Thinking of changing to Orcon

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Thinking of changing to Orcon

WildQwerty

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#154841 10-Nov-2014 10:44

Hi,

I've been a little unhappy with the performance of my current ISP for a while now, and were thinking of changing to Orcon. My address wont be able to get Fibre until next year so I'll be stuck on ADSL2 for a few more months. I understand that Orcon don't shape their traffic (low priority of certain traffic types etc..) and are a true full speed provider.

I'd just like a little feedback from people with firsthand experience using them, what are they really like etc...

I'm currently with slingshot and I've heard that Orcon is now owned by the same people as them, are they still run as two different ISPs with different standard etc...

I use my internet for the following activities

- General web browsing
- Remote access to work
- Occasional online gaming (World of tanks, whats the Ping like with Orcon?)
- File sharing (not huge quantities)

Thanks

PeterReader

6019 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#1172015 10-Nov-2014 10:44

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

- you have reset your modem and router

- your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing

- you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap

- your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing

- you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

- Your ISP and plan

- Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)

- Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)

- Your general location (or street)

- If you are rural or urban

- If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin

- If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service

- If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

- Is your premises phone wiring impacting your broadband performance? (very technical)

- Are you receiving a substandard ULL ADSL2+ connection from your ISP?

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

Krishant007

1403 posts

Uber Geek

#1172027 10-Nov-2014 10:48

Hey mate. I am currently with Slingshot. Just wanted to gauge why are you not happy with Slingshot? Is it poor speeds or something else?

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#1172040 10-Nov-2014 11:16

Do you want the Orcon Genius phone service as well??

Regards,

Old3eyes

WildQwerty

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1172061 10-Nov-2014 11:35

The traffic occasionally just 'stops' and the only alternative is to reset the router. When I ring up tech support they say it stopped because I reset it (duh!). This is generaly HTTP traffic, other times its just p2p traffic that stops (file sharing). The ping to the world tanks server was rubbish but if I use a VPN tool it improves dramatically, so the slingshot routing is fairly bad IMO. I've been playing online with a group and all the people using slingshot get disconnected at the same time but tech support say nothing is wrong, people were in different regions around the country.

Speedtest websites come back as decent speed, but at times it just stops and will take a minute to load a webpage.

The general performance just feels a little random.

WildQwerty

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1172063 10-Nov-2014 11:39

old3eyes: Do you want the Orcon Genius phone service as well??

I'm not fussed one way or the other about the phone to be honest, I don't really use the phone that often. I really don't mind going to a VoIP solution though, I used to set a lot of VoIP phones up in one of my old jobs so are familiar with that anyway and I'll have no choice once I go fibre next year anyway.

I do like the idea of having a VoIP app on my phone so I can answer it when Im out.