Was The Orange Phone Network Down Again?

My Orange Nokia 7250 phone has just come back online after having had no signal for the past 4 or 5 hours. This was in the west end of London, the train to the Sussex Coast and in Easbourne, so not a local fault by the look of it.

I wonder if it's a repeat of the fault on the Orange network on the 12th December that left me and many others with no coverage.

To add insult to injury, I'm on a contract phone, but my parents who are on Pay As You Go, have had an uninterrupted service. I guess Orange already have my money so I'm a lower priority customer?