Chiefluvvie

[quote user="NickP"]Without getting involved with the rights and wrongs of the holiday industry, this WiFi enhancer seems great, unfortunately in most of France it's about as useful as a chocolate fireguard.[/quote] Hi NickP Not sure what you mean here - France has one of the higest ADSL coverage / penetration in Europe - so if you've got an ADSL router you can use FON. Chiefluvvie  

[quote user="Benjamin"]That's the problem with the letting industry. They see it as a way of earning an extra few €uros per week (i e peanuts) but fail to think of how many people they put off. Grabbers!!!!! Owners, look on it as a selling point and not as a profit centre.  [:D] [/quote] Game on Benjamin! I'd like to make a few comments on your insulting, yet naive comments above.......quite obviously you have never run a business so let me help you out...... 1. Running Gites IS a 'business' with an incredibly short window of 'opportunity' - not a charity. I'm always looking for additional revenue streams - one day I may even make a decent profit, or is that a dirty word? 2. There is no such thing as 'FREE' - be it Wifi access or anything else. The day my ISP offers me a 'free' deal, I will immediately offer the same facility to my gite clients. I choose to offer the FON payg serice to my clients so that their usage and associated costs are entirely their concern - i.e. transparent and legal (hadopi etc). Some owners are able to offer unlimited, free wifi access to their clients but don't think for one minute that it's not costed in to their overall pricing structure - just like electricity, gas, linen, telephones etc etc. I could quite easily bump up my weekly rental rates but I choose not to. 3. My clients tend NOT to be saddos who spend hours on-line whilst on holiday, exploring, enjoying themselves outside etc. For most them 30 mins per day on-line is more than enough. Although I would say that 90% of them are already customers of FON partners (SFR, BT, Belgacom, Zon etc) and therefore they receive unlimited Wifi access via my hot-spot in any case! But then you'd know that.... having looked at the FONsite.... 4. Just like our clients choose us based on a wide range of criteria ( I don't think Wifi access has ever been a clincher!) - we also choose them. Hope this helps, I certainly feel better anyway! Chiefluvvie     

Sorry about that Chancer - I've re-pasted the link! Chiefluvvie

Hi - just thought I'd share this great, cheap little device with you.....AnOther suggested I may like to based on my comments in a different thread.... I have a FON Spot-in-a-Box with a Fontenna ariel attached. I bought them for 71€ delivered by UPS from Madrid. I did this after having researched many incredibly costly and impractical alternatives.  Link here :  https://shop.fon.com/FonShop I have 2 gites approx 200m from the house on independant electricity supplies - so CPL and any other mains connections are out of the question! The FON Simpl (Spot-in-a-Box) is connected to my SFR Neufbox via a simple short ethernet cable. The Fontenna (booster ariel) is connected to the FON Simpl via a 3m cable. The Fontenna is stuck to a window pointing in the direction of the gites. The Wifi signal received in the gites is as strong as it is in my house - job done! What's more - the gite guests receive 30mins per day of free access via there own secure log-on - totally separate to my own private access (Hadopi etc!). After that they buy top-ups and I receive 50% of the revenue generated - direct into my Paypal account. And another thing...because I have opened up my SFR Neufbox to FON public wifi access - I also have free access to over 4 million FON hotspots worldwide. Chiefluvvie

Oh dear me AnOther - this is just like magnetic fishing..... Great suggestion though - makes a refreshing change. TTFN Chiefluvvie Oh, and thanks for the free English lesson - even though I did not 'express any need or desire' to have one!!

Actually.... the Luberon is a huge holiday area and I certainly haven't noticed any discernible difference between houses here an those down on the coast - about 1hr away! Ste Maxime & St Tropez closed for winter? So how on earth do the approx 20,000 permanent inhabitants of these 2 towns cope? I guess it's a bit like Skegness and Bognor is it? Closed for winter....honestly...... Chiefluvvie

