Martin963

I don't believe so.  If you look at this https://www.couverture-mobile.fr/#lat=4528173&lng=118341&z=12&Orange=0&Bouygues=0&T2G=0&actives=1&T3G=0&SFR=0 and fiddle around,  the nearest Free 4G is much further away (near Excideuil),   whereas SFR 4G is just the other side of Hautefort.   SFR 3G is a bit nearer at Cherveix Cubas,   where Orange have an additional 4G presence. Hence the fact that Sosh works best,   but I can get a usable 4G signal off SFR by careful positioning.   I'm hoping that SFR will equip Cherveix Cubas with 4G in the future,   Orange 4G only arrived there in April this year.

Hello Steve Both my SFR and SOSH contracts are paid by monthly debits from my (French) bank account,   the set up process was quite detailed (I have a feeling that phone contracts are like this anyway (except perhaps PAYG) for security reasons,  one lot wanted my passport serial number,   although the on-line identification process was very well organised). But both have as far as I know a simple page on the espace client for resiliation.   Not sure how long it takes but you could have a look at the formal pdf contract for both fairly easily by delving into the detail of the website offers. TBH I'm still at the stage of being so gruntled that I now have a fast connection,  and smartphone possiblities (ie two contracts each at 20 Euro) compared to the sh*tty service and slow speed of Orange/FT for 43 Euros a month, that I'm happy to go on paying through the winter,   partly as some of the data and calls can be used in England and partly because I don't particularly want to lose the numbers and have to go through the hassle of setting it all up again in the spring...   I'm still a few Euros up on the deal compared to what I had,   so I'm minded not to cancel as I'm no worse off than I was.....   As to performance,   still going strong;   the Sosh card finds a cracking 4G signal pretty easily,   whereas SFR takes a bit more care in positioning to bring in 4G.   However,   as I'm using 1 GB a day without heavy downloading a Sosh contract on its own wouldn't be enough,   so I do need the 100 GB/month offered by SFR.   Most of the time the Sosh card will be in the mobile phone to give us the best 2G/3G coverage in our valley,   but I can swap them round,   particularly as the SFR card gives free calls back to fixed lines in England,   but the Sosh card doesn't.    It's going to make it complicated for anyone to contact us,   but the people I need to hear from all have email,   and those that don't seem to be elderly French with time on their hands,  quarrels with their children,  and who think we have all the time in the world to listen to them.     Them and the unwanted calls that Bloctel fails to - well - block!    I shall be glad to see the back of the landline,   particularly as France Telecom now expect me to keep the branches away from the last 300 m of line. So at the moment I'm a very very happy bunny,   and another French neighbour was so excited when I got it working in her house that she ordered a box from Amazon.fr there and then,   wouldn't let me leave until she'd got all the details.   It's interesting watching people trying to get their heads round the system,   one Dutch friend insisted that the Livebox was a necessary part of the set up;   I explained that I don't have a Livebox (for Orange ADSL I use a Netgear),  but I had to unplug it completely (the resiliation won't happen for another four days) before he believed me that it was all coming "over the air".   People find if hard to believe that - apart from needing a mains supply (or a car power adaptor) - the modem will work anywhere it can sniff out 3G or 4G.

This is a subject I've been "studying" this year Gyn_P,  but not on Astra 2. I acquired in February a sat receiver capable of picking up the 5 deg W multistream feeds,   the two transponders that carry all the TNT transmissions to feed the UHF network on the ground.   They aren't scrambled,   but they use a technology that grew out of the original Newtech "concentration" system,   where effectively three normal MUXs are combined and put on one transponder.   The six terrestrial MUXs therefore need two transponders.   Only a handful of receivers can "undo" the multistreaming. I say all that because back in England they seemed to come in fine on a 60 cm dish,  although it was a dry spring with few heavy downpours. Arrive in France and they're constantly falling over,   particularly in the heavy cloud before a downpour.   So I move from 60 cms to 80 cms,  the signal quality improves a bit,   but they still fall over pretty easily.    So I move to a 1 m dish,   by this time the Fransat receiver on another of the LNB's outlets is practically glowing in the dark,   but even on a 1 m dish the multistreams will fall over if the rain is really diluvian. The reason:   the error correction and other parameters on these feeds are pretty flakey,  so the margin for problems is very small.    Fransat on the same satellite busts through on the 60 cm dish because it's got more robust parameters.... I suspect the same thing is happening for you.   Using the same receiver on an 80 cm dish on Astra 2,  the BBC and ITV HDs carry on as the quality drops in rain,  (whereas on multistream nothing works if the quality drops below 68% (it simply collapses then to zero)),   the Astra 2 HDs will run even at 50%.    Below that they go,   but the SDs carry on and will run at 35% without problem.    When they go,   I'm left with the stuff like Sky News on the pan-European beam. So my experience suggests that you're going to have to go VERY big to have completely uninterrupted reception on transponders (like the HD ones for Freesat) which are set up to run at the limit of what's possible on the spec for DVB-S2 error correction.    In the case of the French TV multistreams the TDF UHF sites have 1.8 m reception dishes,   and the relays where they use the feed have at least 1.5 m.    Presumably that's considered enough,  as TDF can't afford (literally) to lose the UHF network every time there's a bit of rain....   

