Origin Broadband - any good

Saeed

does anyone know if the router they supply asus dsl-n16 is locked down by them (origin BB) or does it still have the factory asus web interface so it can be used with other ISPs once I leave origin.

Looks like a basic, but decent bit of kit.

bristolleedsfan wrote: »

18.99 x 12 plus 19.99 set up fee less 90.00 TCB or via Quidco with highest cashback promise claim less 50.00 prepaid card ( Last week was 75.00 Quidco and 75.00 Prepaid Card)

https://www.topcashback.co.uk/sky-digital/


Equates 8.99 ish a month

Can't go with them, as I was on sky 11 months ago so they'll cancel my quidco as I am not a "new" customer. Currently with Talktalk, who won't go below £19/m for renewal.

Jabba_flabba

Saeed wrote: »

does anyone know if the router they supply asus dsl-n16 is locked down by them (origin BB)

If you don't get an answer here, you could always email Origin - support@origin-broadband.co.uk

Jabba_flabba

This is a follow-up to my earlier post reviewing the service from Origin.

Partial month billing

I have received an unexpected bill, via email, from Origin to pay for broadband from the date on which I started receiving service (10-07-2017) to the end of July. Thus I have a query concerning partial month billing for customers like me, who paid in advance for 12 months line rental + broadband. Having searched Origin's web site, I quickly found a KnowledgeBase item which makes this quite clear:

Discounted Broadband

All of our broadband packages come with discounted premiums for a certain period, be that six or twelve months. In order to ensure you get the full benefit of our offers, we only apply the credits to complete months, meaning you may have to pay for the partial month between going live and your first full month.

For example - if your Origin Broadband package went live on November 10th, then your first discounted month would be December. We would take a partial payment for November 10th – 30th, and your 12-month discount would expire on November 30th the following year.

[Source: https://www.originbroadband.com/support/knowledge-base/billing/discounted-broadband]

I understand that certain matters need to be handled privately, as the answers may differ per customer, but I think it'd be useful for all to see general answers to the following:

1/ Can Origin confirm if this type of billing is or is not an error in relation to customers who signed up for e.g. 12 months in advance, ?
2/ If it was not sent in error, at what point during the sign-up process or in the terms was the potential for such a bill highlighted? (this isn't meant to be a rhetorical question, I fear I may have genuinely missed or skipped over reading the relevant bit)
3/ If, as is stated, the days of broadband that are additionally paid for are tacked onto the end of one's term, how is this squared at the end of term? It seems like to actually benefit from these tacked on days, one might have to pay additional line rental to cover the part month, or, if considering moving to another provider at the end of term, sacrifice those already-paid-for days of broadband.
4/ And this one's for one of the MSE mods; it'd be helpful to build in Origin's answers to 1/ and 3/ into MSE's analysis of Origin.

It's not so much the bill I object to, it's only for a small amount. It's more that it was completely unexpected given that I had already paid for 12 months up front. Having seen other posts raising this issue, I know I am not alone in this.

Service Robustness

As I type this into Notepad++, I am currently offline, and have been since about 18:40-ish today, 02-08-2017. My ADSL line is solidly UP, but the PPPoA link is unconnectable. I have seen frequent disconnections the last few days, and am growing increasingly frustrated by the unreliability of the service, particularly due to tonight's lengthy outage. It would be helpful to understand the reasons behind this apparent unreliability. The downdetector and twitter confirms this evening's problems are not just me. Yet the official Service Status page shows that apparently everything is well. (You only have to view the source of the web page and see the commented out bits of HTML half-way down to realise, actually this is not really a "real time updates page" as advertised)

EDIT: I am online again, hopefully it will stay that way.

Saeed

Jabba_flabba wrote: »

If you don't get an answer here, you could always email Origin - [EMAIL="support@origin-broadband.co.uk"]support@origin-broadband.co.uk[/EMAIL]

I phoned them and they told me it was a standard Asus router with Asus firmware which is good, I hate it when ISPs like TalkTalk mess about with routers and you can no longer get at all the advanced features these routers have.

