Move to Orcon Genius

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Move to Orcon Genius

Lanthanide

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#101952 12-May-2012 16:01

I've been with xnet for a couple of years now, on the torrential data plan (75gb 2-8am per month + $1.28 per gig otherwise) with fusion. Normally we spend about $100/month for our usage, although once it was $130 and a few times it's been $105-110.

I'm looking at the Orcon Genius plans, which for $99/month + $5 modem rental you get 200 gigs of data and the VOIP line. At the moment I'm using an older?WAG54GP2 that I bought really cheap off trademe because the WAG310G (that we spent over $200 on) was starting to drop connection 2-3 times a week and sometimes took up to 30 minutes to come back up - WAG54GP2 has been rock solid for about 2 months now. I figure paying $5/month for a modem is a better option, after two years you've only spend $120 and can effectively 'upgrade' to the latest technology.

I've got some specific questions I'd like some feedback on whether it is worth moving or not:

1. Is the connection from Orcon going to be the same or better than what I get from Xnet? I'm in CHCH and just did a speedtest: 11Mbps down and 0.56 up to a CHCH server hosted by snap, 13Mbps down and 0.56 up to a worldxchange server in Auckland.

2. Orcon seem to be one of the ISPs sending out copyright infringement notices? Is this likely to be an issue or do you have to do something especially stupid to end up with these?

3. Would I be able to take my existing xnet voip phone number to Orcon, or will I have to get a new one?

4. What is the customer support (billing etc) like at Orcon?

5. What is the technical support like at Orcon? I've had great service from x.net with people who understand what they're talking about, follow up when they promise to and get things done.

6. Does/will Orcon support IPv6?

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20147 posts

Uber Geek

#624049 12-May-2012 16:39

Lanthanide: I've been with xnet for a couple of years now, on the torrential data plan (75gb 2-8am per month + $1.28 per gig otherwise) with fusion. Normally we spend about $100/month for our usage, although once it was $130 and a few times it's been $105-110.

I'm looking at the Orcon Genius plans, which for $99/month + $5 modem rental you get 200 gigs of data and the VOIP line. At the moment I'm using an older?WAG54GP2 that I bought really cheap off trademe because the WAG310G (that we spent over $200 on) was starting to drop connection 2-3 times a week and sometimes took up to 30 minutes to come back up - WAG54GP2 has been rock solid for about 2 months now. I figure paying $5/month for a modem is a better option, after two years you've only spend $120 and can effectively 'upgrade' to the latest technology.

I've got some specific questions I'd like some feedback on whether it is worth moving or not:

1. Is the connection from Orcon going to be the same or better than what I get from Xnet? I'm in CHCH and just did a speedtest: 11Mbps down and 0.56 up to a CHCH server hosted by snap, 13Mbps down and 0.56 up to a worldxchange server in Auckland.

2. Orcon seem to be one of the ISPs sending out copyright infringement notices? Is this likely to be an issue or do you have to do something especially stupid to end up with these?

3. Would I be able to take my existing xnet voip phone number to Orcon, or will I have to get a new one?

4. What is the customer support (billing etc) like at Orcon?

5. What is the technical support like at Orcon? I've had great service from x.net with people who understand what they're talking about, follow up when they promise to and get things done.

6. Does/will Orcon support IPv6?

Why don't you email them, then you will get a sense of how good their support is and they will be able to answer the questions. Also you would only get a copyright infringement notice if you are actually doing something wrong and downloading copyright material. So why are you worrying?

Lanthanide

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#624051 12-May-2012 16:44

Getting customer opinions of a service is generally more useful than asking a company if they think they're good or not. And yes, there are some technical questions in there that I will ask Orcon also, but again it doesn't hurt to ask here - for example Orcon might say "sure, we can move your phone number over" but someone on this forum might've already done it and found it was a tortuous process that kept getting screwed up.

mattwnz

20147 posts

Uber Geek

#624053 12-May-2012 16:47

Lanthanide: Getting customer opinions of a service is generally more useful than asking a company if they think they're good or not. And yes, there are some technical questions in there that I will ask Orcon also, but again it doesn't hurt to ask here - for example Orcon might say "sure, we can move your phone number over" but someone on this forum might've already done it and found it was a tortuous process that kept getting screwed up.

True, but some of peoples the opinions maybe based on old information. eg they may have moved their number 6 months ago, and it was difficult, but it may now be very easy.

Lanthanide

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#624054 12-May-2012 16:48

Which is still more useful information than Orcon saying "yes, we can do it no problems".

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#624055 12-May-2012 16:51

You can port your number between any phone provider in NZ who provides local service. The only real exception to this is Skype.

As for copyright notices if you break the law you'll get a notice sent to you no matter what ISP you're with.

Lanthanide

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#624058 12-May-2012 16:55

sbiddle: As for copyright notices if you break the law you'll get a notice sent to you no matter what ISP you're with.

