Not only did my link come up 'slow' but it went down again. And came up again. And went down again... more than a dozen times yesterday (more today)! (My old Xtra connection hardly ever went up/down - definitely nothing noticable like this). I've upgraded my Netgear DG834N DSL Router to version 1.02.08 - the first upgrade available for it in like 18months! Hopefully that will improve things somewhat (there's this in the release notes: "Enabled ITU G.992.5 Annex M which extends the capability of basic ADSL2 by doubling the number of upstream bits").
So I get into some downloading - to test the speed of the International bandwidth - all that I'm really interested in (local access speed is kind of meaningless really). And it's noticably slower than usual. Time for the 'Facebook Broadband Speed Challenge'. Yep definitely slower than my Xtra service.
Lucky I've been compiling some stats over time really. I was interested a while back when I noticed that my Xtra Broadband had increased in local access speed from 7ish Mb to over 10Mb - 'I must be on an ADSL2 access, I thought'.
I ran a few tests and sure enough, even the Facebook Broadband app constantly showed I had a good 10+Mb of Internet access. 'Nice' (I thought).
Then I noticed that my speed would drop down every now and then - back to ADSL speeds. Were Telecom messing with my connection, putting me back on the old gear? Hmmm. 
But anyway then I 'upgraded' to Orcon. The '10 Day' installation lead actually took 3 weeks. Over which time I never once had an email or a phonecall from them confirming my order (I rang them up and told them what I thought of their rubbish customer care). They said they had sent me a confirmation email (to my new Orcon email address! which of course I had no idea how to access). I logged in, but there was no mail there (rubbish! I thought). So I switched my router settings over anyway to the new username/password. And today I get the 'welcome' email. A bit late, I thought, I've already been using your service for a day!So today - my second day as a new LLU'd conversion - I run my speed tests. And no matter how fast my access speed is, the Facebook app doesnt lie. I've never had such a low speed result before :-( Disaster. One of my Facebook friends is bound to catch me now! (There can be only one #1)
All I can say is that I hope things better. I hope Orcon's customer service improves. Their self service website is definitely nice (gives me great reporting functionality - like seeing how many times a day my link drops!). I hope their international bandwidth picks up. And I hope the boys enjoy their free calls. Cause I sure don't enjoy life in the slow lane :'-(
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4 comments:
Hey, quit your whinging! There's no hope of my ADSL getting faster than the current (even theoretical) 6mbps anytime soon and now that the BBC has its chuffing iPlayer my connection gets wiped out every evening as the ISPs melt under the strain. }-|
Hi,
Firstly, apologies for the lack of communication, the demand that we have had for our new service has certainly put our customer service staff under strain. We are working on addressing this.
Secondly, which modem are you using? It is possible that if you are using an older device this may be affecting your speed.
I would encourage you to log a support ticket if you continue to experience low speeds, as we are happy to look into this.
Duncan Blair
Group Product Manager
Orcon
Sorry, just re-read and saw your modem model in your post.
That should be fine. If you can send me your username I can have someone look into your speed issues.
Duncan Blair
Group Product Manager
Orcon
Hi Duncan
Thanks for the comments, it's great that you can take the time to follow up.
I definitely will log a support call about the speed thing to see if something can be done. In the mean time I'm waiting on my first support call to be looked at, related to the repeated disconnects - as that's the most annoying thing at the moment - e.g. listening to 'net radio and the music stops :-(
I'll drop you an email with my username & details if you like.
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