But the router will only be useful if Origin BB works, so I will report back, I'm meant to be going live on 13/8...

benjus

I've also been having reliability problems recently - it's getting very frustrating.

Also, the router I was sent (the most basic model, can't remember the number) has some sort of ASUS firmware made for Origin, as it has their name in the firmware version. The option to upgrade to a different firmware seems to have been removed.

Also

Saeed wrote: »

I phoned them and they told me it was a standard Asus router with Asus firmware which is good, I hate it when ISPs like TalkTalk mess about with routers and you can no longer get at all the advanced features these routers have.

But the router will only be useful if Origin BB works, so I will report back, I'm meant to be going live on 13/8...

Check the T&Cs though:
After the end of a fixed term contract we may terminate services by giving you 31 days' notice although we hope this will never ever happen.
However our relationship comes to an end, we will need our modem/router back. So you will be required to return our modem/router to us within 14 days after termination/cancellation.
If you do not return our modem/router to us we will invoice you for each piece of equipment in the amount of £40.00 (including VAT). The modem/router will then become yours.


https://originbroadband.com/policies/terms

Latest version when I went to sign up had increased this to £45. So it's NOT FREE even if you complete your term. It's Free delivery...! I'm conscious of this due to having to post stuff back to VM.

GTG

Jabba_flabba wrote: »

This is a follow-up to my earlier post reviewing the service from Origin.

Partial month billing

I have received an unexpected bill, via email, from Origin to pay for broadband from the date on which I started receiving service (10-07-2017) to the end of July. Thus I have a query concerning partial month billing for customers like me, who paid in advance for 12 months line rental + broadband. Having searched Origin's web site, I quickly found a KnowledgeBase item which makes this quite clear:


[Source: https://www.originbroadband.com/support/knowledge-base/billing/discounted-broadband]

I understand that certain matters need to be handled privately, as the answers may differ per customer, but I think it'd be useful for all to see general answers to the following:

1/ Can Origin confirm if this type of billing is or is not an error in relation to customers who signed up for e.g. 12 months in advance, ?
2/ If it was not sent in error, at what point during the sign-up process or in the terms was the potential for such a bill highlighted? (this isn't meant to be a rhetorical question, I fear I may have genuinely missed or skipped over reading the relevant bit)
3/ If, as is stated, the days of broadband that are additionally paid for are tacked onto the end of ones term, how is this squared at the end of term? It seems like to actually benefit from these tacked on days, one might have to pay additional line rental to cover the part month, or, if considering moving to another provider at the end of term, sacrifice those already-paid-for days of broadband.
4/ And this one's for one of the MSE mods; it'd be helpful to build in Origin's answers to 1/ and 3/ into MSE's analysis of Origin.

It's not so much the bill I object to, it's only for a small amount. It's more that it was completely unexpected given that I had already paid for 12 months up front. Having seen other posts raising this issue, I know I am not alone in this.

Service Robustness

As I type this into Notepad++, I am currently offline, and have been since about 18:40-ish today, 02-08-2017. My ADSL line is solidly UP, but the PPPoA link is unconnectable. I have seen frequent disconnections the last few days, and am growing increasingly frustrated by the unreliability of the service, particularly due to tonight's lengthy outage. It would be helpful to understand the reasons behind this apparent unreliability. The downdetector and twitter confirms this evening's problems are not just me. Yet the official Service Status page shows that apparently everything is well. (You only have to view the source of the web page and see the commented out bits of HTML half-way down to realise, actually this is not really a "real time updates page" as advertised)

EDIT: I am online again, hopefully it will stay that way.

Great post Jabba_flabba, much appreciated. I look forward to hearing how you get on.

I signed up the MIL on a twelve month deal and paid up front for line rental including broadband. She has also been presented with a bill for line rental and BB for part of the month between connection and the end of the month!! I have emailed them billing@orgin-broadband.co.uk asking them to correct their mistake. It is reasonable to assume that the contract term - twelve months in our case - commences on the date of connection. If they wish to show LL and BB charges with the discounts applied on their bills the first monthly bill should have pro rata discounts applied for both LL and BB charges.

