Since just before New Year, have been experiencing a very unreliable service, dropping in and out all the time...you think you've fixed it and then baxck to square one !
Have had the local internet cafe people around twice now and the engineers from France telecom are due tomorrow to take a look at the line (again)......My PHONEXPAT deal which piggybacks on France Telecom (now Orange ?)...is pretty expensive, but I went with them because there is always someone English speaking there....
I have heard that BT (who surely must have english speaking staff) are now providing an Internet service in France.....Who do you use and whats the approx. cost, does it include a smartphone deal ?
Getting desperate as I don't have much more fingernail to gnaw or hair to pull out ! I'm not far from Bergerac...
Good timing - kind of. Our internet died yesterday. We drove their people mad in the evening until they placed an order for us to have a thing called a Domino that connects to the internet and have already given us two months payment reduction. My OH went into Bergerac and got the device and now I am back on as you can see. An engineer is coming to us on Tuesday. I have kept line speed checks constantly since September, not just one but four different ones. We have a average of less than 1% of expected upload speeds and 4% of download speed. Now it looks like the line here has given up the ghost. In our favour is that we probably have a marker in our file given that I have complained directly to Stephan Richard the CEO of Orange about the lack of action/service twice already. However, if the can do it for us, they can do it for you.
This time I have said that if I have to go to the CEO again without a proper result then I am tempted to start a petition about Orange service delivery. No matter who anybody is with, the lines are owned and maintained by Orange-France Telecom (which is a single company now) therefore complaining to SFR, Free or whoever would be wasted effort. Basically, we are fed up paying for X and getting X minus 90+% for that, so now enough is enough.
THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR PROMPT AND DETAILED RESPONSES EVERYONE ! WHAT A USEFUL PLACE SFN IS ! CHEERS !
My rendezvous with 'les engineers' (this afternoon), from orange was not a physical one (you know what I mean -it wasn't a face to face meeting)...just got a phonecall from them working to fix a 'panne' a 'probleme avec le ligne' en nearby St Capraise....
They tell me it is now fixed......I can't tell you how much I hope that's the case.......
We had a classic setup for years: Orange landline with phone + Orange internet (Livebox), for about 50 euros per month. As of this month it's Sosh, low-cost subsidiary of Orange,
Sosh offer is internet+phone (same number as before) + a SIM card for mobile/smart phone at 30€&month. Phoneline includes unlimited calls to landlines and mobiles in France + landlines in 100 countries (incl. UK). Mobile subscriotion is 2 hours of domestic calls/month. The 30€/month includes the Livebox, whereas Orange charged 3€/month for that. And it's exactly the same box as before! There was no need to change it.
The switchover was seamless. Noticed only when Sosh sent me a SMS that now it’s done.
Here in the countryside (non-dégroupé) it’s better to stay with Orange/Sosh, for the quality of connections and services.
Hello Hillary
We have a contract with orange called mon optimale internet which is unlimited internet, fixed line phone calls to fixed lines in the usual 100 countries included and french mobiles it costs 46 euros/month. We are in the sticks our service is soetimes very slow and use lots of internet so have a second internet unlimited access via satelite which costs another 45 euros/month with no phone.
I use all the cheap cell providers like Sosh or free so I can change them when I like depending on useage and childrens requirement for internet access. Free uses the orange network if you live in the sticks so signal is usually pretty good their cheapest contract onc portables is 2 euros and you can phone a landline number in uk for 2 hours/month.
Yes expensive in total however it works on the whole, and with an old fashioned phone in the wall you still have a phone line when there is no electricity
Gave up on avonline satellite as bills increased monthly and reception was awful; got landline and mobile/internet package from orange and it is much cheaper than the UK, unfortunately in E Charente, we have no fibre optic so its not always perfect but again an improvement over rural Wales. (We cannot access FREE here at all either)
Hi Hilary,
Sorry to hear about your problem, but it is more likely to be with France Telecom/Orange than with Phonexpat itself, which piggy-backs onto a Nordnet Satellite link.
