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As a single senior citizen I realised that the £516 I was spending per annum was proportionately the highest bill I paid!!  Plus the fact that after a 2 week examination of my personal viewing patterns revealed that 80% was FTA channels and only 20% SKY (mostly sport as I am footie/golf addict). Do the maths, why pay that amount of money. It will also pay my taxe d'hab and fonciere instead[:)] and probably force me to get in the garden more often and get to grips with my French language course! cheers cartref

Hi, Having recently cancelled my SKY contract now that I am France resident, I have seen a huge list of FTA channels that I am able to receive. However, can someone enlighten me with regard to Channels 4 and 5. Do I need a card or not. My SKY viewing card will obviously be turned off as of tomorrow (30/12/07) and I would like to know ASAP what the rules are for these 2 channels. thanks cartref

Just wondered what CSG is? I am actually registered with CPAM with a mutuelle in situ also. I checked out my tax via UK and it was much much more than leslauriers worked out. i.e. 20% in UK, only 5.5% in France. At present my 2 private pensions are taxed in the UK. One is the SERPS via Scottish Provident, one is with the Pru. 85€ in social charges is much better than 142GBP though. cartref

All replies very welcomed, thanks. All pensions are from UK and as I have only lived in France  for 4 months, I believe that I have to register in early 2008 for French Tax purposes. It also seems that I shall be somewhat better off paying tax in France than the UK [:)]. I have also received and completed my forms to send to both sets of tax offices so that any refunds can be forwarded. Should I be aware of anything else? thanks cartref

Hi, Hope someone can help me here. I am a 60 year old single person in receipt of 2 private pensions and UK State Pension All these add up to a gross amount of £12109 per annum. Can anyone tell me what tax/NI I should expect to pay in France on this amount? I am getting several letters from UK Inland Revenue at present changing my tax code because of a shortfall in what tax I have paid since April 2007.[6] Thanks in advance cartref

Hello cowoman, I used a firm from Wolverhampton (relatively close to you) in September when I moved here permanently. He doesn't have a huge van so he may be useful to you. He was polite, extremely punctual both sides of the channel and very trustworthy. Details are (if I am allowed to post them ) Barretts Van & Driver and they advertise in LF magazine. Web site is www.barrettsremovals.co.uk . As a single lady looking to find a trustworthy company, I can honestly say they were 1st class. Bon Chance cartref

Just wondered if it is possible to get a paint to paint PVC shutters on my house. Only cosmetic interest as they are white and I would love to have them blue.[:)] Is there anyone who has tried this successfully and with what? cheers cartref

Hi, Cathy:  I am with TC for VOIP phone and internet. Every morning I get up to the fact that I have no service. Like you were told, I just switch off the modem while I have breakfast, then switch on and its OK. I had occasion to speak to someone recently (see previous posting) and I did manage to check the phone wiring. Now from having a download stream of 5 - 6 it is now 19 -21. Huge difference and my line never drops throughout the day at all. Well please with this guys advice , all in perfect English. Banyuls: I still rent the phone line from FT mainly because if anything happens to my PC I can still use the phone. cartref

Hi, Like many people in France shopping for friends/family who are in the UK, I have used several web sites. One which stands out is www.piajewellery.com which is based in the UK but does wonderful and (sometimes) inexpensive jewellery and gifts.Worth a look and if you order by 17th December you get your goods delivered by Xmas. My order quoted 7 -10 days delivery and was delivered in 8 days. Money not taken from my account until goods were posted![:)] Communication excellent too. P & P was £3.95 for 2 items. [:D] cartref

Hi I am off to the dentists today[:'(] and wondered if any one had any ideas re: costs for treatment. This is my first time at a French dentist and think I may need an extraction. Any help gladly received. cartref

Hi, Bought a high spec PC recently from Auchan in Arras. Got it home and was unable to use it because everything in French. Receipt said it could be exchanged within 7 days so that was what we did. Took it back and explained that it was 'unsuitable' for English use. No problems, gave them the receipt and they checked everything in the box was OK and money refunded to my account within 48 hrs. Lost a bit on the exchange rate though but not much. cartref

What am I looking for on the degrouptest thing, ErnieY? Lots of figures and options via other ISPs but where and what is this attenuation? Somtimes I can log on to my PC and cheque the SNR Margin thingy and it is 11 or less but then drops significantly throughout the day. As soon as it takes ages to download a page I know it will have dropped to under 4. cartref

Just as  matter of interest I had occasion to report my VOIP line dropping with TC this week. I then got a call from a very French lady who also had me spell out my name/address and phone no and still couldn't help me. Yesterday morning I got a call back from a French guy with perfect english who talked me through the pros and cons of losing internet connection. Apparently my SNR Margin Downstream is running at around 5-6 and should be between 7 and 11. He suggested I checked my socket wiring. I don't think so said I, probably lose all phone connection if I start messing. Like Ernie, I'll probably have to tolerate the occasional lack of internet for the sake of a few minutes a day. If it is a socket problem, I would probably have the same problem with any ISP. [6] cartref

