Has anyone used Orange broadband.. is it as good as the others?



Thanks

<tf19@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1161291109.423449.125590@e3g2000cwe.googlegro ups.com...
I wouldn't if I were you - see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/6058154.stm

But then, who am I to talk - I'm with Plusnet...

;-)

George

On 19 Oct 2006 13:51:49 -0700, tf19@hotmail.com wrote:

new BB supplier after BT let us down badly.
I then went to their website for further information but it states that you
cannot have wireless on the starter package - the others are of no benefit to us
since the BT line will only permit 512k.
The broadband starter info also states "you'll also need to be a new broadband
customer". This is ambiguous since we were a broadband customer with BT - not
Orange.
So not impressed so far...

Geo

one word....CRAP





"Geo" <hy1k-hwia@dea.spamcon.org> wrote in message
news:nvrhj2tv4ndk97dhg6tnlpa3d1811vdr9u@4ax.com...

tf19@hotmail.com wrote:

promise of, and I quote "A fast reliable always on connection"
which would be available "Within 10 days" of my line being enabled.
This was competitively priced and following the termination and
migration from my old provider I telephoned your sales office on
Saturday 16th September 2006 and arranged (with PETER) to have my line
enabled and for my equipment to be delivered.
The equipment (Livebox) arrived promptly enough on Monday 25th
September and I could clearly understand by following the setup
information and guides that my line was enabled and ready to use.
Following immediate failure to connect I called your technical support
number (08700102462 option 1-5-3) and was greeted by Amy who informed
me that I could not connect as the account had not yet been enabled.
Amy assured me that the account would be active within 24hrs and that I
should try again on 26/10/06.
Upon returning from work on the evening of 26/10/06 I again found I was
unable to connect and so I called your technical line (as above).
Unfortunately I do not have names of all the operatives I spoke with on
this night but rest assured there was plenty and all of them had a
different opinion as to what could be wrong. I followed the "Factory
Reset" protocols for my equipment as outlined by the most helpful of
the evenings support staff and reluctantly settled (at approx 9pm) for
a line test to see if any faults existed on my line the results of
which, I was informed, would take 24-48 hrs and then the engineers
would act upon any fault within the following 78hrs.
On 27/09/06 I called at approx 6pm to confirm the results of the test
and was told that an "update was required" and that I could expect
to see the service active within 72hrs.
28/09/06 I rang (6pm) to check the status of my upgrade and was told
that it was underway.
29/09/06 I rang (6pm) to check the status of the upgrade and was told
that it was complete. I went through the login/reset procedure with the
operative and could not connect. I was told a further line test would
be required and that I should call back in 24hrs and ask an operative
if I could have them speak to the BT provisions team.
30/09/06
I telephoned at approx 1pm to discuss the results of the line tests and
was told that there was nothing that could be done to help as it was
Saturday and "no-one was in". I asked to speak to a manager and was
told that there was not one on site. I asked firmly again and was
connected to Mack Mathews who was a "Floor Supervisor" I explained
