As a warning to any prospective user of Wanadoo dial-up, don't. The warning also, probably, applies to their other services as there are a number of lessons to be learnt from my experience with them.
I provide IT support. A lady contacted me via Yellow Pages as she had not been able to dial-up for over a month and retrieve her email. The email being a vital part of her business.
She had contacted the 'helpdesk' at £1 a minute and had spent, accodring to her, 'over a hundred pounds' trying to resolve the problem. The helpdesk had even had her re-install Windows.
In desperation she got me in. The problem was a very noisy connection. The phone line wasn't the problem but the equipment at the far end. I spoke to the helpdesk to explain this and got a deaf ear. They had their procedures and were not about to deviate from them. In addition, their procedures were wrong.
I set up a BT dial-up ofr her and she worked immediately.
Wanadoo is the worst company I have ever experienced in nearly 30 years in IT. You would have to be insane to have any dealings with these people.
When things are working, Wanadoo as an ISP are excellent...
But as you have pointed out quite clearly above, when things go wrong... Wanadoo are just the WORST!
Wanadoo Customer Service is appalling.
Wanadoo Technical Support is... Well... Just defies belief... And I do not blame teh agents as such... They need to work, they need to earn a living and, if they are not supported by Wanadoo with training facilities and help when it is required, who can they go to?
Apparently, I learnt today, that Wanadoo is soon to become Orange (as in the mobile phone network provider)... I'm not sure if they are part of teh same company already - need to do some homework on this - but.. Orange has an excellent customer support team (or has done!).
Maybe things will get better - but don't hold your breath waiting!
hi i currently work for wanadoo technical support and can say yes wanadoo are changing to Orange not sure when yet, both Orange and wanadoo are owned by the same company France telecom
I agrre i had a wonderfull 3 day conncection, but now i dont have a connection for over a month, there customer and technicla support teams dont do anthing for you,
I am worried about the dial up you just talked about because they offerd me dial connection untill my connection is down.!!!!!!!!!!!!
As a warning to any prospective user of Wanadoo dial-up, don't. The warning also, probably, applies to their other services as there are a number of lessons to be learnt from my experience with them.
I provide IT support. A lady contacted me via Yellow Pages as she had not been able to dial-up for over a month and retrieve her email. The email being a vital part of her business.
She had contacted the 'helpdesk' at £1 a minute and had spent, accodring to her, 'over a hundred pounds' trying to resolve the problem. The helpdesk had even had her re-install Windows.
In desperation she got me in. The problem was a very noisy connection. The phone line wasn't the problem but the equipment at the far end. I spoke to the helpdesk to explain this and got a deaf ear. They had their procedures and were not about to deviate from them. In addition, their procedures were wrong.
I set up a BT dial-up ofr her and she worked immediately.
Wanadoo is the worst company I have ever experienced in nearly 30 years in IT. You would have to be insane to have any dealings with these people.
Wanadoo TECH SUPPORT is 50P per minute, not £1.
Tech support wouldn't have asked her to reinstall windows, they would advise she spoke to a qualified IT Tech to have the system checked, as yes, they follow a script of sorts, and go through a series of checks. They rarely show initiative there.
The only possibility of the reinstall being requested is if her PC was so riddled with spyware and diallers that system use was impossible, and then that would have been a response of "Get the PC checked by a qualified IT person"
To me it sounds like she got stung with a dialler program, and got confused. You need to be wary of rogue diallers messing up settings too.. they can cause a large percent of problems that people get confused with.
You said the connection was noisy? Do you mean static on the line (which is then a BT issue) or the normal Modem dial up noise? Also you mentioned their procedures, and how they were wrong.. Would you be able to elaborate on that?
_________________ -----------------------
Ex-Wanadoo Employee as of beginning of 2006
----
My Disclamer:
Information given as Goodwill, and is not binding in ANY form.
I Sadly have a rather Long history with Wanadoo as regards various peoples habit of choosing whats cheapest and my own 3 tiered compost heap.
I provide IT support, though not telephone support, I build systems, do some network admin, os installation and like most sys admins juggle 3 mice on my left hand while doing it.
I've had their dialup, their Alcatel USB SPeedtouch modem and installed a friends Livebox connection(The latter comming 2 years after I finally realized that what I "Wanadoo" is get another damn ISP.
What I've learnt from these experiences.
1. USB isn't meant to transfer large amounts of data for long periods of time, wheter its wirelessly or wired
2. There is nothing wrong with the GAIN on my line.
3. Its BTs fault is like saying my dog ate my homework
4. A Whoosh test always takes longer than they say it will.
5. Wanadoo technical support only help when you get pi**ed at them....just don't give them the satisfaction of swearing.
6.Dont rent a Router - buy one
7.Alcatel speedtouch modems make great Frizbies
8. Get a monthly contract
9. Wanadoo think a network is a psuedonym for fishing
10. Inventel USB dongles cost £45 a pop for a reason.
I went on holiday, yes everything was fine with Wanadoo - came back to find I had been upgraded and no end of problems, line keeps dropping and strangely I am not able to access e-mails or internet between 8.00 ish and midnight, it's as if there is a time out. First thing in the morning is usually O.K.
