Finally Digital Region is available in my area.

[tintin123 10]

The issue is that Origin may be swamped and struggling to cope, but they need to pro-actively keep people informed, but I'm sorry to say they're not. I shall wait because I'm sure the service will be second to none, but it is frustrating.

[walkerx 10]

That may have been the original plan but now they are busy enabling INTAKE, not an area I would call affluent.

 

Although they do seem to be dragging their feet actually hooking up the cabinets on council estates despite the fact everything seems to be in place apart from the fibre itself. The cabinet local to me was wired for power months ago but is yet to be commissioned.

 

Not that I care, I get a far better service from Origin than any ISP using Infinity is likely to deliver. You would have to be crazy to stay with PlusNet rather than waiting on Origin getting their backlog under control, its WELL worth the wait.

 

The issue is that Origin may be swamped and struggling to cope, but they need to pro-actively keep people informed, but I'm sorry to say they're not. I shall wait because I'm sure the service will be second to none, but it is frustrating.

 

I do think they need to at least keep the customer's informed of what is happening, no matter how busy they are - a simple update on their website could suffice or a post on any of the forums.

 

I can't see why they can't also provide some form of order tracking for the end user, so they can see what is actually happening with their order and when they can see the estimated go live date.

 

Remember this was one of the biggest issues that users complained about with Ripwire was that they never answered emails or kept customers updated, it would be a shame for people to start voicing their concerns about Origin not supplying information as it will only make them look bad.

 

In regards to who provides the better service, ISPs on the Digital Region Network or ISP's that will use the BT Network. This will be down to each persons individual experience and as you will be aware I had nothing but problems with my connection dropping on a regular basis for the 16 months I was on the network.

 

Since I've moved back to BT on their Infinity product my service has been far better than what I ever received on the Digital Region Network. My connection has now be active for 28 days and that is only because of a power failure at home. On Digital Region I was lucky if the connection lasted more than a week, yet I'm using exactly the same router and telephone line. The only difference is the VDSL modem and my provider. My latency, download/upload speed have all been better (even though I was constantly told that BT Infinity was an inferior product) even during peek hours.

 

A friend of mine was also on Virgin using their 30mb service and had nothing but problems preventing him from doing anything online, he has moved to Plusnet and now receiving a decent 40mb connection. Yet I know of others who never have problems with Virgin and from the other forums who have never had problems with being on the Digital Region Network.

 

You can't guarantee the service any particular person may receive as it will always be different to the next person. And it is also how that person perceives the service they have received.

[AlexAtkin 10]

I admit, I have a "thing" against Plusnet. They burned me when I worked for them for a short while and was disgusted at their [lack of] training for new employees, which resulted in them letting me go after a few months because I still didn't know what I needed to do the job properly. I would hope now being owned by BT their training would have improved. (I have worked for BT too though in directory inquiries, but their training was brilliant)

 

Still, even when PlusNet got rid of me (as a member of staff) I stayed with them as a customer until they implemented traffic management which was so broken it left me permanently capped when it was only supposed to kick in after a certain amount of traffic per month. If it had JUST been this alone, perhaps I would have more faith that they would have improved. But having seen how things worked from the inside too, I just couldn't bring myself to trust them again.

 

As for Virgin Media, you just have to check their forum to see a ton of upset customers. A friend of mine has their 10/1 connection yet we Skype video call each other my video feed peaks at 1.4Mbit, his video feed peaks at 300Kbit.

 

The problem is they are just too over-contended so they put traffic management on the upload bandwidth so that no single customer on the UBR can take an unfair share. That is all well and good except if you are someone who hardly uses any upstream bandwidth except the odd occasion you want to do Skype. In which case I do not think it unreasonable to expect to get your full upstream quota. Especially as he only ever gets a maximum of 7Mbit downstream because they can't be bothered to send him a newer modem that can handle the full speed.

