I've been with Freeserve, Wanadoo and Orange as an ISP for more years than i can remember, first with dial up and then when I moved to a broadband area switched over to their BB offering. I'm right at the end of the line so have never taken up their kind offer of going to 8mb as there is simply no point, the best connection i can hope for this far down the line is just over 1mb on the standard ADSl offering.
All has been good untill about 3 weeks ago, until then I'd never had any downtime and happily suggested to friends that they used the same service i was due to the lack of problems - oh how thigs can change in a few weeks.
We got back from holiday on Sat 7th of April, turned the computers on and tried to access the emails etc that i know would have built up whilst we were away, no connection. Being a saturday of a bank holiday weekend i didn't think i'd have much luck in contacting Orange untill tuesday so left it at that.
As i work from home as a web designer and on internet marketing and my wife's job is 100% reliant on an internet connection I phoned Orange first thing on tuesday morning to be put through to some one in New Delhi who's first port of call was to take me through a whole heap of daft questions surrounding my modem etc. He then informed me that he couldn't help me as i wasn't using one of their modems (I have a netgear modem router as we have 3 pc's running constantly along with 2 laptops on wireless).
So, he said he'd send me a speedtouch and he'd then be able to test the line etc and find the problem!! 4 days later the speedtouch turns up but won't instal on any of our machines, i give up and go borrow a friends that does instal.
I phone Orange (again) to be told that they will conduct a line test (only after getting me to go through all their basic tests once again and treat me like a retarded monkey). This they did on the 12th, and on phoning them back 24 hours later i was told there was a fault with the modem, great, "can you run a check again and i'll swap the modem over to the netgear" NO was the rather blunt answer. So, another phone call wasted!!
I phoned back and requested a line check the next day, this time informing them that the speedtouch was installed and connected for the test when infact it was now my netgear connected to the line, a line check was done, and the same fault showed - interesting, 2 modems both at fault - i don't think so.
On the 17 they ran a further line check, on the 18th the lady i spoke to advised me that my BB would be fully active the next day - the first of many lies i have now been told by Orange.
The 18th brought with it no connection, another call to tech support, and another promise that this would be dealt with and i'd receive a call within 24 hours - what a suprise when no call came!!!
The long and short is that is now the 25th, i've had numerous line checks, all done with different modems attached, and each one provides the same fault. No one ever calls back, no one seems to give a s**t and i still have no connection. I've just got off the phone from these idiots again who have now done another line check, come up with the same fault and asked me to call back in 24 hours to speak to the tech team again!!
Doing a check on http://www.dslzoneuk.net/ shows that my exchange doesn't have Orange LLU availability so i know i can't be suffering from those related faults, I know it's not my modems as i've tested them on friends and families lines with no errors being shown and also had the 834GT tested by netgear themselves remotely, so why on earth can i not get a connection??
Sometimes the netgear will show as the modem being connected but not actually allow me to view anything, i check the configuration panel and see that I'm getting a modem connection but i'm not being issued an IP in the ADSL port section, is this the PPP server issue?? Most of the time though 'm sat as i am now with the modem trying to connect and getting nothing.
Am i likely to get these same faults if i jump ship? Is this likely to be a local problem with the Orange networking in the exchange or is it genuinely a line fault that BT can't fix? And am i going to get the same issues if i move to ADSL2+ as Be* is available right now, just wondering if that might solve some of the issue being on a different network setup, i know i can't get the full 24meg, but the 3.7 they think i should get would be a significant boost to 1meg i had the 0meg i have right now
"Sometimes the netgear will show as the modem being connected but not actually allow me to view anything, i check the configuration panel and see that I'm getting a modem connection but i'm not being issued an IP in the ADSL port section, is this the PPP server issue?? Most of the time though 'm sat as i am now with the modem trying to connect and getting nothing. "
its nothing to do with your modem. i had the exact same problem here in basingstoke last friday - i was down for 4 hours from 4pm to 7pm.
my modem admin page would show the line as being active, but i wasnt getting an ip address.
then on tuesday night this week, same problem again - disconnected at 11pm. wasnt up at 8.15am so i headed into work instead of working from home.
connection came back up later that day - note i did not change a single thing in my modems (a linksys) configuration.
today, my biggest problem is being unable to send mail via smtp.orangehome - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt.
Am i likely to get these same faults if i jump ship? Is this likely to be a local problem with the Orange networking in the exchange or is it genuinely a line fault that BT can't fix? And am i going to get the same issues if i move to ADSL2+ as Be* is available right now, just wondering if that might solve some of the issue being on a different network setup, i know i can't get the full 24meg, but the 3.7 they think i should get would be a significant boost to 1meg i had the 0meg i have right now
I await responses to this with interest. Not from a technical point of view, though. I find I can question Orange tech support closely up to a certain point. No language problems whatsoever with the Indians. Everything is crystal clear. But as soon as I start close questioning of actions on the fault reports that they have raised in whatever system they use - who did/is doing what, is it BT or Orange who is...., when/why/what...., it suddenly becomes zero visibility. They never want to discuss the past. They will waffle on for an hour rather than disclose solid information. Only want to raise a new issue (which gets raised NEXT working day), and command 'don't call us for 5 working days'. So that's 8 days lost. After 8 days nothing will have changed but you will have no chance of finding out why.
