I am on Wanadoo 2Meg after paying £20 (over a year ago I think). The connection has always been very stable and fast and has only disconnected a handfull of times in the last year.
I have noticed that if I now do an availability check on the line I am told that I can only receive upto 1Meg even though I am already on 2Meg (and very stable and fast) !!?!! (The availability check used to say 2Meg)
I am now worried that if I regrade my account or change to another ISP I will be cut to 1Meg. Does anyone know if this is likely?
I was looking at the free broadband Orange are offering if I buy one of their mobile phones, but I don't want to do this if I suddenly drop to 1Meg.
I am on the Queensbury exchange in Bradford and BT Wholesale says 1Meg is available www.BT.com/broadband whereas www.nildram.net says it can supply me 2Meg on their DSL Surf service or 4Meg on their ADSL Max service. Demon Internet also say they can provide 2Meg.
There's a bunch of other threads about similar to this. Basically BT's system has changed and if you regrade, of have to be reprovided then you'll most likely get 1 meg as the system now says thats the highest it can take.
No idea why Nildram and Demon show 2 meg for you, maybe the checkers aren't fully updated, unfortuantly you have to take BT's over others as it's their line.
I spoke to Orange about this today (explaining I was previously on 2MB)
Basically the conversation went like this
Them: "I will run a test on your line now".
5 secs later
Them: "The BT speed checker says 1MB, so if we try doing a speed upgrade it will fail instantly"
(Thanks for saying which exchange you're on. It makes things easier.)
rubikWizard wrote:
I have noticed that if I now do an availability check on the line I am told that I can only receive upto 1Meg even though I am already on 2Meg (and very stable and fast) !!?!! (The availability check used to say 2Meg)
As Elhana says, there's a few people here with the same complaint. There's 1 poster who says his/her BT checker has gone back up to 2Mbps - can't remember the name sorry.
As to why the BTw checker result changes - who knows. A cynic might suggest that the more conservative the fixed speed limits are, then the less time Openreach engineers spend attending 'No Sync' faults on new fixed speed provisions and the more time they can spend on ADSL Max faults.
Quote:
I am now worried that if I regrade my account or change to another ISP I will be cut to 1Meg. Does anyone know if this is likely?
Yes, it's possible you might end up on 1Mbps if you change Orange package. See posts by alby28.
If you migrate to another ISP normally it would have to be at the same speed, but many will then immediately re-grade you. If a new ISP confirms that you will be on ADSL Max then you should be OK.
See this post on ADSL Guide for how to get your BT checker result updated. You should then be safe whatever happens. If I were in your shoes, I would do this regardless.
Quote:
I am on the Queensbury exchange in Bradford and BT Wholesale says 1Meg is available www.BT.com/broadband whereas www.nildram.net says it can supply me 2Meg on their DSL Surf service or 4Meg on their ADSL Max service. Demon Internet also say they can provide 2Meg.
I've just been trying out the Nildran checker with a few different numbers. What I think is happening is that the BTwholesale checker gives 2 results, one for fixed speed services and one for ADSL Max. I guess yours says 1Mbps fixed and 4Mbps for ADSL Max. Nildram are (sensibly, in my opinion) taking both into account to see what fixed speed your line would support. Your case shows this is a valid approach. Demon may be doing the same.
I contacted customer-service@uk.orange.com as suggested on another post and got a good (technical) reply within 24 hours (unlike phoning which gets nowhere).
Basically I have been told that if I change my package (eg to the FREE broadband or any other) then I will be downgraded to 1Mb from my current (stable) 2Mb They say there is nothing they can do about it.....
... well there is something I can do about it - I am out of contract period and can migrate to BT who have said they can give me 4Mb service....
Goodbye Freeserve/Wanadoo/Orange (I have been a customer since Freeserve first existed)
I contacted customer-service@uk.orange.com as suggested on another post and got a good (technical) reply within 24 hours (unlike phoning which gets nowhere).
