Changing to Orcon....Good idea?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Changing to Orcon....Good idea?

1 | 2 | 3

28 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#180520 26-Nov-2008 20:29

Orcon has become another Vodafone, for some reason these companies are not interested in customer service. It is dam near impossible to contact a human at either of these companies.
Vodafone do have humans answering phones in Cairo but they are surely the worst performing company in New Zealand. It seems to take about 30 minutes wait to get through to a real person at Orcon.

The Orcon home line leaves a lot to be desired, there is echo on many local calls, their message/answerphone barely works and there is no way to short cut to your messages without listening to dribble.

I think telecom may be the best option with the line at least it works.

NzKaizer

130 posts

Master Geek

#180677 27-Nov-2008 14:06

binzi: I've just been 'discontinued' by orcon as they dropped their basic budget lowest priced broadband plan. I will probably upgrade to thier Silver package and dump the Telecom home line, which is perfect for me. BUT, does anyone know about Snap? (www.snap.net.nz)
Apparently they are what Orcon used to be, namely good with service. I'm not a tech-saavy guy, so I dumped Slingshot years ago when they treated me like an idiot (which I am, but) and Orcon started as helpful. Unfortunately, Orcon has gone the way of Slingshot and now only deal with IT tech-types... but they are the only ones left with a plan that suits me.
Has anyone dealt with Snap?

Correct me if I'm wrong but if you look at Orcon's about page or missions statement they were always started up to appeal to the niche "hardcore" "tech-savy" populas.

speakerguru

28 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#180691 27-Nov-2008 14:58

agreed but no reason to ignore customers and offer crap service

xpd

Geek of Coastguard
14116 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4579

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#180693 27-Nov-2008 15:21

Im not with Orcon yet, but Ive had cause to ring them quite a few times in the past year and never had a problem getting a real human who is in the same country code and is actually helpful.

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

speakerguru

28 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#180731 27-Nov-2008 18:19

well you are lucky? Wait until you are a customer and see what happens

b0rg

95 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 8

#180809 27-Nov-2008 23:07

I've found something rather interesting since joining this forum. 90% of people here are here to whinge because they want more than they pay for or aren't willing to get real help.

For instance, the person complaining about their line quality being poor- have you called them and asked to lodge a fault report?
You complain about the voicemail- have you reported this as well?

I had a problem with caller ID- they told me it was incompatibility with their equipment, and they fixed it.

Being a little short on cash, I asked for a refund on this portion, but they made a good point when they advised that it's not a charged service- it isn't. You can disable it and you wont get a discount, it's free and it's a new product so there were teething problems which are now fixed. Good work guys.

My speeds were slow, so I did a few tests which one of their guys walked me through, basic stuff for a techie, easy to follow instructions for anyone else.

Once it had been a week, I called back, they told me there was a known issue, should be fixed soon. Two days later I had the fastest connection to LA I've ever had! Once again, well done guys.

All of these type problems, with Telecom and Slingshot, resulted in questions like "how many times have you restarted your modem" or "have you tried a new modem yet?"- my link to the exchange was fine- it's not my gear that was faulty but they won't admit that.

I have one question- how many people have ever had a problem with their ISP fixed by posting it here? Honestly.

I see Orcon's yet again been praised for being the best ISP in a category- speed.

Well done, that's why I choose you guys over those other companies.

b0rg!

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

b0rg

95 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 8

#180815 27-Nov-2008 23:20

Speakerguru, I see you did post 'ticket' with them- they haven't gotten back to you yet?

Most companies have a policy of following up on all fault reports so give them a call and ask for details.

I always act pleasantly, try to be friendly because I know what customer service is like, and they always look after me.
Give them a call and ask for an update, point out it's been a while and ask when it's going to be fixed. That's what I'd do.

I found something interesting from one of the Vodafone techs I know. ADSL 1 was expected to run fine because phones worked fine on the same wires, but there were problems they didn't expect with ADSL and a lot of connections needed to be tweaked to reap the benefits and work properly.

Aparrently ADSL2 is the same, which is why there is line repair insurance on the connections with orcon- so they can get someone to fix the line for no cost to them or us.

Maybe your line needs to be tweaked?

b0rg!

speakerguru

28 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#180848 28-Nov-2008 09:23

Yes you are right about the ticket. The interesting thing is I am not here to whinge. I have spent my life in sales and my own business. The number one thing is the customer is the lifeblood of any business. I have the TOP Orcon plan with all the bells and whistles, international free calling and I pay them around $200 per month for this.
The speed of brodband is fantastic and no complaints. I converted to this plan back in August and since then I have had an ongoing problem with the phone line.
There is an echo on most calls including local. The software they are using for the call minder sucks and despite my ticket the problem still exists.
I actually rang them last Monday and timed my hold time. (20 mins).
Is that acceptable, good, great or superb?
The reason I frequent these forums is to try and keep these people honest.

