spam@johnband.org declared for all the world to hear...
> 1) Is there any way I can get my PAC without paying off the contract?

Get the "privateers" to admit their error and rescind your previous
contract, this will reverse your account to the state it was in prior to
their involvement.

> 2) (if not) what's the minimum that I can pay Orange to get out of the
> contract? Currently my base tarrif is =A319.50 and I pay another =A310 or
> so for additional SMS messages and GPRS access - can I cancel all the
> additional options and just bung them =A319.50 * 5 months to February?

Yes.

> Can I move further down to anything cheaper? In general, if I move to
> the absolute cheapest possible tarrif tomorrow (which I think is
> Dolphin at =A319.00), can I immediately pay the contract off on that
> tarrif?

You can't move to an animal tariff, you would move to Core Plan 19, and
once that has taken effect you can then pay it off at £19 per remaining
month.

Name and shame the "privateers" then?
--
Regards
Jon