2Degrees Broadband Customer Support Improving?

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  jackvdbuk on 04/05/2023 - 17:24

  i spoke to sales recently, they said the prime removal is not an option to reduce cost.

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  shortshorts on 05/05/2023 - 08:07

  I'm on wireless 4G with 2Degrees (semi rural). I recently wanted to change from the 600GB capped plan to their new unlimited plan (same price). Knowing that their phone support was terrible I went into a store and asked if they could swap me over, the salesperson said they would need to call the support number, but that them doing so would be faster than me waiting on hold. Long story short, I stood awkwardly in the store for 45 minutes, while the salesperson was transferred several times over the phone, before being hung up on. That's right, their own support team hung up on them! Apparently, I couldn't leave it with them to sort in case they needed more information.

  I since managed to switch by calling the support number directly, but expect wait times of at least an hour on hold. YMMV.

  Service is fine.

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  bigcheese on 05/05/2023 - 08:23

  I switched from 2Degrees to Skinny about 7 months ago and so far I'm pleased with the move.
  The connection with 2Degrees was fine but the support is absolutely terrible. As others have mentioned the wait times can be over an hour with no call back facility available.
  Email is similarly poor in getting back to you.
  I haven't had a need for support with Skinny so probably a bit hard to compare though.

  In terms of having your connection on Port 2 of the ONT, they would usually just put your new connection on Port 1 so shouldn't be difficult.
  That is exactly what I did when sorting a broadband change for my workplace.

  • 

    spam on 05/05/2023 - 11:32

    From what I look, you need to use the modem from Skinny? I wanting to use my AC86U and I have set it up to connect directly to the ONT. How do you find the coverage? My ONT is under the stairs so would have interference as the original Huawei HG69b router struggles with the wireless coverage upstairs.

    I guess if I have to I can just use Skinny modem to connect to my AC86U then use the asus as my Wifi instead.

    • 

      bigcheese on 05/05/2023 - 11:40

      In my case I am just using the supplied Skinny modem.
      It is located quite centrally in the house (2 storey approx 200m2) and I have no problems with connection anywhere either upstairs or down.
      I have not found the need to for any other range extender.

    • 

      Alan6984 on 05/05/2023 - 11:48

      @Spam:

      That's a good approach anyway - just connect them with a short Cat5e+ ethernet cable.

      That way, you are connecting to Skinny with their device, so any issues, they will be able to support and / or login to their router if they want to.

      Your router can then have all your own config, and be your real security. They can't see your real network behind your router, and if they reset their router, you don't lose any of your own config, maybe just a single setting to forward everything through from Skinny's device to yours.

      Alan.

      • 

        ace310 on 05/05/2023 - 11:55

        +1

        This all works fine until you want ddns or port forwarding. In that case skinny modem needs to be configured as that's the endpoint of your network, so in theory if support does a reset you lose all your settings.

        • 

          Alan6984 on 05/05/2023 - 12:01

          @ace310: DDNS / PortForwarding can be handled easily by just putting your own router in the DMZ of the ISP's router, which is just a single config you need to do (and re-do if they reset their router as part of 'troubleshooting'). If their router doesn't have a DMZ option, you could forward all ports (1 - 65535) as one rule through to your router, but I can't recall running in to that myself (or with a client) for at least ten years, probably a lot longer.

          DDNS will point to the public IP of the ISP's router, which then forwards all packets to your router.

          From a security perspective, you consider that your router is on the public internet, and handle things there accordingly.

          You can do it the way you are suggesting, but it seems a bit masochistic to me :-)

          • 

            ace310 on 05/05/2023 - 12:06

            @Alan6984: Had trouble with DMZ in the past with ISP provided modems, so have not really looked into it for few years now. But might look into it once I change provider now.

            • 

              Alan6984 on 05/05/2023 - 13:46

              @ace310:

              Had trouble with DMZ in the past with ISP provided modems, so have not really looked into it for few years now. But might look into it once I change provider now.

              Twenty years ago it was often an issue to daisy-chain routers (no idea why but it definitely was), but I haven't seen any issues with my own stuff or clients' kit for maybe ten years or so.

              Should be easy to test, and if it doesn't work, just remove the ISP router and change the WAN-side settings in your own router back to whatever it was before.

              I always backup router config before making ANY changes - I highly recommend it :-)

    • 

      ace310 on 05/05/2023 - 11:50

      You don't need to use skinny modem. I have skinny and I have directly connected my Asus GT-AX6000 to ONT.

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  c3rn on 05/05/2023 - 08:24

  Been with them for a few months now, not happy with service. Prior to being with 2D I was with Skinny. Fibre unlimited plan with both. On Skinny I'd get, on average, 700-800Mbps down. With 2D on average I get 150Mbps down.
  I tried my old modem too and still same down speed. Same equipment, same modem location etc the only variation is the ISP.
  I'm battling them to cancel without termination fees so I can go back to Skinny. Emails take a long time to be responded to.

