Orcon questions

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MrTomato

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#110895 18-Oct-2012 14:43

I'm very tempted by Orcon's $99 unlimited deal, but I keep hearing varying things about them, and their website has plenty of marketing but seems oddly scant on technical detail.

I'd love to hear impressions from people who actually use the service. How are you finding it? Are the speeds alright? Also, does anyone know whether they block any incoming ports (SMTP in particular)?

Do you have to use their Genius device to connect to them (because of the VoIP service), and if so is the device itself reliable? Is it noticeably lacking any features or are there any wacky restrictions?

Also, this question would be best posed to their sales team, but does anyone know whether you can keep your existing phone number when you sign up with them?

Cheers everyone!

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hamish225

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#703315 19-Oct-2012 01:19

I do know that you should be able to keep your phone number

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

scuwp

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#703543 19-Oct-2012 14:48

Apologies for high jacking, but timely post as was just about to start a thread myself. The main Orcon plan thread seems to have moved on from the OP. For personal reasons want to change from Telecom (nothing to do with their service or product)...and the Orcon $99 deal caught my eye, as has all the past threads indicating their VOIP product was a nightmare at the start. Has that settled down?

I have confirmed you can keep your number, and they will provide the standard VOIP modem on 12 month contract, or the one with the handset for a 24 month contract. Call centre seems very helpful.

Apart from changing to VOIP product (is that a bad thing?) I can't see a downside?

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

xpd

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#703557 19-Oct-2012 15:06

Yes you do have to use the Genius (well..appears you dont HAVE to, but dont expect help from Orcon to get another device working).

Ive been a Genius user since day 0, and had no major issues, speed is fine etc but really depends on your line quality etc, same as any ISP.

As for "wacky restrictions?" - in what way ? The hardware ?

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

Athlonite

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#708343 29-Oct-2012 12:40

xpd: As for "wacky restrictions?" - in what way ? The hardware ?

No I think you may find they're talking about the Fair use policy which in reality says lots and nothing useful at the same time

like what is the arbitrary amount of DATA they consider as over the top usage

MrTomato

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#708629 29-Oct-2012 19:26

Many thanks for everyone's responses so far, and apologies for starting the thread and vanishing.

As for "wacky restrictions?" - in what way ? The hardware ?

Yes, I was wondering whether anyone would say "the Genius modem crashes constantly", "its UPnP support is buggy", "the VoIP system doesn't allow you to dial any number with a '2' in it on Thursdays" or "it periodically causes a major electrical fire so keep an extinguisher handy!".

Anyway, in the end I signed up. I'm not even connected yet and I've already had disappointing problems with Orcon.

I signed up on Tuesday 23rd, received an order confirmation message (with a planned migration date of Tuesday 30th), and then... Nothing. No further communication from them. So I gave them a ring, but after twenty minutes on hold (and this is waiting for their sales team!) I ran out of time and had to hang up. The next day I tried again and got through to someone who did the call centre equivalent of gormlessly smiling and nodding, saying that everything will go through as planned and I should expect to receive the Genius modem and further confirmation shortly.

As of late this afternoon, I still hadn't heard anything or received the modem, and as far as I was aware the migration was still planned for tomorrow. So I gave them another ring and this time managed to get through to someone helpful. Apparently, because my phone number is already assigned to Xnet's VoIP service, my phone number doesn't match my address. The provisioning order had failed, the order had been cancelled, and they hadn't bothered to either resolve the problem or inform me. I've been assured that everything will be sorted, and I have a new provisional migration date at the end of November.

Taking my experiences so far in account and also considering the number of grumbles about Orcon you can find here and elsewhere on the Internet, plus the paucity of quality information on their website, these clowns aren't half setting off my alarm bells. If it weren't for their $99 deal being so good (for New Zealand) I'd be telling them where to stick their service right about now. Time will tell. I'd feel better if this weren't a service with a 12-month contract attached.

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bameron

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#709035 30-Oct-2012 11:16

MrTomato: Many thanks for everyone's responses so far, and apologies for starting the thread and vanishing.

As for "wacky restrictions?" - in what way ? The hardware ?

Yes, I was wondering whether anyone would say "the Genius modem crashes constantly", "its UPnP support is buggy", "the VoIP system doesn't allow you to dial any number with a '2' in it on Thursdays" or "it periodically causes a major electrical fire so keep an extinguisher handy!".

Anyway, in the end I signed up. I'm not even connected yet and I've already had disappointing problems with Orcon.

I signed up on Tuesday 23rd, received an order confirmation message (with a planned migration date of Tuesday 30th), and then... Nothing. No further communication from them. So I gave them a ring, but after twenty minutes on hold (and this is waiting for their sales team!) I ran out of time and had to hang up. The next day I tried again and got through to someone who did the call centre equivalent of gormlessly smiling and nodding, saying that everything will go through as planned and I should expect to receive the Genius modem and further confirmation shortly.

As of late this afternoon, I still hadn't heard anything or received the modem, and as far as I was aware the migration was still planned for tomorrow. So I gave them another ring and this time managed to get through to someone helpful. Apparently, because my phone number is already assigned to Xnet's VoIP service, my phone number doesn't match my address. The provisioning order had failed, the order had been cancelled, and they hadn't bothered to either resolve the problem or inform me. I've been assured that everything will be sorted, and I have a new provisional migration date at the end of November.

Taking my experiences so far in account and also considering the number of grumbles about Orcon you can find here and elsewhere on the Internet, plus the paucity of quality information on their website, these clowns aren't half setting off my alarm bells. If it weren't for their $99 deal being so good (for New Zealand) I'd be telling them where to stick their service right about now. Time will tell. I'd feel better if this weren't a service with a 12-month contract attached.

Hi there,

I'm sorry to hear of the issues you have experienced in getting signed up with us. If there is anything I can do to help out, please feel free to send me a PM with your user details and I'll look into it for you.

Cheers,

Cam

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

Athlonite

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#709088 30-Oct-2012 12:31

I found that once the small hickup's were sorted I've not had a problem with my Genius well not with regards to the internet that is the handset on the other hand is poorly made I just about have to hit the 0 with a hammer to get it to work and the rest of the keys are so sensitive that it's really easy to get the same digit multiple times .... But other than that it's been good I even plugged my WD Elements 1TB HDD into the USB port on the side and it's now acting as a nas which is cool :)

MrTomato

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#709125 30-Oct-2012 13:17

bameron: I'm sorry to hear of the issues you have experienced in getting signed up with us. If there is anything I can do to help out, please feel free to send me a PM with your user details and I'll look into it for you.

Thanks Cam. I think everything's in hand now, though, but I'll drop you a PM if there are any further problems!

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