Anyone using Orange Broadband at the moment?

[Sue]

Is anybody using Orange broadband at the moment?

I have resisted their approaches for ages because it used to be absolutely crap, but apparently they have been using BT servers for the last month or so.

I've tried googling reviews but it's always a bit misleading because satisfied customers don't tend to post on forums etc.. Also a lot of the comments are from before they changed servers.

I've been offered what seems like a very good deal, and I want to leave AOL, but I don't want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire if Orange are still poor.

Also different people at AOL have given me different information about whether or not I can keep my existing AOL email addresses. Grrrrr.

[KalamityKel]

Sue what package are you looking for?

I mean what makes Orange more appealing than other suppliers that is taking your fancy?

I'm with Orange and they are ok I guess although speeds can be a bit up and down, customer support and helpines are not particularly helpful - as quoted by the help guy once "I'm not here to help just here to find out what your problem is" and you can be bounced around from department to department (of which I'm sure they all just sit next to one another in a far off place in the world).

They do however, usually do what they say they do and change over is quite speedy and the instructions easy and clear to follow/understand.

[Jeremy]

I have Orange broadband, only because it is free with my mobile.

It is usable. I don't remember it going down over the last year or so.

[Sue]

KalamityKel Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sue what package are you looking for?

>

> I mean what makes Orange more appealing than other

> suppliers that is taking your fancy?

>

> I'm with Orange and they are ok I guess although

> speeds can be a bit up and down, customer support

> and helpines are not particularly helpful - as

> quoted by the help guy once "I'm not here to help

> just here to find out what your problem is" and

> you can be bounced around from department to

> department (of which I'm sure they all just sit

> next to one another in a far off place in the

> world).

>

> They do however, usually do what they say they do

> and change over is quite speedy and the

> instructions easy and clear to follow/understand.

xxxx

I need to check it out again, but I think it's an eighteen month contract with the first three months free, then ?6.50 a month, "up to" 20mbs, unlimited downloads, free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines (I don't need this though), free wireless router.

It's also plus ?10 a month line rental, but I'm already paying BT line rental.

So I think it would be around ?180 for the first year, as against AOL where it would be ?360 a year (though that includes anytime landline calls including 0870 and 0845 numbers - I have anytime landline calls from my mobile though, not the 0845 and stuff but that can't cost ?180 over a year surely!)

I'm not very happy with AOL. Also they claimed I was getting a download speed of 8mbs, but when I checked it myself it was more like 3 !!!

[tog_in_sox]

Hi Sue,

I hear your frustration with Internet services but before you abandon the Devil you know be very sure what a name change will give you. Personally I've found/heard that most of the major suppliers have equally poor Helplines. Given that the majority are reselling bandwidth on BT cables means that changing the provider won't likely improve the stability of your connection. You might get better speeds because their traffic shaping policy is more in line with your pattern of usage but then it might also be a worse fit. Be sure to read and understand their "fair usage" clause(s) and details around their traffic shaping. Of course how good they are now is no indication of how they will continue to be as the industry continues to consolidate.

If you're after much better speeds then your best bet is probably a move to cable if you're not within a mile of connection, not as the crow flies, of your Exchange. If you stay with a phone-based provider then be sure that you know what equipment they have in your exchange to support their service and indeed whether they or a third party look after that kit.

If you move to cable it's likely that Virgin will be the candidate and again be sure you're fully aware of their traffic shaping schedule as it currently has 2 slowdown periods during the day and evening.

If like most of us you're on a budget then you may find the cost and commitment required by some of these "best" providers is prohibitive.

It used to be that you could continue to run your mailbox via a webmail interface, a la Hotmail etc, but whether you could continue to download email from their mail servers to your PC client (Outlook, etc) is another matter. You may loose priviledge services and exclusion from adverts as well as a reduced capacity.

If you want to chat further then drop me a line and I'd be happy to chat things over. Good luck in your hunt.

I'm still humming'n'hawing about whether to leave F2S now that it's been taken over by Tiscali (ptui!)

[Sue]

Thanks for that Tog, I had been considering Virgin at one stage, as there is cable in my road and they inundate me with offers, but my daughter has just given me a freeview/personal recorder hard drive box thing which she couldn't use where she moved to (had to change to satellite TV due to no reception) so I gave up the cable plan.

However looking at the list of broadband providers I got off the Moneysupermarket website, Virgin does seem to be quite cheap, maybe I need to have another look.

So many things to take into account :))

[matthew123]

I used to have Orange Broadband - and quite frankly I got really pissed off (putting it diplomatically) speaking to their mentally challenged offshore call centre staff pretty much each and every day asking why the hell my connection was up and down like a yo-yo and usually on it's knees at wooden rocking horse download speeds of 100-200kbps. Never again. Never!

[Sue]

matthew123 Wrote:

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> > usually on it's knees at wooden rocking horse

> download speeds of 100-200kbps.

xxxxxxx

Yes, they've admitted it was rubbish, and I wouldn't in a million years have considered using it before, as my partner had it - and changed as soon as he could.

But now they're using BT servers it's supposed to be much improved, which is why I wondered if anyone had very recent experience of it.

[ontheedge]

I have orange broadband free with my mobile after some negotiation got very good deal. Very rarely have had a problem and when I did a couple of years ago found them very helpful. One thing that happens though is my laptop does tend to freeze a lot when I'm on the internet and have to close down using power button which I know isn't best not sure if that's laptop fault, virus or broadband fault if anyone could enlighten me ?

[KalamityKel]

unlikely to be ya broadband ontheedge (tu)

[Sue]

ontheedge Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> IOne thing that

> happens though is my laptop does tend to freeze a

> lot when I'm on the internet and have to close

> down using power button which I know isn't best

> not sure if that's laptop fault, virus or

> broadband fault if anyone could enlighten me ?

xxxxxxx

I sometimes get that and I assume it's due to incompatible programmes, eg I have a horrible feeling I have two firewalls in operation :-$ but I haven't got round to doing anything about it

[tog_in_sox]

OTE,

The more you power down Windows abnormally the more ragged it will get. Have you done any remedial work using the Windows utilities? Uninstalling unwanted programs often leaves traces that clutter your system's control files and can cause all kinds of slowdowns and hiccups. IF you're feeling bold then you could try installing CCleaner which is pretty good at flushing out most trash. After that it's worth doing a defrag of your drives. If this all means something to you then great otherwise PM me or any of the IT pros named on the site and I'm sure one of us can help you out. TBH I'd recommend a complete refresh of your system but that'd be complicated by how much personal stuff you'd need to backup before starting over.

Regards

Sean

[Sue]

Now considering Plusnet, too much choice, it's all too much for me, AAARRRGGGHHHH !!!

You look up reviews and they range from 1 to 5 stars ...... how on earth to decide???