to Mack the problems I was having and asked him if he could help sort
things out for me. I stated that I was beginning to feel that nothing
was being done and that I was being pushed from pillar to post. I
informed him that unless I could be convinced that something was going
to be done about my connection with the next week then I wanted to end
the agreement there and then. Mr Mathews informed me that he could not
end the contract and that I should speak with a customer service agent
instead. He said he would place a note on my account so that they
understood my requirements. I telephoned customer service and was told
in no certain terms that there was nothing they could do to end the
term early and indeed they had the ordacity to imply that the only way
to end the contract would be to pay the entire year in advance. I
pushed for a date when my connection would be active but this could not
be supplied but they told me to ring back in 24hrs. They also stated
that they were not responsible in any way for the early termination of
a contract and that I should call technical support.
31/09/06
I telephoned at approx 6pm and was connected to Chris. Chris went
through security and I told him that I needed to understand why I
didn't have any connectivity. He asked me what I needed to understand
and I said that if I didn't have any sign of connection within 24hrs
then I would like to end my term early as I felt I was wasting my time.
He said he could neither help me with the early ending of my contract
or with any technical issues as he was "not wireless and talk
trained". I tried to explain that I was using a Livebox to connect
and told him which options I had used to reach him and again he said he
was not trained to help. I asked for Chris's full name and was told
that he "DID NOT HAVE ONE". I asked for his desk number or
extension and was told that "he did not give this information to
customers" I told Chris he was "Possibly the most unhelpful little
man I had ever spoken with" Chris went on to state that he "was not
little" and that he was "not trained to help me". I asked Chris
what he was trained in and hung up. I rang straight back on the same
number (08700102462 options 1-5-3) and was connected with Craig. I
started again by explaining everything that was happening and Craig
looked through my file and stated that a fault had indeed been found at
the exchange on 11/09/06 and that the line had been seized by B.T but
this was reinstated on 23/09/06 and should pose no problem to my
current situation. Craig arranged for a further test to be carried out
on the line.
I explained that I was very disappointed with the way I was being
treated and told Craig about what had happened earlier with the
operative called Chris. Craig contacted his "Manager" Abdul who
came on to the line and apologised for Chris' behaviour and assured
me that Craig had been assigned to my case and would call me back every
24hrs to keep me updated with the work.
01/10/06
Craig telephoned at 5pm prompt to state that a fault had indeed been
found on my line and that he would instruct the engineers to commence
work.
02/10/06
No contact
03/10/06
Nothing from Craig so I telephoned at approx 5.30pm to check status and
was told that the engineers had been instructed and that the work would
be carried out within 24-72hrs of instruction. I said I would wait but
was becoming very tired of false promises. I asked for a date when I
could defiantly expect to see the service working and was told that
this could not be provided,