Quick further update;  I have received the SOSH sim card today,   20 Euro per month for unlimited calls in France + 20 GB per month internet. Tried it in the TP link 4G modem and it appears to function without problem,   I'll try for longer tomorrow.   Sosh would have you believe that you need to rent one of their Airboxes and an additional card to access the internet on anything other than a Smartphone, but this would appear to be misleading - perhaps it's deliberately so. The coverage of Orange here is considerably better than SFR,   4G romps in whereas it needs careful positioning for SFR.   So I've got the best of both worlds,  card for phone,  card for modem,  and can swap them if necessary. No doubt NormanH will be along in a minute to rain on my relatively sunny parade. I did however miss the fact that SOSH don't allow you to ring phones in Europe for nothing from France,  but SFR do.   At least I found that out after only 2 Euro of calls. Having already started the resiliation process on the ADSL I'll now extend that to the landline itself.

Well you're very fortunate NormanH. And although of course it may change SFR merely slow you down once you get to 100 GB.  Clearly you personally don't need an alternative,  but those of us who have been left behind hitherto deserve a bit of a leg up in this area.......

Quick update,  still working successfully,   and I've had 6 Mbps by even more careful positioning of the aerials. Took it up to some French friends who are in the same boat with terrible ADSL as we are,   they're on higher ground,   got 7 Mbps straight away.   A few minutes later the speed test gave 22 Mbps,   I told them that must be a mistake until I saw that the 4G indicator on the box was lit.   Probably coming from the more distant tower the other side of Hautefort,   where SFR have a 4G presence. French friends very impressed,   he likes Eurosport (on line) and said it was the first time he'd been able to watch a programme without stuttering.    She found she could watch the videos she needs for her "formation" without pauses. Took it back home to a "sweet spot" on higher ground where I know from long experience that the 2G signal is at its best.   (Luckily for reasons too long to go into I have a power supply up there,  even though it's 150 m from the main house.   Plugged in,  and using the laptop checked the speed.... 74.47 Mbps down,  8.50 Mbps.    Never thought I'd see anything like that in my lifetime in La France Profonde.   Long term I may try and establish a link from up there back to the house,   MIMO or at a pinch ethernet with a repeater,   but to be honest the 3.5 Mbps on 3G at the house is still such a novelty and a pleasure that there may not be much point.   Might just "go up the mountain" when I have something big to download. What is interesting is that a few folk here (mainly Parisians with second homes) complain about their mobile reception for internet.    I've realised that their problem is that they are "tethering" using a Smartphone in WiFi Hotspot mode.     And it simply doesn't work very well - at least here where admittedly the 3G signal isn't as strong as when they are back home in Paris.   But the dedicated router idea clearly DOES hoover up a better signal than a Smartphone,   as well as being far more convenient in that you can put as many devices on the WiFi network and indeed use the ethernet sockets. I really feel I've seen the future.....

Forget that last post.   It seems that something happened to the Wifi function from the 3G/4G router,   the connection speed is still perfectly respectable at 2 - 3.5 Mbps. Phew,  I was thinking I'd backed a right pup,  but apparently not....

Well sadly what started off very promisingly indeed has ground - quite literally - to a sticky halt this afternoon.   Having had 3.5 Mbps consistently for the first two days,   this morning was nearer 2.0 Mbps and this afternoon the service is unusable.  There's just as much 3G signal as ever as shown by the "meter",   but I'm assuming that contention has come into play.   It's Friday,  it's a "grande depart",   and I'm wondering whether this 3G idea isn't as reliable as I'd hoped. Still have time to cancel the Orange resiliation....