 

Then there is BT Infinity "once you hit 300 GB your download speeds are capped down to 1 Mbit for the next 30 days during peak periods". Sure 300GB might seem a lot, but I like the fact I can now host a torrent of Mandriva, helping the community. That is never ever have to worry about exceeding any limit, its one less thing to worry about in life.

 

Now I'm not sure the above policy has changed as I can't find any mention of this on their site anymore, but the fact they keep fiddling with the policy is worrying in itself.

 

By far the biggest problem with BT though is the obvious one, they are one of the biggest ISPs which naturally makes them one of the most contended. I have always tried to stick with the less well-known ISPs as they do not have their name to rely on, they have to provide a superior service and rely on word of mouth for their business.

 

BT, Sky, PlusNet, TalkTalk and Virgin Media can pretty much do whatever they like, as they rely on being well known or offering broadband for peanuts.

[john22rob 10]

I have been with sky and virgin. Never again! Plusnet have been the best by far but my ping stability and speed are not good enough. It is more consistently around 50-60ms which isn't brilliant but more importantly it jumps to over 100 and even 200 far too frequently. This is no good for Xbox live. It constantly lags.

 

The idea was origin would fix this..... But they cant even process my Order!!! And I have to pay to get connected, that's if I get connected!

 

For all their faults( plusnet, sky, virgin) they was able to do a few basic things right.

1) process my order and give me an actual connection date

2) give me an estimate within 1meg for my speed

3) free connection!

Plusnet and sky's customer service have been outstanding

 

These 3 basic steps cannot be performed by origin.

 

The digital region might be in with the times but more importantly are the isp's that are onboard?

Edited March 14, 2012 by john22rob

[AlexAtkin 10]

1) The connection date is almost entirely down to BT, if they have a backlog then they can't give you a date. In my experience even if they GIVE you a date, it probably won't happen on that date as BT overbook.

 

2) BT have a good idea of what speed you can get as they already have equipment hooked up to your line and likely other customers connected on your cabinet.

 

Origin can only guess as until you are connected to them they have NO information at all about your line. They are given a rough guide to how long it is between you and the cabinet by BT at some point, but even with that they could tell you 40Mbit and you get 20Mbit as the speed varies the most when you are closer to the cabinet. This isn't as much of an issue with ADSL because most people are a fair distance away from the exchange so the difference between your estimate and real speed will be much smaller.

 

3) Big ISPs can foot the bill for connecting you as they are confident you are going to stick around long enough to make the money back. Small ISPs can't, simple maths really.

 

A big problem, which granted is not something the customer should have to worry about, is that FTTC does not have the procedures in place that other products do.

 

When I joined Be I had to pay an activation fee, granted a lot smaller than the one moving to Origin, but it was there. But they had already automated a lot of the LLU stuff (where ISPs have their own equipment in the exchange) which saves time and money.

 

The problem with Digital Region is because so few companies are going to install their own FTTC equipment, these automated procedures just do not exist for those services. This inflates costs and reduces the feedback the customer gets on the progress, because it all requires a real live person to read the list of new activation dates and report it to the customers. As Origin are a small ISP, they just don't have the man hours to be able to do that as they (rightly so) are concentrating on actually getting the job done.

 

I agree that it would be nice if they kept in touch better. I was ringing them constantly trying to find out what was going on. But then if they were constantly calling me to say "nothing new" then they aren't out there chasing things up with BT, so I can see the logic.

Edited March 14, 2012 by AlexAtkin

[mattyatty1 10]

I have been with sky and virgin. Never again! Plusnet have been the best by far but my ping stability and speed are not good enough. It is more consistently around 50-60ms which isn't brilliant but more importantly it jumps to over 100 and even 200 far too frequently. This is no good for Xbox live. It constantly lags.

 

The idea was origin would fix this..... But they cant even process my Order!!! And I have to pay to get connected, that's if I get connected!

 

For all their faults( plusnet, sky, virgin) they was able to do a few basic things right.

