Teleconnect changes.....

[AnOther]

Be interesting to know their specific reasons for switching ?

Apart from this latest episode I think their service has probably been no better or worse than any other ISP's, anybody else care to comment on that ?

Most of my problems, and that is really too strong a word, have been more to do with FT line issues, (now thankfully sorted via 1013.fr), rather than any failing on their part and on the few occasions I have had to call for support, lightning damaged router for instance, their performance has matched my expectations. I personally therefore can find no compelling reason to jump ship and indeed whilst I'm still struggling with my French I do place a value on the English side of the arrangement.

[Quillan]

Lack of support.

Phone dropping out.

ADSL dropping out.

Problems getting Teleconnect and FT to combine forces to sort out line problems.

These last three may just be due to our region.

Billing problems, I believe there was a delay of quite a bit with bills going out (due to name change) then they all turned up over a short period of time.

Change of Direct Debit due to name change.

Final straw apparently was due to the change over of servers and the current problems people seem to be experiencing.

One or two here seem to have lost their phone for a few days at a time and no compensation was given for the calls they had to make on their FT phone because their IP phone didn't work. Personally I suspect that the no compensation bit is written in to the contract, bit like Ryanair.

I got the impression that they were generally disappointed in general terms due to the compilation of a few small problems.

I can see the attraction of an English speaking helpline if your French is not up to scratch. It is one of the reasons I use them for my mobile, everything is in English where as it took me ages to get to terms with the ultra high speed prompting (well that's how it appeared to me[;-)]) on my Orange answerphone.

Digressing but its a bit like my last insurance company in France. I used them because they had an English speaking helpline. Great till I discovered I was paying nearly 500 Euros extra for the privilege for my car and house insurance combined. Certainly gives you a bit of drive and focus to improve your French.

[Maricopa]

[quote user="ErnieY"]Apart from this latest episode I think their service has probably been no better or worse than any other ISP's, anybody else care to comment on that ?[/quote]

I am with Neuf (as I often state on here) and this comment:

[quote user="ErnieY"]I imagine that there is still some tweaking going on and I have lost the VOIP light on a couple of occasions but a router reboot always brings it back. Frankly this has always gone on to one extent or another and we've got into the habit of checking it before making calls, the phone is nearby anyway so it's no real hardship.[/quote]

comes as a bit of a surprise, as with my Neufbox, I have had to reset it about twice in nearly two years.  I personally would not consider such a level of dropout as you experience acceptable.

However, I'm sure there will be someone along shortly to complain about Neuf!

[tuppence]

Hi Quillan,

Enjoyed your last post (?). I don't intend jumping ship as I have found teleconnect more than helpful when (rarely) I have had to call them. I think this latest episode is a combination of bad customer services (some of us getting e-mails/letters/cd's) but generally they are OK. The big plus for me is for 10€ a month I can call UK and France unlimitedly.

With regard to your comment re: other insurances, I too changed all my insurances last year to a local insurance group who just happen to speak perfect English. I saved myself over 300€ per year for health, car and house insurance and in the case of the health I pay less for more[:D]

tuppence

[AnOther]

Remember I said most (if not all) of my problems were down to an intermittent FT line problem. In UK, despite being within 600m of the exchange and with a perfect line, I had many more problems with BT.

The billing issue which Quillan mentions whilst possibly irritating is of little real consequence as it has to be paid whether each month on the dot or sporadically.

I have had no change of DD either but maybe this affected those who have been signed up for longer.

This all probably sounds like I am defending or recommending TC but I'm not necessarily, just telling it like it is for me.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

But you are nevertheless exceedingly fortunate in being able to make contact in your own language.

Can you imagine the hassle trying to do all that in french; the mind boggles.

I am sure that it must be a minor programme code bug which the fluent french speaking Teleconnect technicians protecting your

service will quickly resolve to your complete satisfaction in synergy with their french collegues on Orange. 

[/quote]

@ Maricopa: the SFR/Neuf/Cegetel are a strong outfit.