In a nutshell Orcon is not too bad, they have a hell of a long way to go to become as bad as Vodfone as they do not believe in customer service at all.

dking

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#182881 9-Dec-2008 01:13

i was with slingshot. i got the advertising material from orcon in my mailbox about their adsl 2. i bought into it 120/month.
it is fraud and rubbish. i deeply regret moving to orcon. local speeds are great... big deal. try doing anything on youtube, or cnn, or any international site... ie many of the good sites

prob 10+ contacts with orcon, not once have they fessed up about their problems, instead they tell you to do the normal tests... again and again. my local is about 4000 kb on speedtest.net, los angeles is about 300 on the same scale. They know darn well what the problem is but still waste you time with the complete farce of multiple repetative tests

i compared this exact test with an xtra account, 2000 local and 2000 international. there was no discernable difference between local and international speeds.

they do not buy enough bandwidth, i am fed up with the constant stalling and deliberate misinformation

commerce commission will do nothing, emailed them

isposure looks to be another con, it clearly only measures local traffic NOT international traffic.... wonder why this is so?? wonder who owns it? they have not replied to 2 emails

avoid orcon unless you want frustration, i suspect they simply cannot afford enough international nandwidth to compete with telecom (who own their own cable)

dk

Sounddude

I fix stuff!
1935 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 640

Trusted

2degrees

Lifetime subscriber

#182909 9-Dec-2008 09:12

dking: i was with slingshot. i got the advertising material from orcon in my mailbox about their adsl 2. i bought into it 120/month.
it is fraud and rubbish. i deeply regret moving to orcon. local speeds are great... big deal. try doing anything on youtube, or cnn, or any international site... ie many of the good sites

prob 10+ contacts with orcon, not once have they fessed up about their problems, instead they tell you to do the normal tests... again and again. my local is about 4000 kb on speedtest.net, los angeles is about 300 on the same scale. They know darn well what the problem is but still waste you time with the complete farce of multiple repetative tests

i compared this exact test with an xtra account, 2000 local and 2000 international. there was no discernable difference between local and international speeds.

they do not buy enough bandwidth, i am fed up with the constant stalling and deliberate misinformation

commerce commission will do nothing, emailed them

isposure looks to be another con, it clearly only measures local traffic NOT international traffic.... wonder why this is so?? wonder who owns it? they have not replied to 2 emails

avoid orcon unless you want frustration, i suspect they simply cannot afford enough international nandwidth to compete with telecom (who own their own cable)

dk

Can you please provide the information you provided Orcon in the tests here please? I will have a look into it for you.

Are you in Auckland on the Orcon DSLAMS? or on Telecom Wholesale?

NzKaizer

130 posts

Master Geek

#182964 9-Dec-2008 12:29

Sounds like a bandwidth issue. I have no such thing, your problem is isolated.

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

b0rg

95 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 8

#182969 9-Dec-2008 12:47

I don't have a problem,

https://www.speedtest.net/result/369551345.png

...and I think you're both telling porkies or making mountains out of molehills.

b0rg!

xpd

Geek of Coastguard
14116 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4579

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#182971 9-Dec-2008 13:11

speakerguru: well you are lucky? Wait until you are a customer and see what happens

I am a customer now, for my home internet, and havent had a problem getting through to Orcon so far (2x).

We use Orcon for most of our centers at work as well, and never had a problem getting to talk to anyone.

Speedwise, for my home connection, havent had a problem yet, everythings been running along nicely.

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

binzi

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#183063 9-Dec-2008 17:08

I took the plunge a week ago, and upgraded with orcon. That's when the fun began. I lost the line altogether. No dial tone, no internet, no home phone.

I had no trouble talking to a human, and most were friendly, and some were very helpful. I work in customer contact, so I never get upset with the person on the phone... but, they are never willing to admit any problem, and in each of six calls, asked me to run thru the same questions and tests which they know damn well had nothing to do with the mistake at thier end. The best was they wanted to phone me as they went thru some tests, and asked what number to call. I said my home number, and if you get through, then it must be fixed.

Finally, they blamed Telecom, and while that may well be true, that's not my prblem, it's theirs. I'm paying Orcon.

After 4 days (not 4 hours) of being without any phone service, it was finally connected... ONLY TO GO DEAD AGAIN AN HOUR LATER! Another day and a half, and three phone calls later, my phone rang. I have no idea what the English-as-a-third-language tech was saying, but the fact that we were on the phone was good enuf for me.

Watch this space to see if it goes dead again.

dauckland

290 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 27

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#183068 9-Dec-2008 17:20

b0rg

I'm really glad you are having such a great experience with Orcon.
I can't say the same thing.
My account (two accounts in fact, both business ones) are full of fault tickets.
And the many times I got asked "did you try turning you modem off and on again" - I can't count.

I am in the process of leaving Orcon. I'll give Snap a try.

The last straw was when I had exactly the same fault on my two accounts (frequent synch disconnections).
And when I was asked how many different modems (with model numbers) I tried, I simply gave up.
Both cases were (supposedly) handled by the same person, yet was repeatedly asked for the same useless piece of info.
Total disconnect.
So good luck to you. For me Orcon is no longer the same as it was a couple of years ago, and definitely not in the good way.
I'm with dking on this.
D

1 | 2 | 3