You could be right Norman,  but I consider Orange/France Telecom to have abused me for years by providing a very slow service at a hugely inflated price compared to someone in a town who gets 100 x the speed at half the price.  To then put the ADSL element up by 20%,  telling me that they were doing ME a favour by retaining the service at all,  was insultingly patronising.   In our case we're not here in the winter,   so it would be the easiest thing in the world with SFR (no engagement) to cancel if necessary and choose another operator.    There are lots doing similar deals. But you are right to be cynical.....

Thanks for the further thoughts.... Yesterday the 3G/4G modem turned up (eventually from Amazon uk,  the Solwise was out of stock so it's a Tp-Link TL-MR6400). With some doubts I took my new SFR RED card out of the 2G mobile and put it in the modem,  put the modem on an upstairs window sill where there's a slightly better 2G signal,  switched on,  and..... ..... well it works rather well!    I now have 3.5 Mbps instead of the dreadful 0.5 - 0.7 Mbps of ADSL,  there seems to be no lack of 3G signal (75% as read by the meter on the modem) and it's run nicely now for 24 hours.   I'm glad I went for the 100 GB option,  I've got through 1 GB already with heavy browsing but no big file downloads,   but it's significantly faster for loading pages from the web with photos etc!    AND I don't have to unplug it as soon as a storm approaches,   the copper ADSL fell over last night with distant lightning but the 3G carried on just fine.   Having checked here  https://www.couverture-mobile.fr/#lat=4563222&lng=136920&z=10&Orange=0&Bouygues=0&Free=0 I see that our local tower already carries 4G for Orange (since April).  So I'm hoping that SFR won't be far behind,  and I'm further told that even a sniff of 4G is hugely better and more reliable than medium 3G,   so it may just be that things can only get better. In the interim,  I've now ordered a SOSH mobile phone SIM,  at 19.99 Euro per month it gives another 20 GB of data (useable in Europe as well),   and this will give us a separate phone (with slightly better coverage than SFR where we are,   as well as possibly 4G access right now).    Then we can tell Orange where to put their copper and their price increase,   and have both a 4G smartphone via SOSH AND internet from the SFR card in the modem,   and all for three euros a month less than we're being ripped off at the moment. I shall try the SOSH card in the 4G router of course,  but opinion on the net is divided as to whether they've crippled them to prevent this;   in any case they DO allow tethering from a smart phone so we can perhaps use 4G on a limited basis by that method. So all in all,   something of a success.   It's really cheered me up to have found a solution to the slow ADSL and the price rise.   OK,  3.5 Mbps is still slow by the standards that most of you enjoy,   but it's a transformational change for us. Well done SFR for putting a really good value offer together (and I checked deals in the UK and there's nothing like their offer at anything under £60 per month as far as I can see,  most data is severely restricted).

Thanks for the clarification/confirmations Jako - it seems you got the deal at a good time. TBH I don't think I'm going to get any increase in speed,  our maximum is governed more by the laws of physics (ie being 6.5 kms from the exchange) than by the whims of individual providers.   As our phone line is very vulnerable over that length (the last "accident" was when the entire 56 pair line was brought down by the dustmen,  and we were off for five days) I'm prepared to try anything that doesn't involve copper.   Paying so much for 0.5 Mbps is really really annoying me now..... The SFR 4G SIM arrived today and works in our old 2G phone,   but I'm still waiting for the 4G modem so have no idea whether internet via 3G is going to be viable or not.    I'll report back.

Just tried a test on my line for SFR Red,  they wanted Euro 19.90 basic for the same poor ADSL,  and then add another Euro 5 for not being dégroupée. L'offre RED Fibre n'est pas disponible chez vous VOUS ÊTES ÉLIGIBLE À L'OFFRE RED BOX DSL * ! Jusqu'à 2 Mb/s en réception et jusqu'à 1 Mb/s en émission Votre ligne n'étant pas encore dégroupée, le tarif de votre offre est majoré de 5€/mois. As I'm hoping to get rid of the landline once and for all I won't take action until the 3G internet situation becomes clearer. But certainly if it (Red ADSL) was only going to come out at euro 25 per month it would be cheaper than Orange Decouverte + ligne fixe. But do you *have* to rent their box?   No point in my case,  not fast enough for TV and all the other fancy add ons....

Thanks Jako.   That sounds very favourable,   assuming it's available on our out-of-the-ark line.   I'm still waiting for the SFR sim card and the 4G modem-router (the one I ordered was out of stock so I'm trying another variety),  but will report back.