04/10/06
No contact
05/10/06
I had received nothing from Craig so decided to call at lunchtime and
find out what was occurring. I was told that Craig was in control of my
account and he would call me when some thing had been done. I was very
angry at this point and asked the girl what it was that was being done
to ensure the service was provided as per my contract. She said I
should call back in 24hrs. I asked her to place a note on my account
stating that if I had heard nothing more by tomorrow night (06/10/06)
then I would not be continuing with the rest of the term.
06/10/06
No contact
07/10/06
I Telephoned at approx 11:30am and asked what had been done to ensure
my service was working. I was told that the work had been completed by
the engineers on 7/10/06 and that I should now be able to connect. I
could not but spent a further 20minutes on the line while the operative
ensured that I had every wire and cable in the correct socket. The
female operative then went on to tell me she would submit another line
test the results of which I should phone back and receive in 24hrs. I
told her I would not be doing this and that I felt very unfairly
treated by orange to which she said "OH WHATEVER" I asked her if
that is what she just said and she did not reply. I said I wanted to be
rid of Orange for good and that I was neither obligated by a contract
nor entered into one as I still could not connect. She said that
support could not deal with early cancellations and that customer
support would deal with this. I was transferred with lightning speed to
customer service. I told the operative (Kirsty) the situation and was
told again that I would have to pay to end the contract. I recalled
from the installation disc that I had a thirty day cooling off period
and asked if this could be applicable, I was told that the cooling off
period only applied to the "STARTER" package and that I was bound
by the contract for twelve months. I said that I felt as if my line was
being held hostage by Orange as I could not even use the services of
another company in the meantime I said I would complain to trading
standards and she said that she was not going to enter into the
legality of a contract but have a customer service manager call me back
within 24hrs to "set me straight" I said I would wait. I was in
Carlisle city centre later that afternoon so decided that I would go
into my local orange shop and complain about the level of service I was
receiving and see if a "face" rather than a "voice" could do
something to change the situation. I was greeted by the rather youthful
looking salesman to whom I explained my nightmare and he proceeded to
telephone orange customer support on his shiny new mobile phone. After
approx twenty five minutes of mind numbing elevator music he decided he
had had enough of being on hold and informed me that he could do
nothing to help and that all he did was "SELL THE PHONES". I left
the shop and went home.
08/10/06
Telephoned at 1300 but was on hold for thirty minutes and was not able
to wait any longer.
Telephoned again at 1500 and selected the option for customer services.
I spoke with Peter who stated he could not help me as this was the
billing line and not the customer support line. He said I should call
back and choose option 1-5-3. I said I would not be doing this as I had
called for customer support and felt that I did not require any further
technical assistance. He was very quiet and did not speak. I asked to
speak with his manager and was connected to Steven McDonald. I
explained my situation AGAIN and he proceeded to run a line test. The
results of this he said were inconclusive and the outcome of which he
said would need to be determined at a later date this afternoon. I
stated clearly that unless this service was r running in an acceptable
manner by Tuesday 10/10/06 not only would I be cancelling the contract
and direct debit but I would be contacting trading standards as my
partner was at present running an internet degree course and could not
work efficiently without the use of the service I was promised.
I was also informed by Steven that the service was having trouble with
some exchanges across the country and that many people were receiving
the same errors as me. I stated that this was never mentioned when I
signed up to the service and that I was assured I could gain a 2mb
connection without any trouble at all and that it would be connected in
ten days.
Steven said he would call me back "IN A COUPLE OF HOURS" with the
results of my line test (which he said earlier were
inconclusive!!!!!!!!). I said that he would have to be more precise
than that as I would have to wait in for his call. He said he would
call back at 6pm prompt and assured me he would have the service
running by Tuesday 10/10/06.
Six pm came and went and at 1820 I called customer support and told Tim
Dak that I was waiting for a call from Steven Macdonald. He said there
was no record of this on his system and that he was unable to cancel
the account but would put me through to the cancellations team. I was
connected to Chris Lethbridge who received the full extent of the story
so far and again advised me that there was no sign of the earlier
conversation with Steven MacDonald. He spoke with someone and agreed
that the contract could be cancelled but that I would have to gain
permission from the technical support team leaders in order for him to
proceed. I was put on hold while he tried to connect me. In five
minutes Chris came back on the line and stated that he would personally
speak to technical support and that the account would be cancelled. I
said that I would hold the line while he did this and he said there was
no need as he would have someone ring me back. I calmly explained that
I was not convinced this would happen and would ring back in one hour
and speak to him personally to confirm this had been done. He was most
insistent that this would not be necessary and that he would have a
team leader call me before the hour was up. (1930) I waited for his
call.
Chris called back at 1850 and confirmed that he had closed the account
and that I would be free to move the service within ten days. I asked
for a migration code and was told this would not be required and that
he would cancel the account immediately so as to avoid any charges to
myself. He gave me his extension number (2322) and told me he was the
only person on the team who was called Lethbridge and gave me his
assurance that everything was now in order and stated that if I had any
further issues I could call him back. This man is the only person who
has been of either help or assistance throughout the entire period and
I fear that without his help I would be continuing this file and
furthering my despair.