1) process my order and give me an actual connection date

2) give me an estimate within 1meg for my speed

3) free connection!

Plusnet and sky's customer service have been outstanding

 

These 3 basic steps cannot be performed by origin.

 

The digital region might be in with the times but more importantly are the isp's that are onboard?

 

Hello,

 

In relation to your problems getting connected with your chosen ISP (Origin) I just wanted to make you aware that the problem getting connected isn’t directly there fault and they aren’t really to blame!

 

The issue is more to do with the process of raising a request for a new connection onto the Digital Region. At the moment there is an issue between DRL and I believe BT that may be causing lead times to be connected to be increased and has caused some orders to be on a back log for some time!

 

Whilst other ISP’s are saying they can still get you connected quicker and within the normal timescales etc the fact is they can’t as DRL are the wholesale provider and therefore every ISP goes through the same process to raise a new connection request.

 

My personal opinion is bare with them and you won’t regret it! I was having frequent disconnections as well as a poor 2Mb service before leaving BT and although they messed me about with my MAC code again not Origin’s fault it took time to move across to Origin. However, with that said once your connected you will most likely never need to speak with them again as the service is consistent, reliable and stable so there’s no need to speak with their tech support. With that said I have spoken with them a lot since signing up and rest assured they do everything they can and over and above what they need too to sort things!

 

In case you haven’t seen Oliver who is the MD of Origin made a post on Facebook regarding the situation that can be seen here - http://www.facebook.com/#!/originbroadband

 

Hope this helps to confirm what the issue is and hopefully puts you at ease knowing you’ve chosen the best ISP if you ask me

[littlebigone 10]

Hello,

 

In relation to your problems getting connected with your chosen ISP (Origin) I just wanted to make you aware that the problem getting connected isn’t directly there fault and they aren’t really to blame!

 

The issue is more to do with the process of raising a request for a new connection onto the Digital Region. At the moment there is an issue between DRL and I believe BT that may be causing lead times to be connected to be increased and has caused some orders to be on a back log for some time!

 

Whilst other ISP’s are saying they can still get you connected quicker and within the normal timescales etc the fact is they can’t as DRL are the wholesale provider and therefore every ISP goes through the same process to raise a new connection request.

 

My personal opinion is bare with them and you won’t regret it! I was having frequent disconnections as well as a poor 2Mb service before leaving BT and although they messed me about with my MAC code again not Origin’s fault it took time to move across to Origin. However, with that said once your connected you will most likely never need to speak with them again as the service is consistent, reliable and stable so there’s no need to speak with their tech support. With that said I have spoken with them a lot since signing up and rest assured they do everything they can and over and above what they need too to sort things!

 

In case you haven’t seen Oliver who is the MD of Origin made a post on Facebook regarding the situation that can be seen here - http://www.facebook.com/#!/originbroadband

 

Hope this helps to confirm what the issue is and hopefully puts you at ease knowing you’ve chosen the best ISP if you ask me

 

Hi,

 

We just want to re-assure everyone that there are no delays in connecting our customers to our Digital Region services. We are and have been connecting people within 2 to 3 weeks since we started delivering services at the end of last year.

 

We can't comment for other ISPs positions, but our customers are not experiencing any delays in receiving service from littlebigone.com.

 

If anyone has any queries we would be happy to discuss them with you.

 

Thanks

littlebigone.com

[Greengeek 10]

I was originally going to sign up with LBO, but their blanket "Ban" on letting me use my own very expensive router instead of their cheap one unless I wanted to daisychain mine off the back, and the fact they wouldn't give me the voip details to use in my android phone or softphone meant I went elsewhere.

[walkerx 10]

I was originally going to sign up with LBO, but their blanket "Ban" on letting me use my own very expensive router instead of their cheap one unless I wanted to daisychain mine off the back, and the fact they wouldn't give me the voip details to use in my android phone or softphone meant I went elsewhere.

