Apparently, one week is good

On the very day I posted that my projector seems to be okay (it has now gone up to 100 hour lamp life without problem) my internet connection died. Grief!

I have a Wanadoo branded Inventel wireless router under the Wireless and Talk brand (now operated by Orange). The error was "PPP server down". After six days and five phone calls, my connection is now restored.

However, a friend of mine told me he once had his (not Orange) internet connection disappear for over a month and there are a few other horror stories on the web about Orange technical support.

So I am glad to report that my problem was resolved within this reasonable time frame. It expired on a Thursday afternoon (when we had all that snow). I reported it on a Friday. It was restored about 2am the following Thursday.

Of the five times I called, I was only waiting for a very long time (about two-thirds of an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"!) on one of them and you are informed that you are to be in for a long wait ahead of time. The other times were answered within a couple of minutes, once within about five minutes (again, a 'we are very busy' message was delivered first) and once instantly.

I ended up making sure I phoned during normal-ish working hours as I seemed to get northern English- or Scottish-accented support personnel and they consistently had access to the technical services required. When calling at more exotic times (I am a late-night person), I tended to get strongly Indian-accented support personnel whose access to the relevant technical services needed seemed to be much more erratic.

Upon calling today to process my refund, I was also pleased that they said they will arrange a refund of £9.99 which is double what I was expecting. I pay £19.99 a month and the service was out for nearly a week and so I would have been expecting a refund of about £5. The extra will comfortably pay for the charges on their 0870 technical support number (7 pence a minute).

So, overall, not too bad as far as speed and service and, providing they process it as stated over the phone, I am very happy with the refund. Yay!