Martin963

I've forgotten johnnyboy - what is your SFR monthly limit? Using the modem and with the two of us doing moderate browsing (particularly in this awful miserable weather) we get through about 1 GB per day,  so the 100 GB monthly is more than comfortable.   However,  we don't do much video watching,  and that does use data up.... As to the SOSH card in the Nokia phone problem,   I was minded suddenly to try googling "Nokia 100 hard reset" - not that I thought that a piece of kit so simple could even have the option of a hard reset. However,  I did a factory reset and the problem with the SOSH card has gone away - thank goodness.    It did seem to be the case that whatever had gone wrong with the combination rendered the phone much less sensitive to the 2G signal,  it was noticeable that in a weak area (near the house) almost all the calls failed,   whereas climbing the hill to an area of better reception meant that 1 in 3 calls succeeded.   I've got some technical chums on the case trying to work out what happened..... I originally had the 20 Euro Sosh card offer,   but increased it to the 25 Euro one, partly to get 40 GB per month instead of 20 GB,  also because at 25 Euro per month you get European land line (not mobiles) calls from France thrown in.

Just a quick report on the newly arrived Huawei B315s-22 4G LTE/WiFi With the Sosh card I was delighted to be able to get a reasonable 4G signal at the house (for SFR on the existing router it's installed up in a barn attic at some distance from the house,  as the SFR signal here is weaker than that of Orange/Sosh).   The Huawei doesn't  come with external aerials so that was a pleasant surprise. The phone (which you plug in via an RJ11 and allows you to use the SIM card for telephoning) works faultlessly,  and in fact when you pick up the phone there's even conventional French dialling tone there.   Our cordless phones work fine on it. However..... The PIN management is different to the TP link modem,   in that the Huawei encourages you (defaults in fact) to switching the SIM card PIN off (or de-activating it).    The SOSH card - taken out of the Huawei and put back in a phone) is now behaving erratically in our Nokia 2G mobile phone,   although it hooks up with the Orange network it rarely allows one to make a call,  one dials,  waits,  and then there are three little pips and the phone drops back to idle.   So I reactivated the PIN system for the Sosh card,  but still have an unreliable performance in the Nokia.   However,  in an even older Nokia there appears to be no problem,  it's as though one Nokia has taken agin the SOSH card since it's been in the Huawei. Turning to SFR,  I tried that in the Huawei.   In spite of the router's unfavourable situation in the house as far as SFR coverage is concerned,  it does produce a weak but stable 4G signal,   albeit running at only 8 Mbps.   However,  the phone part simply refuses to work,  I cannot make calls via the Huawei whilst the SFR card is there. So a mixed report,  and certainly given the problems that MAY have been engendered on the SOSH card,   and the fact the phone bit doesn't work with SFR,   I have to say that maybe this isn't the box for use in France.....   However,  in our case the SOSH/Huawei combination works so we now have TWO relatively fast 4G internet signals simultaneously in the house,  and if someone rings us we don't have to hunt for the mobile. And @ johnnyboy,   the fact that SFR phoning doesn't work on a Huawei does make me wonder whether your problem IS one simply of incompatibility.

@ Chancer - thanks for clarifying,   I hadn't appreciated (which may well be my fault for not reading properly) that you had such a good ADSL connection (something that I of course would have given my eye-teeth for until recently). Anyway,   I owe you an apology given that I appear to have mis-interpreted the "mood" of your posts.   Sorry.

Well I actually share your aversion to smartphones Chancer,   I've only obtained one in the last six weeks and it is used on wi-fi only,   but in the interests of your own technical depannage you're basically boxing yourself into a corner.  You won't try a 3G/4G router,  you won't try a different operator,   even sans engagement,  and you don't appear to want to seek out someone with a suitable phone. In which case I can see no further point in any of us trying to help you, as in essence you have spent this thread complaining endlessly about your own situation but apparently taking great pleasure in shooting each of our suggestions down. Perhaps this is what happens on what has over the last few years become something of a "red giant" forum.....  In any case,  for me the 4G router has been a complete game-changer,   and also means that our place no longer has the disadvantage of carrying the reputation of "snail's-pace internet" when the time to sell comes. johnnyboy - any luck with your SFR card in the router?

