Orcon 'Genius' new connection woes

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Orcon 'Genius' new connection woes

jsr38

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#88658 20-Aug-2011 08:03

So I finally signed up for Orcon's 'Genius' offering. Similar story to what's currently being posted in this forum regarding Orcon's technical and logistic problems.

Date for service provisioning was 17th August. No email or text as promised. After creating a support ticket on the evening of the 17th via the website I was contacted (within 5 hours to Orcon's credit) and told:

"It looks as though you were actually connected yesterday. You will need to factory reset your modem.
If you need help with this - feel free to reply to this email."

Symptoms are that there is an ASDL link up but the onward PPP link is failing to be established. Lights all on except Internet and Phone lights. Factory reset did not resolve the issue (later I have discovered the factory reset actually puts the modem configuration into an incorrect state - the ATM link encapsulation defaults to LLC rather than VC MUX)

Contacted Orcon again and received a boilerplate response containing the correct procedure for the factory reset including the config change required. Still no joy. Have supplied WAN MAC address as requested per boilerplate response.

Hope someone might be able to shed some light on what I may have done wrong or what I need to do to get my internet service back after 3 months moving between houses (for which I was paying Orcon for no service - but that's my fault)!

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94 posts

Master Geek

#509392 20-Aug-2011 17:06

The symptoms seem similar to mine which was due to Orcon not having loaded my specific router details into its system. A reboot just put it to raw factory default with a generic genius@orcon.net.nz username which actually gave me a Telecom IP address. Until your actual username and password along with the correct settings poulate the appropriate fields it won't work. Under ideal conditions this is done automatically by Orcon when it runs its initial configuration.

Go to your account page on Orcon's site and see if they have details of your router serial or mac addy under the assets section. Also see if you have been assigned an IP address under the broadband authentication link. Could be a start and indicate to what extent you are in their system.

I managed to find out thanks to Softswitch what my password was (it wasn't one chosen or set by me) and changed the user name details to mine and entered the IP address from my Orcon account page as static in order to get the router to connect to Orcon, which gave me back the internet but it wasn't till Orcon set it up properly at its end and I re-set the modem that the VOIP worked properly.

You will be stuck until it is updated at Orcon's end I guess - which from experience will only be with the help of Sounddude or Softswitch from this forum.

jsr38

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#509651 21-Aug-2011 17:40

Thanks.

Hmmmm... still no reply from Orcon and no other updates...

I had a look and can see my IP address in the Orcon self-service site but I can't actually type it in to the field on the Wizard page of the modem config interface. Anyway, if the password it is not related to my original orcon account password then I don't know what it is.

I guess I'll just have to wait... five days without service since I was allegedly connected.

Please help!

jsr38

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#511687 25-Aug-2011 10:43

Now over a week since my connection date and still no resolution or even attempt at troubleshooting as far as I can tell...

xpd

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#511694 25-Aug-2011 10:49

Were you issued a fault ticket number ?
If so, then jump on Twitter and DM @Orcon, they've been pretty good at chasing things up.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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softswitch

18 posts

Geek

#511774 25-Aug-2011 12:35

jsr38:
Now over a week since my connection date and still no resolution or even attempt at troubleshooting as far as I can tell...

hi,
Sorry for the delay, could you PM your username: and we will get this resolve asap.

thanks

Bee

732 posts

Ultimate Geek

#511804 25-Aug-2011 13:03

Just a thought, but has anyone considered pulling the Advertising campaign for this product at least Temporarily???

When Genius was first Launched I was keen as to get onto it but now I've just seen too many horror stories to consider it!

If Orcon cant deal with the customers they have already whats the point of enticing even more into their "evil trap"???

Doing your best is much more important than being the best.

jsr38

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#511818 25-Aug-2011 13:11

Who knows if the problem is technical or simply logistic, in which case as soon as take-up slows everything should be alright.

