Internet via 3G or 4G

[NormanH]

The future where you have limited data, and you pay once it you go over the limit.

In my village with sosh I get about 24 mb on VDSL2 but that is unlimited...

[Martin963]

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.......

[Martin963]

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.

[Chancer]

When I started cabling my place the regs stated that I needed an ethernet connection in each room going back to the coffret de communications for "future proofing" well the future overtook them and me before I had completed more than 2 apartments, everyone wants Wi-Fi most devices dont even have an ethernet socket yet the regs and Consuel still insist on complying with the pasts vision of the future which is well in the past.

I have 12mb ADSL but its pretty flaky especially when all the guests try to connect, one family may have 8 devices on the go and at this time of year the router regularly runs out of IP addresses, I have noticed more and more customers using their own mobile data instead, most of them are with Free.

 

Meanwhile the fibre optic cabling is making its way to us from the main town, I have some of the installers staying here as we speak, I am getting loads of letters, E-mails and cold calls wanting me to subscribe to their fibre optic service, special rate for a business like me, only €100 ht par month [:-))]

 

Now I get a letter from the commune sayng that the fibre will come to my property but to use it I must take out an abonnement with their preferred supplier (someones BIL no doubt) they are spending millions but even if it got here tomorrow I doubt that anyone would subscribe when they could get a better 4G service far cheaper from FreeMobile or any of the others.

 

Another case of too little too late methinks.

[Department71]

Martin963, you really have got my interest over this, my house is out in the sticks as well, our neighbours get their internet by satellite and are less then impressed with it.

 Like you I am not in France for the whole year and do really have a problem paying for the months I'm not there so your non-contract option could suit me down the the ground. Couple of questions, when you return to the UK for the winter what happens to the payments, is it hard to stop the payments or do you just top it up every month, do you have to get another sim for next year. Am I a bit cautious yes, as we got stung by the NRJ con years ago with a mobile. I usually go to McDo to do my emails etc.

Look forward to you hopefully updating your experiences

[Martin963]

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.

[Chancer]

Does Free have 4g coverage at your home?

[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.

[Department71]

Martin,

Thanks for your update and your comments, it is something I'll think hard about for the future. Just hope SFR don't move the goal posts in the future.

[Martin963]

....  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....

[johnnyboy]

Hi Martin, our internet slowed to a stop earlier and I await the technician from orange.fr tomorrow morning! The nearest mast to us seems to be Bouyges only, not line of sight, but only a kilometer or so away. SFR mast is about 6-7 kilometers away. Bouyges  prices are somewhat higher than either SFR or Free, I use free for my mobile and get reasonable signal most of the time.

You mentioned in a previous post about a booster box and an aerial I recall, do you have any recommendations please?

Our speed at the moment is 520Mb, so still not good.

Am close to pulling out what little hair remains.

Johnnyboy.

[Chancer]

I've only just lost my cherry to a smartphone so am new to all this mobile t'internet malarkey.

 

I got another Free sim card, the €20 one that was on promo for €1 per month for a year, it has a huge data allowance on 4g and about a 5th of that on 3G.

 

My question is how can I tell what signal it is recieving, 3G or 4G and/or how the data used has been shared between the 2.

 

I have just had the first facture, €1 + 77cts for textos, is shows the data used as 50MiO whatever that is and no charge, it spends most of its time connected to the Freebox Wi-Fi.

 

What are MiO's compared to GigO's of which I think I get 100 per month on 4G or 20 per month on 3G?

[dave21478]

Thats the offer I tried from Free, but didnt get a good enough signal.

Depends on the phone I suppose, mine has a wee 3G or 4G icon next to the signal strength bars depending on what its receiving.

If you log into your espace perso on the Free website, it tells you how much of 4G and 3G has been consumed.

There are roughly 1000 megabytes in a gigabyte, so 50Mo is a drop in the ocean.

[Chancer]

Thanks Dave, I already have an espace perso for the first Free simcard, the one I get for nothing, seemingly I have to create another one for the 2nd sim as it will only allow one account, as their username and passwords have higher security than Nasa I cannot remember the existing ones and its all too much grief to create the second account for a phone which will not even be making or recieving calls.

 

The wee icon for signal strength is too wee for my eyes so if the 3G/4G info is there its invisible to me.

 

The phone says that it has used 37.9MB so I am guessing that it knows what the billing periods are and has reset, would that be right?

 

Can I send you a car question by PM?

[Martin963]

[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. 

[johnnyboy]

Many thanks Martin, will have to investigate that after the technician has been (0800 - 1300). Yep, nearer the 1300 as we thought! Still, at least the dog got an earlier walk!!

Johnnyboy.

[Martin963]

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.

[dave21478]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Can I send you a car question by PM?

[/quote]

Yeah, dont hesitate.

[Chancer]

Thanks, it might be a while as I have 5 changeovers to do today including washing and ironing.

[johnnyboy]

Wow, reached the dizzy heights of 1.4Mb just now, after the technicians' visit! He reckons that the problem is on the line between our village and another village before the exchange in Arnac.

Would not accept my thoughts that the trees are resting across the lines in about 8 or 9 places just down the lane. In fact he said that the line down the lane cannot be the problem, as that does not supply our village. The fact that there are no other lines into the village seems to have escaped him! Sigh!

We await the result of further works by the heavy lines equipe on Monday.

Not holding breath though.

Johnnyboy.

[DraytonBoy]

We ditched our landline last month and now get anything up to 15Mb/s using Bouygues Telecom's 4G box (33E per month).

[NotAgain]

We don't have any possibility of broadband via landline as our cabling here is not up to the job and we're too far from the main exchange - although the commune has recently had fiber optic installed, we're on the commune's perimeter and there's no hope of it reaching us at all under the present regime. We're using the SES satellite system via Europasat and it's actually not too bad for web browsing, email and whatnot - especially after living with an appallingly unreliable Orange dial-up internet for our first couple of years here - but the support from Europasat is pretty dire and a change would be good, especially if we can get a significant increases in monthly data allowances.

4G looks the way to go and I'm following this thread with interest!

[Martin963]

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.

[Martin963]

[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!

[johnnyboy]

Wish we were getting that much all the time Martin, its usually around the 400-500 Kb zone.

Had a look at the coverage map and it shows not much coverage for our house, but there are lots of trees between us and the mast. Maybe could fit an aerial up high and try I suppose. Will try and see if I can get someone with a 4G phone to roam around a bit!

Must say that the cost and service(poor) from orange is getting to me too, this has only been going on for 7-8 months now.