Department71

[quote user="Théière"]Steve, when you say requested, was that a verbal request or just a button press?[/quote] Theiere, It is an automatic voice recognition system, I take it you have registered with the 3000 system, if so when you connect it recognises your number and you don't have to enter passwords etc. What we do..... phone the number, they ask a question, "say residence secondaire"   then they ask what do you want to do  we say" suspendre" then they ask you to confirm "you say oui" its then done.  Well the wife does the talking, sometimes we have to say the request a couple of times as she is speaking Scottish French There is a flow sheet what to do on the Orange France web site it is in both English and French, bit of a pain to find but if you enter 3000 that should start you. When we want to restart I usually do it on the internet before we leave the UK,  its up and running when we get there, there's no reason it can't be suspended when you get back to the UK

[quote user="Théière"] Apparently the switch on and suspend no longer works from the handset. [/quote] Had a bit of a panic attack ( well a bit concerned) when I read this bit. Just before we left last Wednesday 25th July we used 3000 from our phone and requested the line be suspended. Just been to my account and it shows line as suspended. So it still works.

We have a top loader automatic in our home in the UK also in our home in France. The one in France doesn't move at all ( we have a solid tiled floor there)  The one in the UK could win Strictly come dancing, it is sitting on a suspended wood floor. We tried one of those mats mentioned that's sold  especially for washing machines, waste of money all it did was make the machine even more unsteady. I think the flexibility of the wood floor has something to do with the movement. We put some laminate floor strips around the bottom of the machine nailed to the floor, these hold it in place now.

[quote user="AnOther"]Does anybody still use Teletext and if so, in the age of the Internet, why ? [/quote] Could be because we are too far from the exchange to get internet (ADSL) and dial up is too slow. Anyway would still like to know about my question.

Here's one for the folks who recently purchased in UK for use in France. I took over my old crt Sony tv for use, it has a digital tuner inside so works ok on the French system. One thing I am unable to receive is any form of Teletext on it, plus the program guide is still stuck on English time. Can folks who purchased a "UK" set receive any teletext on theirs, I think I have read that there is a slight difference between how the French teletext system works to the UK one. Our region stopped the analogue transmission last November.

Managed to get into my account a couple of mins ago, must be back up and running

Update time. Thanks all for the help and comments. Been on to various companies for their inputs. 0044.co.uk  don't actually do the landline part, they subcontract this part over to UK Telecom. With UK telecom they say you can pay with your French account or with a UK account. If paid through your  UK account they convert the call cost from euro's to sterling using the Post Office Tourist Rate then bill you with this. I double checked this via the phone with them ( not impressed with that) Teleconnect, it seems they don't want the PAYG calls route anymore, everything they sent quoted the all inclusive line rental etc. We have decided to go with Phonexpat with just their PAYG call option, they have been honest and prompt with their replies. we shall see.....

[quote user="brianagain"]We've recently changed to EHICplus - which adds extras (get you home, etc.) to the cover given by the EHIC and also caters for existing medical conditions at extra cost. Brian (again) [/quote] Thought I would give them a try on their website, gave them all my details and medical history ( but not proper name and address) but DOB was correct, I am a male under retiremant age, had a heart attack 2 stents no problems. Diabetics on tablets only. No other problems. They refused to quote me, extra cost was not even mentioned.

How can I stop the annoying popup that appears everytime I open the forum page asking if I want a free edition of living France. I didn't ask for it to appear and I have block pop ups ticked in Firefox.

Thanks Anton. Will have to come back to this later in the year. BBT is in France and i'm in  the UK at the mo. Pictures to follow in December!

Thanks for the reply Teapot. We want to stay with FT for the line rental as our holiday home is the the French equivalent of "Little house on the Prairie" . When we have problems we might get better service. On the 0044 plan you just pay for the calls used on a monthly basis, if you don't call there is no fee, like when we are back in the UK and the phone is turned off.

Thanks for the answer, so that means I can disconnect the big brown disjoncteur that trips when we have thunderstorms. Saves losing a freezer full of food. I assume that as we now have circuit breakers on each circuit this thing did the same job years ago. And it is wired in after the meter.

Pac, Don't think I explained myself properly, we have a power supply and everything is running hunky dory re electric. Wanted to know if the electric company's responsibility stopped at the meter.

In the UK anything after the electric meter is not the responsibility of the electric company, is the position the same in France.

Been looking at their site re taking over the call part of the phone. We have FT and pay line rental to them and want to keep it that way. At the mo we use Telerabais for all our calls and its a pain entering the code then the number. The 0044 system takes over the calls and you are billed on a pay as you go basis. Has anyone had experience of this outfit good or bad.

We have lots of them, what is the best stuff to get rid of them, can i use mouse/rat killer or is there a better option in the Brico's.

Update June 2011 We went over in May for our extended stay, we went into the office at Amiens and asked to swap the doofer for a new one. The lady looked up our account and said you have to pay with a French account now and gave us a leaflet explaining this. The leaflet stated this was for NEW customers as from 01.01 2011. We showed her this and stated we are not new customers only renewing the doofer, I also showed her a copy of the e-mail we received when we renewed the UK card number, usual French shrug followed and proceeded to issue the new doofer. Steve I clicked the quote button on my last post when I replied why hasn't it been included in my reply? any ideas

Summer flights from Southampton to Dijon can be booked from Monday 9th May with Easternairways flights on Monday, Friday and Sundays. http://www.easternairways.com/latest-news/southampton-gains-new-french-route-to-dijon.html

[quote user="DerekJ"] I've often had the pleasure of watching  at nearby Wentworth and Sunningdale has lost his brave fight. A great character, and an amazing and exciting talent.  Farewell Seve. [/quote] Totally agree with you Derek, followed him years ago at Sunningdale , it was that Japanese whisky tournament, (Suntory?) was a pleasure watching how he did it. Actually managed to have a few words with him.

There could also be the problem of voltages, you will have to plug the router into a power socket, US is I believe 110v France/Europe is 220v. Unless the power supply used with the router is multi voltage some knid of converter would be needed. Use a French one at least that will be setup for the system it is designed for.

Poor old Cleggie promised the earth before the election as wasn't expecting to actually get into power, then wham, promises can't be kept...

[quote user="Judith"]We've had trouble finding (I think) size 11 for OH, usually not available in the cheaper outlets (supermarkets and such), but maybe a good shoe shop in one of the larger towns would be OK.  [/quote] I take 11 as well, I have found even in the UK they size 11 as a 45 but it is really something like a 10.5. I always look for a 46 these fit a treat. I have found the supermarkets etc usually only go up to a 45, if they do 46 they must go very quickly.

Will firms post batteries, I know I couldn't get anyone to send me one when I needed one for my motorbike.

[quote user="Jay"] There is no time limit on the top up and cheap calls to UK etc. http://www.lebara-mobile.fr/?isoCode=en_GB [/quote] Not sure on that statement, got a flyer from Tesco's the other day for their PAYG sim, on their website they state a chargeable call has to made within 80 days or they will disconnect your sim card. Ok it was the UK site but I have never seen France having better phone offers. UK website info below. Bottom of page item 3 I believe. http://www.lebara-mobile.co.uk/medias/sys_master/8797033267230.pdf

Trouble is what ever you do it has to be acceptable to the Insurance co. Have you tried to put the onus on them to give you an idea?