Does make me laugh!! Just to reiterate some points in light of the 'oh-so- predictable' sceptical comments........ I have a FON Spot-in-a-Box with a Fontenna ariel attached. I bought them for 71€ delivered by UPS from Madrid. I did this after having researched many incredibly costly and impractical alternatives. I have 2 gites approx 200m from the house on independant electricity supplies - so CPL and any other mains connections as 'suggested' are out of the question! The FON Simpl is connected to my SFR Neufbox via a simple short ethernet cable. The Fontenna (booster ariel) is connected to the FON Simpl via a 3m cable. The Fontenna is stuck to a window pointing in the direction of the gites. The Wifi signal received in the gites is as strong as it is in my house - job done! What's more - the gite guests receive 30mins per day of free access via there own secure log-on - totally separate to my own private access (Hadopi etc!). After that they buy top-ups and I receive 50% of the revenue generated - direct into my Paypal account. And another thing...because I have opened up my SFR Neufbox to FON public wifi access - I also have free access to over 4 million FON hotspots worldwide - as a pilot it's been just great for me! So - I guess my message would be don't knock it until you've tried it! I don't have an Orange Livebox but I'd imagine it's pretty similar to an SFR Neufbox with cable connection ports - no doubt someone will 'correct' me if I'm wrong of course....... Chiefluvvie

Yep - just use FON 'Spot-in-a-box' (or the basic 'Simpl') and a 'Fontenna' - about 70€ the pair delivered - extends your Orange Livebox / SFR Neufbox etc Wifi range up to 5 times further - brilliant and cheap! Link : https://shop.fon.com/FonShop/shop/FR/ShopController?view=product&product=PRD-HIB01 Chiefluvvie

??? not sure what you're on about here......especially you JK ! Maybe you're replying to a different thread...? I guess it's about the fact that I only call one place 'home'. Therefore I don't really understand how anyone can have more than one place they call home at one time.....? is that possible???? No big deal - just a perception issue ...... Chiefluvvie

Interesting replies - I guess it's the subtle difference between a 'second' home and a 'holiday' home then ? It just makes me laugh when my friends refer to their place in Toulon as 'home' - when they are in residence of course. The fact is - they are simply - 'on holiday', the same one every time! As for 'a lot of modern houses in the South of France' being built as holiday homes - utter rubbish! No idea where that one came from Sprogster!!?? Most 'modern houses' in France are built with top-notch, eco-friendly heating, cooling and insulation systems - even starter homes! Sound like some people may simply have bought badly........ Chiefluvvie

It's a funny thing isn't it?....... We have some friends with, what they refer to, as a 'second home' near Toulon. However, they generally only spend time there between April - September, the remainder of the year being spent in the UK. I've never really understood this. I would have thought they would have wanted to spend time at their 'second home' no matter what the season. It just seems to me to be like one extended holiday during the summer for them. That being the case, I wonder why they don't spend the majority of the Summer months in the UK and the rest of the time in France - thereby avoiding the busy tourist periods. Just thought I'd put it out there........ Chiefluvvie

pachapapa wrote : Did you forget to use your RIO?   Now don't be silly pachapapa ! I used my RIO, did everything as per the website and between Free and Virgin it got screwed up. Long, long boring story of fairly typical French customer dis-service. Eventually decided to give up, change my number and get on with my life. Peasants!  Chiefluvvie

LOL - I know how you feel Chancer - lots of examples! Most recently I also transfered to Free on their unlimited deal - between Virginmobile and Free they managed to 'loose' my original mobile number - one I've had for 7 years! Highly inconvenient and, guess what? All my fault !! After all - I'm ONLY the customer...... Chiefluvvie

portabilité sera effectuée le 20120206 2012 02 06 06 Feb 2012 So I guess your Lebara service stopped 3 days ago. Chiefluvvie

No RH - a pay rise won't cut it I'm afraid. Most organisations would find it very difficult to reduce your basic pay if you underperformed....... Chiefluvvie

RH - it's called 'incentivising' - it's there to encourage exceptional performance, give people something to aim for, a sense of achievement for them and their organisation - in it's simplest form it's a carrot - been around forever! Sure people are paid a salary but often (not always!) , once signed up they rest on their laurels, take their dreary PAYE and perform or not. Bonuses are a way to enable people to shine and recognise them accordingly. Beleive it or not - we're not all the same!!! Chiefluvvie

Quote pachapapa: 'Hard Luck taxpayers. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9050671/Taxpayers-lose-900m-as-RBS-shares-fall.html' Hardly unexpected! Just goes to show how very short sighted all the bonus criticism was! £963,000 (in share options!) would have been a drop in the ocean versus the plummeting value of RBS following Stephen's rejection of his paltry bonus. So well done British taxpayers and press - your envy and jealousy is pulling RBS back down just as it was becoming more secure. Chiefluvvie Ahhhhh just watched Ed Milliband on BBC Breakfast - put me right off my devilled kidneys and kedgeree!

