Wahey! Walked past my livebox this morning and noticed the lights weren't blinking anymore (they were still blinking last night) - fired up my laptop and couldn't believe my eyes: My connection was working again!
It's been just under 3 weeks and finally they fixed the problem. I was *that* close to getting my MAC code. Think I'll stick with Orange for the rest of my contract period since the cheap international calls are useful. If something breaks down again though I'll ask for my MAC code immediately.
Oh btw, had a quick peak at my livebox settings before I rushed off to work and my speed is ~2meg which is exactly what it was before!
@tinyclaw: A MAC code (Migrations Authority Code) is a code that your existing ISP gives you when you want to switch to a different one. You give the MAC to the new ISP and it allows them to switch your ADSL connection from the old ISP to themselves (hopefully) seamlessly.
I called the UK Dis-service Centre last night and was told that they'd fixed my connection last Saturday. They hadn't of course. I then spent yet another 45 minutes on the line to Delhi who went through every test imaginable and confirmed they hadn't fixed anything. Dehli sent a log of to problem the 'Magdaline' sub-contractors, who are responsible for this whole upgrade nightmare. So now I fully expect my connection problems to sink into an even deeper hole.
interesting back-to-front methodology - which is completely the opposite to my experience in Corporate I.T. support
i.e. if lots of customers ring with the *same* problem, you instantly think bigger server or network issues. you certainly dont waste the customers time with a solution that you *know* is incorrect.
and has anyone from Orange rang you or informed you as to what the problem was in the first place? i would guess that would be a big No.
and this time next week, you might find yourself without a connection for *another* 3 weeks or longer, with no explanation at all..
i'd get a MAC code if i were you. why stay with an ISP that doesnt give a damn about its customers?
No, nobody called me yet (typical, I know!). I just noticed by chance this morning.
The reason I'm sticking with Orange for now is because it's cheap (£5/month since I have an Orange mobile - and with all the compensation they're giving me I get a fair few months worth for nothing) and for the international calls. My flatmate and I both have family and friends abroad so it's nice to have that. (yes I know we could use Skype but it's much less convenient)
However, I will be keeping an eye on other ISPs though and if something suitable pops up I won't hesitate to switch (I think Be is due to be available in my area soon...). Also if I encounter even the slightest problem with my broadband again I will demand my MAC code right away.
Good luck to everyone who still has this problem! Demand to speak to some technical staff and give them as much detail as you possibly can - I suspect that's what cleared it up in my case.
I had a call on Tuesday from a chap going by the name of 'Liam', enthusiastically informing me that I have now been reconnected. Well, I was reconnected on Saturday. He failed to explain why my connection speed is still averaging at 70kbps!
Thanks to Cirrus for the MAC explanation. This is all new to me, and for reasons I don't particularly want to care about.
Also, if anyone has any suggestions: should I call Orange back about why I'm still running on a tortoise speed connection, or should I just go f*ck myself?
Thank you to all who have suffered before me and have offered great advice.
I am about to reach my 4th week of no internet. One last call today to see if they can get the line test to actually be done.
I have gone through most of what you all have. So if tomorrow brings similar excuses, it will be time to cancel the Direct Debit and ask for the MAC code.
I have a nice list of dates (on my desktop computer) with the various problems outlined. Looks like this list and a well composed letter will see it's way to OFCOM, Orange and a reporter friend. He may be able to put it into a nice article. I will also refer him to this site for reference.
Macintosh users! Do not bother calling the MAC tech support!
You get the same d*mn info as for the PC lines, only you pay 50p a minute. That's right 50p/min.!!!! I knew it could get expensive. So on my one call to them, I said I will give them 5 minutes to fix the problem. We did exactly the same thing I did with the PC folks, but paid £5.50 for it (they suckered me into 11 minutes).
I'll be including all charges incurred in my letter to them. Including my 5.50.
@mister_scruff: I should have listened to you! Last night my internet went down again. I called Orange immediately and eventually got them to give me my MAC code without any extra charges (my contract doesn't normally finish until October). Luckily my internet started working again this morning but I've learnt my lesson: It could go down at any moment and we all know Orange customer service is a pain to deal with so I still going to switch to a different ISP. It may well cost me more but, if it works it'll be money well spent.
@hammondovi: That's really annoying. Thing is, if you use a livebox (or any other router) it doesn't make a blind bit of difference what your computer is running. For instance I have a MAC, a Linux box, a Nintendo Wii, a Nintendo DS, Nokia N80 and SonyEricsson P990 all connected to my box and I could use any one of them to log into the livebox admin pages! (Yes I am a bit of a geek! :P) So you're quite right, unless you use a modem, it doesn't make any difference whatsoever what device / OS / browser you are using.
I'm another whose connection went down in the "Great April 24th Upgrade." Been through all the usual rubbish with "Mike" from Mumbai and "Bob" from Bhopal. I have spoken to one helpful CS guy in all this time: I was put on to him by accounts, who were curious as to why I'd cancelled my direct debit. Despite his best efforts he couldn't even connect me through the old dial-up "stingray" thing, such is the depth of cock-up.
I cannot tell you how angry I was before I spoke to this CS guy. Every day my autistic son comes home from school and is immediately rendered inconsolable by the lack of an internet connection. I couldn't understand how one poxy connection could take so long to fix. Then the guy said that, actually, this one cock-up alone had affected four and a half thousand people. For some odd reason that dissipated my anger, and just left me resolute to drop Orange asap.
Accounts rang to offer me two whole pounds off the subs, as well as a new wireless box and free calls to Nyasaland at 3 in the morning, or whatever - not a great deal compared to Sky's offer of 8 meg for £6 a month. Accounts have since emailed me to warn me that, in the event that I do not give them access to my bank account, then I can expect to lose my internet connection. Its this right-hand, left-hand thing that pisses me off most.
