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Switching ADSL & Telephone from Orange to... ?


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Hello all... Long time no posting on here..

Our village has just connected to 'haut débit' and I'm definitely long overdue for a contract/supplier change. I've been with Orange for years (no upgrades) so well out of contract.

I'm looking at Coriolis or Red (SFR) ADSL 20mbps  either with or without telephone line.

In the UK I've recently taken up fibre with Vodafone and everything was effectively done by Vodafone (cancelling the existing SKY broadband and BT Landline).

I'm not remotely expecting it to be as easy in France, but I'd be interested in hearing any suggestions on the following:

Ordering 'online' - will my existing phone number be used (and retained)?

Am I better off going in store - my French is good, but in the past, the telecoms sales staff have nearly always been completely all over the place..?

What sort of 'changeover' time can I expect? (I'm not planing to go fibre, merely 'degroupé ADSL)?

Do I cancel my Orange contract first, or is there a system in place to switch over?

Any obvious issues with RED or Coriolis? (I believe RED use foreign call centres which can be shambolic according to some forums..)?

etc. etc. etc.

I'm expecting complications, but any warnings are most welcome! Not being in France for more than a week at a time this year might also add problems..

Many thanks [:)]

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Joiedevie wrote : Do I cancel my Orange contract first, or is there a system in place to switch over?

Whatever you decide to do DO NOT CANCEL Orange as your new choice of provider will do everything, as in the UK, as long as your line is still attributed to you.

The easiest is to swap to Orange's online arm .. Sosh .. it costs 29.99 euro per month all included .. ADSL, free calls to 100s of countries and even a French SIM card with a small amount of data and 2 hours of calls.

Warning it is online only but you can 'chat' ie message an advisor without problem.

But if you are going to be dégroupé you should have more choice ..
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Thanks Sue..  So similar now to the UK..?

The 'Sosh' deal isn't too bad, but I rarely use my Leclerc SIM as it is, and my Orange ADSL is currently €36.

So if I want to go RED or Coriolis (€15 & €19 respectively), I should be able to simply go online and 'purchase' their package using my existing phone number, and after a few days, voila - no interruption in service, the incoming provider take care of the Orange contract cancellation (and the bank prelevements to Orange will cease too)?

It was very smooth in the UK, and all my 'old' contracts were auto triggered to cancel along with all the outgoing payments etc..

[geek]

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A good thing to do might be to test your line : here :

http://www.ariase.com

or here :

http://www.degrouptest.com

Bring in France, when you have finally effected the change over and paid any outstanding bills to Orange, it might be a good idea to manually cancel the direct debit with your Bank .. just in case.
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[quote user="suein56"]A good thing to do might be to test your line : here :

http://www.ariase.com

or here :

http://www.degrouptest.com

Bring in France, when you have finally effected the change over and paid any outstanding bills to Orange, it might be a good idea to manually cancel the direct debit with your Bank .. just in case.[/quote]

Always a good idea [:)]

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I changed to Red-by-sfr, it took about one week, perfect transition without any interruption. I have a line non-dégroupage which costs €5,-/month more. I now pay €15,- month including landline instead of around €45,-/month with Orange and I kept my number. Do not cancel Orange until after the changeover, but it is probably not necessary unless you have two separate contracts for phone and internet.

RED is an online-only provider, just like SOSH, there is a helpline available just for 3 weeks after the line is activated. Beyond that all help is done online via chat through the app or social media. Make sure you can contact them when ADSL is out  via 3G/4G mobile internet.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Thanks Jako..

Did you have ADSL outage in between the changeover? I have a friend who's just signed up with Coriolis and says Orange have now disconnected him before Coriolis have set him up, which I was under the impression wasn't supposed to be allowed to happen? (He may, on the other hand, be 'live' but unable to successfully configure his new box..)

I decided for to wait until I got a better idea of the time frame within which Orange would ask for me to return my Livebox. In the Coriolis booth, they looked it up and it says 'within 30 days' - but I have no idea 'when' the 30 days begin? (ie. when do they officially ask/give you a return form etc.). I need to be sure I can be at the property at the right time(s) to guarantee I can get their box back to them.. (Or can you drop it in store?). How soon after ordering a 'new' connection/provider contract do Orange take to send you the returns paperwork?

