Conspiracy Theory re Orange Broadband sudden failure - help!

My Orange Broadband has suddenly stopped working. Although my devices (phone, android tablet, Laptop) tell me that my Wifi is connecting OK to Orange- I cannot access the internet (tried all different pages)or send/receive.

(All my devices will connect to internet when I use my mobile phone data service and all my devices will connect to my employer�s wifi and operate fully). Ergo the problem is definitely my Orange home broadband. I then checked if my town's orange broadband was down via downdetector - no reported problems.

We tried all the usual fixes:
� Switch all devices off
� Switch router off
� Check phone line (working)
� Check router lights

So although my devices show/tell me that Im connected to Orange Broadband I cannot access the internet.

(However, on typing this I realised that what I have not tried is:
- switching on the wifi on my phone/tablet
- Scanning
- Selecting Orange and then �forget�
- Re scan
- Reconnect, reinsert password etc)


BUT as I have got this far, you might as well hear my theory�����

I am very suspicious in light of the following:

Since 2006 Ive been with Orange mobile then in Jan 2007 Orange rang me up and gave me hard sell on its home phone & broadband. I was offered a super deal for taking home broadband including Orange paying the landline rental. Ie all I have been paying for a very reliable broadband service and home phone was circa £9-13 per month. All has been good for 8 years so I just let it run with the Direct debit to Orange Broadband going out of my account for all this time. There was no contract expiry so I had no reason to change because it was such a good deal. No one ever contacted me from Orange to discuss/review my Orange Broadband. I should also add that I am a very minimal user of broadband (emails, web browsing and light youtube � no downloading to any extent)

Then in June 2014 my Orange mobile contract expired and when I tried to renew I had to deal with EE: they said they no longer offered Orange mobile contracts and that I would have to have an EE contract & deal. I chose the best EE contract (but lost all sorts of Orange benefits magic numbers, cheaper tariff, film nights 2 for 1, etc ) but I chose the best contract on offer & accepted a contract for 24 months. I did not want to move provider because I did not want to lose the excellent deal I had re home phone & broadband. EE did not mention my Orange Home Phone Broadband so neither did I.

Then in October 2015, I was contacted by supposedly EE Broadband (sounded like a very busy call centre manned by very stroppy young ladies) one Saturday afternoon and was told that EE needed to move me from Orange B/band to EE B/band and that they would have to be put me on a new contract with a HUGE c400% price increase (£20 per month plus I would have to pay line rental). I rejected this wholly and stated that my contract had no expiry date and had run for over 7 years. EE said that Orange had made a mistake in paying my landline rental and also the low tariff I was on and they wanted me on a new contract immediately.

Again I rejected this stating that my understanding was that Orange had had 7 years to realise their mistake (offer, consideration & acceptance) and if EE had not completed a full �due Diliigence� when buying Orange (ie to understand the liabilities it was taking on with customers on �too good a deal�. I stated that they should honour my original Orange contract under custom & practice. I refused point blank to be bullied by the EE caller who was outraged that she was not being successful in bullying me in to accepting the spiel that she was clearly reading from a script. I requested that someone from EE who was empowered to discuss contract legalities should phone me to discuss. I clearly stated that I would NOT be agreeable to any change in my Home Phone/Broadband contract until both a full discussion on the legalties had taken place between the parties. I have heard nothing from EE since in any form (ohone/email/letter/etc).

Orange have continued to take the same monthly direct debit from my account (since Feb 2007 including the most recent on 17 Nov 2015. The next is due on Dec 17.

So how can I stop being a conspiracy theorist and check what has happened to my Orange Broadband in Stratford upon Avon, CV37.

I don�t really want to put myself on EE�s radar by contacting them!

Thanks Michele

Your broadband router will have a web interface telling you whether it is connected, and you should try a device using an Ethernet cable to rule out massive wifi interference causing a problem.

Sounds to me as though your router isn't connecting to the internet, the 'connected' messages you are seeing on your various mobile devices are there because the devices are connecting to the router, it's just the router isn't connecting beyond that.

Ring EE tech support and have them do what you pay them for. Good luck.

Thanks chaps, will try both.

I did try forgetting and reconnecting Wifi but no joy.

If you had previously changed the Wi-Fi password there have been incidents in the past where firmware upgrades have reset Wi-Fi passwords. So might be that.

OP has been chopped by EE for not agreeing to upgrade from withdrawn old cheap BB offer with Orange mobile contract.

OTOH EE has not acted correctly by not giving written notice of detrimental changes to terms. .

Edited by XRaySpeX (Fri 11-Dec-15 06:44:42)

In reply to a post by michelenh:

My Orange Broadband has suddenly stopped working. Although my devices (phone, android tablet, Laptop) tell me that my Wifi is connecting OK to Orange- I cannot access the internet (tried all different pages)or send/receive.


So although my devices show/tell me that Im connected to Orange Broadband I cannot access the internet.

I don�t really want to put myself on EE�s radar by contacting them!

Thanks Michele

Sorry I did not read all your post it gave me a headache! I might be wrong, but it sounds like you cannot connect to your router via WiFi, have you checked the WiFi is not switched off by the tiny discreet push-button at the back of the Bright Box router?

Reading some of the other posts might have been more useful - more likely the OP has been cut off by EE because they refused to move onto a new contract.

In reply to a post by ian72:

Reading some of the other posts might have been more useful - more likely the OP has been cut off by EE because they refused to move onto a new contract.

That's a load of nonsense EE do not cut you off because you refuse to upgrade an old legacy contract. Well they haven't cut me off! Their agents phoned me to see if I would upgrade my contract, I said no, as with my legacy contract I get weekdays evenings landline phone calls after 7pm free, but I would like to pay upfront for my Line rental. ( £13.75 a month if you pay 12 months upfront (£165), otherwise £16.40 per month) making a saving of £31.80p per annum. He said yes we can fix that up for you, that will make your broadband £3.10p per month. Which reduced my EE/Orange legacy contract in price from £19.50 per month to £16.85 per month. That includes unlimited broadband with landline phone and line rental.

This is not any old legacy product, which I too am on w/out being forced to change , but a special cheap BB offer to Orange mobile custs. There was a whole hoo-ha about their withdrawal on MSE about 2 years back as well as, I'm sure. a news item on TBB main site.