Orange Broadband - DO NOT SIGN UP!

r.h_2

puppet1984 wrote:

used to have loads of problems till i got rid of the stupid livebox and put a netgear on it. works fine now.

My livebox works fine now for both wired and wireless connections.

kazzah60 wrote: »

:rotfl:Orange Broadband............:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I was a customer when they were freeserve- no problems
then it went to Wanadoo ( or wanadon't as we re-named it our house)
we finally gave up after a couple of years when it was orange

at the time I left, we had had so many problems with intermittant service since they swapped from Bt bundles to their own bundles ( whatever they are) which they acknowledged was a known Orange fault, we had been credited with 9 months payments for goodwill
I do voluntary work for a childrens charity and could not cope with the long intervals of down time so despite having 9 months credit on our account we went with BT

thank has been fairly trouble free - except I have to use the router with a wire as when it was wireless we had similar problems- since then - NO problems at all

I would NEVER recommend Orange broad band - they should stick to what they know - mobile phones !

I've even had problems with my mobile, although now resolved. But I don't think its fair to blame those at Orange, it was the incompetent carphone warehouse staff who "forgot" to put my mobile internet package on then wanted an extra £5/month!

Orange_Company_Representative wrote:

Hi r.h,

If you need assistance, please drop me a mail at the address in my profile and I will do what I can to escalate this.

Please include your broadband account number/landline number and add 'Jonathan Orange Response' in the first line, so the mail can be forwarded to me quickly.

I hope this helps.

Jonathan
Orange Response Team

I've sent this guy an email today and will keep this thread updated as to how I'm getting on providing I'm not too angry to type.
All I want is my previous useable speeds up and downloading...surely that's not mission impossible!

ComplexP

r.h wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm a long time reader, first time poster and unfortunately my first post is a rant/warning.

I signed up with orange bb for an upto 8meg package because I could basically get it for free with my mobile phone contract - saving a bit of money!

A couple of months ago I started having a couple of problems with intermittent access. After a bit of time on the phone to the FREE (!) tech support number (150 from your orange mobile) it was all sorted with a hard reset of the livebox followed by a software update...or so I thought.

Since then I've not got over 0.5meg on speed tests where my speed was previously >1.5meg download speeds. I can't stream video, PS3 lags and stutters when playing online and even browsing is slow. After 10 calls to various orange departments I've found out that my line has been re-graded to 0.5meg and they won't re-grade it to what it was previously (which even though it was an upto 8meg package, I was happy with the >1.5meg).

At the end of it all, I'm stuck with almost useless broadband, paying for an upto 8meg package for another 6 months and no one at orange thinks this is a problem or is willing to fix it. I'm also reluctant to sign up for another package after this because we'll be being upgraded to fibre optics at the exhange by the end of March 2011 according to the BT website.

Its by no means the end, I will be complaining in writing to both Orange, Ofcom and anyone else who is even slightly relevant. But I shouldn't have to do this which frustrates me greatly as I have two jobs and I really don't have the time to spend on the phone or writing letters to a company that should have this sorted by now.

Final thing - if this isn't sorted by the time my (and my wifes) mobile contract ends I will be going elsewhere unless I'm offered something exceptional.

Sorry for the rant and if you're thinking of signing up....DON'T!!
:mad::mad::mad::(

What you are describing is unfortunately a fairly common problem with ADSL services and does not just effect Orange. It is usually down to an equipment/wiring problem either inside your home or somewhere along the way to the exchange.

Since it is the exchange that decides your speeds, it is BT who have the power to 'reset' you back to 1.5MB but usually will not because the exchange is programmed to bring the speed back automatically after a certain period of stable connection.

If you have been experiencing this issue for more than 3 days I would suggest that something is causing your sync rate to drop or your connection to fail intermittently. If this is the case, switching ISP will not help.

That said, some ISPs are better than others at dealing with these sorts of problems.

r.h_2

Since my last post my speed has slowed even further, its now 0.22-0.37 download and 0.02-0.05 upload...its just unusable, perhaps I should consider UPgrading to dialup - it seems that might be faster.

Orange_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hi r.h,

If you need assistance, please drop me a mail at the address in my profile and I will do what I can to escalate this.

Please include your broadband account number/landline number and add 'Jonathan Orange Response' in the first line, so the mail can be forwarded to me quickly.

I hope this helps.

Jonathan
Orange Response Team

It's been a week since my email to you Jonathan and I've still not had a reply or even an acknowledgement that you received my email... PM sent

Orange_Company_Representative

Hi r.h,

I am sorry, I do not seem to have received your mail. Please resend the mail to the address in my profile and can you please add 'Jonathan Orange Response' in the subject field?

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Jonathan
Orange Response Team

GemJar_2

Orange_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hi r.h,

I am sorry, I do not seem to have received your mail. Please resend the mail to the address in my profile and can you please add 'Jonathan Orange Response' in the subject field?