Thanks again!

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.... a bit of a worrying update, a friend in the village 'signed up' with Coriolis nearly 10 days ago and Orange duly cut him off within 3 or 4 days leaving him sitting in the garden harvesting his Bouygues mobile data (when he can get it).

Is there any obligation on either provider to ensure little or no interruption?

I'm not there now, so I don't know exactly what's going on, but 10 days seems a long time.. And I'm not sure Orange have begun to request their Livebox back either..

Anyone?  [blink]
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joiedevie wrote : And I'm not sure Orange have begun to request their Livebox back either..

They don't .. it is up to you/him to follow the instructions .. sometimes you will be sent the returns label, sometimes you have to ask for it .. it can depend on many things .. your area/ how busy they are etc etc.

With your friend it sounds as though smthg has gone amiss as usually you are without internet access for an hour or two maximum nowadays.

Depending on your new supplier it can be just a matter of minutes.

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OK, thanks.. Seems it can take up to 15 days for them to send you (or email) the return forms, yet you're required to return the box within 30 days of ending your contract. So really only 15 days if the wind's against you!

Will make for an interesting time... Not so great for my friend out in France who now has pinned down a Coriolis technician to visit, but not until next week - so around 3 weeks after terminating his Orange account.

I guess as the 'haut débit' kit in the village is brand new, there may yet continue to be more and more problems - but I know of others who have had the basic Coriolis 1mbps there for a while now without problem, and I really don't understand the issue as he is not 'changing' to fibre, just to a faster 20mbps ADSL [blink]

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joiedevie wrote : so around 3 weeks after terminating his Orange account.

If your friend cancelled his Orange account himself then no wonder he is having problems, as Coriolis will have to obtain a line to use.

I don't understand your statement : ... and I really don't understand the issue as he is not 'changing' to fibre, just to a faster 20mbps ADSL

Yes there is an issue in that he is changing from one company to another so he is not simply upgrading his access .. unless I have got the wrong idea.
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  • 2 weeks later...
[quote user="joidevie"]Thanks Jako..

Did you have ADSL outage in between the changeover?

[/quote]

No, zero outage. The ADSL signal never stopped. I used my own box, so when Orange stopped working I simply replaced the Orange credentials with the SFR credentials in my box and internet was back, just faster and cheaper. Unfortunately SFR does not provide the SIP parameters to get  the phone working with a third party-box, so I then connected the SFR box. Works like a charm.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Thanks Jako.

I actually now signed up with Coriolis myself, eventually... The online application crashed as I tried to make the €1 payment to confirm the order leaving me with a dead order (and order number) in my 'espace client'.

I then phoned, and we went through the the whole shebang again, but the kind operator couldn't get my Orange 'RIO"(keep your existing phone number) code to work, so I went for the 'get a new number' option knowing I'll need to cancel Orange myself.

My question now is, will Coriolis simply override my existing number for a new connection automatically, even before I 'manually' cancel my Orange contract? (ie. not cancelling Orange won't impede the new connection?). Things seem to work differently if you don't 'migrate' your number.

Sue, just the clarify, my friend didn't cancel the Orange contract

himself, it was done by Coriolis and he retained his phone number -

however, thank you very much for your posts!
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Yes. Technically only one ADSL line can be active on the same line at any given time and that line is the property of Orange. So Orange will be informed by Coriolis that you are leaving them. You should be able to see a cancellation date appear in your Orange 'espace client'. I received a mail from Orange informing me that the line would be transferred to another party and to contact Orange in the event I did not want that. Never cancel the existing line before you have a new one, they cannot transfer a cancelled line via this procedure. You would have to start all over again and start a procedure to activate a 'new' phone line that has no phone number.

Sometimes the RIO procedure does not work on a fixed line, usually when it is not the original phone number of the analogue line.

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OK, thanks again....

I'll do nothing for now and let the whole process kick in..

I'll be back on this thread soon no doubt, but it should help others later on as I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking of doing this [:)]

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