Upgrading from Surf to Bitstream

[LEE Tet Yoon]

Hey all,

Have finally received a e-mail from Orcon that they've been advised by Telecom my account will be transferred to Bitstream on the 18th November. However, my billing date is on the 13th November and if I understand the info I've read, I'll still have to pay the full $60 to Telecom for the 4 days from the 14-18th. I should, in theory, be moved to 2mbit at that time, I might be able to use my 10gb allocation but in any case, I'm not to impressed with having to pay $60 to Telecom for 4 day usage. Any idea what I can do? Would it be possible to move to the cheapest JS plan available for the 4 days? I'm worried if I try to do something like that, they're liable to screw up upgrading me from JS to BS.

Another unhappy (soon to be) BS customer...

[Richard Malcolm-Smith]

Post by LEE Tet Yoon
Hey all,
Have finally received a e-mail from Orcon that they've been advised by Telecom my account will be transferred to Bitstream on the 18th November. However, my billing date is on the 13th November and if I understand the info I've read, I'll still have to pay the full $60 to Telecom for the 4 days from the 14-18th. I should, in theory, be moved to 2mbit at that time, I might be able to use my 10gb allocation but in any case, I'm not to impressed with having to pay $60 to Telecom for 4 day usage. Any idea what I can do? Would it be possible to move to the cheapest JS plan available for the 4 days? I'm worried if I try to do something like that, they're liable to screw up upgrading me from JS to BS.
Another unhappy (soon to be) BS customer...

I did exactly that when they were going to move me on the 28th with my JS
rolling over on the 26th.

They seemed to have no problem with it.

Orcon however droped the ball by never contacting me to tell me that I was on
bitstream, I saw the IP change on the 29th, so assumed I had being changed over
and started l33ching hard. - Turns out it was a dynamic IP, and I hadnt changed,
Once I got someone from orcon on the phone they advised me to change the login
to @orcon instead of @fastadsl or whatever it was. Remains to be seen what the
telecom bill is for the 20ish gigs over that time. The cheap surf plan has being
changed to cap speed rather then have excess charges so I should be right,
otherwise telecom/orcon will have to sort it out between the 2 of them.

[Garry Konings]

Post by Richard Malcolm-Smith
I did exactly that when they were going to move me on the 28th with my JS
rolling over on the 26th.
They seemed to have no problem with it.
Orcon however droped the ball by never contacting me to tell me that I was on
bitstream, I saw the IP change on the 29th, so assumed I had being changed over
and started l33ching hard. - Turns out it was a dynamic IP, and I hadnt changed,
Once I got someone from orcon on the phone they advised me to change the login
telecom bill is for the 20ish gigs over that time. The cheap surf plan has being
changed to cap speed rather then have excess charges so I should be right,
otherwise telecom/orcon will have to sort it out between the 2 of them.

Similar experience when my account got moved. I was told on 19 October
by Orcon that Telecom would migrate me to Bitstream on 29 October. On 26
October my static IP changed to dynamic in a different range and I
started having problems with delivery of emails. Rang Orcon, waited a
long time, just like others have reported. Also emailed them.

When I did get through, the problem was sorted out quickly (change of
login etc ) and I have had virtually no problems since. Speed has been
fine, and at the rate for the plan I'm on (256/128k, uncapped).

The only complaint I have is that I didn't hear beforehand that the date
for the changeover was different from what I was first told, but I
suppose at least it happened earlier rather than later!

Not sure it was Orcon's fault for not telling me, tho'? I guess they
carry the can for being the service provider, but in reality I suspect
it probably just got done by Telecom without them being told either.

Anyone know if Orcon do get told when the changes are actually done? And
if they do, have they got the resources/mechanisms to pro-actively tell
the affected user?

[Mark Thompson]

Post by Richard Malcolm-Smith

Post by Richard Malcolm-Smith
I did exactly that when they were going to move me on the 28th with my

JS

Post by Richard Malcolm-Smith
rolling over on the 26th.
They seemed to have no problem with it.
Orcon however droped the ball by never contacting me to tell me that I

was on

Post by Richard Malcolm-Smith
bitstream, I saw the IP change on the 29th, so assumed I had being

changed over

Post by Richard Malcolm-Smith
and started l33ching hard. - Turns out it was a dynamic IP, and I

hadnt changed,

Post by Richard Malcolm-Smith
Once I got someone from orcon on the phone they advised me to change

the login
what the

Post by Richard Malcolm-Smith
telecom bill is for the 20ish gigs over that time. The cheap surf plan

has being

Post by Richard Malcolm-Smith
changed to cap speed rather then have excess charges so I should be

right,

Post by Richard Malcolm-Smith
otherwise telecom/orcon will have to sort it out between the 2 of

