interested in making use of the year’s worth of free ChatGPT Plus, and that’s you need to be a new ChatGPT Plus user. You'll also need to activate the offer within three months of subscribing, so don't forget. After the first year, standard ChatGPT Plus billing applies unless you cancel, which is standard practice for this kind of offer.

“With its 5G+ launch, Orange France’s key go-to-market message is the promise of ‘dedicated access’ in busy coverage areas," noted Emma Mohr-McClune, Chief Analyst – Telecoms Practice, Technology at GlobalData.

"The wireless market has operated on a 'best effort' basis for decades, and real customer education is required here to help end-users understand the benefits. They need to understand precisely how and when these benefits will materialize to effectively capitalize on the monetization opportunities available. It’s not clear that Orange France has done enough in this respect.”

“One angle that Orange France is tacitly exploring is the pairing of 5G+’s superior uplink capability with AI experiences," Mohr-McClune added. "Certainly, a faster and stronger wireless uplink is required for satisfactory experiences, and with a theoretical maximum of 200 Mbps upstream, Orange 5G+ promises just that.”

While Orange’s new Special Series 180 Go 5G+ plan will give the telecom provider the edge in Europe for now, it’s not expected to last. As Mohr-McClune noted, “Free Mobile flagged up the launch of its own standalone 5G network last September and Bouygues Telecom is already marketing offers for enterprises.”

You might also like

TOPICS
Wayne Williams
Editor

Wayne Williams is a freelancer writing news for TechRadar Pro. He has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for 30 years. In that time he wrote for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a number of them too.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Read more
ChatGPT
Now that ChatGPT Voice Mode is free, is it even worth paying for ChatGPT Plus anymore?
ChatGPT
Is ChatGPT Plus actually worth it? I compared OpenAI’s paid subscription to the free version and the results might surprise you
ChatGPT on a phone
What is ChatGPT: everything you should know about the AI chatbot
ChatGPT Advanced Voice mode on a smartphone.
OpenAI is rolling out exciting new features for all ChatGPT users, and I can't wait
Google NotebookLM on a MacBook
Google One AI Premium now includes one of my favourite AI tools for no extra cost, and it’s 50% off for students
OpenAI o3 Mini
ChatGPT Plus subscribers just got a surprise free gift – unlimited OpenAI Sora access for the holidays
Latest in Pro
An American flag flying outside the US Capitol building against a blue sky
Sean Plankey selected as CISA director by President Trump
A young man working on laptop in office writing notes
Ending the fix/break cycle of End User Computing support
OpenAI
OpenAI wants to help your business build its next generation of AI agents
Ai tech, businessman show virtual graphic Global Internet connect Chatgpt Chat with AI, Artificial Intelligence.
Nation-state threats are targeting UK AI research
A hand reaching out to touch a futuristic rendering of an AI processor.
Business investors are positive about AI’s impact on the economy
Scam alert
Fake jobs and phone calls: How Americans lost $12.5 bn to fraud in 2024
Latest in News
Vision Pro Metallica
Apple Vision Pro goes off to never never land with Metallica concert footage
Mufasa is joined by another lion, a monkey and a bird in this promotional image
Mufasa: The Lion King prowls onto Disney+ as it finally gets a streaming release date
An American flag flying outside the US Capitol building against a blue sky
Sean Plankey selected as CISA director by President Trump
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 on a table with its retail packaging
Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU spotted in Acer gaming PC, suggesting rumors of imminent launch are correct – and that it’ll run with only 8GB of video RAM
Indiana Jones talking to a friend in a university setting with a jaunty smile on his face
New leak claims Indiana Jones and the Great Circle PS5 release will come in April
A close up of the limited edition vinyl turntable wrist watch from AndoAndoAndo
This limited-edition timepiece turns the iconic Technics SL-1200 turntable into a watch, and I want one