Orcon: Expensive, should have left them long ago.

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Orcon: Expensive, should have left them long ago.

timsch

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#102978 27-May-2012 21:22

We were an Orcon customer for 5 years.

Finally decided to change ISP as their charges are so steep. Should have done it long ago - would be quids in.

I rang them and I'm asked to wait until someone from their "Customer Retention" (sheesh really!!) calls me with a good deal.

Four days later I get a call from a chap, and he parroted the Genius deal that anyone can read on the Orcon website (it is expensive with an outdated modem, and you're locked in for either 18 or 24 months).

Plus we got hit with that 30 day termination requirement, which I'm pretty sure wasn't there when we first joined.

They were a good, nimble company, but now...

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#631289 28-May-2012 08:45

Whats out-dated about the modem/router ?
You dont have to be on a contract for it either.

And pretty sure the 30 day clause has been there for years...

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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#631292 28-May-2012 08:49

Genius is available without a contract, and many around here have been moving to them because their pricing in the marketplace is pretty cheap, what do you see as expensive about their offerings?

timsch

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#631339 28-May-2012 10:34

OK, you got me - I have to reply to the Orcon shills.

This is why it is so expensive...

60GB with unlimited national calling on no contract cost $114 per month plus one-off fees of $128,95.

60GB with unlimited national calling on 24 month contract cost $104 per month plus one-off fee of $29,95 and an early disconnection fee of $199.

Compare this with Snap: 65GB, unlimited calling in your island, no one off fees for $102.

The Genius router - try connecting your NAS box to it - apparently you can only connect with a USB. The more modern ones have the cable connection. Hence my claim that these are outdated.

We already have a good router - Linksys 610N. We don't need this Genius router which appears to have considerably less specs than the one we have.

So going the Genius (this really is an oxymoron) way, we'd get to pay a lot more with a worse router and locked in for 24 months, or not locked in with a worse router and with ~$130 upfront fees and still be paying more.

No brainer really.

khull

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#631348 28-May-2012 10:42

The "30 day termination requirement" has been around on Orcon for yonks. I gave them the benefit without disputing considering I accepted this when I joined but completely forgotten about it before I switched.

The odd thing is the normal process for many people is to contact their new provider to switch and once the switch over is complete, one would notify my previous provider that they have switched and the old provider willl credit/debit the differential between the switch over date. Orcon on the other hand just enforces the 30 days from the date they receive notice. Cunning foxes.

I will never return to Orcon short of them offering me an unlimited cap for next to nothing. Seeing that will never happen, probably will never get any business from me or the peers that I talk to.

That aside, my speeds were the best with Orcon. So they have some good things going on for them

xpd

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#631387 28-May-2012 11:49

timsch: OK, you got me - I have to reply to the Orcon shills.

The Genius router - try connecting your NAS box to it - apparently you can only connect with a USB. The more modern ones have the cable connection. Hence my claim that these are outdated.

We already have a good router - Linksys 610N. We don't need this Genius router which appears to have considerably less specs than the one we have.

If your NAS has ethernet, then it can be used with Genius - are you referring to ethernet when you say "cable" ?

What features specifically are you using on the Linksys that the Genius cant provide as such ?

I'm curious :)

Disclaimer : I have a Genius - and have no issues with it, but in saying that, I use it purely for internet connectivity and phone, never used the USB function etc.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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bazzer

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#631389 28-May-2012 11:49

timsch: OK, you got me - I have to reply to the Orcon shills.

This is why it is so expensive...

60GB with unlimited national calling on no contract cost $114 per month plus one-off fees of $128,95.

60GB with unlimited national calling on 24 month contract cost $104 per month plus one-off fee of $29,95 and an early disconnection fee of $199.

Compare this with Snap: 65GB, unlimited calling in your island, no one off fees for $102.

The Genius router - try connecting your NAS box to it - apparently you can only connect with a USB. The more modern ones have the cable connection. Hence my claim that these are outdated.

We already have a good router - Linksys 610N. We don't need this Genius router which appears to have considerably less specs than the one we have.

So going the Genius (this really is an oxymoron) way, we'd get to pay a lot more with a worse router and locked in for 24 months, or not locked in with a worse router and with ~$130 upfront fees and still be paying more.

No brainer really.

None of the people that replied to you are Orcon "shills". I get you disagree with them, but play nice.

As for your point about the NAS, whatever you "apparently" think, I doubt this is the case because a NAS just acts like any other network device, doesn't it? Presumably you can connect a PC to the router, so why not a NAS? Any good reason, other than heresay or speculation?