Yes - but I've only followed the advice of a savvy-techie-friend who uses this modem at his work place (long story of BT messing up their broadband,  so they have 4G back up). It's this https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/products/23871-solwise-4g-54rv/ They do deliver to France (well they say they do,  I'm not expecting the package until next week).

Thanks for the information dave21478 - and in your inimitable style.   I think frustration must feed your literary Muse..... You have given me some hope 'cos it sounds as though we're in much the same boat (although extraordinarily our Orange ADSL upload speed sits at 0.8 Mbps whereas the download sits at the slower 0.5 Mbps,   which of course from the theory of ADSL is the wrong way round.   It's a pity I don't upload masses to the internet because that part is quite fast sometimes.....) But even to get 1 Mbps off 3G would be great,  and it would be half the price of the licensed banditry practised by Orange.   Like you I'm just plain angry that the towns have it so good and at often 19 Euro a month for fibre.   Like you I'm armed with a load of gaffer tape,   the 4G router (which hasn't arrived yet from England) has TWO 3G/4G aerials,   so I've also ordered two 5 m extension cables so that the aerials can go outdoors - probably like you our 3G signal varies from nothing to weak over a distance of less than 1 m,    so location will be critical. I hope you get it working a bit better,  but I don't think 4G will be along for a while yet,  our nearest served areas are I believe Limoges and Perigueux,  both 50 miles away....

Have gone for the SFR 100 Go offer. I just hope it works,  cos I've just noticed that Orange Decouverte have upped their monthly price from 21 Euro to 24.99 (so 25 in reality).   Coupled with the 18 Euro line rental, we're now paying 43 Euro a month for a terrible internet service,  as we hardly use the landline. At that price - even if I have to drive to the top of a hill to access 3G - I shall take great pleasure in going through the resiliation process both for the internet and for the ligne fixe. And Orange had the audacity to tell me to check out their fibre service.  Here?? What r*ddy fibre service??!!!

Certainly get through 10 GO a month,  not videos,  but Spotify and browsing. But that's not really the problem,  the problem is that if it's to replace our ADSL it needs to run at least two ethernet computers + a couple of laptops.   Having questioned SOSH they say that their SIM won't work in another 4G router other than the Airbox.   The Airbox doesn't exactly look terribly robust,  no ethernet connectors,  and in the case of Sosh you have to rent it at 5 Euro a month.... That's why I was asking about using a 4G router + a large amount of data,  rather than fiddling about with a mobile.   The signal here even for 3G is weak,  so balancing a mobile on a window sill isn't going to be ideal.... So if anyone has any advice on 4G routers and which cards work in them (I'm fairly certain the SFR RED's do) then please sing out. But thank you ALBOF!

Thanks.   I've just been looking at the Sosh equivalent with an Airbox which would (as far as I can understand,  why does it have to be so damned complicated) give me something similar,   smartphone PLUS 20 GO internet BOTH in France and in England which if it's true would be very useful.

Please be gentle here,  I'm about two decades behind the rest of you as far as mobile phones are concerned,   my original Nokia 3310 (not the re-release) is as far as I've got... I see more and more ads for 4G internet,  and some of the offers are "interesting".   One aspect that has put me off in the past is that the small print often confirms that if one has no 4G signal the "monthly data limit" is hugely reduced when one uses the 3G network.   However,  an offer from SFR Red I've just seen seems to suggest that one can have 100 GB by whatever delivery method,   3G,  4G,  4G +. Now where we are our ADSL is 0.5 Mbps and I don't think we're ever going to have an improvement,  in spite of the fact the whole village is in the same boat.   We don't have a 4G signal,  but there is patchy 3G.  The offer is this: https://www.red-by-sfr.fr/forfaits-mobiles/forfait-4g-100go-sans-engagement/ So.... 1)  Could I buy a 4G modem,  put the SFR card in it,  put it high up in our barn where there's a whiff of 3G,  and use it to connect my computer via an ethernet cable?    How fast is it likely to go - I've seen it suggested that it might do 42 Mbps even on 3G which would be nearly one hundred times faster than my ADSL.    Even say 5 Mbps would be a luxury. 2)   Presumably when the SIM card is in the modem it can't work as a phone - so if I ditched the landline/ADSL (which I'm longing to,  the only people who use it are very old French with time on their hands and unwanted marketing) I'd need to keep our emergency LeClerc mobile....? 3)  The details of the SFR offer suggest I could use 10 GB per month even when we're back in England (where we are for the winter) - that seems an improvement on previous offers...?  Is there a catch? 4)  If all this is possible,  could someone point me in the direction of what sort of modem I'd need to buy? 5)   Are there any catches I've missed? TBH I'm so fed up with slow ADSL and unwanted phone calls on the landline that taking a 20 Euro a month punt "sans engagement" seems worth the risk,  particularly as if it doesn't work I can presumably ditch it pretty quickly Sorry to ask such out of date questions,   any advice gratefully received. Thanks.