We have been with Phonexpat for many years with very few problems compared to previously when we were directly with Orange. If there is an occasional problem it usually turns out to be due to France Telecom/Orange carrying out nearby works. The staff at Phonexpat have been very good to us, so I suggest you give them a call and speak to Charles, who is usually extremely helpful.
Bonne Chance.
Mel Anthony
I suggest you retry for a new contract with them I have been able to do that before.
I have been with Phonexpat for several years now with no problems, it sounds like Orange playing up.
Yes Terry, have been with Orange for 9 years. They have far better deals for non-customers than existing ones!
I presume you got the mobile phone with Orange 2 years ago right ?
If not, then you may want to look at something like Open Zen from Orange for about 50€ pm.
In my experience, the 'good' thing with Orange is the support (English or French) where other providers tend to be a little patchy.
Orange have an English speaking department and are very helpfull
Hello Ray
I don't believe so, since it covers areas where there is cable.
You can find out if you are eligible for cable thanks to this test :
http://fibreoptique.numericable.fr/
Regions covered by fibre-optics:
At the bottom of the page, you can also click on
1079 villes ouvertes à la fibre optique
Hi Hilary,
I am reviewing my options at the moment, and have to say it is incredibly difficult to get any sense of a straight comparison here. So a bit of internet leg-work is required I'm afraid.
Internet deals seem to be much lower than anything available in shops, with all of the main suppliers. I am with Orange and have been for 6 years. Initially just landline and internet. When I moved here full time 2 years ago I upgraded to include mobile, opting to pay for the English speaking service. What a waste of time and money that was! Not one single change I have made to my account through the ES service has gone to plan. Not one. Forget about needing to speak English and start translating on the web, you get a much better idea very quickly of whats out there. You can then sound this out in a shop if you are unsure.
You can keep your mobile and landline number, allow 10 days for the service set up, make sure you are out of contract period and penalty free. Top advice seems to be get your new service installed before terminating your existing to make sure there isn't a period without any service. My current package with Orange is not what I signed up for at all, and is annoyingly cheaper if I went for a separate home and mobile contract. I am looking to change in the next month or so, and it seems that having a separate landline and mobile deal will be the cheapest. Even with Sosh a Subsidiary of Orange I can save 20/25€ per month.
Standard price for landline/internet with free calls to 80/100 countries plus mobile in France and sometimes DOR is 20€. All of the online pages have a line check system to make sure they can provide to you. If you have line issues now though that may need to be resolved first before another operator will be able to provide.
Good luck, and take that leap away from relying on English speaking services.
Hi John,
Is Numéricable available nation wide?
When I moved to Numéricable in 2008 or thereabouts, they allowed me to keep my existing phone-number.
We have not got a problem but some people who live 1-2km away as the crow flies told us on Sunday that they have had no service for 2-3 weeks despite Orange checking their line (from road to house), which Orange said was at fault but has been checked again and is not. Perhaps Orange are selectively disconnecting - or just doing a lot of work on the lines as they upgrade to higher speeds. Perhaps the weather has bought lines/trees down as happened round here recently which are only temporarily repaired.
Whatever the reason keep on at them and if you are billed for disconnected periods over 48 hours then read your contract and claim back. If you get really cross write to head office with details and threaten to go with another supplier (same line though!).
Ah, that's the name I couldn't rememberJohn. I looked at their site, it all seemed too good to be true!
Do you happen to know if there's an option whereby you can transfer and keep your current numbers?
I am in Reims and am with Numéricable. It's really fast and reliable.
I pay 19.95€ pcm for unlimited Internet access and free landline calls within France as well as to over 100 countries,
which allows me to call family in the USA, the UK, Australia, etc.
They get my vote.
I know others are going to lambast them, but Orange have always provided excellent service for us.