them.
Similar experience when my account got moved. I was told on 19 October
by Orcon that Telecom would migrate me to Bitstream on 29 October. On 26
October my static IP changed to dynamic in a different range and I
started having problems with delivery of emails. Rang Orcon, waited a
long time, just like others have reported. Also emailed them.
When I did get through, the problem was sorted out quickly (change of
login etc ) and I have had virtually no problems since. Speed has been
fine, and at the rate for the plan I'm on (256/128k, uncapped).
The only complaint I have is that I didn't hear beforehand that the date
for the changeover was different from what I was first told, but I
suppose at least it happened earlier rather than later!
Not sure it was Orcon's fault for not telling me, tho'? I guess they
carry the can for being the service provider, but in reality I suspect
it probably just got done by Telecom without them being told either.
Anyone know if Orcon do get told when the changes are actually done? And
if they do, have they got the resources/mechanisms to pro-actively tell
the affected user?

Having dealt with the churn dept at Telecom (for toll services) they
tell you one thing and then do something completely different and as a
result cause a headache. Not only for the service provider, but also
the customer as everyone tries to figure out what is going one. Often
because Telecom themselves aren't the most helpful group.

My guess is that Orcon had a process in place for all bitstream switch
overs, however Telecom decided they would make the change earlier. Even
had Telecom advised Orcon, I doubt Orcon would have had enough time to
do something about it proactively.

So I would think it would be a combination of both. The ineptness of
Telecom to do something on time, and the surprise that Orcon were caught
by and the fact their helpdesk does seem to be occupied with answering
the calls that are currently being presented to their poor helpdesk staff.

[LEE Tet Yoon]

I did exactly that when they were going to move me on the 28th with my JS rolling over on the 26th.
They seemed to have no problem with it.

That's interesting... How did you change plan? Did you ask Telecom or Orcon...


P.S. I've e-mailed you offlist. But in case this address is one you only use for whitelisted senders or you check non whitelisted senders very infrequently, thought I'd send it here as well. You can reply on-list or off-list. On consideration, it might be useful to others on this list.
P.P.S Accidently e-mailed you a second time :-(

[LEE Tet Yoon]

I just found this page

http://www.telecom.co.nz/chm/0,5123,203091-202463,00.html

Which appears to be the place for plan changes.

Unfortunately, according to that I need to give them 5 working days to process my request so I suspect they will not do it in time. But who knows, maybe I'll be lucky. It's a pity I didn't find this page earlier since even though I could never given them 5 working days, I could give them some time...

[LEE Tet Yoon]

Post by LEE Tet Yoon
I just found this page
http://www.telecom.co.nz/chm/0,5123,203091-202463,00.html
Which appears to be the place for plan changes.
Unfortunately, according to that I need to give them 5 working days to process my request so I suspect they will not do it in time. But who knows, maybe I'll be lucky. It's a pity I didn't find this page earlier since even though I could never given them 5 working days, I could give them some time...

Just a little update. On Saturday morning (i.e. the day after I submitted the form) I received an e-mail confirming my plan change would take place on the 14th November (my next billing date). It looked like an automatic e-mail so I assumed they set the plan change into their system and then it sent me an e-mail.

The 5 day disclaimer is probably just a catch all I suppose in case they have a backlog although I think 3 working days should be the max.

However the next day, when I checked the usage meter and My Telecom, it still claimed I was on the 10gb Surf flatrate. My speed was 256kb (as it should be for the Jetstream Surf flatrate and Jetstream Go but not Jetstream Plus the 2mbit plan). Quite annoyed, I sent an e-mail explaining I was not happy about the extra cost.

Got a response today informing the plan change did not take place and would take place 14th December. They gave me a $30 credit (the difference between Go and Surf) which is all I really want and ironicially this means I've got a 10gb cap for my 4 days.

I'm a bit worried they might screw up my line either fail to provide me with Bitstream on the 18th (Nov) or screw it up on the 14th December when their postit notes tell them to change me to Jetstream Go but I don't want to confuse matters so I'll just wait and hope for the best!

A little aside. For reasons unknown to me, early on the 13th morning (4 am maybe?) my 64k connection (I'd used a total of about 25gb) suddenly unthrottled itself back to 256k. Once again, no restart required. This continued throughout the day (obviously it's still 256k as it should be now that I have not exceeded my cap).

Conclusions? Telecom do seem to be quite fast at processing plan change requests and even do it on a Saturday, despite the at least 5 working day disclamer. However, having processed your plan change request, it appears they are not always so good at actually changing your plan. They're always willing to offer to make it up to you when they screw up but maybe it would be better if they just didn't screw up so much? (Although in my case, their mistake is to my advantage)