Eurosport, re-defining sport... apparently.

So, I am recovering from a cold and flipping through the channels and I come to Eurosport 2 and what I see disturbs me...

Now I have to be very clear about the fact that I am a Gamer to the extent that my budget allows, I enjoy it (that is why I do it) and multi player Gran Turismo 3 & 4 are a joy. I have do watch my friends play, but that is because they are my friends. Having said that I have to wonder what kind of executive decision was taken to broadcast an hour of gaming called "Championship Gaming Series", an hour of complete strangers FROM AMERICA playing various computer games that is broadcast at 13:00 BST on a Saturday afternoon. Now I love gaming but I would NEVER count it as a sport, not even if you do have a Wii.

I would just like to repeat something here, the program lasts for a whole hour....

My curiosity having been roused I decided to check what will be on later tonight and at 18:30 BST a full half an hour (the same amount of time given to the LMS) is dedicated to that sport of kings.......... Armwrestling......

Hmmm...

At 19:00BST the Championship Gaming Series is back FOR THREE HOURS.

I have seen the light, of course there is not enough room for more than the first 30 minutes of a race and a 30 minute highlight program when there are things to watch like people in America playing computer games and arm wrestling.

I have to ask the question once again, WHAT THE HELL WERE THE ACO THINKING?

Well after a complete lack of connection it has come back, the problem is that it now looks like this.

Time of checking: 00:11
Attainable download rate (kbps): 576
Downstream Rate (kbps): 480
Upstream Rate (kbps): 448
Home phone line: Online
VOIP line: Online

I do not want to phone Orange again because it seems to be a waste of both my time and money.

I will phone them on Saturday as I will be busy until then.

So, Orange contacted me today and asked me to do some "speed tests" despite the fact that I have been using the diagnostics on the LiveBox to tell them what speed I could potentially get and when I asked them why they said it was because they said that it was because "This is how we test the connection" and when I asked them if they had any tools that they could use I was fobbed off with a nonsensical answer and it was re-iterated that "This is how we test the connection". I gave up and decided to go to the web page that they were asking me to go to.

I went to the web page and found out that it needed an install for Java Runtime Environment, when I asked them if they would give support for the un-installation of the software that I "needed" to run this test. I was told that no support would be given for a third party software. I asked if there was any other way for the issue to proceed without going to the site and was told "no", so I pointed out that to get my connection fixed they were asking me to install unsupported software and was told that "This is how we test the connection". I pointed out that it was not them that was testing the connection, that I was doing their job for them and was told (yes, you guessed it) that "This is how we test the connection". I said that it was not reasonable to get someone to install something that they were not prepared to support and was fobbed off with "This is how we test the connection" again. I told the person that I was dealing that I had things to do today and he offered a call back, I said that I would be unavailable until Tuesday afternoon and was promised a call back at that time.

I have come to the conclusion that Orange "Tech Support" and their "Faults Department" know next to nothing about what they are doing. The department in India lacks knowledge and are rude and unprofessional, the UK based people equally as ignorant and refuse to answer simple questions.

I am sorry but "This is how we test the connection" is not a suitable answer when asked about an additional software that is installed.

I hate dealing with such ignorant people.
So, Orange "Faults Department" contacted me today and asked me to do some "speed tests" despite the fact that I have been using the diagnostics on the LiveBox to tell them what speed I could potentially get and when I asked them why they said it was because they said that it was because "This is how we test the connection" and when I asked them if they had any tools that they could use I was fobbed off with a nonsensical answer and it was re-iterated that "This is how we test the connection". I gave up and decided to go to the web page that they were asking me to go to.

I went to the web page and found out that it needed an install for Java Runtime Environment, when I asked them if they would give support for the un-installation of the software that I "needed" to run this test. I was told that no support would be given for a third party software. I asked if there was any other way for the issue to proceed without going to the site and was told "no", so I pointed out that to get my connection fixed they were asking me to install unsupported software and was told that "This is how we test the connection". I pointed out that it was not them that was testing the connection, that I was doing their job for them and was told (yes, you guessed it) that "This is how we test the connection". I said that it was not reasonable to get someone to install something that they were not prepared to support and was fobbed off with "This is how we test the connection" again. I told the person that I was dealing that I had things to do today and he offered a call back, I said that I would be unavailable until Tuesday afternoon and was promised a call back at that time.

