The site looks ok, but I really miss the instant ability to see the current bandwidth usage like I could with the old site.  That feature was extremely useful as I could tell at a glance what my usage for the month is and how much I had left. 

Would love to see that feature put back asap.

First comment on the new site - thanks Stewart!

The current bandwidth usage is still there on the homepage, it is on the ‘Orconite (exiting customers)’ tab at the top of the page when you view the website from your Orcon broadband connection (it should figure out you are an Orcon customer and automatically take you to that tab).

It should be working, but let us know if it isn’t for you and we will get right on it.

Looks good!, sort of a wow factor when i went to go to webmail, but it looks and feels good, keep up the good work

After rolling over the “My Orcon” tab and being presented with the entry boxes for Usercode and Password, and after entering the first character of you usercode, Windows then presents a drop down list of valid usercode(s). This is a nice feature and saves having to re-enter the usercode in full. When I try to select the appropriate usercode the box containing the fields for the usercode and password then disappears. Could you please stop this from happening.

Thanks for the feedback Greg - good point. Will see if we can fix that up.

I really miss the pragmatic approach of the old site. Can’t quickly find useful information anymore. E.g detail of smtp servers, internet setup details etc.

More excellent feedback, thanks Peter. Will look at how we can incorporate that in a more ‘easy-to-find’ way.

@Stewart Hooper:
You are able to see your bandwidth usage instantly on the front page, take a look, it’s on the right!

@Orcon:
I’m extremely impressed with your site! It’s wonderful; quick to navigate, pleasant to surf - keep up the awesome work! I’ll be continuing my ongoing recommendations to people who are thinking of changing ISPs, because you are indeed the best in New Zealand!

My love for Orcon just got even stronger New website is great - you guys continue to impress me

The flowers look pretty but are a bit girly (even from a girl!) But overall i like it. excellent job!

Looks very kinky, but far too slow to open. Seems to me you’ve sacrificed download speed for flashy design—not good for frequent Internet users.

Hi

Can not find the current bandwith usage instantly - am I blind or what? it was so easy before as it came up instantly.

Thanks

Jenni:)

Like the new web site theme, look and navigation function. Big improvement here.

Please go back to an HTML or XHTML based home page. I don’t want all of this flash just to check my usage.

Hey Guys, Love the new site. After I log out of my account, it comes up with a log in to Orcon residential, how about it connecting me back to the Orcon homepage?

hi i like the website but when are you going to rebrand and make the usubility better than current for the domain management area?

Where did the “InformMe” page go with news, weather, etc?

It looks pretty damn swish!  The only gripe I have is that the photos are all so tiny you can’t see them, rendering them almost pointless!

What’s it built on? Go the comments - ups for being brave!

Thanks everyone for the great feedback.

@Clayton - makes sense to me, will see what we can do.

@John - that is definitely on the to do list. The whole ‘My Orcon’ section should be getting some love soon.

@Phil - the feedback was that very few people were using it. There are lots of great portal sites out there that you can get all that information from already, I will try and write a post with a few recommendations soon.

@Ani - Thanks! Will see what we can do about our awesome new photos.

@Dave - Thanks! It is built on Expression Engine

great new look - only thing that i can think of is to add the little orcon icon that sits in the address bar and bookmarks (in firefox) for webmail. Webmail has never had that love?

@Steven Ellis - This was something we discussed at length and weighed up carefully. Flash does do some nifty stuff that we wanted to showcase, after all - we are all about the great things that broadband can do. Point taken though. Luckily we are working a solution whereby you can view your usage at a glance (in pure HTML, no flash to be seen). More details to come.

Hey well done on the new site!! Will you consider customising My Orcon also?

@D Chan - on the to do list

I agree with Steven - those techniques can be done with XHTML/Javascript however I appreciate that you probably did think about this in your planning sessions.  Have you viewed your homepage in Google Chrome? Two of the panels “at home” and “at work” don’t render for me if I visit the page by typing in http://www.orcon.net.nz - anyone else noticing this issue? I just see gray.

Be good if I could log on to webmail - so I could ACTUALLY use this site to check my emails - Why did you have to fix something that wasnt broken???? If it wasnt such a hassle to change my email addy after 4 years of being with you I would change - I am living in Australia and have been happy til now to continue to use my orcon addy - I am PISSED I cannot check my emails today. Its my way of keeping in touch with home and I need to be able to check this addy EVERY day.

@Parndt - Seems to work for us… have noticed the flash sometimes does weird things on the first load, but seems to come right on second and subsequent loads.

@Duncan: Yep that’s exactly what I was meaning by typing in the address; on first load it does strange things.. I would say it is probably Chrome’s issue then. Also, I didn’t even notice it was a flash control until Steven pointed it out so it fits nicely as is.

Hi, the link at the top to get to my orcon and webmail appears “broken” maybe its something to do with flash, very frustrating when I just wanna check my webmail - there is no other way to get to the page?

I liked that on the old site if I wanted to view the Network Status there was a prominent link on the front page. Now I need to go into the support page.

@Jackie, @Liz:

When you hover over the ‘My Orcon’ tab it should produce a little box that you can enter your username and password into to log into either My Orcon or Webmail.

If that doesn’t work though you can log directly into webmail here: http://mail.orcon.net.nz/portal/

You can also log directly into ‘My Orcon’ here: http://www.orcon.net.nz/site/login

@Jason:

The system status is now displayed prominently on several key pages around the website. You will see the latest network status message displayed in a box on the right hand side of the Support page, which has a direct link from the home page (and every page of the site in fact).