I don't know where ALBOF is but certainly here the number of Free transmitters is very much smaller than the other three networks. But I feel your pain Chancer,   and agree about worthless celebs;   I think your best bet is what I recommended earlier,  that is to try your card in someone else's phone,   and try their card in yours.

Well each to their own. Two of the (French) people I've been helping here are Free ADSL customers.   One has had a total of three months of working service over the last fifteen months.   The other has had no service since the beginning of August.   Free couldn't give a t*** about either of them. But as you say,   different people have different experiences. As to SFR Red mobile contracts,  you can go through the resiliation process simply on line.

The computer is almost certainly set to check for new emails every X minutes.   You can adjust the time interval.    The phone is probably checking more frequently.  I think we're all aware that SFR are lacking in the reputation department at the moment,   but as the contracts I have been discussing are "sans engagement" there would appear to be little to lose in taking advantage of them,   given that 20 Euros per month for 100 Go is outstanding value for money,   certainly in comparison to the British mobile data market. In reality,  name me one ISP or phone company that has an unblemished reputation amongst the public.   It certainly isn't Free....

@ chancer - I do see your problem now re wanting to stay with Free.   Certainly amongst people here they have a poor reputation and even poorer coverage,  but I  concede that you have your reasons for staying. @ johnnyboy -  what happens when you log in to the router with the SIM card in?   What does the status page show? If it's any help I'm in 24 but the Limousin end...   PM me if you want to try your sim card in our routers here....

I rather agree with you Theire.   I think I explained this up thread as well,   that tethering only works well in really good reception areas,  because as you say the phone is actually jamming itself. Chancer - you can't switch the phone to Orange if you put a Free card in it,  of course it'll bar you.   You can only "choose your favoured network" when roaming abroad,  and not always even then. This thread was started really to discuss getting the internet via a 4G modem;  from my experiences to date a) tethering isn't going to be your answer Chancer and b) even if it was you need to subscribe to a technically decent network,  and Free really isn't in that category. Someone here tries to tether with Free,   makes all sorts of excuses about zone blanches,  the Mayor should do something about it,  etc etc.   As I keep telling him,  if he went out and bought a router and an SFR or Sosh card he'd have no further trouble. I'm afraid I rather think the same applies in your situation Chancer.   Sorry.

I'm afraid any expertise I might have is the theme of this thread,   ie internet by dedicated modem rather than by smartphone. All I can think of chancer is that it's a setting on your phone,  it's stating the obvious but have you got the data function (ie what you can turn off if you don't want to risk using any data) switched on? Other than that,   you need to try your SIM card in someone else's phone,  and try someone else's SIM in your phone.   Don't see how else you're going to progress this..... Wish I could help more..... But at least this will tell you what H+ means: http://techwelkin.com/meaning-mobile-symbols-g-e-2g-3g-h-4g-mobile-internet-signal-bar Have you actually checked (sorry,  I can't go right back through this thread) on cartoradio that your towers are 4G equipped for free?   They have by far the lowest number of transmitters of any of the networks equipped for 4G..... And in your later addition I can tell you that you've been told wrong,  it's 2G transmitters that free don't install (as far as I can tell from cartoradio),  there are lots of free 3G sites in Limousin but relatively few 4G.

I don't think so - if your phone works at 50 Mbps with the SFR card then the router should work just as well or even better, and if it doesn't there must be some sort of compatibility problem such as PIN management. But without being able to see what it's doing I can't really suggest what to do. But I doubt a SOSH card is going to work in the router if an SFR one doesn't. Happy to try and talk you through if necessary, what happens when you log in to the router from your computer browser....? In other news, there is a Huawei 4G router that apparently allows you to plug in a conventional phone via an RJ11 port, and lo and behold you can make and receive phone calls via the SIM card in the router that is also doing the business as an internet provider. I must say I'm tempted to try one as that would be the real ultimate solution, particularly as one little mobile in a quite large house doesn't always get answered at the moment.

