If you’re thinking of signing up with an Orcon ADSL2 plan, be prepared for:

* regular outages (ie no broadband and no phone line)
* regular non-availability to callers – they can’t dial in
* a big drop in speed after you’ve been signed up for a month or so
* problems with voicemail messages – eg not arriving in the inbox for several days
* significant price increases after you’ve been signed up for a month or so. Note (26 Jul 08): I’ve since found out my 30+% increase is no longer happening.

Ah, the joys of a third-world network…

I’ve had ongoing problems with Orcon’s email servers losing occasional mail. I’ve found an effective way to get around this is by forwarding mail addressed to my domain to a gmail account rather than to my Orcon email account.

I also forward my gmail to my Orcon account – that way I can see that a proportion of my email is getting lost by Orcon’s servers. I end up with two copies of most messages but I’d rather that than lose some altogether.