Well I’m blind and I use a screen reader.  “My Orcon” is no longer a link.  Fine for people to “roll over” it but what if you don’t use a mouse?  Come on guys, you need to fix that.  You say you want to show off what Flash can do.  Great, but You have to be careful when you use Flash because Flash is generally not accessible.  Thanks for telling us the direct link to My Orcon.  But I shouldn’t have to use it.  It’s like a restaurant telling a Maori he has to use the back door.  I want to use the front door.

@Clive Lansink:

Thank you for providing such detailed feedback. I certainly take on board your point, and can understand your frustration. We will definitely be looking at how we can make the site more accessible. Please let us know if there is anything else that is not usable in the mean time.

One other thing that may be useful for some people is a direct link to check your usage (without logging in to My Orcon): http://www.orcon.net.nz/usage. Note that this will only work when you check from your Orcon connection.

A small suggestion if I may - it would be nice if middle click on the links on under the “Support Center” (eg the Network Status link) to open in a new tab (Firefox) would work.

I quite like the new layout; however it has to be said the background is truly awful!

It would be nice if it worked. Now I can’t log into webmail with firefox or opera.

I love the new design! Great combination of quirkiness (random staff pictures at top and flowery background) attractiveness (better looking menus) and usability ( clearer color and menu structure) just a great page. I wonder how long Digital Life will last though…

i was wondering if you would put links inside my account and webmail to point to each other, instead of having to go to the main page and choosing the other option. cheers.

Likes the old-site better, this site’s too purple now, and when u use a low DPI - its overwhelming..

@Steve 1: Can’t seem to replicate your problem - clicking to open in a new window in Firefox works for me… anyone else have this problem?

@Dave Reid: You might have trouble with webmail if you don’t have JavaScript turned on. Alternatively give this a try: http://mail.orcon.net.nz/portal/

@Brian: Good idea, working on it.

@Steve 2: I guess we can’t please everyone… We love purple!

Hi Duncan,
Just to make sure you’re looking at the same link as I, see the highlighted link here:
http://img354.imageshack.us/my.php?image=examplehb4.jpg
On both my home and work machines middle click on these links in Firefox results in scroll mode.

Also, just thought I’d make sure - is orcon.net.nz/usage going to continue to exist?  I’m planning on writing a script to check my usage automatically, and that’ll be easier to grab than the flash on the homepage.

@Steve: See what you mean now, the links in the flash… not sure if we can fix that, but will check with the guys.

I wish more effort were put into customer service, and less into the bells and whistles of how your home page looks…

Yes it looks nice, it loaded a bit slowly, but OK on my rural broadband connection, but I would hate to see what it is like to load on dial up, it would take ages ! (it is 440K for gods sake!)

Another comment.. (will be interesting to see if m first one is allowed).
You mention being able to go the usage page to see your usage without needing to login, well, for me it says that I do not appear to have broadband, well I do… you need to get your system to also recognise the rural broadband option too, right now it does not seem to.

Thanks for your comments Scott.

We certainly are putting just as much effort in to making sure that we are delivering amazing customer service. You may have seen us rated very highly in the recent NZ Herald survey (but that certainly doesn’t mean that we are sitting on our hands).

Orcon broadband customers now out number dial-up customers significantly (more than 3 to 1). Our broadband customer base is growing very quickly, while our dial-up customer base shrinks. While our new home page may not load as quickly as our old one for dial-up users, it is certainly not unmanageable. We have also been sure to provide alternative means for our dial up customers to get to the content they need (for example the direct links to log in to My Orcon and webmail that I posted further up).

Your comment about Rural Broadband is valid - the usage meter currently only displays usage for fixed line broadband customers. I will see what the guys can do about enabling this for Rural Broadband customers also.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Nice website, but as a customer on the Orcon+ network, the usage meter suggests I join Orcon now rather than telling me what I want to know.

A question (off-topic), when are the fancy new services that have been mentioned in the past being launched? Video on Demand? VoIP?

No, this new look website doesn’t do it for me. It’s too complicated, the pale grey flash appearance is showy, but nothing else, and in my view the changes are a step backwards.
You need to stop with the aggrandizement and marketing hype Duncan and take to mind what the feedback is telling Orcon.
Did we, the customers, ask Orcon to revamp its home page and related links? Was Orcon receiving complaints about the look of the previous site? If it ‘wasn’t broke’, why did it need changing or fixing?

My 65+ mother has Orcon. Her Internet Explorer shuts down when she is at the new Orcon site. Everthing works fine on all other internet sites she uses. She has IE 6. She spoke to help desk and they told her it was her computer/software fault and she has to upgrade. I was really disappointed in this approach from Orcon.

Overall though I like the new website and have previously always found Orcon to be great to deal with.

@Dave Tyrell:

That is odd. Could you send us an email letting us know your customer details so that we can look into it. Re: VOIP/IPTV - keep an eye out. Can’t say any more right now, but we haven’t forgotten about that stuff.

@Evan Parry:

Thanks for your feedback. We do listen very hard to the feedback that we get from customers, and indeed feedback about our old website looking dated, and not fulfilling requirements, particularly when it came to finding support information. In general the feedback we have received about the new website has been overwhelmingly positive. There are definitely a few things that need fixing and tweaking, and we are working on these (along with some enhancements we have planned).

@Tracy Bland:

We did test extensively on all browsers and operating systems before launching. Unfortunately there is no way to cover every possible combination that people have. However, the good news is that your mother is able to upgrade her browsing software at absolutely no cost. Both Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla Firefox 3 are available as free downloads, and offer a number of substantial improvements over IE6. They are faster, more stable, and more secure. Hopefully one of these browsers will meet her needs. I am glad that you like the new site.

Must say the new site is very funky.. though the guy in the scarf is kinda creepy…..

@Steve 1 over at Alan Peng’s bitdojo.net there’s a Vista Gadget there that gets its data from a simple php page buried inside orcon’s site that is pretty easy for a script to parse