A moan about o2 Broadband

[NewsreadeR]

When I first swapped over to o2 from Sky, everything appeared to be fine.

Within hours my o2 Thomson (bag of crap) router started doing some very strange things. The wireless would be fine, however, the LAN side of things would lock up / freeze etc - As in you could not even log into the router via 192.168.1.254 etc

The only way to sort this was to reboot the router. Having had enough of this, I swapped over to a Sky Sagem router, reflashed with Sagem FW and never had an issue since.

Yesterday, the Sagem died, and so I was forced to swap back over to the Thomson pile of crap. From 11am until Midnight last night, it had done the described error about 9 times.

I rang o2 and spoke to some lady, who told me that there was no issue with my broadband as she had checked whilst on the phone. I explained the issue in full, and that it was the router that was at fault and not the line.

I requested that o2 send me a new router as this one was absolutely pants, and it was very hard to actually get any kind of commitment out of her. She eventually told me, having spoken to her line manager / supervisor that they would request a replacement router for me and she would ring me back. So far absolutely nothing heard from o2 re this conversation.

Using Google and the keyword's;

"o2 thomson router locking up"

I came across this thread,

O2 Forum :: View topic - O2 Wireless Box II Issues

Which described my issue perfectly. The fix (apparently) is to;

• Turn off UPnP (gosh this takes me back 4 years with Sky and the DG834GT)
• Get the newer FW ie upgrade from 7.4.20.5

So I again rang o2 as by this time it was getting on my man boobs. I spoke to a lady who sort of knew what I was on about, and she told me that she would get a request done for me to have the newer FW. She also stated 'Most people ask to be downgraded back to this FW, as the VPN doesn't work'.

I politely told her, 'Well I would like to upgrade as my internet doesn't work'.

She took the request, I presume actioned it and I put the phone down.

Having my daily fix of BFBC2 last night and the game kicks me, I hear the usual sound of Ventrilo disconnecting, immediately, I knew the router had gone again.

I rang o2 after midnight and spoke to a great guy and explained all of the above. He obviously knew of all the issues with this router and told me that I had gotten through to the right person and he would perform the updated FW procedure. I was told to turn off the UPnP and that o2 would ring me back on Saturday to see how I had gotten on with the newer FW

Incidentally, I asked how many times I had been kicked off / rebooted the router during yesterday, just to see if o2 could see this information. He told me that their logs are reset at Midnight, but between Midnight and the time I had rang him, it was 4 times. Not bad for 20 minutes or so eh?

This morning, my kids were mithering me, their iPod touch wouldn't connect to the net, their laptops neither.

I had had enough, so I tried my iPhone, which has never had a problem connecting before, and granted, it did work before the updated FW was applied. This no longer did.

So I hunted around for my Sky Netgear V2 router, and then flashed it with generic Netgear FW - Guess what? - Absolutely everything immediately came back online.

Obviously there is an issue with the Thomson routers that o2 use, as I have only ever had any issues on o2 whilst using it. I am not a geek, but I do know how to set up a router, and I also know that there is nothing else I can do to my ADSL line to improve it, as I already use an ADSL filter plate.

What annoys me more than anything is the way that I was made to feel on the first phone call to o2 - I explained everything and was told, 'There is nothing wrong with your broadband, and we will monitor it for the next 24 hours'.

This is completley wrong, there is nothing worth monitoring, as the line is stable, the router does not drop the line, when it locks up. It drops the LAN side of things, effectively stopping a wired PC or any other device on the network using the internet or the 4 port hub side of things.

I came to o2 because I had heard such good things, plus the offer of 3 months free was very tempting. However, in December, I shall be going back to Sky. There is no significant price difference between the two of them now, and I hate to say it, their support from my experience is better.

The only technical problem I have had on o2 was because of their Thomson router, however, they would not even accept that initially, and the only way of getting any further with the new router side of things was to offer to pay off the remaining contract and for me to get a MAC - Then o2 decided to put in a request for a new router. Incidentally, she has still not rung me back.

