We’ve come to the end of our 24 month contract with Orange so I have the opportunity to change the package either with Orange or make the bold move to another provider.
My current package is expensive because it includes unlimited calls to UK landlines and mobiles, I still need this but I’ve found a better and cheaper way to do that, more on that later.
So I have a couple of questions;
Who are you currently using to provide broadband and phone and are you happy with the service?
i bundled alot of stuff cos it seemed like a good deal, i am with Bouygues telecom, unlimited calls to anywhere in europe, america and loads of other places(not mobiles though and only to 100 different numbers a month), unlimited internet at a good enough speed to stream hd, we also have the bbox a tv box with the basic package and 60gb hdd for all that pausing live tv, rewinding and recording something while watching something else, and 2 sim only mobile contracts with 2 hours of calls, unlimited sms and 120mo of data all for 40 euros a month
29,99€ a month with Free for a freebox, unlimited adsl and landline calls throughout Europe, could also have TV and a mobile sim and other things if I wanted them but I don’t. Probably not the cheapest these days but the hassle of potentially being without adsl for a few days puts me off changing.
We are with Orange and have the 40€ package for internet, unlimited calls to landlines and mobiles. However you cannot suspend this contract so we are forced to cancel and then reapply including a cancellation charge of 50€ so we are not best pleased. Their customer service is appalling, incorrect info and rudeness so we will also be looking around for a new provider in April. However I would like to query those who have Free and Bouyges, do you not have to have and Orange landline for the connection and therefore the line rental?
No, phone calls are VOIP via adsl, there is no separate landline and therefore no separate line rental.
The downside obviously is that if the adsl goes down you have no phone either, but since it very rarely does and since I very rarely use the landline, I see no great advantage in paying for it.
Sorry I may be missing something here but we have to have the Orange landline to connect our internet. How do you connect your ADSL if you do not have a line rental with either Orange or SFR?
It seems a bizarre concept - but we have an Orange phone line coming into the house which the ADSL comes along but because we are not using the analogue part of the line for voice calls we do not need to pay line rental.
In the event that we were to have a problem with the ADSL we would have to pay a months line rental - the problem would then be investigated/fixed by Orange, we are then free to cancel the line rental again. So far I have not needed this.
Total bill each month is 24Euro for ADSL and 3Euro for the Livebox.
In fact I think that not everyone can bypass the Orange line rental, it depends where you live. You can only do this if your geographical location is “dégroupé” (I think the English word is “unbundled” but I could be wrong). As I understand it, this is a purely commercial arrangement between Orange and the other providers whereby Orange allows them to take over an agreed number of lines, ie (I imagine) eg Free pays Orange a sum for n number of lines, and recoups the money from its customers in the rate they charge for their adsl/VOIP package. But Orange is still ultimately responsible for installing and maintaining the lines so if there’s a problem, I contact Free and Free contacts Orange and Orange fix it. So it might take me longer to get my problem fixed that if I was a direct customer of Orange, because there are more links in the chain. I believe most parts of France are “dégroupé” now but maybe not all, and if your location is not dégroupé then you have to pay line rental to Orange, you don’t have the option. If you are dégroupé then you do still have the option of renting a separate phone line if you want.
That’s probably a bit garbled cos I’m not a techie, but I think it’s rougly right.
Quite right @Lynnee - it always amazes me how many people retain their landline subscription when they have had and ADSL/VDSL line fitted - quite bizarre and a complete waste of money at nearly 200€ / year. (except maybe if they have no mobile network!)
I guess if you make a lot of lengthy business calls on the phone you might want to pay the (tax-deductible) extra fee for the sake of quality of line. I used to give telephone support to online language learners, but VOIP rarely gives a crystal clear line for the duration of the call, especially if you’re calling a mobile for some reason, and quite often clients used to say accusingly “this is a VOIP line isn’t it, can’t you call me on a proper telephone?” If I’d intended to contine with that kind of work, I would have felt obliged to get a landline put back in.
In 9 years of using Orange VOIP (in rural areas) we have never had an occasion where the call recipient has complained about the quality of the call…
Truth be known, I think in more recent times the call quality has improved to the point where we would find it difficult to notice any perceivable difference but I do know that people using Skype complain about issues.
If you use VOIP for calls and you have issues with call quality due to bandwidth then check if you have the ability to turn or QoS (Quality of Service) in your router’s settings as this will prioritise SIP traffic, effectively partitioning bandwidth for that kind of traffic.