I don't have a problem with connection taking longer than it ought to. The problem I have is that it has taken several tickets and several phone calls to *even have it acknowledged that there is a problem*. I understand that the problem in this instance is likely to be configuration at Orcon's end and I suspect actually checking and correcting the configuration should take someone minutes and in the meantime I have contributed to clogging the support system...

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jsr38

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#512808 27-Aug-2011 10:40

I recommend that anyone considering Orcon as an ISP to steer well clear.

I have contacted them by raising tickets, telephoning and emailing.

The only person who has responded with anything useful is softswitch on this forum.

I have been without internet for weeks.

I am signing up with someone else if the problem is not resolved today.

Can anyone recommend an ISP?

Thanks.

antoniosk

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#512845 27-Aug-2011 11:58

Although I'm not one to usually praise competitors I would encourage folks to continue logging calls with Orcon direct and continue to give them the opportunity to resolve.

Mauricio made a good comment on his blog about social media replacing traditional channels for support, because it's perceived more responsive. The danger is you become reliant on too few people proactively monitoring to get action - and things stop if said group is on leave, sick or otherwise engaged.

Moving from the warm and fuzzy comfort of the 'good ol' phone system Telecom has run forever, with it's well-established processes, tools, technology and general 'everyone knows what to do' model, where all capability was held at the central exchange, to a premises based support model (A piece of kit at the end of a broadband line) is hard yakka and takes a lot of change to occur.

Too many people think it's easy to active voice services with the click of a button; those in the game know that engineering that outcome is complex, and can easily hit traps no-one could see.

Yes, so many days without service, status updates or apparent action is unacceptable, and it's at times like this where you suddenly realise your boring old and 'expensive' services are actually critical and their loss is keenly felt.

I shudder to think what will happen when Telecom Retail finally goes this way - not for what they do build, which I know will be very good, but for the unique combinations of network/kit/customer setups they can't possibly predict or accomodate, until they suddenly leave something without service.

You should not be left without service, and you should not be ignored, on principle. I'm sure you're not - and I'm sure Mr Bartlett will be happy to be called at home to help!

________

Antoniosk

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#514170 31-Aug-2011 05:37

It appears events have overtaken things... and mauricio to the rescue...:

(from Stuff)
Orcon is pulling TV advertisements for its Genius voice and internet product indefinitely as its contact centre struggles to cope with customer complaints about the product.

Chief executive Scott Bartlett said he had been upfront about customers experiencing delays in getting their phones connected after demand far exceeded the company's expectations.

The Genius telephone allows users to get rid of their landline and make calls over the internet.

Bartlett said Orcon had employed an extra 35 people in its contact centre over the past week, and 25 people were in training. In the meantime, Bartlett said it had pulled TV advertising about the product indefinitely.

Customers said problems had been more widespread than sign-up issues.

Matt (who didn't wish to reveal his last name) said his Genius phone arrived four days late on August 12, and his modem didn't work.

He spent a total of eight hours on hold to Orcon's helpdesk but the staff couldn't help. Instead, he had to get assistance from members of technology website Geekzone to get his Genius phone and internet working.

His voicemail was still not working properly.

Auckland-based Rebecca Jones said when she signed-up to Genius, she couldn't call outside Auckland, had problems with call waiting, incoming calls from Vodafone and Telecom networks, and voicemail didn't work properly.

A customer of Orcon for six years, Jones said she had noticed a steady decline in customer services and technical support at the company.

Orcon has fixed most of the issues, she said, but voicemails were still not playing when they came through to email.

Bartlett said he believed they were on top of the problems. "The product is rock solid," he said.

The average wait time at the contact centre had been reduced to 15 minutes during the day and the company was working to cut the wait time in the evenings, he said.

Over the past week, the company had cut the number of people without phone lines from 320 to 50.

________

Antoniosk

jsr38

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#514185 31-Aug-2011 07:53

Was told on Monday that an engineer was required to correct 'misjumpering' at the cabinet. Work was scheduled for 11am Tuesday. It is now Wednesday with no apparent change in the modem behavior and zero communication from Orcon.