  • 

    bigcheese on 05/05/2023 - 08:27

    When I first connected with 2Degrees on the unlimited plan a few years ago I had the same issue.
    After finally getting through on the phones it was able to be fixed relatively easily - they had throttled the speed when they shouldn't have.
    Should be easy for them to fix although I was using their modem rather than my own so they could remote in.

    • 

      c3rn on 05/05/2023 - 11:29

      Thanks for the info. If I use the Orbi app it's showing full speeds (like 800-900Mbps down) but any other speed test on any other device shows 150-200Mbps at best. They're saying that Orbi app is the true speed and the rest is just wifi issues? But I'm running the Orbi speed test through wifi so why is that one high but all other speed tests low. Grrr.
      /rant

      • 

        Elvino on 05/05/2023 - 11:32

        I could be wrong, but doesnt the Orbi app test its own connection to the fibre network (thus cabled all the way), and not the connection from your device (with app) to the orbi over wifi.

      • 

        spam on 05/05/2023 - 11:34

        On Wifi, to my knowledge, you won't be able to / struggling to get 800-900Mbps down unless you use a really grunty router.

        When I was on gigabit connection on AC86U, I can get 500-600Mbps on my phone and laptop using the 5GHz connection, and can only get the full 800-900Mbps if I connect directly using Ethernet.

      • 

        Alan6984 on 05/05/2023 - 11:42

        +2

        I suspect that the Orbi app is testing the speed from the public internet (or maybe to 2Degrees servers) to your router.

        If you are running speed tests (such as SpeedTest.net) from any device connected via WiFi, that won't work in that you will get a false low reading by being on WiFi which is (almost always) crappy / slow compared to a proper wired connection.

        Try running the non-Orbi speed test from a device connected via a good ethernet cable, and make sure both the cable and the device's NIC can handle gigabit speeds - that should give you a fairer indication of your actual connection speeds.

        Edit: Elvino beat me to it above, but I have left this comment for the other advice about testing via ethernet.

        • 

          c3rn on 05/05/2023 - 12:06

          @Alan6984: Thanks for the info, I dont have any devices with Ethernet at home. The main point is that wifi, is so much slower on 2D than it ever use to be with Skinny. Even using the old Skinny modem in the same location is still way slower.

          Maybe it wasn't 800-900Mbps down on wifi that I use to get but it was waaaay faster than the 100-200Mbps down on 2D.

          • 

            Alan6984 on 05/05/2023 - 12:31

            @c3rn: Okay - from what you have said very hard for you to be sure where the issue lies, but my guess (based purely on most likely) is that it is the WiFi connection, and not the internet connection, especially if the Orbi app is reporting a good connection speed.

            I am guessing that the 2Degrees router is supposed to be able to do faster WiFi?

            FWIW - Most laptops from, say, ten or fifteen years ago would have a good chance of having had a gigabit ethernet NIC. Maybe you could borrow one from someone else, and try testing with that.

            With modern laptops you have to be careful to make sure they have that connection - most serious business machines will of course, and whilst I am not a serious gamer, I'd guess that most gaming laptops would too.

            • 

              c3rn on 05/05/2023 - 12:48

              @Alan6984: The 2D modem is supposed to be superior to the old Skinny one. But both are equally poor in wifi speed output now. I don't understand how the old Skinny-supplied modem worked great under Skinny but not 2D.
              Only one laptop at home and it's a work one without an ethernet port. Have a PC connected by power line adapter then it's just phones and tablet.

              • 

                Alan6984 on 05/05/2023 - 13:43

                @c3rn:

                The 2D modem is supposed to be superior to the old Skinny one. But both are equally poor in wifi speed output now. I don't understand how the old Skinny-supplied modem worked great under Skinny but not 2D.
                Only one laptop at home and it's a work one without an ethernet port. Have a PC connected by power line adapter then it's just phones and tablet.

                When you say, 'PC' do you mean a desktop? Most desktops have an ethernet connection - you might not have noticed if you are connecting to the PowerLine adapter via WiFi. If it has, and is practical, you could perhaps connect the PC to the router via ethernet?

                No idea about the specific routers from Skinny or 2Degrees. Have you checked whether, perhaps, the old one was running on 5GHz on a channel with little or no interference, and the new one might be on 2.4GHz with many other routers on the same / overlapping channels?

                5GHz is faster, but it cannot penetrate obstructions (walls, for example) as easily.

                Edit: Oops, Ace already said some of that - sorry!

          • 

            ace310 on 05/05/2023 - 12:50

            @c3rn: Which orbi router you have? have you tried changing the channels and see it that helps? maybe you have interference. I had orbi mesh before and most of the time it was great but few times a week I would get 50-200mbps down even if standing next to the router. Couldn't find what the issue was.

            In case you have multiple nodes connected, try switching all of them off and just connect to your orbi router and test the speed. Sometimes the wifi device won't switch to it's closest node, which would give you slow connection.

            Edit: I see you have modem(isp) + router. Does the isp modem have wifi enabled? if yes, try changing the channels and see if that helps.

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  spam on 05/05/2023 - 11:30

  +1

  Thanks guys. Looks like I better stay away from them then.