I've been with Orange since they were FreeServe and, to be honest, I've never really had any complaints. I used to get reasonable rates on dial-up and my broadband has been reasonably stable since I switched - for ages I even had a fixed IP which was very handy.
This weekend however I've been upgraded to a blistering 8.1 MB, except that it's died already... DSL connectivity died at some point on Saturday evening returning about 11pm. Sunday I get a message from Orange congratulating me on my new speed. However this dies at some point in the day, only to come back later. I'm trying to chalk it up to teething problems with whatever Orange have done at the exchange until my kids inform me that Orange are such a bad ISP they've been reported on CrimeWatch!? I eventually figure out they mean WatchDog. Anyway it's all working again later on Sunday so I hope that I've just been a bit unlucky but that everything will be alright now.
No such luck. 9am today (Monday) it died again. OK let's check out the confirmation email so I can call tech support to complain. Whoops! The message tells me I can call support and reminds me of the rates, but the actual number has been strangely omited! Are they expecting people to have problems which they'd rather not address? I dig through the archives to find the original message (which I had missed) telling me they were going to upgrade the account and that, thankfully, has the number.
Then ensues a very frustrating call in which I had to check all my settings, delete connections, uninstall drivers, then reinstall drivers & recreate the connections, all to prove that the machine that was set-up perfectly when the signal went down still wouldn't connect if you messed about with it. I've got a SpeedTouch USB modem that, once it has power, will establish a DSL link even if the PC never gets around to booting into Windows - so if it can't sense a link, no amount of f***ing around with drivers & settings is going to fix it. ARRRGGGHHHH!!! Even though my "support technician" agrees with my analysis from the outset we still have to go through all the motions. Finally I'm told they will arrange a line test, "Please call back tommorrow if it's not working by then". GRRRRRRR. 8 hours later and it's still not working.
Please, please, somebody tell me that they do eventually get their act together.... Although come to think of it I'm not that wedded to my old fsnet domain anymore as I have an independent one elsewhere. Maybe this is just what I need to encorage me to switch providers & save money at the same time - my worry is that now that my line has been LLU'd any other ISP would simply pick up the service that Orange currently provide and so I'd be no better off.
PS- when it was working yesterday, I found and had a quick browse of this site. Somewhere I came across the anti-orange signature that reports the connecting IP which also claimed my provider was Energis??! Is this so?
PPS My phone line seems to have developed a nasty intermittent buzzing - is this a known feature?
Posted from work, 'cos home is sadly a net-free zone....
I've got a SpeedTouch USB modem that, once it has power, will establish a DSL link even if the PC never gets around to booting into Windows - so if it can't sense a link, no amount of f***ing around with drivers & settings is going to fix it. ARRRGGGHHHH!!! Even though my "support technician" agrees with my analysis from the outset we still have to go through all the motions.
While it's generally true that the USB modem will show sync or not just with power the drivers can and do make it do some odd things at times.
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Maybe this is just what I need to encorage me to switch providers & save money at the same time - my worry is that now that my line has been LLU'd any other ISP would simply pick up the service that Orange currently provide and so I'd be no better off.
Shouldn't be the case unless the problem is on the phone line itself, which is unlikely but can happen, nobody else uses Orange's LLU so moving to any other provider means being removed from Orange and provided on the new service.
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PS- when it was working yesterday, I found and had a quick browse of this site. Somewhere I came across the anti-orange signature that reports the connecting IP which also claimed my provider was Energis??! Is this so?
It's not, Energis aren't an ISP as such, they supply services to ISP's such as part of the back end stuff Orange use.
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PPS My phone line seems to have developed a nasty intermittent buzzing - is this a known feature?
It would be worth getting BT to look into that, could have been caused by the changover and help point to the cause of the problem or simply be something unrelated to the broadband problem.
24 hours later and Orange have determined there is a problem - whoopee - and they've given themselves another 24 hours to fix it - groan... I've also set BT onto looking into the cause of the strange noise on my lines. Hopefully between the two of them they'll kick my system back into life before I and my 3 kids die from internet withdrawl.
That could cause problems. If BT register a PSTN fault then that trumps all broadband faults which will be automatically closed. Once the phone fault is clear if the broadband problem still exists then you'd probably have to start with a new fault being logged.
Well it's been over a week and every tech support call has been appaling... Orange thinks I have ADSL so I must have ADSL - My PC knows different and I know who I believe. I've tried alternate DSL kit, fresh filters and BT have inspected the line. The copper is good all the way from me to the exchange, there's just no DSL carrier on it for my kit to sync with. So a week on I've demanded a MAC code so I can switch to a company that can actually handle a support request. I can even live with having to wait a few days for it, it's not as if Orange showed any interest in acknowledging the problem, let alone getting it problem resolved so switching provides looks like the fastest way to get back online. As a bonus I also get to halve the cost of my broadband access!
Back online at last.... thanks to Nildram! My phone went dead in the early hours of Tuesday morning and came back with a shiny new 8.1Mb connection just after 2am. Since it took the best part of 2 hours to make the switch I'm left wondering just how much of a mess of things Orange had made in the exchange....
For those of you still struggling with Orange, I wish you the best of luck,
Back online at last.... thanks to Nildram! My phone went dead in the early hours of Tuesday morning and came back with a shiny new 8.1Mb connection just after 2am. Since it took the best part of 2 hours to make the switch I'm left wondering just how much of a mess of things Orange had made in the exchange....
For those of you still struggling with Orange, I wish you the best of luck,
Regards,
tt2
well done Nildram.
sounds like you were just patched in wrong in the DSLAM in the exchange, in the wake of an LLU unbundling. as in , the physical cable...
pretty sure same thing has happened to me. DSL line is active. no PPP server to login to...for nearly 2 weeks.
in any case i got my MAC code now , and am migrating to Fast.
believe me mate they will stretch this out for weeks possibly even months... u will get NOWHERE...been there got the t-shirt !!.... line test after line test...excuse after excuse ...... ditch them and get something thats known to work...
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