We have been with Orange for 11 years now and never ever had a single problem that they did not fix immediately. Found them very helpful but not very knowledgeable at the shop and we still get calls from Orange tele-sales asking if we want to move over to Orange Internet (we we already have).
For Mobile phone we use Leclerce and they are just great.
Rgds, Mike L
They have a 30 min cut out in the waiting queue, or even in terms of communication time with a competent tech support person - so if your problem takes more than 30 minutes to resolve, you often have to ring back...and wait ;-)
I suspecty it's a bit like choice of bank. Good service in one place can be dreadful service in another. Best advice must be to see who everyone else uses in your area.
Been with SFR for almost 4 years never had a problem we are to far out in the sticks for the TV but my wife is never off the phone to friends and relatives for 39€ per month well worth the money have heard horror stories about Orange friend who is with them cant get broadband and they have no intention of ever allowing her to get it as to far out for them plus she lost her phone usage for well over a week as the line was down bit like BT in the UK bloody useless
Not having a reliable mobile signal at home I keep my mobile in the car and use it only infrequently to call home when I'm out and about. For this I've found the minimum Free Mobile offer very good value and reliable.
Orange is certainly the most reliable for most of us living in rural surroundings - as long as you don't have to get hold of them. My favourite of course is waiting on the phone for hours listening to their ghastly music whilst they tell you they're looking for an available conseiller and then suddenly being told to call back and later and being cut off. You can spend whole mornings doing that.
Yeah, it is bad enough (on my domestic setup) when you tell them
- that you have more than 5 "machines" (phones, fondleslabs, PCs) connected ! - not supported by the contract;
- Oh and "did you say you're using Mac/Linux - not supported in your contract;
- God help you if you use OpenWRT as your router OS ! :-)
My thoughts exactly Patrick. I currently pay through the nose for a fairly expensive dedicated transpac phone line via Orange for my business internet needs, but if it does occasionally go pear shaped, they are out with the engineers within the day. The only ones who are crap are those sent out by Transpac, which uses subcontractors. The Orange engineers at least know their stuff (at least for the problems I've had in the past). The default telephone support is still rubbish though, as it goes through the commercial services first before being redirected to the engineering department.
Avoid FREE, my service used to stop for days at a time. One occasion 3 months with no service while they blamed >France Telecom and vice versa. France Telecom would only come out if requested by Free, which never happened. Cost nearly 100 € in mobile phone calls and no service which they promised compensation, still waiting 3years later Their customer service is the Ryanair equvalent of the telecoms industry Now with Orange and their service is fantastic
May not be helpful but you also need to be beware of telephone salespeople. Last year I had been tolerably happy with Orange for my internet and telephone when I had a call from SFR who managed to persuade me they could double my internet speed for a cheaper monthly cost. As my mind was a bit occupied, I let them talk me into changing to SFR. About a fortnight later having more or less forgotten the conversation I suddenly found my internet had ground to a standstill and the phone kept cutting out.
In fact it turned out that the probably Parisian based salesperson had absolutely no idea about the speed available in my tiny rural commune and as FT/Orange own the pipes and wires it was they who decide who gets top speed.
Of course it then took a good few weeks to reverse the entire process and get myself back to anything like normal.
We are right at the end of the telephone line, so ADSL is painfully slow - too slow for streaming. So bundled offers that include TV are no use to us. Anyway we already have TNT and satellite. When I researched this a few years ago, I found the best Internet-only offer was from SFR at €12 a month. They don't go to great lengths to publicize this, but you will find it tucked away in an obscure corner of their Website if you really persist! You still have to pay FT for line rental, but fixed phone calls go through SFR. This doesn't stop you from using VOIP.
We used to use JaJah for VOIP calls. It was a beautiful system, because they would give you a local number for people you phoned regularly, so you could make VOIP calls from your fixed phone without having to turn on the computer. Maybe this was just too good, because they went out of business! Skype seems to be the least worst alternative.
