Currently with BT which is expensive and can only provide me with 512K! and the service is at best patchy, and keeps dropping off
Changing my mobile to orange and wondering if its worth going for their free internet package.

can they improve on BT or are my problems due to my line rather than my ISP?
All comment gratefully received.

Jay

Hi Jay

Well I was with Orange/Wanadoo back when it was owned by Freeserve quite a few years ago now. The quality and service back then was really good, although we're talking about good old dial up then lol

Then Wanadoo came: didn't do a bad job: the service was good, speed was ok, packages were a bit steep but worthwhile so I stuck with them.

Then last year Orange took over and it was game over for me at least. I was paying about £28 for 8meg (3 meg at best) and 30gig capped per month. I got loads of disconnections, time-outs and just general rubbish download speeds. I used their Tech Support and Customer Services depts but they were useless (compared to the original freeserve / wanadoo era).


So last month I told them to get stuffed and cancelled my contract after 7 years! And Im now with Telewest

But that's just my experience. I guess there are loads of satisfied users who love Orange so its always going to be horses-for-courses really. But I personally wouldn't go back: they're expensive, unreliable and not always very helpful

good luck to you

Is it me or does Orange like to keep everything secret?

I started out with Freeserve years ago on their heavy user package which was then £29.99 a month. There wasn't a lot of options less than that in those days. They did drop the price to £27.99 when there was a lot more competition about.

Then they changed to Wannado and I was still on their maximum package.

Then they changed to Orange. I carried on paying my £27.99 a month believing that to still be the going rate for Unlimited until I went and had a look at their website one day (well I don't often bother because I use Outlook Express for my mail) and only then did I realise that they no longer even offered a £27.99 package and that their Unlimited had gone down to £19.99 (with free wireless box). Nowhere was it advertised on their home page, only if you went in to actually look at their packages (and why would you if you were already subscribing?). I immediately switched package and also asked why I hadn't been informed. They said it had only just started!! Hmm, well they would say that wouldn't they.

Then there's the thing about speed. Every time I've checked it's come up with 2 meg being the maximum available for my area. Tonight my son told me that his mate was getting 8 meg and he only lives a few doors away. He tried resetting something (too technical for me) and then said I should phone them and ask why I wasn't getting it. Tried that and hung on the phone for 20 minutes and gave up.

Again I logged into their website and found a place where it said "upgrade package and speed". Now, I thought that was just for people on the lower price wanting to upgrade to the dearer one but when I clicked on it, it said I could now get 8 meg but I had to "order" it and it would take up to 10 days!! I'm sure it was supposed to be upgraded automatically when it became available.

So why aren't they telling customers this? Why do you have to stumble across this information? Admittedly it said it would be free but I think they should be telling customers what they can get, not letting them go on in ignorance.

I haven't had any problems with the actual service, apart from this total lack of communication or information from them.

I did actually change my line rental and phone to Talk Talk with a view to getting free broadband, but after reading all the bad press about it I thought I'd stick with the devil I know for the time being (oh and the fact that by ordering the 8 meg speed I had to agree to be tied into a new 12 month contract)!!!!!

So that's my experience with it. No information unless you search for it and no technical support.

Im with orange as i have an orange phone and we pay £10 for unlimited use good good speeds for azeurues etc.

Brilliant customer service, get through really quicklyy if you need help.

I agree to that rachel...i do have orange broadband unlimited right now and i dont experience any problems with them...they're doing great since i did signed up last year...ive got a great deal from the unlimited downloads and calls i got, well that's a lot of savings i have every month...they really deserve to be awarded for that dude...

i got to have aol broadband before but i only got 1.5 meg of speed with them and i'm paying 17.99 for 2 years...and that's for broadband alone man! Not mentioning that when i had problems i had to spend long hours of time with their customer service that sucks!!! (sounds like foreign to me) Luckily one of my friends told me that orange/wannadoo offers a great now so i tried to visit their website one day and im surprised that by adding 2 pounds to my current bills every month i was able to save my calls by then!!!

I aside from that i use also orange mobile so this none is really a good deal for me...it thus make my penny worth every day...

Hi

Signed up to get a mobile on a £30 plus rate and get free broadband. Seemed a good deel , upgraded to the unlimited service with live box giving me umlimited downloads and there talk service. Free phone calls to any uk number and 100 international dial codes.

Connected the broadband service after about a week, followed the enclosed 'instructions' as to how to set up the talk service.

Basicly set up broad band conect up a phone , power down the unit , start up and wait for an email...never arrived .