Finally, you might want to look up the definition of oxymoron. You seem to be confusing it with a misnomer.

gehenna

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#631412 28-May-2012 12:08

I'm agnostic about ISP's. I'm with Orcon because I can get a terabyte of data, plus phone, for $195. Strikes me that it's a pretty good deal. I have a NAS and server connected to the router Ethernet ports. The USB port on the router is bogus - too slow to be effective for any real usage. But aside from that it's perfectly fine as a router/WAP/switch.

I also have an Airport connected to it on another ethernet port.

I don't get your argument about the router.

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Kyanar

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#631574 28-May-2012 17:21

Only if you can get the Genius do you get a good deal. If, for any reason, you cannot get it, Orcon is the most expensive ISP in existence. I'm paying $150/mo for no free calling at all (not even local) and 50GB of data - I'm almost paying the same as customers getting 1TB of data, which annoys me. A lot.

CitizenErased

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#632192 29-May-2012 20:01

khull: The "30 day termination requirement" has been around on Orcon for yonks. I gave them the benefit without disputing considering I accepted this when I joined but completely forgotten about it before I switched.

The odd thing is the normal process for many people is to contact their new provider to switch and once the switch over is complete, one would notify my previous provider that they have switched and the old provider willl credit/debit the differential between the switch over date. Orcon on the other hand just enforces the 30 days from the date they receive notice. Cunning foxes.

I agree, they're a pack of bastards with that 30 day thing.

I was told you should let your new ISP handle the changeover and your old ISP would receive an automatic notification. If you cancel your old ISP first, they'll put a work order in with Chorus ahead of your new connection and that totally screws everything up.

It seems to me that the fair thing to do would be to stop all charges at the end of your current billing period. But no, you have to pay for another 30 days. I thought I was doing the smart thing changing ISPs near the end of my Orcon billing period, but I ended up having to pay both ISPs for nearly a whole month.

It just seems like a sh*t way to treat a customer who's been with them for nine years. I'll get some satisfaction from moving some of my business clients away from Orcon though. F*ck 'em.

timsch

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#632350 30-May-2012 00:22

The 'Genius' modem was jointly developed with Australia's iiNet (called BoB). It does not have gigabit ports, and no 5.0GHz wireless. When it came out in Australia in 2009 it caused customers a lot of grief. A quick google will bring up myriad examples.

It is expensive and outdated.

Sheesh - even poor old down and out Telecom has nearly the same pricing as Orcon.

Still if people are happy to be locked in with old hardware for up to two years and be paying through the nose for it, that's their choice.

The only way that Orcon will have products that don't suck is... when they start selling vacuum cleaners.

sbiddle

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#632363 30-May-2012 06:17

timsch: The 'Genius' modem was jointly developed with Australia's iiNet (called BoB). It does not have gigabit ports, and no 5.0GHz wireless. When it came out in Australia in 2009 it caused customers a lot of grief. A quick google will bring up myriad examples.

It is expensive and outdated.

Sheesh - even poor old down and out Telecom has nearly the same pricing as Orcon.

Still if people are happy to be locked in with old hardware for up to two years and be paying through the nose for it, that's their choice.

The only way that Orcon will have products that don't suck is... when they start selling vacuum cleaners.

Genius is not Bob - it's Bob II, a device that came out in 2011, not 2009.

If you're going to slander a company in a thread at least start getting your facts right..

Ragnor

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#632491 30-May-2012 11:05

timsch: The 'Genius' modem was jointly developed with Australia's iiNet (called BoB). It does not have gigabit ports, and no 5.0GHz wireless. When it came out in Australia in 2009 it caused customers a lot of grief. A quick google will bring up myriad examples.

It is expensive and outdated.

Sheesh - even poor old down and out Telecom has nearly the same pricing as Orcon.

Still if people are happy to be locked in with old hardware for up to two years and be paying through the nose for it, that's their choice.

The only way that Orcon will have products that don't suck is... when they start selling vacuum cleaners.

You should review your phone and broadband bill every time you are out of contract just like any other service (power, water etc).

Telecom's total home broadband pricing is quite competitive, for the market it's targeting.

There is not much mass market consumer demand for modem's with simultaneous dual band and gigabit lan a the current prices they can be sourced and provided to the end user for.

Yes many people are happy to have a managed service like Orcon Genius they don't want to know the technicalities of naked broadband and ATA hardware.

The genius contract options are: no contract, 12 months and 18 months... not 2 years

Genius is a good plan for it's target market, you are not the target market for Genius though.. I suggest you look at naked DSL from Snap, Maxnet, Vodafone etc and voip from 2talk or Xnet/WxC.