Orange 3G+ modem

[David]

Hi Kinuthia,

This started off short, but turned into a rant about Orange. Apologies in
advance :)

I'm currently ubuntuless, so can't help directly with the "carrier not
found" issue you're having. However, I can sympathise about your struggle to
find out how much bandwidth you've used...

After a four month honeymoon period with Oranges 3G product, as of March I
have had a total nightmare regarding data bundles and usage. Unfortunately,
the issue is across both their fixed bundles and their "unlimited" bundles.

On 14th March, I purchased a 2GB bundle. 9 days later, it expired and I was
surprised (I'm a heavy user, but not THAT heavy, I expected it to last 14-15
days). I contacted customer care and was told that I'd used it all, so I
went to the portal page, copied all the data under "Session history" and the
page suggested I'd used 200mb. I was not sure that this was correct, nor was
I sure I had used 2GB, so I asked Orange to check whether there was either:

A. Something wrong with the data on that page; or
B. Something wrong with the way they are monitoring my account; or
C. Both

Silly me!

I spoke to about 3 different agents at the call centre and finally found
someone willing to listen to my issue (I think his name was Kingston). He
raised an issue/ticket for my problem and advised me to purchase a one week
unlimited bundle to cover the time it would take them to resolve the issue.
His reasoning was, quite rightly I thought at the time, that if there was a
problem monitoring the bandwidth/data usage, then an unlimited package
shouldn't suffer the same problem as it has no limit...

... unfortunately, 4 days into my 7 days unlimited, I was cut off again! I
called again, was passed around the call centre agents, put on hold
indefinitely, cut off at least twice, but finally made it back to the
helpful Kingston again and he expressed amazement, added the new issue to
the ticket and escalated again.

It's now been 9 days since I logged the first problem and 3 days since I was
promised a same day call back because of the new problem. I am not able to
use Orange's service (I still don;t know if there's an issue), so am routing
all data via my Safaricom mobile. I had been singing the Orange 3G service's
praises for months, but now I don't know what to do. I remember the bad old
days of Telkom (I got back to Kenya in November last year after 3 years
away) and had managed to convince myself they had changed.

Looks like I was wrong!

Coming back to your issue about being unable to monitor your usage, I can
only say I think it is impossible unless you use Windows XP and install the
Orange branded modem software that comes with the modem. I use Win 7 and the
software does not work for it. As you can hopefully see from my travails,
their on-line portal seems to be defective and the company themselves seem
to have to revert to technical staff to get the answer. Not that the
technical staff then appear willing to let anyone else know the results!

At this point, I'd like to ask the wider audience here:

What other options mobile data options are there nowadays? I'm not here long
enough to sign a long term contract for a service and I don't want to rely
on using Safaricom as it is expensive and the data contention can be a
serious issues at certain times of day (it didn't seem to be such an issue
with Orange)

Are Yu or Airtel any good in Kisumu? Is there anything else
shinier/newer/faster?

Any tips appreciated :)

David


On 1 April 2011 00:48, Kinuthia Muchane <muchanek at gmail.com> wrote:

> This email is from a ubuntu-ke subscriber to other subscribers inluding
> you:)
>
> Habari,
>
> @Alex you are so abrupt and to the point have you ever read Ludlum's
>  "Matarese Circle?"
>
> Yes, I do have a problem. Not with the configuration on Ubuntu, not one
> bit.
> I am using weaver dial aka wvdial. By the way, is there another dialer on
> Linux?
>
> Wvdial is always telling me my modem is down,  but when I switch over to Xp
> it
> connects immediately, but of course not at the advertised speeds!!
>
> But sometimes I get connected on Linux.
>  Is there a way to overcome the "Carrier not found",  message.
>
> I call customer care(the  millionth time?) and they,shame on them, ask me
> for a landmark from where I am calling from, after a wading though swamp
> full of crocodiles euphemistically(I learnt the word jana, I have to use
> it!) known as CC agents!  Hmmmm...
>
> Surprise, surprise I bought a 1GB bundle the other day, but 8 days later I
> do not know the chunk of that bundle
>  I have consumed because their 131 sms number never responds, at least for
> my modem. But when I send an SMS to any other
> charged number,, *I could swear here!* They charge me and promptly send an
> updated message on my credit!
>
> Which, by the way, are two separate accounts.
>
> Kinuthia...
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Ubuntu-ke mailing list
> Ubuntu-ke at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-ke
>
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