well, I finally decided to take the plunge with this...going for Orange on the Panther 45 over 18 months.
I was told by mobiles.co.uk representative (hopefully the 20min wait to speak to the sales team isnt an indication of the level of service! You'd think they'd make an effort with the number people call to BUY stuff from them!) that when I receive the phone I will need to contact Orange directly to set the account up and thats when I give them the PAC code...
I'd already got the PAC code (thinking I'd need it to order the phone) and it runs out on the 13th May...so A, I'm hoping the phone gets here before then...B, Orange do what they need to do before it expires (guess it depends if they need to complete the process by the 13th, or just register my request by the 13th with O2)