Sorry to moan, but I am so annoyed over something so simple, that o2 know about already, yet they would not sort out without me having to make 3 phone calls.

Incidentally, the only way that I have finally managed to sort it, and get all the devices to work, was to swap to the Netgear router.

[Undecided adrian]

Definatly sounds like standards are slipping, maybe it's due to the big susurge in customers needing more customer support people who aren't possibly os well trained.

Although at least with O2 you can stick on another router, but like your NR I'll be off when my contract is up in December, most likely to IDNet, especially as the BT vans have started laying fibre in our area and so Q1 2011 looks good for FFTC.

[puretoon]

To be honest I don't think there's any good tech support out there as one's as bad as the other. I found I had better connection with Sky and would probably still have been with them had they not increased the price 100% for nowt extra.

But yes Ged, you've hit the nail right on the head- the O2 Thomson router IS crap-big time. When I was thinking of migrating I was dreading getting that router as I don't like Thomson routers at all, so managed to flash my Sky router and am working with that BUT still have dropped signals etc, maybes not as many but they're still there. And it certainly sounds like you've been treat shockingly by O2 too.

As far as I know BT are installing their fibre optic cables in batches-I live in Newcastle so it's one of the area's that are getting done this Sept as far as I know, so will see what users think. I can't move till January anyway.

[stu_uk]

Im gobsmacked :-o

In all my dealings with O2 all I have experienced is awesome customer support. Unfortunately in my dealings with sky on the interweb side it was cut my wrists and take a toaster to bath time

I have experienced BT's CU whilst attempting to sort out friends IT issues and apart from being mostly indian based call centres they are 100% script monkies.

Yes the O2 router is crap as it highlight its in all four corners of the interweb moanzone as it should be, but Id go down the route using the exsky router or getting a replacement.

For myself Id have to have got severe head injuries to return to sky for my interweb connection goodluck

[NewsreadeR]

Originally Posted by Undecided adrian

Definatly sounds like standards are slipping, maybe it's due to the big susurge in customers needing more customer support people who aren't possibly os well trained.

Although at least with O2 you can stick on another router, but like your NR I'll be off when my contract is up in December, most likely to IDNet, especially as the BT vans have started laying fibre in our area and so Q1 2011 looks good for FFTC.

Only ever heard good things about IDNet. Good luck.

[NewsreadeR]

Originally Posted by puretoon

To be honest I don't think there's any good tech support out there as one's as bad as the other. I found I had better connection with Sky and would probably still have been with them had they not increased the price 100% for nowt extra.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by puretoon

But yes Ged, you've hit the nail right on the head- the O2 Thomson router IS crap-big time. When I was thinking of migrating I was dreading getting that router as I don't like Thomson routers at all, so managed to flash my Sky router and am working with that BUT still have dropped signals etc, maybes not as many but they're still there. And it certainly sounds like you've been treat shockingly by O2 too.

Well, I never got the phone call back from the first lady who was ordering me a new router, to tell me if that particular department had authorised it.

Out of the 3 calls I made, only the guy took complete responsibility, obviously he wasn't limited to scripts and a proper technician.

Originally Posted by puretoon

As far as I know BT are installing their fibre optic cables in batches-I live in Newcastle so it's one of the area's that are getting done this Sept as far as I know, so will see what users think. I can't move till January anyway.

Out of principle I would not use BT for any broadband directly. As for the faster speeds, I am quite happy with 8meg - I don't actually use the internet in any way shape or form that would benefit from increased speeds. Good luck if you decide to change to another ISP though Pam.

[NewsreadeR]

Originally Posted by stu_uk

Im gobsmacked :-o

Ditto.

