Perhaps I could be accused of being far too tolerant in sticking with Orcon for 14 months since their mandatory account upgrade in late 2018, which involved a change from the trusty NF4V modem to a dodgy NF18ACV.   The reason given by the lying sales staff employed to pressure me into accepting their new system, claimed it would not work with a NF4V modem.  The unwelcome imposition was closely followed by finding, that Orcon's new 'upgraded' account system would not allow me to dial out.   The affected numbers were/are unable to dial in as well.  Another part of this problem is that many other numbers respond with only one dual-beep ringtone, then nothing, although the distant subscriber's telephone keeps ringing correctly until it is either picked up or times out.  

These problems have been dealt with in a most unprofessional manner over the whole of the past 14 months, using everything from the universal ISP escape clause, 'it's your phone's fault', through to 'the modem won't accept firmware updates and needs to be replaced'.   All these obvious options, including telephone and modem replacements, along with hundreds of wasted-time resets to manufacturer defaults, have been tried ad nauseum, all to no avail.   A logical explanation to an untrained CSR for how the DTMF dial tones proved my phones were not at fault was, of course, dismissed out of hand.  Escalation of the case numerous times to the so-called tech teams has always resulted in an email after a few days stating the fault has been fixed, but without any explanation.   We're all too dumb to understand, you see?    None of those emails has been true.

After many 'new sessions' were invoked at the Orcon side, the fault simply keeps recurring in as short a time as 8 hours, or more usually every 3 to 14 days.   Just before New Year 2020, the latest ineffectual CSR on the case unilaterally refused to take the matter further without my providing a list of the affected numbers.  These same numbers have been provided up to thirty times already and are available on screen to the CSR.  How do I know this?   CSRs have read them out to me without my even having to open my mouth, yet the latest script-reading CSR refused to use the data already available on screen in front of him.  Vocus, Orcon's parent company, is equally disinterested  -  there have been no replies to emails or the numerous instances of my 'unsatisfied' negative feedback submitted through their 'Satisfied', 'Unsatisfied', post-encounter surveys.  Neither company seems to give a damn.   And just to clarify:  no monthly payments have been withheld,  perhaps they should have been.

Back to the question:  is 14 months with a crippled VoIP system and an ISP without the technical ability to find a resolution some sort of a record?  Or is my expectation simply too high in NZ's wild-west style, unregulated market place where ISPs arrogantly walk roughshod over hapless customers, and where a Telecommunications Ombudsman is so desperately needed?