I quit. Again, can anyone suggest a good ISP?

Splatty

94 posts

Master Geek

#514698 31-Aug-2011 20:53

I think pulling the adverts is a good thing, they achieved their aim, to get new sign ups, but at the expense of being able to handle the demand. I agree with Bartlett that the product is good (I wouldn't go as far as to say rock solid as that would be tempting fate), but getting it to that state has proven problematic for many customers.

I hope that Softswich and Sounddude get recognition from their employer for the outstanding work they have done to assist Geekzone members. They certainly helped me and a friend who has had set up woes, and gone beyond the expectation one would have of a forum member. Seriously guys, thanks.

The problem I have with that though is that we shouldn't have to expect these guys to give up their own time to help sort out Orcon's problems and the customers should expect the same level of competence and experience from the help desk phone people IF they can get through to them ;)

psychrn

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#514780 1-Sep-2011 00:48

Well well Im a happy recent switch to Orcon Genius Customer as of about the 9th August.
The switch over from Telecom went over without a hitch on the day-after receiving the emails etc saying we were connected.

Id point out we have been cabinetised for some months and I see a thread somewhere about Orcon customers not yet done having trouble.

Our location is Te Rapa/St Andrews.(Hamilton) I have a cabinet just 100 + mtres down the rd.
The gear arrived a week or so before our proposed switch date.
Plugged it in and it works out of the box.
We have several smartphones and Ipad that connect to wireless.
I laptop-apple and one Windows Vista machine on wireless.
The phone is our own provided Dect unit with an additional handset.
The connection speeds are quite impressive-even better then when we were on Telecom. Around the 13 Mbps d/l
We also use Tivo and use a Nielson Scanner which re scan our groceries on then this gets sent weekly to their HQ. Before it was permanently wired in to the filter and phone line. No we just pull out the phone and insert the scanner into the socket. As a manual poll. Nielson were prepared to send us a special sim card scanner to do this but we were able to sort this out.

However our main concern has been support. Not that we really did need it. Ringing and loooooong waiting times. Then when in cue you are asked for a call back and no one rings back.
I actually twittered this concern and got a better response. !! As has been reported elsewhere about social media getting a faster response.

Emails would take 5-7 days for a response.
So we are generally happy with the switch. We are a geek household and can generally work through technical issues. The actual connection appears good but the support has been crap.
As is mentioned elsewhere they had a lot of people join up at the same time and have been over whelmed as a result. I was told they were employing more support staff.
So there you are a happy customer- well sort of!!

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antoniosk

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#515458 2-Sep-2011 06:54

Do you have a monitored alarm at your place?

I'm just curious to see how well other legacy technologies work, and alarms over analogue dialup will be with us for some time to come.

________

Antoniosk

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#515486 2-Sep-2011 08:40

Since I don't have a Genius and am not a Orcon customer I haven't commented on this before, but after speaking to a few people in the last few days it seems that there are a few compounding factors here that Orcon will hopefully learn from.

Anybody signing up to Genius has to migrate to a Naked connection, this means a two step process as a port is also required to keep the number. This process in itself isn't dead simple and the volume of requests is clearing causing provisioning issues.

I'm also very intersted to know what % of Orcon's call volume is people within Auckland complaining about terrible speeds, and Orcon also having to deploy resources to fix these. There are another few hunded FTTN cabinets being installed in Auckland before the end of the year, the vast majority of these cabinets are fed from exchanges where Orcon have deployed their own ULL gear, which means Orcon have to migrate these customers back to a wholesale connection to avoid the midspan injection issues.

The question has to be asked as to why when the cabinet rollout program hasn't changed significantly since it's inception, that Orcon aren't migrating customers back to wholesale connections before the cabinetisation occurs. Why not put up a crash barrier first to stop the bus driving off the cliff?

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