All Orange iPhone users suffering long-term BT Openzone fault

littlerichard

Well I waited for the app to fix the problems. Now my iPhone try's to connect to any bt openzone, including bt fon. Connected once automatically at a cafe Nero, and now - tries to connect - turn off wifi - launch wifi app. Authenticating... Bored now. can't wait this long. Things to do, move away and low and behold I'm back to resorting to using 3G. Which as ofcom recently pointed out was the slowest of all networks.

Thanks - but you still need to make it work seamlessly.

allan673

More excuses from the orange rep!!! It's a total con advertising the openzone feature. Why don't you just remove this from your advertising because it has never worked. False advertising , false promises!!!!!

NFH

Orange_Company_Representative wrote: »

They are discussing the comments you have made regarding the authentication methods chosen by Orange compared to those of other providers. I'll let you know when I receive any update on this matter.

Thanks Darren, but when is Orange going to operate the authentication in the manner described in the help and support section of its web site which states "The next time you are in range of a BT Openzone hotspot your iPhone will connect automatically without asking you for your phone number or password"? Even with this new app, when I return to a BT Openzone hotspot, Safari brings up a login page instead of connecting "automatically without asking you for your phone number or password". This is the most important question.

mrlexy

I've had problems for months too and called Orange again today. Having now performed everything from soft reset, hard reset,reset things, do this and that, orange contacting BT to confirm all ok with them, and still find I cant log in, login page just refreshes,now I find from this thread its a known problem!

Never used to have a problem. Now I hardly have internet access. Enviously sat next to a friend on another network as he scrolled away on his iphone on 3g while I had. nothing, during a journey I thought, this really is normal. And I cant even use the free BT wifi that at least would have passified me and the orange rep who was cool, didnt know about the issue.

NFH

In an underground bar yesterday with no mobile coverage, I had no choice but to use BT Openzone which was available throughout the bar. Other than short tests, it's the first time I've tried to use BT Openzone properly since the new Orange app was released. I encountered the following problems in addition to those already reported above:

• If the iPhone screen is turned off for any length of time (e.g. a couple of minutes), the iPhone automatically turns off wi-fi in order to save battery. When you subsequently turn the screen on again, the iPhone reactivates wi-fi, but BT Openzone has in the meantime deauthenticated the iPhone, which causes a loss of internet connectivity. Opening Safari then brings up the BT Openzone login page again.
• Leaving the Orange wi-fi app open in the background does not solve this. It doesn't detect that internet connectivity has been lost via BT Openzone and therefore makes no attempt to reauthenticate.
• Even going into the already-open Orange wi-fi app doesn't reauthenticate to BT Openzone. It just gets stuck trying to authenticate. The only way to make the app reauthenticate is press the home button twice, close the app and reopen it.

Darren, when is Orange going to fix these and the previously reported faults?

Orange_Company_Representative

Hi

Thanks for letting us know about the problems you've encountered. I'll get this fed back for you straight away!

Once I have any update on these issues. I will let you know.

Thanks!

^Darren_OrangeHelpers

NFH

I've found something positive on this subject for once. As I came into Charing Cross tube station on a Bakerloo Line train, my iPhone connected to BT Openzone, and after I quickly launched the Orange Wi-Fi app, it authenticated me in under a second. I then received new e-mails well before the train subsequently pulled out of the station, all while deep underground with no mobile coverage. I was actually quite impressed for a change.

However, this positive experience at one Tube station does highlight a future additional problem with Orange's erroneous choice of authentication mechanism. Assuming that BT Openzone rolls out coverage into many more Tube stations, it will be very annoying if every time your train comes into a station, you have to manually authenticate before you can use the service. With the current bug in the app, you'd also have to kill the app between stations and relaunch it upon arrival at the next station. O2 customers wouldn't suffer such usage barriers.

mike-morrison

This issue is not just iphones
it seems that most new orange wifi customers cannot access bt-openzone as they have had a computer problem since April
this is miss selling and all customers should contact orange and the ASA - they are still advertising a service they cannot provide

NFH

Maybe O2 will alleviate this issue for Orange customers. O2's free wifi service for customers of any mobile network, announced in January, shows signs of going live. Of three O2 shops in the City, the service has gone live in two of them, suggesting that O2 are first rolling this out in their own premises ahead of a wider roll-out on a similar scale to BT Openzone. Ironically, I discovered this when I was standing in an Orange shop next door to an O2 shop. Interesting reasons have been suggested as to why O2 are offering this for free.

Despite the service being free, there is still an authentication mechanism. When you first connect and open any web page, it brings up a registration page where you enter your name, e-mail address and mobile number. You immediately receive a 4-digit code by SMS, which you then enter into the registration page. You're then authenticated, and whenever you return to an O2 hotspot, you are automatically identified by your phone's MAC address and are connected immediately without any login page. This is exactly how BT Openzone should authenticate Orange customers - no need for annoying passwords.

offcs

I also fell for the BT Openzone false advertising. Nowhere does it say on their website that only some BT hotspots are useable. It does say that there are 78000 hotspots, when the app says 200000. I spoke to customer services (useless, and always says that they are really busy and you should call back later, and then they answer the phone in 20 secs. Is lying in-built in Orange?), who just repeat the mantra that I should use the app to connect. It's a really appalling service that Orange should be ashamed of, but somehow don't really seem to care. They have us on 24 month contracts, and as soon as mine expires I'm off.