WOW 15 pages and nearly 3000 views!!!!

Laughing all the way to my french speaking AliceBox.[:)]

PS My AliceBox unconnected to server most of tuesday due to EDF manif in Toulouse; neighbour with Neuf OK; another neighbour with Orange same thing. Alice servers based in Marseille and Toulouse it would appear.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

But you are nevertheless exceedingly fortunate in being able to make contact in your own language.

Can you imagine the hassle trying to do all that in french; the mind boggles.

I am sure that it must be a minor programme code bug which the fluent french speaking Teleconnect technicians protecting your

service will quickly resolve to your complete satisfaction in synergy with their french collegues on Orange. 

[/quote]

@ Maricopa: the SFR/Neuf/Cegetel are a strong outfit.

WOW 15 pages and nearly 3000 views!!!!

Laughing all the way to my french speaking AliceBox.[:)]

PS My AliceBox unconnected to server most of tuesday due to EDF manif in Toulouse; neighbour with Neuf OK; another neighbour with Orange same thing. Alice servers based in Marseille and Toulouse it would appear.

[Jazzer]

My Teleconnect service was dwon between Saturday and Monday morning. Whether by accident or design I managed to get back on line late Monday morning. having said all that my service is now better than ever.My lack of technical experience certainly keeps me with them unless there is major catastrophe.

[Nell]

Tuppence - I have just spoken to TC about being charged for calls even though I subscribe to the unlimited call option. Full apology and refund of the cost of the calls.... Can't say fairer than that can you... I have not had my FT bill yet, but I assume, like you all my calls went through TC and I won't have any extra to pay on the FT bill.

Also - to those "knocking" Teleconnect - Yes I agree we as end users have had problems over the last few weeks, and if I was a new customer I am sure I would be just a bit miffed by now, but I have been a customer since Jan 2007 and overall I think the service has been excellent.

Yes, the bank charged me because of a change of name - TC refunded this money to me. Yes they charged me for calls, but they have just refunded me for that too... And they threw in 10 euro for the inconvienience... Think British Telecom/Talk Talk/ etc - Would you get that level of service without a fight - I think not

[Quillan]

Nell - What I was talking about is if your ADSL box goes down and you have to use the FT line direct do they refund the cost of any calls on the basis that its not your fault the ADSL box does not work? Has anyone experienced this?

[AnOther]

Glad to hear it Nell, how exactly have they refunded you ?

[Quillan]

Most of those I have dealt with all seem to be at or over retirement age and use their ADSL service to keep in touch with grandchildren etc almost on a daily basis, some more than once per day and often use video as well as just the phone. This ability to be able to keep in touch with the UK plays a very important part in their life. What they want is a stable service which recently Teleconnect has not been apparently.

A nice thing which also proves a point about how frequently these people use the service is shown by a comment somebody I know said with regards to their grand children. Apparently the two little girls back in the UK tell all their friends at school that their gran lives in a box (they obviously mean computer) and they speak to her every day, how sweat is that?

It seems to me that every supplier appears to have its good and bad points.

[AnOther]

I think the key word there is 'recently' Quillan. Whilst the current round of hiccups have spanned perhaps a month or so that is surely too short a time to decide to, or indeed physically change, an ISP. Perhaps there are peculiar problems in your neck of the woods with FT equipment but if that were so I don't see why they would be limited to affecting TC and nobody else. Being the old cynic that I am, and considering that at the end of the day everything still has to pass through FT's network, I can't help sometimes wondering if a little subtle industrial sabotage might go on now and again [Www]

I like the comment [quote user="Quillan"]Apparently the two little girls back in the UK tell all their friends at school that their gran lives in a box (they obviously mean computer) and they speak to her every day, how sweat is that?[/quote] I wonder if their school friends intepret it the same way or imagine another type of box [+o(]

[Nell]

[quote user="ErnieY"]Glad to hear it Nell, how exactly have they refunded you ?[/quote]

I have had an email to say that the refund from this months calls will be deducted from next months bill. As for the refund over the DD charge by the bank for the name change - I can see that on this months bill...