Basically I have been told that if I change my package (eg to the FREE broadband or any other) then I will be downgraded to 1Mb from my current (stable) 2Mb They say there is nothing they can do about it.....
... well there is something I can do about it - I am out of contract period and can migrate to BT who have said they can give me 4Mb service....
Goodbye Freeserve/Wanadoo/Orange (I have been a customer since Freeserve first existed)
BT was one of the options I flirted with when I came to my decision to migrate. I've opted, instead, to give Pipex a try. They've apparently got a great attitude to Customer Support, so big thumbs up to em. They're also one of the few companies that were able to offer me an adsl Max connection, thus upgrading my 1Mb to at least 3Mb, and possibly 6Mb .
I'd like to second the sentiment in your last line. I too was with Freeserve from the early days, from 56k to adsl (free upgrade btw). Take note, Orange. The half-arsed nature of your Customer Support is merely serving to line the pockets your competition.
Myself, yourselves and many others are who have been long standing customers since Freeserve days are now leaving in droves.
I'm just waiting to get some compen. and will sit around and pick my best option and time.
One thing I'll certainly research before jumping ship will be the quality of tech / customer service. At least now I know what to look for and where to look.
Csa / tech advice, is a bit like insurance, it sits there quietly in the background, you hope you never need it, but expect that it does it's job when needed COMPETENTLY, WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME AND WITH POSITIVE RESULTS! Why? because you are paying for it!!
Sadly through no fault of their own, the gross incompetence label lies solely at managements door, Orange staff, however much they try, are unable to provide the service required, and a service that they would wish to provide, due to inefficient, none existent information, training, systems etc. over which they have no control!
Replying to:
" I'd like to second the sentiment in your last line. I too was with Freeserve from the early days, from 56k to adsl (free upgrade btw). Take note, Orange. The half-arsed nature of your Customer Support is merely serving to line the pockets your competition. "
Ask any company, which is the better financial option, (a) to retain existing customers, or (b) recruit new customers ?
The answer is always (a), happy existing customers generate new customers, existing customers don't entail start up costs, happy customers are more prone to buy other services / upgrades, happy customers accept the occasional glitch etc.
I have many friends / family who are Orange mobile customers who have asked about moving to Orange broadband, I have simply told them of my plight, pointed them to sites like this and let them make the decision. None to date have become Orange broadband customers!
There are now many big shakers and movers already in or moving into the potentially lucrative broadband market, with very attractive options, Talk Talk, BT . 02, to name a few all ready to snap up customers!
A very well put-together post, 1 step. I think that the majority of Orange's future broadband customers will comprise of those who already have a £30 monthly contract with Orange on their mobile phone. I hope that the 'free broadband' they're offered doesn't turn out to be a major kick in the teeth.
After the problems I described above (Orange wanting to downgrade me to 1Meg from 2Meg) I have now successfully migrated to BT. They said they could give me at least 4.5 Meg, but when connected this morning it gave 5.8 Meg connection and no dropped line in the first 12 hours of use (although a speed checker shows that the actual download speed varies during the day quite a lot, at 7.30pm I got about 3 Meg download).
As a customer of Orange since the Freeserve dialup days, Orange tried everything to keep me. First they offered me half price for 6 months, then they offered me half price for 6 months with unlimited telephone calls 24/7, then they offered me FREE broadband and 24/7 calls for 12 Months!!!!!!!!! (I don't have an Orange phone). They also said it was pointless migrating because all other ISPs could offer me was exactly the same as them. I pointed out that BT were offering me ADSL Max whereas Orange could not do this until Spetember when my exchange would be LLUd. She did not seem to understand what I was saying and repeated that BT could only offer the same as them. I also pointed out that I did not want to be around when the exchange was LLUd and mentioned this website.
Apart from all that the migration went very smoothly. Woke up on the day of migration and at 7.30am it was all done!
After I have been using BT for a week or two I will report back my experience.
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They say there is nothing they can do about it.....
.
(although a speed checker shows that the actual download speed varies during the day quite a lot, at 7.30pm I got about 3 Meg download).