Contacted the customer sevice,,, if you can call it that. Been fobed off ever since. Basicly I have to wait for a phone call, but they cant give me a time frame as to when that could happen,.

From what I can gather 2months is the average if you keep ringing to hassle them.

Not sure about other broadband suppliers but Id think twice about orange if you intend getting the compleate package.


Good luck

Orange/Wannabe - didn't do - didn't help - didn't apologise - went to BT - everything fine ever since.

If you get their coverage and they speak English, you may be lucky. Tried them for a number of my clients - none of which proved to be any good.

Wanadoo - more like Wennaway!

---

For every positive action, there's an equal and opposite government plan.

To be honest I don't really think it matters who you go for, all ISPs are inconsistent in some aspects of their business. Just looking at this thread shows that Orange works for some and not for others, which can't really help the newbie trying to find the best service.

I guess, at the end of the day it's a case of suck it and see. Although one thing you should look out for is if the ISP is insisting on a 12 month contract. If it isn't then you're in luck because if things are looking bad right from the very off you can simply pull out and loo elsewhere.

whereas if you're locked into a 12 month contract then you're in broadband hell if the ISP is messing you around

To be honest with you, I have found Orange great.

I moved from AOL, got the MAC code, signed up, 8 days later AOL cut out, I set up the router had a little problem with my PC as it is aincient and couldnt see the networks folder, phoned them up, 5 mins they told me what to do and I was connected.

2 days later I got an email telling me my phone service through the router was connected, tried it and it is fine.

So I can not recommend Orange enough. I am getting download speeds of a little over 6/7 meg. I live bout a mile from my exchange so for 8meg max that is good.

You will always get people complaining if their service is rubbish, not often you get people commending them. So I highly rate Orange.

Hope this helps.

EDIT - Not to mention you get a 30 day cancellation period, if your not happy you can cancel. :)

I was on the so called starter package and paid £14.99 for 1meg. Around May 06 I complained about paying £17.99 for the same package that was being offered to new customers and had threatened to move as I was out of contract. They reduced the price to £14.99 but with no new contract. Apart from some difficulties with tech support (freeserve) when I first moved to BB I have had no problems.

At the end of January 07 I thought I would move to an up to 8meg service but did not want to pay £19.99 a month and have a new 12 month contract. So I phoned Orange and asked for a MAC code. I was asked why, so I told them.

I was offered up to 8meg (now getting about 3.5), free evening and weekend calls, free Livebox and only a 6 months contract. After some consideration (well not a lot really) I agreed.

Everything installed and working OK. Free calls also make the £12.99 less.

Is Orange OK? Well I think so provided you can stay away from tech support (maybe no different from many other ISP's) and are not on an LLU exchange as it appears they do have a lot of problems.

If you have no contract and want a better deal ask for a MAC and see what they say.

It's taking a long time for it to sink in with me that everything is negotiable. I just tend to pay up like the mug I am. I'll bear that in mind in any future deals :)

Always ask for their best price and as you say everything is negotiable. If they say no what have you lost.

If you don't at present look at this site, the guy on Jeremy Vine if you listen to BBC 2.


http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

Yeah thanks for the link but I do have a look round on there and I'm currently helping my son to reclaim his Bank Charges - lol.

I just tend to stick with the things I know and can't be bothered with all the hassle to change. I've joined so many things using my freeserve email addy that it would take me forever to track them all down and I'd lose it if I changed provider I believe. For the time being anyway, at least I'm quite happy with the service.

I just told orange where to stuff their internet connection. 2 months ago my connection was lost. After several days of talking to some Indian person in new Dheli or where ever their call centre is in, i was offered a line test to see where the fault was. I had 6 line tests in total!!! All of which were fine! So where did my sonnection dissappear to? have now signed up with pipex. £30 a month gives me free phone calls and a broadband speed 7 times faster that orange!

Orange have just sent me an e-mail by the way! Why have i cancelled my direct debit? Maybe it's to do with the fact that my connection was severed 2 months ago, the customer service is a pile of rotting smelly horse shite and I do not wish to give my money to an ISP which I have no connection with.

 

Take my advice people, do not touch orange broadband with a barge pole! It may be free if you have a contract phone with them, but pay money to somebody who will give you a bloody good service with a help desk based in the country that you reside!

i've been with orange/wanadoo since freeserve days i'm currently paying £17.99

phoned them today saying i was moving to Virgin media (£10 a month for broadband) and they offered me 2mb broanband for £12.99 and 1st 3 months free if i commit for 12 months. which works out cheaper than virgin without the hassle of switching.

i also used the saynoto0870.com  website to get freephone number for Orange