It's the usual story from Wanadoo, referred me to B.T. - said I'd already had a check done, well I wasn't going to pay 50/60 quid! Each time I speak to customer services they refer me to someone else then I have to explain it all over again. Neither do they seem to keep a log of previous calls relating to the same problem. They also keep telling me to ring back after a week!! I was told my query had been logged, but when I rang after five days no-one knew about it. How am I supposed to be able to claim any compensation when my calls aren't being acknowledged/logged?
Customer services is a disgrace for such a prominent company.
If they have a serious issue/problem, then why don't they come clean to their customers and admit the problem and ask for their customers patience. Surely, if a problem is acknowledged, customers are more likely to say"O.K. there is a problem, but they have acknowledged it and are trying to fix it". Or am I being naive.........
The problem is most likey the hardware you've been sold, which they can't/won't and don't care to fix. USB isn't mean to transfer large amounts of data for long periods of time. When I had the Speedtouch ADSL BB Modem THAT was the problem, same deal with the Inventel USB dongle for wireless connections -
1 thing you could try which *might* help is to go into Control Panel/System/ Hardware/Device Manager/USB Controllers and find the USB HUb Your modem is connected to(right click and select properties on each one) and turn off power management....but like I said before it probably won't help, the modem essentially trips out the max power requests the OS can handle from USB. It should read something like 500Milli Amps(Ma), but thats only meant to be used for a short burst - not an "always on" connection.
My adsl is stuffed at the moment ( a week now) , and I need to download email, and upload some stuff to my website.
Ok, this question might be obvious, but not to me, as I don't have a phone modem, and would like to know before I buy one
Can I dial in with a v92 modem and access all my stuff (account/pword permitting) , or do I need an account ?
( I have the number at home that I think can be used, but if anyone does actually dial in and has the Wanadoo number to confirm )
Site AdminJoined: 07 Apr 2006Posts: 784Location: United Kingdom
Hello catpaw
Welcome to WanadooProblems.co.uk
If your broadband connection is down, and you are with Wanadoo, you can use dial-up and access your emails etc. You can use the Wanadoo dial-up service, or any other service for dialling up. You will need a modem though.
I have just had a look for the Wanadoo dial-up number (they have a pay per minute number) but they seem to have hidden it amongst their help topics! However, if you are a Wanadoo customer without broadband, they will offer you (or ask) for free dial-up anytime - they will give you details on the phone for accessing this.
If you still have issues, I can offer you a dial-up number to use:
No subscription fees or ties
0845 local call rates
Up to 56Kbps standard
Free and easy to set up
This will be a short-term solution to your problems - at least allowing you to get connected.
If you require an account, PM (personal message) me or contact me via the WanadooProblems.co.uk contact form. I can have it set up in a matter of minutes for you.
Thanks for the info - I'm assuming the Dialup is a different service from ADSL - ie looking at the Dialup registration, it gives you a new email address etc.
Don't need to surf, just need my emails & website updated - it's a charity site, and it's starting to cause us a problem, being off for a week.
Been surfing so much, I can't remember where I got the numbers from - their help pages are nearly helpful, and this is from work, which limits my time.
Funnily enough, I'm in the middle of setting up a 'new' host website so I don't have these problems - ie, so I can access emails/site etc from anywhere (even my friends house) if need be. Another week or so and it would have been set up... sigh... such is life.
Site AdminJoined: 07 Apr 2006Posts: 784Location: United Kingdom
Hello catpaw
Yes. Dial up is quite different.
Is your website a Wanadoo website (i.e. using the free space)?
Do you use an ftp program to upload web pages or do you use an online website creation tool?
Usually, it will not matter what connection you use, you should still be able to log in to your website once connected enabling you to update it. Emails is similar, if yu use a webmail (internet-based) email system, such as Wanadoo's - you can still check your email no matter what connection you are using.
I looked at Wanadoo - and yes, they require you to sign up, install their software etc... - All they need to do is tell you the number to use to dial up! It is that simple! This is why I offered you a dial-up number - I will send you (privately) a username and password if you would like to try this. You set up Internet Explorer (or other browser) settings to dial-up and hey presto - you're on-line! The calls do cost though - 0845 number so local rates:
Admin, thanks for the offer, i'll try the the 2 numbers i have for dialup first, as it's a holiday weekend, and emails etc, generally go down - next week I might need that offer though !
0845 079 6699 - I belive this is the 'old' number
0844 056 4000 - this is the new number.
I tried it, and got a modem squauk - so I'll get a phone modem this weekend and try it out ( not having any great hope that the line will be fixed )
If I can get access through this - I should be able to use ftp to the web site to update our pages ( www.swindoncp.freeserve.co.uk ) with homing/lost&found details.
looking at a USB phone modem - could be useful as I could rent it out if - sorry - when my friends lose thier connections
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