FWIW I managed to do the ADSL resiliation via the internet - no problem.   However,  for the phone line itself I had to use 3900 (or whatever it is).   However,  it's far easier to do what I did - every time it asked me a question to which the answer should be oui or non I simply yelled "flabbadabbaflabbadabba".    The machine persisted with its questions but I wasn't going to be outwitted by a mere Gallic computer so I stuck to my guns and lo and behold I was put through to a charming lady in Agen who was kindness itself and put the resiliation process into action (and I've now had a refund from them for the part of the rental not used). Further tip - if you tell them you're packing up and going back to England it counts as a French person going to live abroad,   so they don't charge you to close the line.    At least that's what happened to me,   the lady wished me the best of luck and said she hoped I'd be back in France one day...... Anyway,   no I'm afraid I most certainly do not use Facebook,  which I consider to be one of the most dangerous threats facing society currently (yes I really do!) but I doubt it would use very much.   I guess that it's videos that use the most,   for example an hour of HD TV (BBC iplayer for example in Britain) uses about 1 Go (or GB).    A ten minute video of medium quality is usually about 100 ko (or kB).    I guess that Skype might therefore be quite greedy with the video on but don't know for certain. Ordinary browsing though is quite economical.   Generally we're using about 0.8 - 1 GB per day,   papers,  forums,  some editing of a website,  looking things up etc.   What does use up data is map or GoogleEarth research,   a bit of snooping around looking for specific things in maps etc can take the date use up to 1.5 GB in a day for only a couple of hours..... What speed have you now got on the modem johnnyboy?

OK,   standing by.

No,  I use mine 99% of the time in my TP-link 4G router and have had no restrictions,  ditto the six people who have followed my recommendation and gone down the same SFR route (I've installed all six systems,   people for some reason have a touching belief in my ability to conjure up signals out of thin air!). SFR are quite specific,   "utilisation modem" is permitted. So I'm guessing that your super duper router has a compatibility problem with the card.   Let's see if we can sort it out. In which case,  first things first.   Have you entered the PIN for your SFR card into the on-screen menus for the modem?    If not,  you need to log in to the admin pages of the router from your computer (which will be described in the instruction book,  on a TP link it's 192.168.1.1 in the browser),   find the security part of the router,   and put the PIN in.   On a TP link you can then ask it to save the PIN number so that in the event of a power cut you don't have to do all this again. That's the first step,   come back Johnnyboy if it isn't that and I'll detail the settings that mine uses; (apart from the PIN procedure described above the TP link did the rest of the donkey work,  as it does when I swap cards and put the SOSH card in).

Well curiously enough OUR SFR 4G appeared to drop out for half an hour this morning,   although 3G was still on.   However,   for the moment all is back to normal. Not sure what to suggest,   other than to find a friend who is close to another  SFR mast and take the box over there and see if it connects.    But there's no reason at your end I can think of why it should work fine briefly and then suddenly stop....?

Oh yes,   thank you!   As you said....  (not that I didn't believe you,  just interested for future reference). Looks good,  let us know....

So which 4G router have you ordered johnnyboy...? The ones I've been looking at (TP link) I *think* take the standard uncut size,  so I had (perhaps wrongly) assumed that was standard in 4G routers.....

One word of warning johnnyboy:   the modem probably takes a full size (ie not cut down) SIM,   whereas a smart new phone will probably take micro or nano.   Although I bought a new smartphone I've not put the SIM in it (I'm using the phone in Wifi receive only mode,  ie at home fed by the 4G router). The modem may well come with SIM card adaptors (so that you can make little SIM cards "big" again) but I've read horror stories of cards encased in the adaptors getting stuck in the slot,   and by the time one's extracted them the contacts in the slot are damaged beyond repair. So if you still have a full sized SIM I'd hang fire until the router arrives. If you don't keep moving the SIM and you get it properly seated in a high quality adaptor you're probably going to be OK. Ignore if not relevant.

I *think* that tethering describes ANY system that connects a mobile phone's internet reception with another "machine",  such as a laptop or a tablet.   But I'm also puzzled as to why the USB is slower than the wifi. And yes,  I've heard that switching on the hifi hotspot facility on a phone really hammers the battery,  one of the reasons I went down the independent modem route,   plus the fact that independent modems seem to be far more sensitive to 3G/4G signals than phones.... I believe that SOME UK operators *prevent* tethering,   or only allow you a small data allowance in that mode.   I'm not sure how they do that,   and it was one of the things I checked on the SFR contract,  ie that "mode modem" was possible and authorised.    I haven't had a problem with our SOSH card either in this respect,  even though SOSH suggests that you need their own "box" to achieve it. johnnyboy - keep us posted,  I'd be interested to see how you get on.

