PIPEX - please help!!

zzzLazyDaisy

I joined Pipex on 15th Dec on their Christmas Special package. I get 1G BB and 500 free calls for £14.99, then I can buy 3g top-ups if I go over my limit.

But although I don't download music, film or play games online, I have already used 4g in the past 2 weeks - and was away from home for much of Christmas and New Year!

The e-mail I got confirming activation says I can monitor usage on site, but I cannot find this facility anywhere.

The customer service number has a wait time of 15+ mins on an 0870 number, and I am receiving no reply to my e-mails.

I swapped from a more expensive unlimited provider on the basis of their advice that based on my usage this package was the right one for me. But this is a nightmare. I have even considered upgrading, but although this facility is supposedly available on-site, when I attempt to do it, I get a message saying I can't upgrade my package on site.

Can someone PLEASE tell me how to monitor usage (of BB and calls) through the site?

Also, have I just stumbled on a particularly busy time, or is their response to queries always this poor??


Many thanks

Daisy

heatherw_01

I can't help you where to look but Pipex support is very slow and pretty rubbish. You are lucky to get through to them on the phone.

Fran

Hi zzzLazyDaisy,

I've moved your post to the Internet Access board where you might get more replies, I hope that's ok.

redux

1st thing - ordinary phone number 01707 299505 - can you use 1899? (see home phones) - yes it does seem to take a while to answer, and I've phoned a few times, as the initial connection was at a lower speed (now sorted).

I don't know where it is on the site either - I'd be interested myself, though I use less than that, which sounds surprisingly high for that type of usage. For now you could check how much you've up/downloaded each session by clicking on the connection logo, and keeping mental or back of an envelope track of it.

Chris4817

You don't have an insecure wireless network do you?

thesealeyboy

zzzLazyDaisy wrote:

The e-mail I got confirming activation says I can monitor usage on site, but I cannot find this facility anywhere.

Interesting, I remember some months ago if they could tell me roughly I was downloading/uploading each month, they said they were unable to tell me this info and i'd be best downloading some software which does the job.

LazyDaisy, I trust you have up to date anti virus and firewall protection, and your firewall (mine does - mcafee) may even tell you how much data you have transferred recently. Where did you find out that you had used 4 Gig over a 2 week period?
J

thesealeyboy

zzzLazyDaisy wrote:

The e-mail I got confirming activation says I can monitor usage on site, but I cannot find this facility anywhere.

Interesting, I remember some months ago if they could tell me roughly I was downloading/uploading each month, they said they were unable to tell me this info and i'd be best downloading some software which does the job.

LazyDaisy, I trust you have up to date anti virus and firewall protection, and your firewall (mine does - mcafee) may even tell you how much data you have transferred recently. Where did you find out that you had used 4 Gig over a 2 week period?
J

johnnycab

zzzLazyDaisy wrote:

Also, have I just stumbled on a particularly busy time, or is their response to queries always this poor??

Daisy,

Your best bet to get any answers on Pipex is here: http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=pipex

There used to be some Customer Support guys from Pipex, who used to hang out on the board - and get things done! However, they have long since abandoned their quest for making Pipex better. There used to be a good resource and aptly named - https://www.pipexsupport.com - which has also died.

You will find some of your answers, with regards to Customer Service in some of the threads on first couple of pages - which is not always a good sign. However, it is an active board and if you ask a question, it will be answered fairly quickly.

HTH

zzzLazyDaisy

thesealeyboy wrote:

Where did you find out that you had used 4 Gig over a 2 week period?
J

I only know coz I got an e-mail on 24th (9 days after joining) saying I'd used up my included 1Gig, and had been allocated an additional 3Gig at extra cost. Then on 3rd Jan I got another e-mail saying I'd used that up. Given that I was away from home on 28th/29th Dec, and then again from the afternoon of 30th Dec through to late on 2nd Jan, that suggests I used 3 Gig in about 4 or 5 days!!!!

Having said that, yes, i do have a wireless network. As far as I know it is secure, but I didn't set it up. How would I go about checking it? In the meantime I have started unplugging the router at night, and when I go out, to see if that has any effect.

Thanks for the landline number, my 'free' 500 minutes have now been activated, I don't use the phone a lot, so they will be put to good use!

Thanks also for the URL, hopefully I will get through to someone who can give me some advice. At the moment I am thinking that I made a big mistake swapping from an 'unlimited' provider, but maybe things will settle down.

Thanks again, you guys are great!

Daisy

redux

It looks like some of the people on adslguide have a separate forum; I found this thread http://pipexsanctuary.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=68

- it mentions NetMeter, which I'd vaguely heard of before
http://readerror.gmxhome.de/

I've installed it - it looks like it has daily, weekly, monthly stats ... edit - I noticed that you can set the starting date in the month

This would just measure the usage in your PC of course, so any discrepancies might show up whether your wireless network is carrying passengers. I don't know this, but do routers have usage logs?

BexTech

The vast majority of people don't have secure wireless networks, just when I am there are six people with an open wireless network, and can log onto any of them.

It looks like people have found out you have a unsecure network and using your broadband connection.

I'd go into your router settings, change the Wireless Network Name(SSID): from deafaul or the make of your router to something else. Then switch off Wireless SSID Broadcast. Then enable wireless security, if it is WEP create a Passphrase and this will generate at Key, this key you will need to enter on any laptop/PC you use to connect to your router.

I would also set a password other than the default on when entering the router setup.