Fucking Orcon! ...Again!

I'm posting this just for the amusement of seeing andrew stick up for them... somehow...

Okay first up, dealing with a pretty decent person at the other end who is following things up etc, so she is cool.

BUT All I wanted was to move my net over to my new place. I requested it all a week in advance for the following Monday. One and a half weeks later (the following Friday - which is Friday just been) they switch off the new at the old place BUT they still haven't connected it to the new place. I ring them up for an ETA and there isn't one cos they have run into a hitch. Not a technical hitch it sounds like, but an administrative one! Cos I moved from a LLU area to a non LLU area and they don't know how to process it.

Anyway, like last time, the days go by with no net while they try to sort it out. wtf?!

yeah i also just had some shocking customer service with orcon a couple weeks back.
all i wanted to do was create a new account for our flat as my flatmate who holds the account was leaving. this seemingly simple task took 5 calls over 3 weeks to sort out. cos they got some shit house IT systems that cant deal with this type of request. this is what the customer rep told me.
they also told me they would ring me back about, which they never did.

The service at Orcon really is abysmal. I can't remember a single time when I haven't had to wait in their queue for at least 15 minutes when I've called them, which would be at least half a dozen times over the last 6 months.

Now when I have a problem I just put up with it, can't be bothered with the added hassle of actually dealing with their support staff. I just recently moved apartments too, and booked them to change everything over, then I get an email from them saying "Thankyou your job 'change broadband speed' has been booked" or whatever. Never said a word to them about my broadband speed

For the first time ever Im having issues with Orcon. I love them and have been with them for yonks but this is really fucking me off. I keep getting disconnected and the speeds is HORRIBLY slow They have told me its the modem firmware the filters, the monitored alarm and now its apparently the interleaving its been a week and its still not turned off. Still getting disconnected ...

This also didn't happen when I got the line connected, only after some fuckup they had that took the network down for hours one weekend did it appear.

Useless fucken asses! But there is nothing better out there.

thanks for standing up and speaking out, Orcon is way over-rated in my books.

Go Woosh

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

To be fair, Woosh isn't over-rated - everybody knows how rubbish it is!

Its funny how in some people's world helping them, making issues known to higher powers in an organisation and getting the problem fixed is sticking up for orcon.

I've been getting disconnects and poor speeds too, and am making it known to the powers-that-be.

As Q said, name a better ISP. I dont think there is one. I dont think they'll ever be as good as they were when they were smaller, more nimble and Seeby was happy to spend a bit more to be awesome... but again, name a better ISP.

Xnet. We have no complaints.

And lol @ minty!

well sorry to be a heretic but I've had ADSL with Xtra since the mid 90's and I've had a few days down at most over that decade. so in terms of reliability I say Xtra is in fact better.
yes I do hate saying it - but its why I stay with them.

what about the peak-time issue which has been slowly getting worse for the past 2-3 months?

Anything international is a woft.

Very strange. It's a first time I hear anyone complain about speeds. I don't recognize this log in. Do you post on here often?

I guess the question is, have you called them? The issue might be as simple as in the last three month more people connected to the exchange. Hence the drop in speed. That my friend no isp will be able to do anything about.

What I'm seeing here tho is people constantly complaining not only about the dsl connections they get from Orcon, but also the service or follow up on the issue.

if you check out the forums on geekzone and gpforums you will see this is not an exchange issue. just wish they would hurry up and announce whatever it is that is supposed to fix it.

mgc actually makes a good point.

Woosh might be slow and the connection occasionally drop, but I've never had a connection that wouldn't return after a router restart and that's a LOT more than can be said for the hours spent calling help desk to get DSL fixed or the many more hours spent with the connection MIA.

I'm with peat, not withstanding the couple of major network outages they've had, I've had no issues with Xtra over the past few years, pretty reliable and the helpdesk staff have usually always been that... helpful.

yeah, agreed - just the pricing is on the heavy side.