Check the 3G coverage as well johnnyboy.   I wasn't originally expecting 4G,  and even with a weak 3G signal I was getting reliable 3 Mbps,   and with better positioning it went up to 5 - 8 Mbps.

[quote user="johnnyboy"]Wow, reached the dizzy heights of 1.4Mb just now, Johnnyboy. [/quote] I must say if I had been getting 1.4 Mbps off our landline I probably would have hesitated about changing,   it was the 0.5 Mbps AND the price increase that made me see red.   I suppose you just have to see how it goes after the further repairs,   but I'm glad I don't have to worry about the landline any more.   In fact I passed the street-side box for our village yesterday,   one door wide open,  rain blowing in.   In the past I've wedged it shut with a rock,   the lock is long broken,  but this time I just drove past and thought "sod it,  nothing to do with me any more". I'm getting really rather lazy in my old age...... Off now to try our box at some French friends of French friends whose WiMax hasn't worked in three months.....   I really should be charging a fee!

Well CastAway have a look at the couverture map I linked to earlier up thread. https://www.couverture-mobile.fr/#lat=4617360&lng=187916&z=11 as that should give you an idea as to what 3G or even 4G coverage might be like.... I'm just now wondering if I had TWO Sosh cards,  each with the full 40 GB allowance,  whether I could get away with using the system in Britain during the winter and ditching BT internet and phone line.    The small print suggests that they don't like you being out of France for more than four months at a time,   and that usage in Europe shouldn't exceed usage in France,   but with two cards that might be do-able,   use one for three months,   then the other..... I shall investigate how my existing SOSH and SFR cards behave in Britain over this winter,   and then decide how to proceed. I've now just ordered the battery operated 4G modem from TP link.    The thought of being able to listen to the Radio 4 Six O'Clock News in the car via 4G rather than via 198 kHz (much as I love Drotiwich!) is overwhelming.

Well it's certainly completely changed things for us.   The landline has now been taken out of service,   and good riddance,  it's been a certain amount of trouble over the years,   and we've paid through the nose for a shitty ADSL service.   So many people round us have problems with landlines and ADSL,   one French friend who runs a Riding Stables nearby has had virtually no service (landline/ADSL with Free) for the last fifteen months,  with Free blaming Orange and Orange blaming Free.    Finally she (rightly) made such a fuss that engineers from BOTH organisations attended simultaneouly,   and for the last week it HAS been working,  but as she says "for how long?".   I just still have to pinch myself that I can get 15 Mbps for half the price I was paying Orange,  and with further refinements I'm hoping to get to 30 + Mbps,  I'm going to try some ethernet powerline adaptors to bring the signal back from further away from the house.

[quote user="johnnyboy"] You mentioned in a previous post about a booster box and an aerial I recall, do you have any recommendations please? [/quote] It isn't a booster box as such,  it's simply a 4G TP-Link modem.   If you look for that on amazon.fr TP-Link Routeur 4G LTE Wi-Fi N 300Mbps it'll turn up,  although they've clearly had a run on them as the price has in the last two days gone up to Euro 104 from Euro 94.    Thanks to me another three have been sold in our village alone in the last two weeks! Curiously enough only yesterday I saw - for the first time - a TV advert for Bouygues suggesting 4G internet for the "millions of French who have very slow ADSL".  They were promoting a card and a box (which I think in this case you rent from them).  So clearly this is now becoming an "official" vehicle for internet coverage.   I just hope not too many people round us cause a contention issue in the future. I now discover that the reason I can get a weak 4G signal here on SFR is that they switched their transmitter on on 13th July,  ie after I started this thread. 

....  and that is a risk I know.   They have a poor reputation. Don't tell SFR I said so, but TBH I'd be happy to pay Euro 30 a month for the sort of speed and allowance I'm getting for 20 euros.   Just installed it yesterday for the French neighbour I mentioned,   she already had an SFR contract so put the existing micro sim card in an adaptor to bring it to mini sim,  switched on,   and 66 Mbps,   just like that.    She's on higher ground and has a better view of the transmitter than we do (in fact where we are it isn't line of sight) Anyway,   we'll see how SFR progresses....