Originally Posted by stu_uk

In all my dealings with O2 all I have experienced is awesome customer support. Unfortunately in my dealings with sky on the interweb side it was cut my wrists and take a toaster to bath time

Luckily I never really had reason to call Sky re my Broadband, it just worked, as did the router (apart from the DG834GT issues that were widely documented in 2006)

Originally Posted by stu_uk

I have experienced BT's CU whilst attempting to sort out friends IT issues and apart from being mostly indian based call centres they are 100% script monkies.

BT are just the pits. No matter what it is either the phone, billing or CS in general.

Originally Posted by stu_uk

Yes the O2 router is crap as it highlight its in all four corners of the interweb moanzone as it should be, but Id go down the route using the exsky router or getting a replacement.

The Thomson is very poor in my scenario. The Sagem was perfect. As for getting a new one from o2 I will have to wait and see. The impression I got from the first phone call, was that it had to be authorised by a certain department. It was certainly not easy to get a firm yes or no if I could have one. It was more a case of, we would have to find out by monitoring if you should get a new router or not. My point being, the problem could not be monitored because it was the LAN side of things and not the actual connection as that still worked using wireless.

Originally Posted by stu_uk

For myself Id have to have got severe head injuries to return to sky for my interweb connection goodluck

Sky Broadband for me was perfect. It always worked, as did the routers. Plus the on demand stuff which is coming would be handy for me and the kids. Also, the price is acdeptable now whereas last December there was an increase of 50% for no benefit, of which I disagreed with and voted with my feet.

[NewsreadeR]

Well, so far this has happened;

1) The promised phone call from the first lady never happened
2) I still do not know if o2 are sending me a new router or not
3) I never received a phone call yesterday as promised to check to see if my internet was working or not or if the FW had solved the issue
4) I have just had a text stating, o2 Broadband; Your broadband should work now. If it isn't, please call us back on 08002300202 and quote ref; xxxxxxx

As per 3) The FW update never resolved the issue, it made things worse as in others could not connect nor could I use my iPhone wirelessly

As per 4) Yes my broadband does work now, as I changed from the pile of useless plastic to the Netgear V2 from Sky and solved all the issues that way. But, most importantly, it is not actually because o2 have done anything to resolve the issues that I was having.

It's a good job that I had another router, as it would have driven me nuts the way the Thomson was acting up.

/rant mode off.

[Tony1044]

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear the issues you're having.

I've never been a fan of the Thomson boxes to be honest - and as you know I gave up on mine when the settnigs that I was clearly changing in the GUI weren't actually being changed according to the CLI.

More worryingly though is that O2, a company that seems to have previously prided itself on better-than-average customer services is rapdicly heading downhill.

My first year with O2 broadband lapsed some time last November and I've just carried on shelling out the £17 or so every month for now but I'm wondering if there may be a good alternative out there now.

Unfortunately I'm not in any of the areas planned for fibre rollouts otherwise I may have even taken a chance on BT.

Glad you're sorted again but had you been less technically capable you'd have been left hanging by O2 and that's the bit I find a bit hard to swallow right now.

And I would point out that although it's been many, many years since I personally worked a helpdesk it does tend to be a truly thankless task and you're put under ever increasing pressure to close calls down quickly by the company you work for whilst provide that elusively 'excellent' service and generally they're two concepts that do not go hand in hand.

It would be interesting to hear the O2 rep's take on things. And also why the decision (flawed in the opnion of many here) to use Thompson routers?

[NewsreadeR]

Originally Posted by Tony1044

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear the issues you're having.

Cheers Tony, now I know how you felt, it is like banging your head against a brick wall.

Originally Posted by Tony1044

I've never been a fan of the Thomson boxes to be honest - and as you know I gave up on mine when the settnigs that I was clearly changing in the GUI weren't actually being changed according to the CLI. More worryingly though is that O2, a company that seems to have previously prided itself on better-than-average customer services is rapdicly heading downhill.

I can concur, I have seen the same on the Thomson.