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Jonathan
Orange Response Team

Ah, if thats not good customer service I don't know what is! :rotfl: I can reccommend sky and o2, to be fair though I would've stuck with o2 but it wasn't available when i moved

r.h_2

Orange_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hi r.h,

I am sorry, I do not seem to have received your mail. Please resend the mail to the address in my profile and can you please add 'Jonathan Orange Response' in the subject field?

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Jonathan
Orange Response Team

I've forwarded the email again to the address in your profile, I hope it reaches you this time and await a prompt and productive response.
If this doesn't reach you by tomorrow, please PM me your direct email address or contact number as I've had enough of being fobbed off by Orange Staff.

Debaser

I've been with Orange broadband for well over 2 years now, and I've never had a serious problem- I've had the line drop out maybe 5 times over the course of two years, so I can't really complain about that.

I'm on an unlimited data usage package, with I think a 4MB connection, and the only problem I've ever had with it is the initial set-up, and when I changed my OS on my laptop- although after a bit off faffing around managed to get it working- and it's been superb ever since.

I've also found the customer service (not that I've needed it for problems) has been excellent, after my initial 18-month contract was up, I got a phone call from a lovely Orange rep, who said that they were upgrading my speed (must've been on 2MB before, then) and were reducing the price of the broadband- which was fantastic! I must mention I've got my phoneline with Orange as well, which is basically free evenings & weekends, bog standard stuff- and I've never had any problems with that.

When I compare it to the BT we used to have at the family home, it was awful, the broadband was slow and unstable, and the terms & conditions were so incomprehensible we needed to ring BT to find out what it was we were paying for, and how much we were paying for it- this is the main reason I looked elsewhere for phone & broadband when I moved into my own place. Ok, so Orange required a BT landline (and BT charged me ~£120 disconnection!) for the new place, but since getting the Orange in and working, it's been fantastic.

I just hope that eventually the OP gets a service comparative to how mine is!

r.h_2

Debaser wrote: »

I've been with Orange broadband for well over 2 years now, and I've never had a serious problem- I've had the line drop out maybe 5 times over the course of two years, so I can't really complain about that.

I'm on an unlimited data usage package, with I think a 4MB connection, and the only problem I've ever had with it is the initial set-up, and when I changed my OS on my laptop- although after a bit off faffing around managed to get it working- and it's been superb ever since.

I've also found the customer service (not that I've needed it for problems) has been excellent, after my initial 18-month contract was up, I got a phone call from a lovely Orange rep, who said that they were upgrading my speed (must've been on 2MB before, then) and were reducing the price of the broadband- which was fantastic! I must mention I've got my phoneline with Orange as well, which is basically free evenings & weekends, bog standard stuff- and I've never had any problems with that.

When I compare it to the BT we used to have at the family home, it was awful, the broadband was slow and unstable, and the terms & conditions were so incomprehensible we needed to ring BT to find out what it was we were paying for, and how much we were paying for it- this is the main reason I looked elsewhere for phone & broadband when I moved into my own place. Ok, so Orange required a BT landline (and BT charged me ~£120 disconnection!) for the new place, but since getting the Orange in and working, it's been fantastic.

I just hope that eventually the OP gets a service comparative to how mine is!

Me too, but I'd just be happy with the service I was receiving before this all started!

r.h_2

Orange_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hi r.h,

I am sorry, I do not seem to have received your mail. Please resend the mail to the address in my profile and can you please add 'Jonathan Orange Response' in the subject field?

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Jonathan
Orange Response Team

Well we've finally (following my email on 29/04/2010) managed to speak with this Orange representative who was supposed to escalate this and get it sorted. Apparently Orange's way of escalating complaints is to refer them to exactly the same "technical" department to give exactly the same "answer".
I'm getting angry even trying to write this but it needs to be said. The Orange representative that contacted my wife yesterday ended up putting the phone down on her because she gave the option of either fixing the problem or releasing us from the contract...I don't think putting the phone down was one of the two options given to you Jonathan!

The same facts still remain - My line has recently supported speeds in excess of 3 times what I consistently achieve now, therefore there must be a problem with the line. Orange dispute this and when challenged they repeat whatever the last line on the script was or repeat that my line is only capable of 0.5meg.

I've had enough now. I'm now going to pursue release from the contract and complain through every avenue available to me. If anyone can help with any information on this it would be much appreciated.

It also goes without saying that Orange will be losing the rest of the business that would have been secure with us for the foreseeable future (two mobile phone contracts and home phone) and I will be advising everyone else I know to do the same.

chris024

I am another ex Freeserve/Wannado/Orange customer

my connection was really slow under Orange and it kept on cutting out...up to 3 hours at a time.

Had enough about 4 years ago and been with Sky ever since. I must say I can't fault them.

I recently got an Orange Iphone and have had no problems...I keep getting the usual broadband sales call & I keep telling them I would not touch Orange broadband again with a barge pole!