Right, but say someone was "breaking the law" on a particular ISP and never got copyright notices for it. Is it possible that after they moved to another ISP, they continued to do exactly the same things, but suddenly attracted copyright notices where they hadn't previously?

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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#624061 12-May-2012 17:03

Lanthanide:
sbiddle: As for copyright notices if you break the law you'll get a notice sent to you no matter what ISP you're with.

Right, but say someone was "breaking the law" on a particular ISP and never got copyright notices for it. Is it possible that after they moved to another ISP, they continued to do exactly the same things, but suddenly attracted copyright notices where they hadn't previously?

I don't understand what you're saying. If you're believe that some ISP's don't pass on s92 infringement notices then you're mistaken.

If you are going to break copyright laws and download copyrighted content you need to understand that at any time you could be caught, no matter what NZ based ISP you use.

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Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

Lanthanide

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#624063 12-May-2012 17:04

sbiddle: I don't understand what you're saying. If you're believe that some ISP's don't pass on s92 infringement notices then you're mistaken.

I'm asking if choice of ISP would change the likelihood of a S92 infringement notice being generated in the first place.

One should presume, then, if one hasn't received any infringement notices on their current ISP, changing to another ISP will not increase the likelihood of such notice being sent.

Phexx

415 posts

Ultimate Geek

#624065 12-May-2012 17:07

ISPs don't "report" you, they receive notices by people who report you. So the ISP has nothing to do with it I believe - except for handing on notices.

Lanthanide

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#624067 12-May-2012 17:18

Thanks, that's the sort of info I was looking for. I don't know how the system works.

sbiddle

30853 posts

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Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#624068 12-May-2012 17:24

Lanthanide:
sbiddle: I don't understand what you're saying. If you're believe that some ISP's don't pass on s92 infringement notices then you're mistaken.

I'm asking if choice of ISP would change the likelihood of a S92 infringement notice being generated in the first place.

One should presume, then, if one hasn't received any infringement notices on their current ISP, changing to another ISP will not increase the likelihood of such notice being sent.

The odds of receiving a notice are identical no matter what ISP you use.

ISP's don't snoop your traffic and report you - copyright holders (for example) monitor torrent sites and trackers, identify your IP/ISP and then send the s92 notice your your ISP who then pass this on to you.

friendlymonkey

180 posts

Master Geek

#624072 12-May-2012 17:36

Im in Christchurch on Genius. I have slightly higher speeds than what you are getting. Genius works great, had no problems with the hardware or quality of broadband. Orcons customer service can be a bit iffy ... you just have to get one of their staff who know what they are doing..others you need to tell them what to do as they are clueless. Lower hold time for account queries now their non technical call centre is in Manilla.

Niel

3267 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#624113 12-May-2012 20:12

Fix your WAG54GP2 by replacing the power supply, they last about 4 years and is not uncommon for any brand. Power supplies are bought in and branded, they are not designed by the modem manufacturer.

I'd say 5 of your 6 questions are Orcon related and should be posted in the Orcon forum, you'll likely get a much better response there.

To expand on the infringement notices, ISPs are supposed to track the IP address assigned to you so when they receive a notice they cross check the IP address to see who had it at that time. Then the ISP forwards the notice to the account holder. The copyright holder does not know who you are, only knows your IP address. And this is where the legislation comes in, requiring ISPs to forward the notice on to the account holder who held the IP address at the time. And on that note I wonder why a static IP is still charged for, it will make it much easier for ISPs if everyone had a static IP.

You can never have enough Volvos!

Lanthanide

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#624124 12-May-2012 20:36

I tried using the power supply that came with the WAG54GPv2 on the WAG310G as I'd read about the power supply issue on these forums. It was initially fine for 2 days, but on the 3rd day it disconnected twice, just like it had been doing for the previous 3-4 weeks to that point.

So I don't think it was a power supply issue. It's also worth noting that this is the second WAG310G we had, after the first one developed very similar problems after we owned it for 2 months and we got it replaced under warranty.

mattwnz

20147 posts

Uber Geek

#624128 12-May-2012 20:45

Niel: Fix your WAG54GP2 by replacing the power supply, they last about 4 years and is not uncommon for any brand. Power supplies are bought in and branded, they are not designed by the modem manufacturer.

I'd say 5 of your 6 questions are Orcon related and should be posted in the Orcon forum, you'll likely get a much better response there.

To expand on the infringement notices, ISPs are supposed to track the IP address assigned to you so when they receive a notice they cross check the IP address to see who had it at that time. Then the ISP forwards the notice to the account holder. The copyright holder does not know who you are, only knows your IP address. And this is where the legislation comes in, requiring ISPs to forward the notice on to the account holder who held the IP address at the time. And on that note I wonder why a static IP is still charged for, it will make it much easier for ISPs if everyone had a static IP.

Some don't charge. eg Telecoms higher plan I believe the IP is free.

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