[quote user="Quillan"]Nell - What I was talking about is if your ADSL box goes down and you have to use the FT line direct do they refund the cost of any calls on the basis that its not your fault the ADSL box does not work? Has anyone experienced this?[/quote]

All I know, is that while the box was down during this upgrade, there seems to be no problem in getting a refund on the cost of any calls made, should they normally be "free" via the unlimited call option. As to whether this would apply at other times is anyones guess.  How do you prove that the box is down at any given time, other than phone TC and tell them this and that you need to phone the UK. Hardly worth the effort for the very odd occasion this may happen in the future (Hopefully [:)]) Anytime in the past (pre-upgrade month) where my phone line has dropped, a quick reset and all is back to normal, I have never been without the phone for any period of time. Lets hope it continues like that...

[AnOther]

For those interested we seem to have struck up contact with the marketing VP of Teleconnect, a Mr Cabellero, HERE

 

[pachapapa]

[quote user="ErnieY"]

For those interested we seem to have struck up contact with the marketing VP of Teleconnect, a Mr Cabellero, HERE

 

[/quote]

Just in case I should join the TeleConnect community in the future and in an attempt to curry favour with the VP.

I draw attention to the impolite orthography in respect of his surname.

I refer you to the relevant page on the Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales.[:D]

http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/caballero

[jcaballero]

Hi, I'm Jose Caballero, marketing VP with Teleconnect, I think you might already know me... well... First & foremost, I apologize for the inconvenience. I understand perfectly your irritation & anger. But be assured that we're working very hard in order to make everything work fine again, because we want it as much as you. Currently we have 3 different issues: 1/ the upgrade itself: 10% of customers still having problems on that one, because they couldn't manage or haven't had the time to complete the upgrade and that is a big problem because the old internet connexion was cut by our previous provider on April 10th. These 10% does not have any Internet access at that time. If you (or a friend of yours) cannot apply the broadband upgrade with the downloaded B10004_1 file or with the CD-ROM we provided, please pm me your coordinates (name, phone number, customer reference) and I will make you called back by one of our tech guys. Ultimately, when no modem upgrade solutions have proved successful, we can issue a modem exchange, sending you a new fully upgraded modem. 2/ erratic & random behaviour on calls made with the VoIP line (i.e., phone plugged on the modem). On that issue, there is nothing you, our customers, can do, except pm me precise symptoms such as exact date/time & message. We & Legos (our VoIP provider) are working hard to solve everything asap. IN THE MEANTIME IF YOU EXPERIENCE PROBLEMS, THE SOLUTION TO MAKE CALLS IS: - plug your phone on another wall socket (with the ADSL filter) or if you cannot use another wall socket : - dial ## before calling or - switch off the modem Doing one of these will result in all your calls go through your analogue line and not the modem VoIP line. Your analogue line is normally preselected with Teleconnect, which means you are charged by Teleconnect and not France Telecom for these calls. I confirm that all these calls will benefit from your VoIP line options (example: Unlimited UK, 2h of free calls, happy hour, etc.) Just to make sure there is no misunderstanding here: we will not refund calls, simply apply your current VoIP rates plan on both analogue & VoIP line. When you subscribe to our offers, your FT analogue line has been 'preselected' with Teleconnect that means that your calls are still routed by Teleconnect, except if you asked another phone service provider to take over your line. Example: you usually benefit from our Unlimited UK plan from your VoIP line; but as you did as asked, you'll have 35 calls to UK from your FT analogue line preselected with TC costing €13.45 on your next bill. These calls will have a little flag to identify them, and you'll have a -€13.45 credit appearing on the invoice in order to do as if they were in the Unlimited plan. For VoIP problems, a patch has been applied on 24/04/09 and this should solve some of the problems. We're still working on other problems. Do not hesitate to report problems by pm BUT please give the more details you can: mainly exact date & time, n° called, symptoms (busy tone, message, nothing, which led is lit on the modem, etc.). Whithout these information it's very hard for our tech guys to track down and solve the problems. 3/ the 2 issues above generate a lot of calls to our technical support, so if you call us please be patient: we have tripled our technical support staff but this is not enough right now to answer every call quickly. We are searching for more people but we cannot find English-speaking AND technical background guys in Montpellier anymore. If you know people who could be interested, please let me know. SITUATION OVERVIEW The whole problem came in the first place because of an automatic upgrade of all modems which hadn't been processed as planned by our previous network provider. So we had to build in a hurry a new & mostly manual process in order to upgrade your modems. As today (25/04/09) we still have 500 customers to upgrade in order they could access the Internet. As we upgrade about 50 people a day, this will be done before May 15th. The vast majority of our 7500 customers has been migrated OK and can access the Internet. When everything will be back to normal, the QoS of the whole system should be far better than it used to be. Once again please accept all our apologies.

