I live in a rural hamlet and didn’t let myself believe that really fast broadband would be a reality for a long time when we chose to live here just over 2 years ago. The work around has been a Bouygues 4G box and a large rooftop antenna - it works well, though it’s occasionally unstable.
Imagine my surprise when workmen were busy in the chemin and shortly after I noticed a shiny new fibre distribution box on the telegraph pole next to the house. That was before Christmas. Well, the service goes live any day now and some of my neighbours have already placed orders and had confirmed installation dates for the next week or so.
After my initial excitement, I’m now slightly cautious as I don’t know if this is fibre to the premises or if it runs over the old copper phone line (which we have but don’t use).
After checking for availability on the Orange website it confirms that I can have the service but doesn’t describe the choices available - or pricing.
I know I could try to talk to them but my telephone French isn’t really up to speed yet - so before I try that and/or visit one of their boutiques, can I borrow from the experiences of others here who have already upgraded to fibre in a rural location?
My current Bouygues 4G Box manages a decent 80 megabits down and 25 megabits up, though latency is not much better than 20ms and, as I mentioned, the speed can fluctuate if the 4G router connects to a slower transponder on the tower, which is 5km away.
Hopefully I will get faster speeds, more stability and better latency with fibre - and possibly cheaper, too, than the 4G Box (which is about 37 Euros a month).
Our Orange fibre costs 43€ a month and includes the telephone line and Orange TV. We get 1gb of download (though the devices we have don’t work at that speed) and 500mb of upload. The reliability is the best bit, you never have to think about using loads of devices together and the speed of updates is amazing. We love it, it’s a whole new world after years of pathetic ADSL and fluctuating 4g.
If it’s out in the sticks, then maybe not Orange. Around here, Orange would only cover the city of Carcassonne and it’s surroundings. Deployment in the rest of our area is being funded by local government and will be marketed by the usual providers, who will have to rent capacity from the local government created entity, SYADEN.
I was speaking to a client today about the full fibre (2Gbps) they have and with SFR they pay 17 euros only per month. I was interested as we are about to have fibre in our hamlet.
Now this has got me thinking. Like @Vitesse we live in a small hamlet and much work has been done recently on overhead telephone lines upgrading the system.
I shall be out studying the pole on the chemin from where the line comes to our house. The pole has acquired lots of new boxes and wires in the last 3 weeks.
I am clueless regarding internet speeds and the like so would be grateful for advice on these readings
Perhaps not where you are, I know Vienne near me are also doing their own thing, but unless I’ve drastically misunderstood everything I’ve read about the rollout (which is quite possible, I’m not the brightest spark much of the time ) the default is the opposite to what you say. Due to the fact that no one wants to bother putting in fibre out in the sticks, the government has decreed Orange the ‘provider of last resort’ if you like so if no one else stepped up it’s on them to do it. In the cities and with proactive departments it’s seemingly much more competitive with municipalities and other providers getting in on it, but otherwise you’re stuck waiting for Orange.
Absolutely. That’s what happened to us. Out in the sticks - Orange installed. In town, done by someone else. Interestingly, ours was done first 2 years ago. The town is only getting theirs now. We assumed it was because town connections already tended to be better whereas we were lucky to get 1/2mb. So Orange gave us priority.
Another numpty question!
Can fibre arrive to our small settlement via overhead lines. Much has been going on along the main D road with buried cable popping up at strategic poles from where the existing overhead wires are being replaced by one much thinner.
Looks like fibre has arrived in the village (along the main road) but absolutely nothing where we are - about 3km away. We pay more than @EmilyA for an absolutely pathetic ADSL service (Orange)
Not numpty and yes it can. They laid fibre underground along the D road that goes past us along the top of the ridge behind us and then brought it down to our house along our chemin rural via overhead lines attached to existing telegraph poles.
@SuePJ That sounds encouraging.
When you were connected was the final wire from the last pole to your house replaced too and did you have to request the connection to fibre?
Yes to both questions. We knew fibre was coming and were really keen to have it. As soon as the local press confirmed it we went to our local Orange shop and booked to have it done. In fact the guys who did it brought the fibre in through a different side of the house so that the connection came straight down into the phone point in the wall in my study. The original telephone wire wandered its way through our large loft.
Same thing happened with my connection the fibre comes from the pole straight into the house where they fitted a box so I could plug in my router. So its FTTH, I get 1Gbs a sec down and 700Mbs up, heres a screen shot I have just taken and I have netflix running in next room as I took this Speedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test
As soon as we knew the installation was happening in our commune we ordered the fibre connection, on the Orange site I think. The fibre guys came and strung the new fibre along the top of the poles that line the road. (The thicker ADSL wires are still there, lower down.) The fibre then crosses the road to us and is fixed under the eaves. It enters the house through a convenient small opening that used to be the cat flap. A small box is on the inside wall and the Livebox is connected to that. We have wifi of course and also a wired ethernet network to the computers and TV.
That’s what we have observed in the roads close to our small lieu-dit but for now, they haven’t extended far enough to cover us but we live in hope. They (Orange) were supposed to have been installing to us some months ago but then it was delayed until January which has also now passed. So, time to poke the bear (again).
I think I’d prefer FTTH than going along the Starlink route, so I’ll give them a bit more time to get their act together.
Ours is underground. The telephone line was buried under the house and inaccessible so we had to get a terrassier to put a trench with fourreau across the courtyard (fortunately he was in the process of levelling and laying gravel anyway).
I have a bit more information - 500 megabits up and down - for the basic service! For the first year we can get it for as low as €23.99 a month (Web-only deal), though it’s not clear if/how much an installation charge might be. We have a phone line into the house but it’s not currently used.
One of my neighbours was quoted €149 for installation but contradictory information suggests this should be free for existing customers (which I’m not).
So Q1. - if you upgraded to fibre did you get charged an installation fee?
Q2. - someone suggested that while Orange get first dibs for your business, after a certain time the other operators can offer service as well - do we know what that time period is?
) the default is the opposite to what you say. Due to the fact that no one wants to bother putting in fibre out in the sticks, the government has decreed Orange the ‘provider of last resort’ if you like so if no one else stepped up it’s on them to do it. In the cities and with proactive departments it’s seemingly much more competitive with municipalities and other providers getting in on it, but otherwise you’re stuck waiting for Orange.