See everyone bitched about Telecom Broadband and how terrible it was and how the Orcon et als would be saviours once they had their models up and running - but they aren't. All retail ISPs face the same issues, and frankly with the scale that Telecom Broadband have I think they will end up being the best option

Yeah thats a good point, but at least I get good service for the exorbitant cost my work pays

i have to agree, that when we had dsl via xtra at work, the connection was solid all the way thru, with the exception of our line physically shitting itself at a outdoor junction box on our property.

fuck if we were going to continue to pay $150/mo for 50gb and $20/GB overage though, with NO option of more.

BUT, we all know exactly why telecom have had the dominant service up until now, and why other ISP's can't offer the same level of service.

when something breaks at the exchange, another ISP still has to get telecom to go fix it. who do you think gets fixed faster: an xtra customer, or an $isp customer? that's exactly what happens, telecom actively fucks other providers.

orcon are in the position of being the leader in unbundling, and are having to make the leap from (previously) smaller isp, to large telco. that's a tough move to make, and it's going to involve teething issues. i agree helpdesk isn't up to scratch, but they don't have the same pile of money telecom has to throw at adding on more staff.

fwiw we had one issue with orcon where our line was down for about a week , but that was a combination of factors that included a telecom contractor visit to both the exchange and our house.

See this is the one thing that gets me about orcon, is when the line is down, you just don't get the feeling that anybody really takes it all that seriously. They fuck around with shit, meanwhile almost not realising that you have no net for a week. No I don't have other options, that way my only connection. If they take the net out on Friday, "Oh sorry, well we'll be back on Monday to sort it, we're not here on sat or sun, have a nice weekend".

And the thing is, internet is fast becoming as important as a telephone line or power. So they can't be like that.

I agree that they can't be like that. This is not the 1980s.

BUT

Someone (i.e. "we" have to pay for it.
Everyone's demanding faster internet, for cheaper, with better support. Something's gotta give...

the old "pick one" adage comes to mind.

erm....pick two i should say

local traffic is not really too bad - international congestion at peak-time seems to be the problem for Orcon, Xnet etc... I remember seeing a link somewhere to a picture of the different International carriers that the various ISPs use. I will try find it again.

TelstraClear's PDQ product is probably still the best consumer, as I found out at our internal comapny briefing the other day our response times in the helpdesk are now back to less than 3 minutes in almost all cases.

Ok, after speaking with techs, I found that, yes, there were complaints in regards to speeds for international traffic.



The best suggestion I have for you as a customer, if you have speed issues, is to call Xnet tech support (0800 14 96 3 and explain your issues without presuming what the problem is. International traffic speeds or speeds in general can be effected by several factors and need to be looked at on case to case basis.

causes of slow international speeds

1: congestion on international transit links from NZ > world
2: ISP not having enough international transit thru cheapness or oversubscription

Our Orcons been reasonably good..

Not perfect but sometimes its hard to know where the issue lies as issues are almost always with selective connections.. some sites work some don't, as opposed to complete failure. Only had complete failure once this year.

Never call the helpdesk.

What are your thoughts on the new plans that are being rolled out? do you think they will ease the peak-time problems?

I don't think anything has been finalized in terms of plans. If you read geekzone forums, and might of thought that you've seen something in that regard, then it is better to wait until something official has been released.

I just rung them and was gonna give them an ultimatum, but I got the same person who has been dealing with this and she seems to try to be as helpful as she can possibly be, so I don't wanna give her shit...

*sigh* Looks like I'm the first person who have moved from a LLU area to a non LLU area and they can't get something in some system or database or I dunno... to work.

I wonder who from orcon reads this?

Sorry I am a little late to the party on this one guys.

I am going to keep it brief, because I posted something a little more substantial in the other thread about us.

The quick version is that yes there are problems with internal processes and support that we are well aware of, and we are working to fix those.

As several people have mentioned we are the first to offer unbundled service. This means that both us and Chorus are learning as we go to a certain extent. Obviously it sucks for people who get caught out with new processes (e.g. moving from an unbundled connection to a non-unbundled connection).

I would encourage anyone who has genuine constructive feedback to contact me directly (my details are all on our site).

Cheers,
Duncan Blair
Group Product Manager
Orcon

just did.

Ihug?

Been with them 12 years. I had problems with them in about 1998-1999 and then when I moved down to Trentham in November 07.