Well we'd better get on with it then! Incidentally,  nice to have you back Gluestick.   I'd given up posting - particularly on this part of the forum - as it had become something of a fiefdom for one particular person and his views. Good to have some balance again.

It doesn't seem entirely fair that we (Britain) cannot start negotiating trade deals with anyone else - AIUI - until we've actually legally left the EU,  and yet they can conduct talks right now about their future without us. TBH I think it's going to be a hard Brexit,   and maybe that's a good thing because it will save a lot of argument and fruitless negotiation.   I think protracted negotiations are just going to produce a lot of enmity.....

We'e in a bit of a muddle here aren't we!!    You can't receive TV from the terrestrial TV network via a dish.   What I think you mean is that you're receiving the 26 or so basic French channels (that are carried on the terrestrial UHF network) via the system put in place that duplicates them on satellite, for those who can't receive them from a UHF transmitter using a conventional aerial. In which case,  as has been said,  you probably have a standard definition satellite receiver,  either TNTsat or Fransat,   which would have been taken out of useful service by the move to a different transmission standard (allowing the use of HD as well) in April 2016.    Incidentally all analogue TV stopped about four or five years ago!!   With both TNTsat and Fransat your existing box should put up a message on screen explaining that you need to go out and buy a replacement,   the messages were still being transmitted a couple of weeks ago on both platforms but I admit I haven't checked since. The boxes of this sort are all clearly labelled with the logo TNTsat or Fransat,  they will have a card in them too carrying the label as well.    You need to go out and buy a replacement,   either TNTsat HD or Fransat HD, depending on which one you already have;   don't try and change from one to the other unless you're prepared to go up on the roof and fiddle with your dish!   Check that it says HD and expect to pay about Euro 100 - although there are cheap offers from Darty around at the moment,  I picked up a stand-by Fransat HD box for 49 Euro.    A new card will be inside the box,   old Fransat SD cards don't work for HD,  an old TNTsat card if less than four years old might,  but as you get a new card anyway with the receiver it's irrelevant. If your existing receiver doesn't have a card in it then either it's working off an aerial and is a terrestrial receiver (which you say it isn't) or it will have been picking up just a handful of French channels via satellite (France 2/3/5/O/LCP) which aren't encrypted. Do post back if this doesn't make sense when you are confronted with the situation on the ground!

Headline in the Telegraph: <<Theresa May meets Francois Hollande: French president demands PM 'justifies' delaying Article 50>> To which I can only add: Perhaps Patapouf would himself care - before lecturing us - to justify to his own people the delaying of "l'inversion de la courbe du chomage" for a fourth year! Honestly,  he really is a twit of the first order.

Sorry my suggestion produced total chaos wooly,  although I only recommended a factory reset in the case of a "freesat" box,   and as you have discovered an ordinary free to air receiver doesn't have the "brains" to sort channels into a logical order,   although BBC 4 should have lasted more than five minutes! Generally Humax products are good,  although in the case of a Foxsat I purchased on behalf of friends it failed catastrophically a few days within the guarantee period (but before anyone could contact Humax to say so) and we then discovered that the after sales service of Humax leaves a lot to be desired,   with quite shirty technical staff with a "take it or leave it" attitude.   I must say as a result I'd personally never buy anything else from Humax but I think in this case we had somewhat bad luck. At the moment I'm using a cheap Manhattan freesat box (£44) - many years ago I swore I'd never buy Manhattan again after endless failures of an Astra Digital Radio receiver (I exhausted the last of the UK stock,  getting through four receivers in a year!) so maybe that'll come back to haunt me.....

Is it actually a "freesat (TM)" box or just a free to air sat receiver? If the latter you need to delete CBeebies, then AFTER 19.00 BST you need to rescan on the relevant frequency. If it's a "freesat (TM)" box then I suggest a complete re-install (ie factory reset) after 19.00 BST. You can tell if it's a real "freesat" box by checking the logo on the front, which has the freesat word and a symbol remarkably like that of Futuroscope.