It is a comfort to read this messageboard; apart from the informative bits it is reassuring in a tiny way to know that you're not alone. By continued reading I hope to overcome my aversion to certain citrus fruits and my recent illogical hatred of the Dutch.
Hiya Browned off -I'm a sad old veteran frequenting these pages now for almost a month during the most heinous broadband sabotage known to western man and woman.
Your plight really struck a chord, especially about your child as it brought it home how much this s**t invades our personal lives, and how we have been subjected to such a disgusting lack of integrity and respect. With virtually no support apart from the voices airing their views on forums such as these. Injustice kills me - this is another shining example courtesy of "Orange the future sucks".
I'm another whose connection went down in the "Great April 24th Upgrade." Been through all the usual rubbish with "Mike" from Mumbai and "Bob" from Bhopal. I have spoken to one helpful CS guy in all this time: I was put on to him by accounts, who were curious as to why I'd cancelled my direct debit. Despite his best efforts he couldn't even connect me through the old dial-up "stingray" thing, such is the depth of cock-up.
I cannot tell you how angry I was before I spoke to this CS guy. Every day my autistic son comes home from school and is immediately rendered inconsolable by the lack of an internet connection. I couldn't understand how one poxy connection could take so long to fix. Then the guy said that, actually, this one cock-up alone had affected four and a half thousand people. For some odd reason that dissipated my anger, and just left me resolute to drop Orange asap.
Accounts rang to offer me two whole pounds off the subs, as well as a new wireless box and free calls to Nyasaland at 3 in the morning, or whatever - not a great deal compared to Sky's offer of 8 meg for £6 a month. Accounts have since emailed me to warn me that, in the event that I do not give them access to my bank account, then I can expect to lose my internet connection. Its this right-hand, left-hand thing that pisses me off most.
It is a comfort to read this messageboard; apart from the informative bits it is reassuring in a tiny way to know that you're not alone. By continued reading I hope to overcome my aversion to certain citrus fruits and my recent illogical hatred of the Dutch.
I think that one of the most frustrating things about Orange is the sense that neither its top management nor its investors are focussed on the appalling quality of service that its lower-level employees give the public - both in terms of the hopeless involuntary 'upgrades' to 8Mb and the associated customer service/technical support.
If any of the admins of this site, or any member has access to Companies House information and/or Orange published report and accounts please post here the names of the director(s) responsible for customer relations and of Orange's house stockbrokers. These are the people who need to be sent calm, succinct letters setting out the failures in Orange broadband service provision that people have experienced. I contacted someone in France Telecom investor relations and asked for information that would be sent to prospective investors about broadband development - I was sent some material from a presentation in December 2006 which said that LLU was progressing smoothly, or words to that effect. Experiences reported here and on other forums suggest that this simply isn't true. Anyone who has the name or contact details of any telecoms analyst in any investment bank or stockbrokers should write to them and tell them to have a look at this site, then ask some penetrating questions at the next analysts' beanfeast that Orange invites them to. Anyone who has contact details for any journalists who cover the telecoms industry for the national or specialist press should do the same.
The connection has been restored.
I had a conversation on Thursday with India... said they would send a technician to examine the lines on Friday. Friday evening I called to ask for my MAC number and to cancel my account. This was after still not having my connection and being pretty pessimistic that it would return anytime soon.
I was told I would have to pay the £40 fee to cancel and get my MAC number. This was not satisfactory. But to forego the fee customer service needed authorization from tech support that they have done all they can and that I could be forgiven the contract and cancel withouit fee. I was transferred to a UK tech support! Amazing! I didn't know that had that!
So, the bloke I talked with gave me a fair amount of info and finally mentioned the famed LLU that was being transfered. He explained in detail how the BT reliance was transfered to Orange equipment. So a technician needed to physically examine my connection. He confirmed this had been ordered and could be done by Saturday evening.
Low and behold - it was!!!
Now I have a connection. With a speed to rival the best of dial-ups.
Is this not backwards? Shouldn't the download speed be faster than the upload?!
It is time for another call and an explanation... and a cancellation. This sucks!!!
After our first month without Orange broadband, we were promised on Three consecutive days last week that we would have our Broadband service back within 24 hours. The weekend came and went and still nothing, so I called them up and asked the the bod at the UK Callcentre to put a supervisor on, as this call would be out of her simple scripted league. The Supervisor refused to talk to me directly, so I asked the girl to ask the supervisor when I'd be reconnected. She told me that he said that 'He didn’t have any technical knowledge and had no idea when I’d be reconnected.
This ridiculous Three way conversation continued for a while, when I told him that if he could give me just one single reason, why I should stick with Orange, that I would not look for another ISP and sign up with Orange for another year (I wouldn’t anyway, but I knew what the answer would be). After a bit of prodding, he finally admitted he couldn’t, not a single one! I hope they use that recording for ‘training purposes’.
I really did get the impression that they weren't interested and actually wanted me to leave. Anyone else pick up this vibe?
Going to oblige them today by asking for the MAC address and will probably end up with ZEN, sometime soon.
Woo-hoo. Back on, finally. There may be hope for some of the hundreds of others on here.
Accounts called again. Girl said that the direct debit had to be working for my account to be closed. It stunk, but after Three verbal promises that no money would be taken from my account, I agreed. Encouraged, strangely, I ring CS; CS guy says that a payment will be taken from my newly-restored account anyway, so I might as well try to get back on line. Some fiddling later, I'm back on. "Now that it works," I say, "I'll be having that MAC number," and the guy connects me to another guy who offers me 8 meg at a tenner a month.
So they might be getting on top of this particular raft of cock-ups, but be warned about barefaced, shameless liars in acounts!
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