Mac Broadband in the UK - a Sorry Tale


Poor support options for UK broadband users

I use iChat mainly to talk to relatives in the UK. They use Wanadoo (formerly Freeserve) for their broadband needs. I helped set up their accounts, and they all use the rather ugly and horrible Wanadoo USB-based DSL modem. Yes, USB. Not Ethernet. In the UK and Europe using USB-based DSL modems seems quite common. Personally I hate USB modems, as they are less flexible than a good, sensible Ethernet based one, and they rely on having the right drivers. Also, the Wanadoo one a SpeedTouch 330 and looked like an ugly, dead green fish.

Wanadoo didn't officially completely support Mac OS X , but they had a driver for their SpeedTouch USB modem for downloading, and although rather clunky at times, it worked.

That is, it used to work. Once Tiger was installed, suddenly everything stopped working. The SpeedTouch drivers don't work under Tiger, and Wanadoo had no answer for how to get the Mac online again.

When I contacted them, Wanadoo initially told me it should work fine. So I check the Apple Support forums and of course, dozens and dozens of users had the same issue: once Tiger was installed, it stopped working. The simple fact of the matter was that SpeedTouch USB modems aren't supported under Tiger, and there is no driver available.

I told Wanadoo that they were wrong about the Mac working, and they more or less just shrugged. Great customer support. There only suggestion was to use their dial-up service. And dial-up, as you recall, is SLOW and doesn't support iChat video.

I tracked down the SpeedTouch drivers, and apparently there will be an update for Tiger. In July. That's just amazing. I can't believe that Wanadoo just discounted every new Mac and updated Mac customer they have. Way to go.

Anyway, I wasn't prepared to not see my relatives until July, so I bought a WAG54G Linksys wireless-DSL modem and an Airport Extreme card, and had it sent to them. Unfortunately the only place I could order from was Amazon.co.uk , who are the slowest and most incompetent online retailer I've ever used - matched only in slowness by ParcelForce their so-called "delivery" service (are you detecting a note of bitterness about Amazon.co.uk and ParcelForce? Good. That is my intension - they completely screwed up last Christmas for me, so I try very, very hard never to use them unless I absolutely have to). Amazon.com I like. Amazon.co.uk I do not like at all. It's hard to believe they are parts of the same company.

Phew. Ok, that was a rant. Any, I then had an enjoyable weekend talking the relatives through the install. The hardest part was setting up the DSL-modem part of the WAG54G, as the default settings didn't work, and of course, Wanadoo has no information on the matter because they only support their SpeedTouch and a rather bizarre combined VoIP/Wireless solution which is going to get its ass kicked by Vonage.

So, luckily I'd already set up another relative with a PC to use the WAG54G, and I was able to use the Linksys remote access mode to log into their system, and copy their settings. I then talked through the setting up of the new modem, and lo - it worked.

Conclusion: Mac users think carefully before using Wanadoo. (And Amazon.co.uk/ParcelForce suck.)

Posted: Sun - June 5, 2005 at 11:03 AM      

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