On 01/11/2006, DOGIMED thought we'd be interested in the following:


[...]

This is Usenet, not Orange Customer Services.
You do realise this is not a direct 'line' into Orange don't you?
--

Tx2 wrote:
YEAH OF COURSE?????????

I posted this to let people realise the trouble that orange caused me,
It is a copy of a letter sent to them along with a copy of my phone
bill and a demand for compensation

On 01/11/2006, DOGIMED thought we'd be interested in the following:

Apologies, I hadn't looked into my crystal ball prior to reading your
post, and subsequently took "I recently signed up to your "Plus"
Broadband service" to be something directly aimed at Orange.... :-/

[makes mental note to get Pledge out and give crystal ball a jolly good
rub]


--

On Wed, 1 Nov 2006 19:17:18 UTC, "DOGIMED" <eric.alysha@btinternet.com>
wrote:

It might have been helpful to precede it with a line:

"This is the text of a recent email to Orange" or something similar


--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

In message <1162398962.334038.320980@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups. com>,
DOGIMED <eric.alysha@btinternet.com> writes
On that date, Chris really existed?

--
dave @ stejonda

I THINK WE CAN SAFELY AGREE ON ONE THING............
ORANGE ARE NOT PROVIDING THE SERVICE THEY CURRENTLY SELLING.
I AM CERTAINLY NOT ALONE WITH THIS OPINION AND PERSONALLY KNOW THREE
OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE EMBROILED IN THEIR OWN PERSONAL "WAR" WITH ORANGE
OVER THE NON-PROVISION OF SERVICES. ORANGE WILL TRY AND BIND YOU TO A
TWELVE MONTH CONTRACT IRRESPECTIVE OF THIER ABILITY TO PROVIDE SERVICE.
MY PERSONAL OPINION IS THAT THEY SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COST.

CHECK OUT orangeproblems.co.uk AND FORM YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS.

On Wed, 1 Nov 2006 21:32:58 UTC, "DOGIMED" <eric.alysha@btinternet.com>
wrote:

I never disagreed with you. Just pointed out your error of judgement
when posting the copy of the letter.

Of course, if you'd done a bit more research before you signed up, you
might have done better.

And PLEASE don't SHOUT...
--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

Sorry for shouting. I feel very strongly about this subject as this not
only cost me a great deal of money in calls to orange but also a great
deal of agrivation. My Shouts and rants are not aimed at you or any
other member of this group but are aimed directly at the
customer/technical support teams at orange. My reasons for posting the
above item are clear and i will point out that this is the first time i
have used a news group.
It would seem that you have had some what of a bad day Bob????????

On Wed, 1 Nov 2006 21:49:54 UTC, "DOGIMED" <eric.alysha@btinternet.com>
wrote:

Not at all. Apart from the water being cut off that is...

If it's the first time you've used a news group, it's best to read it
for a bit before posting. This will give you an idea of what kind of
post you should make, thus avoiding errors such as posting email text
without explanation, posting in all capitals, etc. That's all.

Had you looked back in the newsgroup, you'd have seen that Oarange have
had a bad press before. Going all the way back to when they were
FreeServe, although they were a bit better then.

Now they're French, so what can you expect??? :-)


--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

Very true. I must add that I signed up to B.T on their mid range 8mb
package and was connected and operational within five days of my
intitial phone call and have had absolutely no issues at all with the
service. It is however a little more expensive but given the previous
experience I felt happy to part with the extra cash.

Who exactly governs the broadband service providers. Surely they have
industry standards which must be met in order to trade??
]

On Wed, 1 Nov 2006 22:04:40 UTC, "DOGIMED" <eric.alysha@btinternet.com>
wrote:

Market forces. I pay a little more for my ADSL. It's pretty well trouble
free, and if I do ring tech support (perhaps because BT have a fault) I
get to talk to a proper techie straight away. I once ordered an extra
domain name at 17:20 on a Friday, and it was in place within 15 minutes.
I ordered extra (free) static IPs and got those almost immediately too.
The initial connection took five days, during which time I received a
personalised manual (after one day) and a preconfigured router (after
two days).

I could have paid less. I could have gone to (say) PlusNet and got
continually changing terms and conditions. I could have gone to TalkTalk
and still be waiting (or Orange, of course). I could have gone to BT and
had to talk to India when I got a fault.


--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

eric.alysha@btinternet.com declared for all the world to hear...
Because that site will give a balanced view won't it!
--
Regards
Jon

The views and opinions expressed on the site orangeproblems.co.uk will
by no means give you a BALANCED view of the situation Jon but they will
provide a clear insight into the problems that hundreds of people are
facing when they sign up to orange. I just dont want people to
experience the same problems as i did. It is not an easy situation to
get out of.

I could have gone to BT and
now that is a massive issue. Vodaphone are the same. Spelling you name
five times and trying to get the guy on the other end to understand
your problem can prove very annoying.

I could have gone to BT and
now that is a massive issue. Vodaphone are the same. Spelling you name
five times and trying to get the guy on the other end to understand
your problem can prove very annoying.