Orcon business plan - poor service

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Orcon business plan - poor service

seagee

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#116318 25-Apr-2013 11:02

After 8 years of service with Orcon for broadband and iServe for web and email hosting I am finally at the end of my tether. Our business requires a static IP so it naturally takes some doing to get me to this point.

Over the past 6 months a deterioration in service has been evident. About a year ago I was 'upsold' a business plan on the promise of better service. What a joke: I now find that if a problem occurs even a minute after 5:00pm, during a weekend; or in the case of today - a public holiday, no one is available to look into the call until next working day. I am further told that it may take up to 48 (working hours) for a response to a logged business call. 5 days later and I'm still waiting for Orcon to get back to me on my previously logged call...

Most of the the issues I have been experiencing over the past months have related to authentication dropoffs: the PPP light on my ADSL router goes out while the DSL light remains on. This tells me that my network is still communicating with the exchange but the issue is downstream of the exchange - authenticating with Orcon's servers.

Orcons helpdesk usually instructs me to reset my ADSL modem. This usually doesn't resolve things. The issue 'mysteriously' resolves itself minutes or hours later when the PPP light magically comes back on again all by itself! Conferring with a network engineer I am informed that such authentication dropoff behaviour is symptomatic of an issue at the ISP end rather than on the Chorus network. The fact that the DSL light remain on continuously demonstrates a good level of uptime with the exchange. Furthermore when things are working, speed is good at ~13-15mb/sec download. The exchange is close and is fibre.

While I am reluctant to part ways with a company which I once viewed as excellent I am now seeing little option. Both communication and reliability being factors in driving me to this point. I am not aware of any business which shuts its internet down between the hours of 5:01pm and 8:30am; and over weekends and public holidays!

A recent email from the new GM promises improvements. Sadly, no reply address was provided in this email; nor has it been possible for me to escalate my problem internally - thus my next point of recourse, this forum.

If someone in Orcon management is listening feel free to respond. Anyone else in the same boat?

PeterReader

6015 posts

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Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#805364 25-Apr-2013 11:02

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

- you have reset your modem and router

- your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing

- you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap

- your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing

- you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

- Your ISP and plan

- Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)

- Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)

- Your general location (or street)

- If you are rural or urban

- If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin

- If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service

- If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

- Is your premises phone wiring impacting your broadband performance? (very technical)

- Are you receiving a substandard ULL ADSL2+ connection from your ISP?

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

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FireEngine

1223 posts

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#805442 25-Apr-2013 13:49

Send me your un or account number and a contact mobile by chat and I will get you a response today.

PM sent

Regards FireEngine

seagee

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#805498 25-Apr-2013 16:25

Thanks for your attention. I have not yet received a PM from you and cannot find you on chat. I have sent you a PM with my details and look forward to hearing from someone soonest...

FireEngine

1223 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#805499 25-Apr-2013 16:39

You should get a call soon. Think PM and chat may not work for me yet as too few posts...

Regards FireEngine

Publius

276 posts

Ultimate Geek

#805502 25-Apr-2013 16:55

If the new mgmt at Orcon dont look like making changes to the Business help desk hours, I too will be moving my Business UFB connection to another provider.

Since we connected to UFB in June last year, Orcon had a major outage twice. Staff got to work at 7:30 and no internet, and Orcon wont pick up the phone until 8:30am!

Admittedly, It is my fault for not checking their business helpdesk hours when we chose to go with them in the first place.

And admittedly, both faults rectified themselves that day (ie, our reporting the fault may not have helped in any way) but its still bad customer service.

Seeing as most ISPs charge a reasonable bit more for business connections, it helps to be able to justify it. The residential helpdesk is open longer hours :(

chevrolux

4962 posts

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Inactive user

#805515 25-Apr-2013 17:28

Seems to be the usual story of you get what you pay for.

I see Orcon like Pak n Save. They have the goods and it will get to you, but the shops are dirty and busy and you wait in line for a long time.

Telecom are like New World. They have the same goods but have an extremely well layed out shops that is always pristine. You pay a little more but the experience is just superior.

FireEngine

1223 posts

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Trusted

#805516 25-Apr-2013 17:29

With respect, major outages aren't the issue (from a helpdesk hours point of view). Major outages are normally detected by a mixture of alarms/alerts and 24/7/365 major Customers calling NOC-to-NOC.

We always work on those 24/7 and your issue would be resolved, on the whole, whether you manage to call us or not - although we are working on better, more flexible methods for you to find out if you are affected, or likely to be affected by any major outage. This would avoid any log-jam of customers trying to find out such basic information.

Business helpdesk hours are more relevant for an issue that affects just you, ie your cct/vpn/auth/account etc.

Regards FireEngine