Hi Interesting post this one as today I have decided to cancel my SKY contract totally. I have been a SKY subscriber for 12 years but like a lot of people out here in France,worry about the possibility of being 'found out' and my card withdrawn or cancelled. Having looked at the channels you can get on FTA I was gobsmacked at just how many there were. I did a quick 'for and against' of the channels I would be without and found that the only ones I would miss(?) were the Sky Sports channels as I do like to watch 'live sport' at the weekends. But as a lot of the sports are now on terrestrial channels I don't think it will be too much of a pain. I was also with SKY broadband till I moved over here permanently in September so that was costing me for not even using it!! I shall enjoy the fact that I shall now be £43 better off each month[:)] and still have enough TV to keep me happy. cartref

With a decent speed there is no real "hassle" either. Sure sometimes it can take a few moments to connect and maybe once in a while it simply doesn't and you have to redial but for 95% of the time there is little or no perceivable difference between it and the POTS. I quite agree with you Ernie on this one. My VOIP is erratic but I am never without internet access for longer than, say, an hour at most. Its just so damn frustrating. But the speed I get, 1261kbps on my PC, is OK for what I want to do. ( I am also in a rather large village and only 2 miles from an even bigger town, so no country lane issues here). And if I have to do the 10 second reboot (which doesn't always work quickly), so be it. The options are to quit TC and go with someone else and who knows what that will lead to. cartref

Glad I am not the only one having problems (sorry there are others). I also have to do the 10 second re-boot. It becomes a pain when I am in the middle of sending an e-mail, although I do get a sort of warning before it drops altogether. I do consider it bad customer services though if you have already sent letters/e-mails to the bossman and still have problems. I only went with these people because they came highly recommended and for the fact that calls to the UK only cost me 5€ a month. May decide to change if things do  ot get better although it does seem that their charges are quite high for cancelling. Hope things improve for both of us soon.[:)] cartref 

I wonder if other Teleconnect customers are having problems with VOIP dropping at a regular rate, not just weekly but daily. After contacting TC they did admit to problems their end but mine keeps on dropping. As all my phone calls go through the modem it means I am "phoneless" for a while. Can still use FT line but expensive if I want to call UK. cartref

Happiness is letting the cat out at 3.00am and marvelling at the most amazing night sky with stars as big as I have ever seen......then getting back into bed for 5 hours!! cartref p.s. must find a cat flap[:D]

Oh the sheer joy of the Brocante! Mostly tat at the last one I went to and over 400 stalls too. However I did manage to get a Dartington decanter for 2 euros. Well pleased. Looking forward to the next one near Lens on Dec 8th , over 500 stalls apparently. cartref

Hi, Wondered if anyone has had to close a French bank account. When I took out a mortgage, the company opened a bank account for me as I had not at that time opened an account in France. Now I am here permanently I would like to close the original account and transfer to my new bank. There is no problem with the mortgage company as all they need is a signed DD form and a RIB from me from my new bank. The original bank opened for me is in Brittany and I am in Pas de Calais, so you see it makes sense to move to PDC and close the other. cartref

Nicole you have been to that house as well!!!! I have seen some photos of just the yard wall, no interior pics at all, I mean would you even go and look. Fortunately when I purchased my house the Immo had taken superb pictures both interior and exterior. But I knew as soon as I went in that it was the house for me, no regrets so far. cartref

Bilbo wrote I am sure that I read somewhere that one of the features of Vista, unlike previous versions of Windows, was that the OS language could be altered by the user. You can change the ketboard etc. in any version. Not so Bilbo, previous OS systems like XP etc did have this facility but Vista does not. Also if you order a PC from the UK they will not deliver to France. Something to do with licensing of the MIcrosoft product I believe. cartref

Hi Caroline, I used HIFX one of the top companies. As a single lady of a certain age [:(] I needed someone who talked me through the whole procedure. It may be that you are intending to use these companies for the first time. I can't fault HIFX for their help and consideration throughout. Communications were also excellent which was comforting to a 1st time user. Good Luck cartref

HI Les, Difference was , our PC was NOT a faulty item , merely unsuitable. However, we have had one ore two items from DIY stores that have been faulty and we have been refunded with no problem at all. Perhaps I could be a consumer champion here in France. I may have to hedge my bets here though as we have yet to come across someone who won't refund, but as yet good news all round[:D] cartref

Hi all, Took French PC back to Auchan this morning and got money credited back to my Visa card with no trouble at all. In fact the guy in Auchan explained that to have a UK pc in France is 'illegal' as France does not have a licence to sell them Pc's apparently now come with language of country of origin on board. Getting one from PC World in the UK and fetching it in 2 weeks. Thank God for friends willing to receive our goods[:D] Thanks for all replies to my OP, cartref