I decided a few months ago to get myself a mobile broadband connection for my laptop from Orange. Since then i've had nothing but trouble with it.
For some reason I can't work out when I'm using the 3G connection it will always go to local access only after a few minutes. This happens regardless of whether there is a decent signal or not. The GPRS and EDGE connections work fine. Although they are more often than not painfully slow.
I'm using the Vista operating system and the Option Icon 225 datacard.
I've wasted God knows how much money calling customer services, but they don't seem to be able to fix the problem. If anyone out there knows what's going on then I will be very, very grateful.
Same here. When I have an afternoon free, I am planning to call them and say that either they cancel my contract since they have never been able to keep their end of it, or I complain to OfCom (does anyone know any better ones?).
I live in South London, have never seen HSDPA speeds on my connection - any for the last 2 weeks I can only connect at GPRS/EDGE speeds. Surely no can think these speeds qualify as 'broadband'?
witzend wrote:
I decided a few months ago to get myself a mobile broadband connection for my laptop from Orange. Since then i've had nothing but trouble with it.
For some reason I can't work out when I'm using the 3G connection it will always go to local access only after a few minutes. This happens regardless of whether there is a decent signal or not. The GPRS and EDGE connections work fine. Although they are more often than not painfully slow.
I'm using the Vista operating system and the Option Icon 225 datacard.
I've wasted God knows how much money calling customer services, but they don't seem to be able to fix the problem. If anyone out there knows what's going on then I will be very, very grateful.
It's good to know that I'm not the only one. i've been thinking of canceling the contract myself.
Orange are certainly aware of the problem because when I went into the shop one of the assistants told me that i was the fourth person they'd had in that week all with the same complaint and all using the Vista operating system. From what I've read on the net it's quite a common issue with mobile broadband. Not just with Orange but with the other networks as well.
If anyone from Orange reads this, I hope you're on the case!!
witzend
I have to say I am having the same nightmare with the dongle. I am having to resort to using the EDGE/GPRS only and it is slower than dial up. After 20 minutes waiting for a page to load I generally give up. Plus I daren't buy or book anything online because it also has a tendency to cut off and most of the time then shut down my computer aswell.
The people I have spoken to, after queuing for ages each time have been very unsurprised by my complaint too and said that after 7 days of the contract it cannot be broken without paying the rest of the period in full. I even was told the line 'I don't make up the rules' so you know how they feel about customer care when things like that are the order of the day.
I have written to complain as I can't bear being passed from pillar to telephone post and then queue to tell them how I feel, but if the response I have got so far is anything to go buy I am not expecting a reply, or at least not one that will give any satisfaction. I notice there is no listing for email correspondence on their sites. Is that because no one wants to complain? Mmmm.
My mobile contract is great I must say, but when that expires I will be taking all my custom elsewhere I fear.
I've had Icon 225 since July and the connection has totally dropped for the past 2 months. I wrote to complain 4 weeks ago and they have not responded to my letter. I called several times and was told to email my letter, to which I received a reply telling me that they busy and will reply to my query in due course.
I am writing to them again today and will ask for a copy of the complaints procedure. I will take it up with Ofcome and ISPA.
I complained a while back over the dreadful speeds despite being in a supported 3G area, and my friends were using the 3 or Vodafone equivalents and getting so much better service and speeds.
Should you ever complain by email, make sure you copy your communication into executive.office@orange-ftgroup.com. It's only by getting your problems to the Exective Office that I've found anything really gets resolved. After a complained and complained for 6 months, my connectivity up here in North Yorks is finally much better - at least I am getting 3G rather than EDGE/G, and have recently started to get 3G+ also.
I've still got an outstanding issue going backwards and forwards with their executive board over their appalling lack of support either online or phone for Internet Everywhere. How you can sell a customer a mobile broadband solution and then hardly give any dedicated support to it is outrageous. If you want to add to my campaign for a dedicated set of online support pages for Internet Everywhere (e.g. rather than being tacked onto mobile support or broadband support), then email the Executive Office at the above email and make your feelings politely known.
I also found a few months ago that my Internet Everywhere dongle and the built-in software worked much faster on my OSX Macbook than it did on my XP Compaq. Of late, its been much more comparable.
Also, if you get no positive response, email
Customer.relations@orange.co.uk (it's what we call the escalation department, to be used when complaints are not settled)
I have now sent them a second letter by recorded mail asking for a partial refund of my telephone and mobile broadband bill. They were clear to me on the phone that because I have signed up for an 18 month contract which says in the small print that they do not guarantee a 100% connection, I cannot get out of it unless I buy it back.
I am hoping that at least I get some money back for inconvenience.
I have now signed up with Virgin fibre optic broadband which is good, however I am now paying for 2 broadband supplier but at least I am no longer frustrated!
On either the Windows 2K/XP/Vista client, or the MAC OSX client built-in to the Icon, you should be able to manually configure the dongle to always connect to, and stay on 3G/3G+ only. I have found this much more reliable as sometimes I was initially connecting at 3G, only for it to flick to EDGE/GPRS after a few minutes and never flick back to 3G - even if the signal/connection improved.
On either the Windows 2K/XP/Vista client, or the MAC OSX client built-in to the Icon, you should be able to manually configure the dongle to always connect to, and stay on 3G/3G+ only. I have found this much more reliable as sometimes I was initially connecting at 3G, only for it to flick to EDGE/GPRS after a few minutes and never flick back to 3G - even if the signal/connection improved.
The problem is with the 3G network in my area, that is why I get disconnected.
Thanks for the tip about emailing their executive team, they called me this morning and are investigating...
I won my battle with Orange. Following my email to their executive team attaching my second letter of complaint, they have cancelled my mobile broadband contract and my mobile phone contract will also be cancelled once I have taken my number somewhere else.
Thanks for the help.
I felt helpless for weeks but the lady at the executive team was very apologetic and cancelled both my 18 months contracts.
Carine, glad you got your problems resolved but ..... keep a very close eye on your bank acc. "Orange left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing" ie their Accounts dept. don't seem to find out that you are no longer their customer and will probably keep on billing you until you take action - I speak from recent experience.
_________________ Formerly Orange and sad
Now PlusNet and glad!!
Regards Dave
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