[tuppence]

Well here we are early evening Tuesday April 28th and just when you thought it was safe to phone your friends............

1) Lines engaged   2) Norman Collier back on the line      3) Line gets disconnected    4) Clicks coming from the modem like a demented Spanish flamenco dancer.

I thought as no-one had posted since the posting from  M Caballero that all was well. So to all the disgruntled Teleconnect customers are you still encountering problems or are all of you waiting till the 15th May?????

tuppence 

[Nell]

I think we are fast giving up the will to live...... For 5 days any calls I have made, either don't connect, of it they do they disconnect within a few minutes... Talking away and then the penny drops.... nobody on the other end any more [blink]

One call I made was to TC and I got cut off in the middle of that one too... Mind you that worked out quite well, because the female I spoke to was a bit of a bolshie madam, but when I got back through I spoke to the lovely Conception. If you are reading this Mr VP of Teleconnect, I suggest you give Conception a raise - she must me the best asset you have at the moment [:)]

[tuppence]

Thanks for replying Nell, I thought I was on the Lost Planet Teleconnect[:)] It's slowly driving me to the drinks cabinet, I thought it was just UK calls at first but not so , France calls as well. No probs with incoming but just as I was about to post this reply ....guess what, modem decided to click off and on again resulting in temporary loss of internet connection as well. Really no better than when it first started 3 weeks ago, or was it 4????

tuppence

[jcaballero]

Please find below important information.

Technical support hotline: back to normal load + extra staff

Now that the major issues are under control or solved, we have less calls on our technical hotline, so if you still experienced problems, please contact directly our tech guys:

> 0805 111 555 (toll free number)

> 0811 43 72 14 (local cost call) if the first one doesn’t work

> send en e-mail to [email protected]

Opening hours are Monday-Thursday 10am to 6pm / Friday 10am to 5pm (except bank holidays)

 

Status on various issues

1/ No connection at all

It is mainly because of the modem upgrade which has not or cannot be applied. Of course people in this case won’t be able to read this post. But if you know neighbours in this case, please let them know we are currently re-connecting 50+ people a day and everybody will be back on track before May, 7^th.

 

2/ incoming calls (not) ringing

Since the beginning of this week, incoming calls are supposed to be ringing again.

 

3/ hearing clicks/bad quality/frequent disconnections

All these happen when you are located far away from the FT “commutateur” (the building where all telecoms servers are located).  You can check your line running an eligibility test on www.degrouptest.com or www.eligibilite-adsl.com for example. These sites are in French only, sorry.

When you are located 3.5 miles or more away of the “commutateur” and/or the signal fading is 55dB or more, then your maximum upload debit is 160Kb/s which does not enable Internet surfing AND good quality VoIP calling at the same time.

Sometimes a tuning of the modem could solve the problem. Please contact the technical support (n° at the end of this post). As we have fewer calls and more staff at the moment you’ll be able to reach them.

Because the tuning does not work 100%, we are currently working on a solution called biVC (= two Virtual Circuit), which will enhances the upload debit by opening a dedicated circuit for VoIP and thus guarantees that all the 160Kb/s will be used for VoIP when a call is made/received. This is a pretty heavy work on our servers, and it won't be finalized until a few months. We will inform you at that time.

