Dear All,
We have completed our move to France and have sorted out Broadband via Orange.
I am wondering whether our old UK telephones are compatible with the French network - does anyone know?
As an added complication, we seem to have ended up with Telephone by Internet only so have to plug the phone into the Livebox and can no longer plug directly into the phone sockets, meaning unless we use our two-handset British phone we only have one phone in the house.
Any help much appreciated!
Alan
Just wanted to thank everyone again. Connected the UK-purchased telephone yesterday with no problems whatsoever (the cable from the old phone happened to fit it). It's working fine so far. Incidentally, it wasn't that new - probably some eight years old.
Alan
I simply went to the local Mr Bricolage in 2004 and purchased several Telephone adapteurs, I think they cost me around €3.1 each at the time and I've never had any trouble with any phones then or since.
Hi John,
We have Orange & I downloaded the iPhone Orange app. What is the Brand Pin it asks for?
Thanks,
Roger
Hi John,
? is your iphone on orange network to take advantage of the facility.
Thanks Ken
Hi Alan,
We brought our Panasonic base and two slave set to the UK and with the use of an adapter purchased in the UK connected to our French telephone socket perfectly OK in 2011 and the set was not new by any means then. The handsets work throughout the house and garden and even through the thick stone walls into two out of our three Gites. Contact http://www.multitel.co.uk/france.html as this is where we got our adapter from. Will be a lot cheaper than new phones.
Best of luck Ian.
simplest to use cordless (dect), our uk cordless worked fine
Hi, we bought a socket converter BT - French and use our 3 handset phone perfectly well. 2 plug into the electricity sockets. The main phone with inbuilt ansaphone is a Panasonic KX-TG6621E. We get a good range so we can take a phone into the garden. If you look on the outside of the box(if you still have it) if the instructions are in French you should be OK. Here is a photo of the phone cable plugged into the adaptor. By the way we are with Orange too.
Hi, we bought a socket converter BT - French and use our 3 handset phone perfectly well. 2 plug into the electricity sockets. The main phone with inbuilt ansaphone is a Panasonic KX-TG6621E. We get a good range so we can take a phone into the garden. If you look on the outside of the box(if you still have it) if the instructions are in French you should be OK.
I brought my Panasonic Dect phones with me (they are a model which I purchased in 2011 so not too old but not too young either) and I have had no problems using them directly in the french phone socket or with my Livebox as a voip-fone. I just had to buy the rather cumbersome French socket thingy to replace the UK jack. For the price of about €8 I think, I did not need to replace the phones. I would advise investing in a cable first before spending more money new phone hardware.
Some phones have a settings menu on them where you may have to choose the country the phone is being used in (I guess this is to adapt to a different dialtone etc) but with digital products there should be no problem. Pulse/analog networks used to cause problems but digital protocols are pretty much the same throughout Europe now.
Hi John, that sounds useful. Can you please tell me the name of the Orange app so that I may give it a shot. Thanks
'Three' have the same as the Orange VOIP - an app called 'Three In Touch'. In addition, Three mobile phones allow you to use 'package' calls, texts and data in France as if you were in the UK...! (Not advertising for them - just a satisfied customer!)
New houses have dispensed with the old style inverted T connectors. In our maison nueve, we have telecom sockets which will take either an RJ45 or an RJ11 according to what is connected at the other end of it in the comms cabinet.
Much simpler.
For our telephone needs, we have a hands free base station connected to the Livebox in the appropriate socket using the dongle-dangle provided with the Livebox and have associated DECT handsets as required.
On the other hand, it is only cheap phones (powered by the landline) that work when you really need a phone - in a power cut (especially in areas with weak mobile signal).
Interesting to hear about the ability to use a smartphone as a VoIP handset.
You can buy a cheap phone every month using the money you’re saving by not having a ‘landline’. I have overcome the one phone problem by downloading an Orange App for my iPhone which turns it into a second VOIP handset that can be used to make and receive phone calls using the Orange number while it is logged onto the WiFi.
Thanks for the assistance gents; we'll just get a new set then.
Alan
I daresay some UK phones can be made to work on a French socket, but beware: I bought half a dozen different UK/French adaptors for my DECT system and none of them worked. The only thing that worked was replacing the French socket with a BT master socket.
However, I suspect that the VoIP socket on the back of a Livebox will be compatible with UK phones (given an appropriate adaptor).
In this respect the French telephone system is unique. French phones have a large flat plug or prise and a special socket to receive the plug. You can buy adapters from DIY and electrical outlets in France which will allow you to plug in a US style RJ11 plug into the French socket. The RJ11 is the type of small plug commonly found on modem leads. If you are connecting equipment which is fitted with UK (BT) plugs you need to first purchase another adapter which will accept your UK plug and adapt it to an RJ11 plug i.e. you will use two adapters connected together. This sounds convoluted but works fine in practice. It is worth purchasing some adapters before your trip to France as you may not be able to find the right items in local stores.
Alternatively, a number of people have found that they are able to remove the UK plug, strip back the wires and (largely through trial and error) connect a French plug (easily purchased at your local DIY store) to their phone and make it work.
Please note however that not all UK telephone equipment works on the French phone system so if all of the above options fail you may still need to purchase new phones in France.
Hi Alan, you will need to buy French phones. We have two cordless phones which we purchased from an independent phone shop. Works fine