Good old Orange, they seem determined to keep the service level the same at all times of year (ie, useless).
Since Friday evening up until 11pm yesterday (when I was last on the connection) latency time is AWFUL. I play World of Warcraft and am getting latency of 3000+ms, the Orange phone line works one time out of 10 (no exaggeration) and the whole thing is just unusable.
I've contacted them online through their help (through the E-Mail us option) and explained, in detail, the problems faced, the fact that I've changed nothing, the fact I've spoken to other Orange users who seem to be the only ones having trouble in-game, the fact I can't use services I'm PAYING for because their connection isn't fit for the puropse which it was bought for in the first place. I especially specified that I had NOT changed any settings.
And what do I get? A mail back saying "Let's see what we can do to get your connection working", followed by ... a link to the page which tells me to defrag the hard drive, unplug USB devices, and check my computer. Despite there having been nothing changed to cause any problems. I work in an IT department, and I did all these things as a first port of call, but the only thing they can do is to refer me back to generic help pages. How hard is it to look into the problem? They can't be so blind as to think none of their customers are having any damned problems.
The split second that this contract is up (3 long months away) I'm moving and will also be moving my employers away from Orange's business broadband as it's going the same way. How many others out there play WoW or other online games and are having problems? And how may I go about making a complaint (as loudly as possible) against, or to, Orange?
For a company whose business is communication, they don't seem to want to listen, or indeed be contacted - 0870 numbers indeed.
Good old Orange, they seem determined to keep the service level the same at all times of year (ie, useless).
Since Friday evening up until 11pm yesterday (when I was last on the connection) latency time is AWFUL. I play World of Warcraft and am getting latency of 3000+ms, the Orange phone line works one time out of 10 (no exaggeration) and the whole thing is just unusable.
I've contacted them online through their help (through the E-Mail us option) and explained, in detail, the problems faced, the fact that I've changed nothing, the fact I've spoken to other Orange users who seem to be the only ones having trouble in-game, the fact I can't use services I'm PAYING for because their connection isn't fit for the puropse which it was bought for in the first place. I especially specified that I had NOT changed any settings.
And what do I get? A mail back saying "Let's see what we can do to get your connection working", followed by ... a link to the page which tells me to defrag the hard drive, unplug USB devices, and check my computer. Despite there having been nothing changed to cause any problems. I work in an IT department, and I did all these things as a first port of call, but the only thing they can do is to refer me back to generic help pages. How hard is it to look into the problem? They can't be so blind as to think none of their customers are having any damned problems.
The split second that this contract is up (3 long months away) I'm moving and will also be moving my employers away from Orange's business broadband as it's going the same way. How many others out there play WoW or other online games and are having problems? And how may I go about making a complaint (as loudly as possible) against, or to, Orange?
For a company whose business is communication, they don't seem to want to listen, or indeed be contacted - 0870 numbers indeed.
-Andy
I don't for one minute dispute that Orange provide a crap service but I
would suggest that IP's have the largest proportion of their customers
who cannot tell one end of a PC from the other. People wander into
Dixons, or wherever, and buy a PC system in a box to include an IP's CD.
In the past, to use the Internet, it was necessary to have some basic
knowledge as to how the system actually worked which is not the case
these days. So IP's get a huge number of people with problems who
haven't a clue. If you do have a clue then following a brainless script
read to you by some **** in Bombay can be irritating to say the least
but this script will sort out most of the problems that inexperienced
users encounter. If Orange have a real problem with customer support it
is that they cannot effectively escalate genuine problems. This results
in customers with genuine problems repeating the same procedure again
and again and finding themselves locked into a loop; unable to get
beyond the **** on help desk and unable to get competent technical
support.
Really, don't get hooked on the "nothing's changed" idea. You may not have specificially changed anything but that doesn't mean it's the same as it always has been.
The number of times I've checked through things and corrected a minor problem which hadn't changed, sometimes for months, and fixed the problem. So it still needs to be checked.
In general email contact isn't the best way to get them to look into problems over the phone is the best way.
Ok, I'm a little calmer now than when I originally posted And I can see your point - it's true that it's a good practice to send out a mail first that details possible problems. However, in this case, I'd already told them I'd checked my equipment and done the usual IT-checklist of restarting the router, the PC, etc (heck, that's the advice I give to people before looking at their technical problems myself!) - so there wasn't really a need.
As for nothing changing ... again, I can see your point, and appreciate that things can change and there are sometimes minor problems. However, in this instance, it went from being connected on Thursday evening and working fine to my coming back to it less than 24 hours later, without having restarted the PC, or router, without having installed any new software, uninstalling any software, or using anything which have changed my settings in any way shape or form (with the exception of Windows Update, which I checked and it hadn't done anything either). Even with all of these conditions in place, latency was bad on any game I tried (including WoW, as I mentioned) - and after the last time this happened (less than 2 months ago) I contacted other players of the same game, all of whom were using Orange and all of whom were also having problems whilst players on other ISPs weren't. I work in IT, so everything is a flowchart to me (sadly!) - I go through any problem with trial-and-error, and see where the problem lies. Given all of the above details, and the fact that even when I'd rebooted everything hardware wise, I concluded that short of a virus or trojan (and I'm moderately well protected against them, too, but I entertained the possibility) then nothing could have changed - I even checked the packet size/MTU settings on the LAN and nothing had changed. If a problem existed which would cause latency of that degree, I don't see why it would suddenly start when I'm away from the PC overnight
All that aside, yes, I could contact them through the phone but last time I tried that I was on hold for over 45 minutes (and I'm not kidding) and at that point gave in as they obviously weren't bothering to answer anyone's calls. This was the last time problems arose with WoW and latency times - and at 10p a minute on top of a connection I pay for and can't use, I downright refuse to give them any more money for an unusable service than I already do And speaking of phone, my "free calls" VOIP line doesn't work either, so I couldn't contact them using that if I wanted to. The irony!
If they'd just admitted to me in the first mail that they're having problems (as they finally did in the second email), I would have sat back and waited happily
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
And I can see your point - it's true that it's a good practice to send out a mail first that details possible problems. However, in this case, I'd already told them I'd checked my equipment and done the usual IT-checklist of restarting the router, the PC, etc (heck, that's the advice I give to people before looking at their technical problems myself!) - so there wasn't really a need.
And speaking of phone, my "free calls" VOIP line doesn't work either, so I couldn't contact them using that if I wanted to. The irony!
