hi everyone :) happy new year
can anyone advise which phone company and internet provider would be best for our situation ?
we have a house in the Deux Sevres (79) which is just a holiday home at the moment.
i will be staying there in june for 3 weeks and I need a landline and internet access. i manage ok with my mobile at the moment but have to gone to the bottom of the drive to be able to make phone calls!
I seem to recall that i have read that you can get a landline and internet access on a need to use basis but i may be mistaken.
thanks in anticipation
Kirsty
We used the Maison Secondaire service when we first moved to France and took a 3 month rental. You can have broadband too but, whereas you can suspend the phone line, you cannot suspend the broadband which I discovered to my cost. Had to pay for two months broadband while we were back in Ireland. Check out the various packages available from Orange. Now that we are her full-time, we currently have phone, internet and TV on demand (i.e., not live broadcasts), and a mobile phone for under €50 pm (can't find the last invoice for precise figures, sorry). So, you might be better off with Maison Secondaire phone line, and forget internet, because if you choose dial-up with a dongle, you will have to take laptop and dongle to the bottom of the drive, as your signal in the house for mobile appears to be weak. Also don't forget Orange have set notice periods - you must notify them (I think) at least 15 days in advance of starting and turning off the phone line.
Orange have a contract for maison secondaires which allows you to suspend the contract when the house is not being used. During suspension there is no charge for line rental. We had this contract for several years and friends still have one. I don't think you will get a broadband service but if you are satisfied to use dialup then that's no big deal.
Suspending reinstating the service was easy to do by email.