Vocus Group is now tied up with multiple NZ ISP’s, 2Egrees, Call Plus, Orcon etc…. thats fine, they do generally have a good network.
But one thing that has been sorely fucked up by these mergers, is the support and customer service.
Recently, I was migrated to a different platform for my 2Degrees connection. And it got stuffed up.
Basically, they moved me to the new platform, with my static, but for whatever reason, my static was screwing up IPv6 connectivity, so anything that chatted with IPV6 had issues. Oddly (and there will be a tech reason for it, but I’m not a full on network engineer), it was mainly anything that was NOT Windows based that had the issues. So apps on mobiles were failing to connect when on Wifi (but perfectly fine on 4G), such as Zoom, Neon, Google notifications etc.
Even our LG TV stopped working with NeonTV.
So after seeing some others complaining about it on Geekzone.co.nz, I reached out 2Degrees support. First contact said ” oh I’ll put you onto a static, for $10 a month” – NO. I already have a static. So then his fix was “I’ll put you on CGNAT’. NO. I have a static for a reason, and going to CGNAT is not going to help me.
Told him to leave things as is, and I’ll find another solution….
Called again next day. Different CSR. Explained issue again. She actually had half a clue and said they’ll need to remove my static, put me on CGNAT, then add the static again. Hooray! So she did this…. or so I thought….
After a while I noticed that while everything seemed to be working (all apps etc), noone was hitting my servers hosted at home via my static IP.
So did some checking….. I was on CGNAT again.
By now, one of 2Degrees network guys had seen my posts on Geekzone and reached. He found I was still on CGNAT, and he knew what the issue was that started all this. So he got me back on a static IP, and ALMOST everything was back to normal.
NeonTV on the LG TV still not working, BUT it had worked when I was on the CGNAT connection.
So have dropped him a line to see if he can find out whats causing that……
Now, throughout all this, the one thing that was clear, was that:
- The migration process had NOT been tested
- The CSR’s were NOT kept in the loop of existing faults
- The CSR’s from other ISP’s that have since merged with 2Degrees, just treat you as their original ISP and give out incorrect information.
I had messaged 2Degrees via Twitter asking for help…. they only came back to me AFTER I had the issue pretty much resolved.
Below is their message…. and my response. Hence #3 above….
I know its a big job merging all these services etc together, but surely someone must be in charge of making sure the right things being done…
Anyway, my contract with 2Degrees is expiring soon, and I am looking at moving on……. before these mergers, they were damn good to use, but now, its left a sour taste – the one time I needed their help.
Lets see what happens….