Out of interest; I signed up Orange for my mother. I have BT (FWIW; always been perfect - never the slightest hiccup; not one). Orange have told me repeatedly that they needed to pass my problem on to BT. Last week, by chance, someone phoned from BT to offer me £5 per mth discount if I signed another year. She readily agreed to check record of issues with my mothers line. Zilch. Didly. She had records for last 6 months. I can't answer your question but would suspect Orange incompetance is a big part, if not all, of it.
Sorry where on dslzone can you find if your excchange is LU'd or not
We're still on 1MB speed, despite and I was going to consider the offer of being upgraded to ~6.5MB, but if it means going LLU I may think again
Also we suffered an outage for about 3 hours this afternoon. I thought the tick on my Netgear DG834GT lit up when the line was down, but I am obviously wrong.
I think i've had more response and seen more common sense in the posts that have followed my original one than i've had from Orange in the last 3 weeks.
It's getting really frustrating, all day, no connection, nothing gets touched and then at about 7pm i notice the adsl light on the netgear is lit up and i have a decent connection. So, i should be pleased, but i know that within a few hours or tommorow morning when i really need it, the service will disappear again.
Is this the typical kind of fault that a lot of other people are seeing and is it resolved by switching ISP? Kinda glad that scruff has had the same thing, at least it's not just me lol
Herb, i know exactly what you mean by close questioning, they'd rather discuss what they had for lunch than give the details which leads me to think that it's an issue with their equiptment at the exchange??
I think i've had more response and seen more common sense in the posts that have followed my original one than i've had from Orange in the last 3 weeks.
It's getting really frustrating, all day, no connection, nothing gets touched and then at about 7pm i notice the adsl light on the netgear is lit up and i have a decent connection. So, i should be pleased, but i know that within a few hours or tommorow morning when i really need it, the service will disappear again.
Is this the typical kind of fault that a lot of other people are seeing and is it resolved by switching ISP? Kinda glad that scruff has had the same thing, at least it's not just me lol
Herb, i know exactly what you mean by close questioning, they'd rather discuss what they had for lunch than give the details which leads me to think that it's an issue with their equiptment at the exchange??
change your login type (on your netgear) from PPPoA to PPPoE
worked for me this evening - i dont use a livebox as well. i use a linksys combo wireless/hub/router - which is about a zillion times smaller than that ridiculous brick of a thing...
before i did that i lost my ip address on the router, but my dsl settings were reporting that the line was active:
but dont get me wrong - i'm still moving. Orange's customer service is incredibly bad.
still no reply to my email about my line outage sent over 24 hours ago.
"Out of interest; I signed up Orange for my mother. I have BT (FWIW; always been perfect - never the slightest hiccup; not one). Orange have told me repeatedly that they needed to pass my problem on to BT. Last week, by chance, someone phoned from BT to offer me £5 per mth discount if I signed another year. She readily agreed to check record of issues with my mothers line. Zilch. Didly. She had records for last 6 months. I can't answer your question but would suspect Orange incompetance is a big part, if not all, of it"
i might move to BT as well - i've heard a lot about their rock solid reliability.
PPPoE didn't work i'm afraid, still getting very little in the way of connection.
So, i've now asked for the MAC code, the kind lady said she'd email me it, what a joke, 'got no email luv as your service is so........' so she said she'd post it, bless her
The time scale, 5 bloody days to get the code and then how ever long it takes for the postman to deliver it, what a joke
Joined: 23 Apr 2007Posts: 15Location: west yorkshire nr huddersfield
asked for mine also tonight - utterly useless service. a disgrace - they have cost me hundreds of pounds this past few weeks - let alone angst and time. utterly absurd - and the platitudes and lies makes it all the more insulting.
wanadoo never caused me a moment's problems.
have advised ofcom once again regarding Orange - they should remove their licence.
Thought i'd phone this morning to see if they'd received my MAC code already, as after speaking to an independent he advised that BT wholesale generally get them out within 12 hours of request so i figured it would be with them by now - how wrong was I!!!
It seems that my request, like so many others i've made (including line tests), got lost in the system and thus the code wasn't ordered, their now quoting a further 5 days turnaround, so, I guess it's off to Ofcom for a bit of a rant.......
Also interesting to note that during previous discussions with them about my MAC (I've phoned them everyday since ordering lol) they always stated that as i'd ordered on the 26th I was calling back to quick, but today during discussions I was advised I only ordered it on the 27th!! Do we now have a situation where Orange are changing their own system notes to gain an extra day or two in order to avoid Ofcom fines???
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