NickP wrote: ''Tax is for mugs like us who go to work in the real world.'' Oh Nicky - don't tell me YOU declare everything...now that is too funny :-) Chiefluvvie

Where is the good performance ?? Taking the disastrous RBS from a £1.6bn loss to a £2bn profit in around 18months - securing 150,000 jobs not to mention saver deposits. Suddenly, just because the shareholder happens to be the UK taxpayer, they become more important than the employees, profit and future investments of RBS - madness. I hope Stephen Hester walks and takes his expertise with him to somewhere it'll be fully appreciated. Chiefluvvie

Hi http://www.zennioptical.com/ Brilliant , pay USD prices , delivered to France via Fedex. Chiefluvvie

Do also remember - it's not compulsory to be classified. However, it is compulsory to declare your gite activity at your mairie. Link : http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F2043.xhtml

Babeth - let's put this to bed shall we ?..... there is NO REQUIREMENT to provide 'fixed' phone lines for any classification of Gites. The classifications used by Clevacances (keys) and Gites de France (epis) are AT LEAST as stringent as the new prefecture / tourist authority requirements - they use that as their base requirement before awarding their own classification. Then on top of this, as with GDF, they ask you to provide various 'extras' e.g. welcome packs. Again - it is a requirement of both GDF and Clevacances that you have your prefectoral 'star' rating before they will classify you under their brands. Oh and by the way - GDF and Clevacances have always (recent history!) required the provision of telephone facilities - by whatever method. Using old mobiles (friends / relatives / neighbours....) and PAYG cards is simply the most cost effective and efficient way to go! Easy..... Chiefluvvie

Virgin mobile called me today, as an existing customer, and offered me the same deal as Free mobile - i.e. 19,99€ per month unlimited national calls, sms and internet (reduced speed after 3GB) plus all the normal Virgin services...just cancelled my Free mobile order! Chiefluvvie

Babeth - you're getting into a real pickle here! Maybe it's a translation issue - let me help. To start with - ALL gites requiring a classification have to be registered with the local mairie, prefecture and tourist office - but there is absoloutely NO requirement for the provision of a landline. In our area the tourist office and prefecture make a joint inspection visit once every 5 years - although this changes from 2012 when private bodies will be taking over the classification mantle! Furthermore, all properties registered with Clevacances and/or Gites de France require the mairie/prefecture/tourist office official star classification and registration as a matter of course. They need this before they can affiliate to Clevacances or GDeF. Now onto the landline issue - if you read the French text that you have provided above you'll see that it simply states you need to make a telephone available inside the property(ies) with a method of billing during the period of stay. It then goes on to state (Précisions) that mobile phones are acceptable! Pretty straightforward as it's the client who recharges them! Surely your agent can hand over and collect a mobile phone on arrival / departure (if the clients want one!)- along with the keys ? It's really simple and straightforward - maybe you're a bit confused? Chiefluvvie

Crikey Babeth - no idea where you got his from! Please enlighten me.... We're registered with Clevacances, Gites de France and of course the prefecture and no mention of having to install landlines for our 3* gites for 2012. We simply have to provide PAYG mobiles for each gite. We used old mobile phones - therefore zero cost. You can pick up new, unlocked mobiles for around 40-50€ at most of the large supermarkets / phone shops. We popped in 5€ mobicartes (7€ ordered on line) - the numbers are valid a rolling 6 months from each recharge. The locatiares recharge them as and when. We simply had to provide the numbers to Clevacances and GDF. We ask each locataire if they need a mobile phone and, if they do (although rarely!) we get them to sign a receipt for it with a 100€ charge is it's not returned at the end of their stay. Hope this helps Chiefluvvie.