In the meantime, first thing to do is call the technical support and ask for a tuning of your modem.

And then, if the tuning does not improve things, the best thing you can do is to plug your phone on another wall socket and use the analogue line instead of the VoIP.

 

4/ Loss of ‘fine-tuned” modem configuration

Before the upgrade, the technical support used to tune modems when quality problems happened. But all tuned modems have lost their tuning in the upgrade process. So if you know that your modem has been previously fine tuned, please contact the technical support and ask for a “re-tune”

 

5/ caller Id (not) display on the VoIP line

Our VoIP provider Legos is working on it, but a quick solution is to use the analogue line instead of the VoIP one.

 

6/ tone while calling

It seems to be a conflict between our VoIP system and France Telecom (FT) voicemail system when you’re using the ## solution in order to bypass the modem. We currently working on a solution (which could be dial ** instead of ##, not 100% sure).

 

7/ different tones when waiting to be connected (english/french)

It can happen with VoIP networks and has no incidence on communications.

 

 

Prerequisite before calling the hotline for VoIP problems

In order to save time, could you please check the following prior to your call and then tell our tech guys when asked:

A) Where is your telephone plugged on:

- the modem

- a separate wall socket (in this case is it plugged on a ADL filter)

After having dialled a n°, do you hear a waiting tone?

 

B) When in communication:

- do you hear your correspondent?

- does your correspondent hear you?

 

C) Are there any echoes, reverb and/or delay when talking?

If so, is it on your side? Is it on your correspondent side? Is it on both sides?

 

D) Is the conversation “chopped” (words are cut)?

If so, is it on your side? Is it on your correspondent side? Is it on both sides?

 

E) Please give 3 different examples of calls with the following details:

- Date/hour

- N° called (or incoming call)

- Comment (if any)

[Simon_Catlin]

Well - it has been quiet here for long enough.

Tried getting through to Support for two hours this morning to discuss my speed issues as they requested. Two hours later and still not got through.  Lost my circuit for an hour completely.  Got that up and if Teleconnect want proof of VoIP not working correctly, just look at the number of people who called on VoIP to Teleconnect support.  We all get engaged, but on French Telecom you get through.

I've unplugged the phone from the router as it C**P!

 

Can I make a suggestion.  Next time TC, trial a product please. 

Simon Catlin

 

[tuppence]

Simon,

I thought everything was going Ok till my VOIP line dropped several times yesterday. Back on today, so far so good, calls to and from UK/France all OK. But I am so unsure now when it is going to "lose" again. I agree with your last paragraph, trial it next time. As for M. Caballero and his options, some of us out here are very NON techie and haven't any idea what it is he is asking us to do. Please let's get back to the way it was and less of the high bills please! At no time did I (or anyone else??) realise that all my so-called calls using FT were actually going through Teleconnect. So I was very surprised to get the normal €16 bill from FT.

tuppence

[Nell]

Hi fellow TC folks ! - Yes mine is still disappearing up it's own backs**e 3 or 4 times a day. Same old, same old, turn off box, leave for a while, then turn back on. A terrible pain when you are doing something on the internet and "splat" it's gone or you end up talking to yourself on the phone and wonder why your nearest a dearest are not joining in the conversation [8-)]

I know this is a terrible admission, but I'm getting used to it now, still I suppose I am not getting high blood pressure like I was a few weeks ago (or is it months now - No it feels like years !!!!! )

10 euro refund Mr Caballero - I think you should go away and reconsider your miserable offer and come back to the table with a much better one [:@]

[AnOther]

Just trying to find the common thread here so would those of you still having problems like to post what your line stats are according to Degrouptest - line length and attenuation ?

Tuppence - unless you gave your line over to TC in response the letter they sent out a while back - and also cancelled your DD to FT - then you will always have to pay €16/mth (€32/2 months actually) to FT.