 

I do agree they should allow users to use their own modem/router - bt allow this for their customers.

 

But if there are issues with your connection it will limit what the isp can do if you use your own equipment - with using isp supplied equipment they can make changes remotely and also force updates, if you use your own they can't make them without your consent and it makes all the more difficult for them to support it

 

i had this trouble when i was with ripwire of proving my equipment was not faulty, event though they were adamant my router was faulty router, which since leaving them has been connected for 33 days instead of the max 7 days i used to get.

Edited March 19, 2012 by walkerx

[Greengeek 10]

I do agree they should allow users to use their own modem/router - bt allow this for their customers.

 

But if there are issues with your connection it will limit what the isp can do if you use your own equipment - with using isp supplied equipment they can make changes remotely and also force updates, if you use your own they can't make them without your consent and it makes all the more difficult for them to support it

 

i had this trouble when i was with ripwire of proving my equipment was not faulty, event though they were adamant my router was faulty router, which since leaving them has been connected for 33 days instead of the max 7 days i used to get.

 

I appreciate that, but I'm not the sort of person that needs assistance with my internet connection. If I have to ring an ISP I will have done all the relevant tests already and just require them to go "Yes Mr Geek, I'll get that fault raised for you now"

Drayteks generally don't go wrong. Certainly none of the hundreds I've installed have ever failed and when I was a techie for Plusnet if a customer had a Draytek it was generally considered as not faulty even if they hadn't tried alternate equipment.

a £280 router is a bit different to a £40 Netgear.

 

One thing LBO don't make clear, is that they have some router that doesn't need the Cellpipe which goes some way to explaining why they have a phobia of other routers, but not giving out the details to a service you're paying for is inexcusable imo.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Greengeek

[walkerx 10]

I appreciate that, but I'm not the sort of person that needs assistance with my internet connection. If I have to ring an ISP I will have done all the relevant tests already and just require them to go "Yes Mr Geek, I'll get that fault raised for you now"

Drayteks generally don't go wrong. Certainly none of the hundreds I've installed have ever failed and when I was a techie for Plusnet if a customer had a Draytek it was generally considered as not faulty even if they hadn't tried alternate equipment.

a £280 router is a bit different to a £40 Netgear.

 

One thing LBO don't make clear, is that they have some router that doesn't need the Cellpipe which goes some way to explaining why they have a phobia of other routers, but not giving out the details to a service you're paying for is inexcusable imo.

 

I'm not the person either that needs assistance, i'm currently running a dlink dir 825 which wasn't cheap when I purchased it either and it is a very good router - i even used 2 other routers and had a pc running smoothwall which acted as my router and was still told it was my equipment at fault, so it doesn't matter how much you spend or what equipment you have the isp could still say it was your equipment at fault and force you to prove it wasn't. using their own equipment ensures they should be able to determine where any problems may be with your connection.

[mattyatty1 10]

Hi,

 

We just want to re-assure everyone that there are no delays in connecting our customers to our Digital Region services. We are and have been connecting people within 2 to 3 weeks since we started delivering services at the end of last year.

 

We can't comment for other ISPs positions, but our customers are not experiencing any delays in receiving service from littlebigone.com.

 

If anyone has any queries we would be happy to discuss them with you.

 

Thanks

littlebigone.com

 

Thanks for your input LBO! Whilst I appreciate that you may not directly have issues causing a delay there have been one or two things across the DRL ISP’s causing delays so your statement is a little misleading in a sense that it’s a wholesale product so everyone will have been affected. I guess with that said when ISP’s are over there normal lead times anyway it’s only a positive to a point as it shows the clear demand there is for that particular ISP and its services!

 

It’s clear from a number of potential customers that your non flexible approach with things such as routers, VOIP packages is more frustrating than lead times anyway and customers are prepared to wait on a more flexible ISP and more customers orientated such as Origin.