GDB2222

I'm in exactly the same position. I paid up-front and then received an extra bill.

If you look at the sales page with the Supersaver package on, it says:

No Monthly Bills
Because you're already paid for your full term, you won't have to pay any more bills until your contract expires – that's one less thing for you to worry about!

So, they seem to have a problem, and nothing hidden in the T&Cs can reasonably override that. Whether it's worth berating them over a £5 bill is another matter, though. I'm paying £125 (plus this £5!!) for a year's line rental and broadband, which is incredibly cheap. What is more, their customer services have been very helpful.

They also say:

Free High-End Router
Every Origin connection comes with a 100% free Asus DSL-N16 - exclusive to Origin Broadband. You can also upgrade to the world's fastest WiFi router, the Asus RT-AC1900!

Leaving aside that I received a DSL-N14, not a 16, I don't see how it's 100% free if they expect it back.

It seems the sales team and the legal team are at loggerheads!

GTG

Here's another one here:

No Additional Costs
You'll only ever pay the advertised price. We don't charge for installation or router delivery – and you won't have any hidden charges at any point during your time with us.

No hidden charges..... eh!

Origin-Broadband

Jabba_flabba wrote: »

This is a follow-up to my earlier post reviewing the service from Origin.

Partial month billing

I have received an unexpected bill, via email, from Origin to pay for broadband from the date on which I started receiving service (10-07-2017) to the end of July. Thus I have a query concerning partial month billing for customers like me, who paid in advance for 12 months line rental + broadband. Having searched Origin's web site, I quickly found a KnowledgeBase item which makes this quite clear:


[Source: https://www.originbroadband.com/support/knowledge-base/billing/discounted-broadband]

I understand that certain matters need to be handled privately, as the answers may differ per customer, but I think it'd be useful for all to see general answers to the following:

1/ Can Origin confirm if this type of billing is or is not an error in relation to customers who signed up for e.g. 12 months in advance, ?
2/ If it was not sent in error, at what point during the sign-up process or in the terms was the potential for such a bill highlighted? (this isn't meant to be a rhetorical question, I fear I may have genuinely missed or skipped over reading the relevant bit)
3/ If, as is stated, the days of broadband that are additionally paid for are tacked onto the end of ones term, how is this squared at the end of term? It seems like to actually benefit from these tacked on days, one might have to pay additional line rental to cover the part month, or, if considering moving to another provider at the end of term, sacrifice those already-paid-for days of broadband.
4/ And this one's for one of the MSE mods; it'd be helpful to build in Origin's answers to 1/ and 3/ into MSE's analysis of Origin.

It's not so much the bill I object to, it's only for a small amount. It's more that it was completely unexpected given that I had already paid for 12 months up front. Having seen other posts raising this issue, I know I am not alone in this.

Service Robustness

As I type this into Notepad++, I am currently offline, and have been since about 18:40-ish today, 02-08-2017. My ADSL line is solidly UP, but the PPPoA link is unconnectable. I have seen frequent disconnections the last few days, and am growing increasingly frustrated by the unreliability of the service, particularly due to tonight's lengthy outage. It would be helpful to understand the reasons behind this apparent unreliability. The downdetector and twitter confirms this evening's problems are not just me. Yet the official Service Status page shows that apparently everything is well. (You only have to view the source of the web page and see the commented out bits of HTML half-way down to realise, actually this is not really a "real time updates page" as advertised)

EDIT: I am online again, hopefully it will stay that way.

Good Morning,

Thank you for your post.

If I could kindly ask that you pop us an email over to mse@origin-broadband.co.uk, one of the team will be happy to contact you in regards to any issues raised.

Partial charges happen when you join part way through the month, you get charged until the end in order to give you 12 months equal discount.

In regards to the connectivity issues, once you have spoke to the customer resolution team - they can raise these to the department that can help you the most and see through till your issue is fixed.

That email again is mse@origin-broadband.co.uk, if you could put the subject header as MSE that will allow the team to pick you up as a priority.

Kind Regards

Origin Broadband