Worrying, the Big 4 telecom operators won’t play in rural areas if the government fines them for non compliance. (in French).
We have this problem here in the Clunysois. Two of our friends and ourselves have been without our 'phone line for more than two weeks.
I have forwarded the article to them and asked them to comment.
Our problem turned out to be the engineer that came to a previous fault hadn’t closed the box on the pole properly and it all needed replacing!
Does this not illustrate the total inadequacy of the private sector to provide essential public services to those in need of them?
They provide services where they can extort the highest possible fees from the better off, and neglect the less advantaged whether by income or rural remoteness.
After-sales service is often shoddy, and franchised to low-skilled and poorly-payed operatives, who cut corners.
In UK, as in the telecoms sector, so across the board in health, education, transport, public utilities, and the housing sectors.
Don’t vote for the Johnson-Trump coalition on 12 December, if you have a vote.
2 Likes
It was intended to inform regarding telecoms in France. Not a party political broadcast on who not to vote for.
Merci
6 Likes
There was a time when the engineers were quick to respond, but it is certainly more difficult nowadays.
If the householder is “fragile” ie alone/elderly/sick… that can sometimes spur things along, but not always… not a good situation.
Exactly and thank you Robert.
4 Likes
I think they do need their heads banged together. I’ve had two unsatisfactory experiences with “Orange” engineers over the last eighteen months. One as an SFR customer and one as a new Orange customer. The first one ended with an argument between the two whether the problem was inside or outside (ie SFR or Orange’s problem). So rather being the jam in the sandwich I dumped SFR (that was no simple task) and moved a single supplier, Orange, and the same engineer came back and still couldn’t sort it out. Seems Orange have outsourced their field maintenance so some mediocre crew.
There’s a cabinet full of fibre just a couple of KMs from Chez Scully. Very frustrating.
I seem to have prompted a touch of proprietal indignation in you, Robert, sort of “Get your garden gnome off my lawn…!” 
As somebody recently said, “Perhaps it’s the weather?” 
1 Like
Not at all, I just don’t want people to tell me/people who to vote for.
You can discuss Aunt Mary’s bloomers for all I care.
Yours
A Top Hat wearer, allegedly.
4 Likes
Yes but it is absolutely relevant.
My father frequently wore a top hat, it didn’t mean he was an arse 
2 Likes
Very fair point, M’lud (allegedly), and I stand rebuked. My enthusiastic political proselytising was OTT. I doff my cloth-cap in prole-ish respect …
1 Like
Not a top hat then? 
2 Likes
Yay, friends again!
2 Likes
Given the ‘state’ wants us to do more and more online they don’t seem to be doing much to help the situation . Orange is the sole provider of fixed line internet in our village . Fibre promised by end of 2017, then it was last year, then by the end of this…Now they’ve stopped promising anything. Current (poor) ADSL about as fast as our arthritic cat (when it’s actually working) so we didn’t bother getting it connected up and rely on 3G from nearby mast which serves 4 providers. Cell tower is owned by SFR. Whenever service disappears or drops below useable Orange wash their hands of any responsibility. Won’t even accept a call that the service is out, the excuse being that as they don’t own the tower they can’t do anything . Mairie has written to Orange and got the same brush off . So at times we are cut off completely and have recently driven into the nearest town to get a phone signal to let relatives know we were ok after inclement weather had them contacting friends here to find out if we were ok .
Snap. Orange tried to flog us a 4G Airbox for home “just in case” our ADSL went down. I tersely replied that it might help their cause somewhat if they could actually provide a 4G signal, and that offering a paid backup device in case the ADSL went down didn’t make me particularly confident in their ability to supply the connection in the first place…
On the flip side, my business fibre broadband went down last week, the Orange engineers were out within 48 hours. They discovered that someone (in all likelihood a subcontractor for another telephone operator) had pulled out my optical fibre connection from the local distributor box) - this is the second time this has happened to me in 2 years.
sounds like you have cause for concern… although I would not have thought anyone but Orange could access the Orange local distribution box… 
… so it might be a simple error… but twice (!) … grrrrr
The distributor box is situated about 750m away from my offices, and is open to all operators that provide subscription services to the FTTH loop.
I should add that the loop in question is a public service contract provision signed between the local town council and Orange, so they have no choice but to allow access to all providers.
Of course, being somewhat cynical, it could have been an Orange subcontractor installing a domestic connection that did the dirty deed ^^
It used to be somewhat common that a BT/Openreach engineer looking for a spare circuit to do a new POTS1 install for a customer would happen on an ISDN line - listening for dial tone would reveal nothing so the he’d assume the circuit was free and use it.
Cue one very disgruntled ISDN customer who’d just had their exchange connection “stolen”.
1] POTS = Plain Old Telephone Service - the industry term for what everyone else calls an ordinary phone line.