I have come to the conclusion that Orange "Tech Support" and their "Faults Department" know next to nothing about what they are doing. The department in India lacks knowledge and are rude and unprofessional, the UK based people equally as ignorant and refuse to answer simple questions.

I am sorry but "This is how we test the connection" is not a suitable answer when asked about an additional software that is installed.

I hate dealing with such ignorant people.

I have an objection to speaking to someone in a call center in anywhere other than the country that I am in at the time. There are many reasons for this, the main one is that I have friends who lost their jobs when the company that they work for decided that what customers wanted was, initially a short telephone call designed to get them off the phone without fixing any problems and, later, for them to do that with a thick Indian accent over a crappy telephone line.

I care about the planet, but I think that any nation should cater to it's own call center needs and not just ship the jobs overseas where, in the vast majority of cases, the telephone lines are next to useless and this, combined with the accents of the people answering the phones, makes it nearly impossible to understand what they are saying.

Unfortunately, companies are only interested in making money and as a result we, the consumers, need to act collectively. I refuse to do business with call centers outside the nation in which I reside. This is why I am so hacked off with Orange, as when I signed up with them I was told, by the salesman (who lied) that they had UK based call centers only, it is partially my fault as I could not research this claim properly at the time but still I was lied to. I will move ISP's as soon as I can.

I moved my bank because they have an overseas call center. I refused to buy a PC from Dell because they have an overseas call center.

I have written to Orange at the below address to express my displeasure at the situation and the reason that I want UK based call centers.

Orange Customer Care
Orange UK PLC
PO Box 486
Rotherham
S63 5ZE

I am sorry of this makes me sound xenophobic but I care about my friends and their families, and if that is wrong then I don't want to be right.

I called Orange (0844 873 8586, option 1 then option 5, the option 4 and finally option 1) and spoke to a woman called "Gauri" who is situated in India. - told me to call back on the same number to talk to someone in the uk. I did so and got through to India again.

I explained to the situation to the Indian person who answered and he hung up on me.

I called for a third time and got through to India again and spoke to a third person who both refused to give me his name and told me that I was not the account holder. I was not amused. I asked to speak to the team leader and he hung up the phone.

I called customer service and asked for the address for the complaints department.

Orange Customer Care
Orange UK PLC
PO Box 486
Rotherham
S63 5ZE

I asked about cancelling the account and was told that I have a contract, I advised the person in customer service that a contract is a two way street and if Orange continue to break the contract then I will not pay a penny.

I was told that Technical Support were the only people who could give me answers.

I called Technical support and "Suneet" who did a lot of checking of details and wanted to know how I knew what the speed was, I explained about the LiveBox information page (open web browser go to http://192.168.1.1 and enter the username and password, unimaginatively admin and admin and click on the "System Information" link) as I have to every time I call "Technical Support". "Suneet" told me that my line is capable of 2.5 Mbit/s and that something was wrong. I was also told that it would be a good idea if I reset the Orange LiveBox by:

1. Unpluging the power from the LiveBox.
2. Hold down the "1" button.
3. While power up the LiveBox while holding the "1" button.
4. Wait for three lights to illuminate.
5. Release the "1" button.
6. Accessing the LiveBox Diagnostic page.
7. Entering my username and password.

After doing this to call technical support again, I asked if they could phone me since I have been treated appallingly and was told that this is not possible.

I did all of the above and

Time of checking: 18:24
Attainable download rate (kbps): 1376
Downstream Rate (kbps): 1216
Upstream Rate (kbps): 448
Home phone line: Online
VOIP line: Online

I called tech support again and spoke to "Dhiraj" and was asked if I was running a firewall or anti virus as they can slow down the connection, I explained again about the "System Information" page on the LiveBox and what I had done and was told, again, that my line is capable of 2.5 Mbit/s and that something was wrong. This time I was told that a fault had been raised (Fault number: 765655, 1 more than the last one I suppose..) and that I would have the results emailed to me.

I await the email.