Orange home select 20meg V 8meg. Netgear N600 on ASDL/ASDL2+

Hi there

My parents are with Orange for their broadband and BT for their phone services. In early April 2010 I noticed they could switch Orange packages and save money, whilst getting a better monthly usage allowance. So I switched them. The e-mail from Orange on 6th April states the following:
"Thanks for asking us to change your Orange home package to Home Select 20meg - £12.00. We're on the case to get you up and running as soon as possible."

Tonight whilst trying ascertain whether they are on ASDL or ASDL2+, I noticed the following on their account page on the Orange Web Site:
"Your current home package is:
Home Select - £12.26 a month, up to 8 Meg speed, wireless router, unlimited usage allowance (fair use policy applies)."

How can they be on a package of 8 Meg when the original e-mail said Home Select 20meg? It didn't state in the original email up to 20mg nor did it ever refer to 8meg. Don't know what was on the package selection page when I switched them. It may have been in the terms and conditions. However you'd think the e-mail would say something like up to 20meg. It implies that they are on a 20meg package. Where as they are possibly just on an 8meg package.

The reason for needing to know this speed is that I recently bought them a Netgear N600 wireless router, DGND3700. Many reviews claim it is only fantastic if you have ASDL2+. On ASDL it's utter rubbish because it keeps dropping the connection. i got it because it's good ability to send a signal out round the house. The router is at one end of the house and the previous Belkin N1 Wireless router wasn't good at passing through 2 to 3 walls.

When I first looked into this I thought my parents were on ASDL2+, since the e-mail read home select 20meg. I'd read ASDL only suports up to 2meg. However there is ASDLMax and it could be that my parents are on that. I'm not sure how this router performs with ASDLMax, as the reviewers didn't mention that. I think the local exchange supports ASDL2+ but possibly not via a BT rented line and Orange broadband package.

My parents have been considering switching their broadband to BT. Personally I'm with O2 and I have no complaints, other than the long and drawn out process I had to actually get my service set up with them. However since then it's been ok for the most part. As for the router,it took a while to set up. It said my parents had a static IP address when they use no such thing. So I got the settings from an old router and put them in. Still didn't work. It only worked when I went to the router status page, router connection window and hit connect. Why that button couldn't be on the same page or instructions telling you to do that, I don't know. It may be that, that step shouldn't have been required but was due to a bug. However I hadn't upgraded the firmware by that point, due to having no direct Internet connection through it. I have upgraded the firmware now so that may help.

I have 1 week to assess where the connection keeps dropping or not and if it does and my parents don't wish to switch providers, then the router will be returned as faulty. If it's OK they can enjoy better wi-fi around the house.

In reply to a post by infobleep:

Home Select - £12.26 a month, up to 8 Meg speed, wireless router, unlimited usage allowance (fair use policy applies)."

The 8 Meg referred to there is only an estimate and probably mirrors what BT Broadband Availability Checker thinks (What does that say for their line?).

My Orange online a/c says:

Home Select - £12.26 a month, up to 13 Meg speed, wireless router, unlimited usage allowance (fair use policy applies).

yet I've been getting 19 Meg for months

What really matters is what the router reports as its stats. Can you supply them? Also what exchange?

Hello Infobleep,

Can you PM your details please and I will have it looked into. Also if you could supply me with a contact number, you will be called back.

Best regards,

In reply to a post by infobleep:

Hi there
Tonight whilst trying ascertain whether they are on ASDL or ASDL2+, I noticed the following on their account page on the Orange Web Site:
"Your current home package is:
Home Select - £12.26 a month, up to 8 Meg speed, wireless router, unlimited usage allowance (fair use policy applies)."

How can they be on a package of 8 Meg when the original e-mail said Home Select 20meg? It didn't state in the original email up to 20mg nor did it ever refer to 8meg. Don't know what was on the package selection page when I switched them. It may have been in the terms and conditions. However you'd think the e-mail would say something like up to 20meg. It implies that they are on a 20meg package. Where as they are possibly just on an 8meg package.

When I first looked into this I thought my parents were on ASDL2+, since the e-mail read home select 20meg. I'd read ASDL only suports up to 2meg. However there is ASDLMax and it could be that my parents are on that. I'm not sure how this router performs with ASDLMax, as the reviewers didn't mention that. I think the local exchange supports ASDL2+ but possibly not via a BT rented line and Orange broadband package.

Hi, I would not take any notice of what is on that page referring to your broadband speed, for my account it says�

Your current home package is:
Home Max - £9.71 a month plus £10.72 Orange line rental (total £20.43 a month), up to 2 Meg speed, wireless router, unlimited usage allowance (fair use policy applies), evening and weekend UK landline telephone calls included.

We've checked out your line and your estimated speed is 8.0 Meg.

Did you know that speeds in excess of 2 Meg are only available in certain areas? Top speeds vary significantly, particularly according to how far away you live from the exchange. The speed you actually get can also vary depending on the quality of your line, the wiring in your house, the time of day and even the weather.

Yet over on the view statements page, it says�

Account Charges Home Max 20mb Monthly Price 23/02/2012 - 22/03/2012 £ 20.430 Total £ 20.430

Next month, I should get the £5 discount each month as I am moving my mobile phone to Orange.

Thank you for all your replies. So far the Netgear Router has only lost the connection twice. I'm not sure how frequently it would lose the connection if running ASDL.

The stats from my parents are:
</CODE>System Up Time 00:53:19
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN pppoa 33450 45114 0 1036 12710 00:52:47
LAN1 Link Down -- -- -- -- -- --
LAN2 Link Down --
LAN3 Link Down --
LAN4 Link Down --
WLAN b/g/n 300M 48075 37436 0 13275 1421 00:52:39
WLAN a/n 300M 0 0 0 0 0 00:52:39

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 7520 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 29.5 db 16.5 db
Noise Margin 9.1 db 25.0 db</CODE>

It has got to the point where the router is now losing the Internet connection once a day.

My parents exchange is Haywards Heath. They are probably about 1-2km from the exchange depending on the route the wires are taking underground.

I couldn't seem to get ASDL2+ to work on the router itself so that would suggest my parents are on ASDL max, However if the package is 20meg home select, as per e-mail, then that sugests it has to be ASDL2+. I'm not saying actual speed would be 20meg here, just referring to the ASDL type.

Kind regards

In reply to a post by infobleep:

Connection Speed 7520 kbps 448 kbps

The 448 proves they are running on ADSL Max.

Yet their exchange is WBC enabled, capable of ADSL2+, on which they could get about 14 Meg sync speed..

Looks like Orange are unnecessarily restricting the connection.