Received letter from Orange saying I had gone over 40gb monthly
download limt. To my dismay following a phone call to Orange I have found out my internet speed had been capped ,because I went over the monthly download limit on one occasion. There is no mention of a 40gb download limit in Orange fair usage policy , Orange reply to this (following a phone call to Orange Customer Services) is that it depends where you
live regarding download limits and the following month the limit may be
50gb . How as a customer am I expected to know what the fair usage policy is, if Orange do not know themselves.(To use an allegory its like
getting fined for speeding when no one will tell you what the speed limit
is). Orange customer services told me that they would monitor my usage
for the next six months . I told Customer Services , firstly how am I
able to know if I go over the limit of 40gb per month and secondly as
this is the first time I have exceeded their fair usage policy why
should I get penalised and finally there is no mention of a 40gb cap
in Orange fair usage policy. When I signed up for broadband Orange
told me there was unlimited downloads. I have found out since receiving
the letter from Orange that Orange have reduced my internet speed, and
Orange tell me it will take 6 months before I can get back to normal
broadband speed as they will be monitoring my downloads.
I would also like to point out that Orange should supply some
downloading monitoring tool and also tell customers that they are being
capped when the letter they sent me says I may be capped if I dont cut
down on downloads(which I have)
Today 3rd March at 3.30pm I was told by Orange that as I exceeded the
unstipulated 40gb download limit I would have my internet speed capped
during peak times only. Following this I did a BT broadband speed test
and found that my IP profile for my line has dropped down from
5500Kbps to 500kbps even during off-peak. I also did a think broadband
speed test as advised by Orange technical support Both these tests were
carried out off peak. Following these tests I phoned Orange escalations
department who said this was a technical issue they were having with
BT. My reply to this was this is not my problem and secondly to cap me
(IP Profile)during peak times from 5500kbps to 500Kbps is unacceptable .
So at the end of the day I am now receiving half megabyte speed reduced
from 5.5 megabytes because i was a naughty boy and went over their
unmentioned 40Gb limit ONCE.
That's exactly what happened to me. Faced with months of 24/7 slow internet (I am also limited to 512k- down from 2Mb) I took today off to sort things out. Spent the morning getting nowhere with customer support, then found a chap in the UK support centre who finally admitted I was capped, even though he claimed this was only at peak hours. If you read other posts here, you'll see that it's actually in place all the time.
Anyway, I asked for my MAC code, reminded them of their obligations - which worked, as my code arrived by email within 6 hours. I've just signed with BT, who have a clear fair use policy and a facility to pay for extra bandwidth when you have a particularly heavy month (30p per GB). They also have all UK call centres which will be the biggest relief. They've just given me a switch-over day and say I'll be down for no more than 30 minutes. At least they sound reasonably competent, which is more than can be said for Orange.
Sounds like something's been mixed up there. The capping is supposed to be for a minimum of 6 weeks, not months, where they actively monitor usage and if it's "acceptable" (whatever that actually is I have no idea) then the capping is removed.
If it is not in your contract that they gave you and they made no point in bringing it to your attention then go to the fair trading and the telecoms people.
If also they bought it in AFTER you signed up then you have the opportunity to change supplier AT NO COST TO YOU.
You have to realise that Orange is a French company and part owned by the French govt.
As such it is illegal to openly complain and basically they think what they say goes.
For example several years ago they were fined 60.000.000 by the EU and it was not in the french press.
They were again fined by the nantaise commercial 20.000 for similar offences and again the only reporting was in the Loire Atlantique goverment magazine sent to all households.
So accordingly you must go to the agencies above.
PS They do not like me too much although they are now starting to listen, we have for example an email from an old regional director, a M De Lion that says we ignore all complaints from our clients they are all idiots. It was in English, he has now left and is a manager in Lebanon Telecom!!!
You have to realise that Orange is a French company and part owned by the French govt.
As such it is illegal to openly complain and basically they think what they say goes.
For example several years ago they were fined 60.000.000 by the EU and it was not in the french press.
They were again fined by the nantaise commercial 20.000 for similar offences and again the only reporting was in the Loire Atlantique goverment magazine sent to all households.
So accordingly you must go to the agencies above.
You must realise that Orange is a registered company in the UK therefore as such is a separate entity to France Telecom.
If France Telecom was operating in UK then what you say is correct.
Having worked for a UK registered company which is part of a large French group, I do endorse your comment "basically they think what they say goes", but this does apply to most large international companies.
If it is not in your contract that they gave you and they made no point in bringing it to your attention then go to the fair trading and the telecoms people.
If also they bought it in AFTER you signed up then you have the opportunity to change supplier AT NO COST TO YOU.
Well there was supposed to be an email about changes to the T&C's if you joined prior to the capping being implemented, that gave upto 30 days to decline the changes and end service. Unless you do manage to take it to trading standards etc, then you're unlikely to get very far with Orange, after the 30 days (especially now as it's a lot longer than 30 days) requests to cancel are just dismissed out of hand.
If you did want to change ISP then you're supposed to be able to leave/migrate without fee AFAIK.
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