We keep a mobile for emergencies only. LeClerc Mobile is the best value for occasional use.
I have my own router. You don't have to pay rental for ever. Mine cost less than a year's rental. But only recommended if you are reasonably technically literate, because the ISP will try to blame the router if you get problems and you will need to be able to argue your case.
So much choice. I have been offered a ‘retention’ deal from orange uk where I get unlimited European calls/texts, 1 gb wifi in the uk only and a iPhone 5c for £26.99 per month. Seriously considering this for continuity of communications as moving to semi rural location near lignac, indre and then getting basic Internet/tv/French mobile package from orange France. Not sure if I am over doing things though and could get a combined package with orange France that would give me unlimited European calls included? Anyone know?
I have been with SFR for 5 years, great service.
Orange! Customer service is - as usual - pretty cr*p - but good service and good VOIP calls....
Similar to the age-old problems with BT in blighty... I was on a great deal with The Post Office for phone/internet but it was a nightmare when it went wrong.
I have handled phone line and internet connections for around 200 people over the last 14 years here. Often in problematic circumstances, which seems to be about 50% of cases! I used to recommend 'alternative' operators, which is fine as long as there are no problems. However, when there is a problem it is usually exacerbated by an order of magnitude if the operator is anyone but Orange. As Orange owns all the infrastructure (cables, fibre optics, routers, centrales etc) all the other operators are obliged to ask them to fix the problem - and you can imagine how keen they are to help the competition! Bottom line? Orange is more expensive, yet more capable when there is a problem. Would I risk a longer internet outage to save a few euros each month? No, but I am an IT professional and my livelihood depends on my internet connection.
That's great info Claire... we're with Orange for landline/wifi and use Leclerc Mobile (who tag onto F SFR) which has proved very good and very cost effective for mobile calling/data.
Hi Steve
I have organised Wifi for several holiday apartments in the last few months with Orange, Free and SFR. Mixed experiences with all of the them but here is my twopence worth:
- Orange - best customer service and in-shop assistance. Also easiest to use Menu *online tv.
- SFR - quickest delivery, good customer service, but most complicated online menu for TV. Fastest Wifi speeds
- Free - Worst customer service
For all of them the basic package includes a landline with calls to internationals landlines included (and french mobiles)
You can tag on a mobile with the same attributes, free landlilnes calls to international lines and french mobiles.
My husband and I both use SFR mobile for 19.99 a month to include all of this.The Wifi for all companies is about 32.99 per month, a little more if you include the mobile. We have SFR internet which is great as I work from home a lot. But I am tending to go with Orange for the other apartments that just want Wifi and basic TV.
Hope this helps!
Una
I feel I'm stuck with Orange simply because they give the best coverage in my area (20km from Fontainebleau). Bouygues & SFR had no network cover at all within our village; coverage further out is patchy. Orange is just the best of the worst for phone coverage in my case. My biggest fear is finding myself stuck on a quiet country road with a phone but no mobile phone network.
I tried Free a few years ago, and gave up because of lack of human response to problems. I hear they've improved.
Free recently contacted me offering very fast broadband. I asked them how they could do this, given that they'd be using France Telecom's infrastructure, which is slow. I'm still waiting for a coherent reply that a non-techie can understand.
I was with Free initially as they were the first to offer free overseas calls.
It got off to a bad start as they supplied a duff power supply and it took time and money to persuade them to supply a replacement. After that we had 4 years without problems but when there was a problem with the line, it took over a week for Free and Orange to get their act together to sort it out. As a result I switched to Orange which gave me a 50% increase in speed and a free Samsung Tablet.
Mobile coverage for Free in our village doesn't exist, the communal transmitter operated by SFR only works for SFR, Bouygues and Orange subscribers.
I have used Bouygues for years. Quick fix ups when broke. People are usually Nice on the phone. Some glitches in box delivery but over all good services. They do have mobile which I used to be on but now with low cost b and you. Very happy.