Originally Posted by Tony1044

My first year with O2 broadband lapsed some time last November and I've just carried on shelling out the £17 or so every month for now but I'm wondering if there may be a good alternative out there now. Unfortunately I'm not in any of the areas planned for fibre rollouts otherwise I may have even taken a chance on BT.

Ouch - No way would I pay £17 for Broadband per month.

Originally Posted by Tony1044

Glad you're sorted again but had you been less technically capable you'd have been left hanging by O2 and that's the bit I find a bit hard to swallow right now.

If I had not had a Sky router to fall back on, I was going to buy one last week. But knowing they work OK on o2 saved me £40 or so. The £40 isn't a problem, it's just that o2 offer a router when you join them, which has to be sent back upon cancellation. The problem is, why should I have to buy or use another router, just because theirs is crap?

o2 should provide a router that is fit for the purpose, 9 months into my contract, I still haven't got one.

Originally Posted by Tony1044

And I would point out that although it's been many, many years since I personally worked a helpdesk it does tend to be a truly thankless task and you're put under ever increasing pressure to close calls down quickly by the company you work for whilst provide that elusively 'excellent' service and generally they're two concepts that do not go hand in hand.

tbh The only contact that was worth contacting o2 was the guy who I spoke to who updated the FW (after Midnight) - The other 2 were useless.

I cannot remember my password to log onto my o2 Broadband account, and if I click on the forgotten password link, it asks me for my username, and my mobile number. I know my username, and so adding my mobile number, and then hitting continue, comes up with;

We are unable to find any details of your account.

Please contact O2 Customer Service and they will be able to help you.

Or contact us here

I knew this, as I have just got an iPhone and a brand new number, of which I asked the second lady that I spoke to to update on my records, and fully explained to her, that I could not reset or access my online account. She sent a text to my phone, and I got a message with a code, this I gave to her. The next day I got an email from o2;

Dear NewsreadeR,

The eligibility Mobile Phone Number associated with your broadband account has been updated to 0xxxx xxxxxx on 12-Aug-2010.

Best regards,

The O2 Broadband Team

Great, so I now can reset my online account, or so I thought. If I now go to this page, whereby you can pretend that you don't know your username or password, I got this message, after adding just my new mobile number;

We are unable to find any details of your account.

Please contact O2 Customer Service and they will be able to help you.

Or contact us here

Originally Posted by Tony1044

It would be interesting to hear the O2 rep's take on things. And also why the decision (flawed in the opnion of many here) to use Thompson routers?

It would be interesting yes, definitely. However, it would also be nice to;

1) Receive the original phonecall originally promised on the first call, as to let me know if the relevant department, actually authorised that I could have a new router. Remember, this was promised on my first call, and still no phone call. Yes, I am unavailable sometimes, I may be out, I may be asleep. But even so, they could have sent me an email, they could have sent me a text, or they could even have left a message on my answer phone or my voice mail. None of this has happened.

2) It would also be nice to be able to log onto my online account, but I am unable to, as I bought a new phone, and forgot my password. It would also appear that o2 cannot even amend or properly update a new phone number, nor associate it to my online account.

3) It would also be nice to receive the 48hr phonecall, remember, this was due on Saturday, 48 hours after the FW update had been completed.

4) As for CS on here, sorry to report, not even a PM saying sorry, or can we help. Maybe they are too embarrased to contact myself as I part own the site?

tbh Tony, I am no longer bothered about any of the above. I have already made my mind up to move. I am so incensed by the total lack of customer service, that I am going to buy myself out of my contract and move back to Sky anyway.

At least I know Sky CS is sometimes dreadful, and I also know that their routers are normally solid. I also know people there who would help sort any problems out for me anyway. Yes, I know it's a perk, but no one, hopefully, would blame me for pulling a very occasional favour in.

As for the router, if o2 want it back, I can send it tomorrow. It's pointless having it here, as we have some rubber stoppers for the doors anyway.