Broadband & Phone packages
Hi All ,
Having been with Orange for our Broadband with Voip for almost a year now i am turning my attention to switching to another provider - hope to save some money in the process , but in addition its a principle thing due to the poor customer care received when originally setting it up in 2012 (which is another story and if i go into it will ruin my Sunday)
typical bill is around 37 - 44 euros
So would like to hear who you would reccommend for this type of set up.
One thing i must add to the configuration is a wifi repeater or similair device to enable wifi in our gite which currently doesnt have it due to distance / stone walls etc.
Steve
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Martin Phillips on -
I agree, Orange Customer (non) Service is a disgrace, however I too am coming to the end of a two year conmittment and recently researched my options. I will re-engage with Orange Open as for my needs this seems the best choice - it includes one mobile phone. However for the other two mobile phones in the family, I have opted for SFR being cheaper than Orange.
As for connection to your gîte, just route a length of ethernet cable through and clip in to a transmitter which you can pick up for about 30 euros.
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Permalink Reply by John Alcock on
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I have been with SFR for both telephone and broadband, free calls to any english speaking country and France which is just as well with my wife on the phone to her mum and daughter in the uk for hours at a time plus her friend here in France, broadband has never been a major problem only once did i have to call into the shop while we were out by the time i returned home they had reset the box remotely all was as it should be we do occassionaly loose connection due to weather conditions about 37€ per month with no line rental to FT
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Permalink Reply by Pam Edmondson on -
We've been thinking about this too, even thought about satellite as our broadband speed is very slow. We've been with Orange for home phone & internet for over 2 years and the service was disgusting at first, they actually set up our contract and direct debit in the name of the previous owner and after many many weeks of visits to & fro they finally decided to scrap that contract & start again, fine except they charged us nearly 300 euro's penalty for cancelling the first contract, which despite letters of complaint we've never got back and have now given up hope of ever seeing.
It's good to hear that someone is happy with SFR phone & internet as we don't know anyone locally who has it.
Our mobiles are with SFR and Bouygues which are both cheaper than Orange and perfectly fine.
John i presume with no line rental to FT that means you don't have a landline phone?
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Most of our friends down here in the Tarn are with SFR unfortunatly we are to far out in the sticks to get their tv package as well, to be honest with the free uk phone calls its saved me a fortune the wifes just been on to her mother for 1 hour then rung her niece for another half then her daughter for another hour what the hell do they find to talk about i ring a friend in Australia 10 mins then i have said all i need to say, there are mobile packages but as i hate mobiles with a vengence having been plagued by one for years with my job in the uk i dont want another
Pam we do have a land line phone, in fact 3 over the house, with SFR through the internet line just dont pay to FT with the SFR package, probably within the monthly charge of 37€ there may be a conribution hidden away but as i said 2or3 hours on the phone to the uk every Sunday and probably in the week as well plus the hours talking to friends across the valley we or shall i say my wife more than gets her moneys worth
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Permalink Reply by Bob williams on -
have a look at www.dslvalley.com
you can enter your phone number[without fear of cold calling] and see what operators are in your area.. I've been with club-internet, which became Ne9f, subsequently SFR and have given a good reliable service and good pricing. A friend has Alice with frequent problems, she's looking to change supplier but SFR isn't available at her location, Orange offer the best option. The consolaton of Orange and SFR, if the modem packs up, you can take it to a shop.. Alice and others don't seem to have a physical presence? Trying to resolve problems is all by phone.. quite helpful when it's down!!
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Permalink Reply by John Rolfe on -
Try Free, its 38 euros per month all french TV plus unlimited telephone calls to landlines and mobiles here and aboard.
Plus a free Sim card for your mobile which gives you up to 120 minutes talk time per month, all free.
The two box set up also gives you record-able TV with a built in hard drive. You can download film and watch them on your TV -and everything including your answer machine is accessible and controllable from your laptop or via the onscreen display. We sometimes start down loading Films remotely using the mobile smartphone and the hard drives external link.
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Permalink Reply by geoff faulkner on -
sounds too good to be true John
g
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Permalink Reply by Simon Oliver on -
Yep, FREE is the best when it comes to price and technology. Their customer service is MUCH improved: they sent a man round the other day to fix a bug in my system (interference from an old FT relay box) for , well, FREE.
But I live in the city ... not sure their network is that good in the France profonde.
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Permalink Reply by Brian English on -
What you have to remember in France is that Orange owns France Telecom and therefore all the copper lines in France. Most of the problems with broadband in France is liked to old poor quality lines. That's why weather is an issue, water in the lines causing minor shorts and degrading the signal. This means in most cases alternative suppliers cant actually provide a better service as they have to use FT's creaking infrastructure. Alternatives such as satellite are available but at a much higher cost and in most cases have download limits so most have to retain their alternative providers also which really pushes the price up.
Fortunately France is just starting a massive fibre optic rollout (starting with cities of course) with a view to major cities having fibre by 2015. Guess those in the country will have a longer wait however even the high speed links between city hubs may help everyone. For example i live near Mayenne but all of my internet traffic is routed via Nantes 220 km away
@Pam Orange use a VOIP system i.e. the phone is routed via your internet connection so you get a phone line via the internet. You have the option for a second standard phone line with FT if you want it
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Permalink Reply by Pam Edmondson on
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Yes Brian we have that with Orange but also have a landline too. We have found that a lot of people refuse to call the internet phone as it costs them, presumably from a different provider.
You're right about the quality, our's is poor because we took the last available space on the line, which winds it's way down our lane through the branches of the tree's, no wonder it's poor, i think it will be a long long time before those of us in the sticks get so much of a sniff of fibre optic cables, i doubt i'll live to see it and i'm not planning on going anywhere for a long time.
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Permalink Reply by Bob williams on
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it's likely that your friends perceive your 09 Orange number as being a mobile or other chargable system?.. but in fact the 09 translates to the standard 05 number in the voip system. Their landline calls should not show any charges to either 05 or 09.
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Permalink Reply by Pam Edmondson on
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Possible, mind the guy i have in mind was a workman and a bit of a pain anyway to be honest.
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