Apart from that? Not a problem.

Dunno if Ihug have the most attractive packages? Pretty sure they are more expensive than Orcon.

I'm with ihug broadband and phone, and pay $61 for 20gig a month.

Yeah I was with ihug for a long time (at parents house) - hardly ever had any problems, and certainly no major ones I can recall at all. Had consistent speeds, no connection problems..

I only really went to Orcon because everyone on here was big upping it so much. It's been pretty good, but the support service being such a frustrating process is what kills me.

Thats pretty good. We use about 27Gb on average (Don't torrent) and our package is 30Gb for $80. But thats full speed, and we pay for our phone line from telecom too.

When you say you're with ihug for phone you mean calls eh? Not naked DSL?

So $80 for us is still better.

Yeah, we pay our phone bills to ihug (which is $41 a month). And $20 for the broadband.

I think I'm on some deal to do with me being on a Vodafone mobile plan as well

Their website today says CBD is unbundled now.

Soooo, I'll ring them on monday and ask "now would you kindly put my internet back on, since the issue you were having is now no longer relevant?!"

It has seriously sucked without net access, so many things one cannot do, find out or organise without it.

Yeah cos that deal is definitely not listed :>

If you want to get the most out of your connection then the ultimate pack is for you. With max upload and download, you’ll be able to send and receive large attachments, download videos and video chat like never before.
Data allowance Pack price (includes home phone & standard per minute calling) *Max speed down/up
20GB $90/month

one problem is the CBD exchange is split in two, and they have to confirm exactly which MDF your copper is connected to.

still waiting hurr.

Finally got an ETA. Next Monday



Thats 3 weeks after the original target, a month after I requested it.

k, so I've got used to the idea that I have no net until next monday... idiots.

Just read a column in the herald that I found amusing because it's so true...

as someone said, this IS a new era, and you've got companies like orcon chomping at the bit to get any competitive advantage, and since they are the first ones to be getting in there, both them and telecom are on a steep learning curve, in both technical and procedural terms.


honestly, sure, people are pissed about waiting a fortnight for internet...but go ask your parents how long it used to take to get a phoneline from the Post Office.

i just got my orcon bill, typed fuck orcon in google and this site showed up, now i feel a little bit better knowing im not the only one thinking it.
The reason i was thinking FUCK ORCON, was because i have just got my bill which was only $151 out, i made 2 payments in the span of 2 days which bought it down to $132 and i got a notice in the mail stating they want it all in 7 days or its gonna get disconnected. I got friends who have skytv bills at nearly $200 but we still watch sky at there house because they still make payments. Its not like im not paying the damn shit. So FUCK ORCON again. HOMOFAGGITS!!!

What? You're not paying your bill at all! You threw them a paltry $20 and hoped that would help? Grow up and live in the adult world sometime and pay your fucking bills.

yup, Orcon was great, Once!, when It was in need of customers for the creation of the company, now it sucks in EVERY WAY, they cut people if they owe money from for instance, they go over their monthly cap they will cut you out of the blue, on a SUNDAY when NOTHING can be done unless you have a credit card and pay up! NOW, they did it to us at christmas week 2012, no letter, no email and no warning, just CUT, and pay the total or no internet. We have a 100Gig monthly cap and it rarely goes over, USUALLY, the usage leaves ORCON owing US 20-50Gig every month, that we pay for but do not use, Oh well! tough luck! BUT if we go over by 5 gig or so, the attitude is automatically cut the service, FUCK THE CUSTOMER!, this is the exact opposite to what ORCON used to be! ORCON IS NOW A MONEY HUNGRY BITCH that cuts first and talks later! WE ARE STARVED OF GOOD INTERNET SERVICE IN NZ so orcon can do what it likes and it knows it! AND we havn't got to internet speed yet? because there is no internet spped to speak of, unless it is on Orcons network, it will suck, NORMAL internet is as slow as ever, youtube, sometimes is like dialup. pathetic. THEY ARE SIMPLY (as are most NZ services) STEALING OUR MONEY! when it was OUR money that built the company!!!!!!!!!