Orange English helpline?

[Jonzjob]

Has anyone tried to get on to the English helpline over the past few days? I have, numerous times, and all I am getting is the engaged tone.

I've used the English line a lot, both for myself and for a French neighbour/friend and have never had this sort of trouble.

They haven't shut it down and not told us have they? [8-)]

[AnOther]

Just dialled 0969 36 39 00 and got music and a message that the call would be charged at the standard rate etc., didn't go any further than that.

[Jonzjob]

I think I'll go back to bed [blink] [8-)]

Do you realise that if you leave out the last 3 then all you get is the engaged tone [:-))]

Ta Ernie, your reply made me look at what I was TRYING to dial mate1

[AnOther]

I'm sure we've all done worse !

[NormanH]

I still blame Orange SPIT [:P]

[AnOther]

Surely you mean Teleconnect (spit), I live with what they did to me to this day !

[Jonzjob]

We went into the Orange shop in Carcassonne this afternoon to get the roaming function turned on SWMBO's mobile phone because as that mobile isn't on the same account as our ADSL we couldn't do it on line.

The lass in the shop took an age and had to make a couple of calls to get it done. I am just glad that I didn't try to do it over the phone [8-)], which was one of the suggestions from The English help line. I have to admit that he said that it would be a lot easier in the shop [:-))]

What was the fun with Teleconnect Ernie? Sounds interesting, as long as it doesn't make you cry [;-)][;-)]

[mogs]

I used the English line a couple of weeks ago, it was a bit of a palaver but in the end I spoke to someone who was very helpful.

[AnOther]

Because of their incompetence Teleconnect had Orange reduce the clamp on my line from 2mb to 512kb when it was, and is, perfectly good for 2mb and more - as evidenced by the fact that I had it before they did that and Orange give me that now - according to Degrouptest et al. however my line is only good for 512kb which effectively means I can never change ISP.

My only hope is for my exchange to go full degroupee but even though they built a new one in the village some 3 or 4 years ago there seems to be little sign of that happening any time soon.

According to another router I have which gives more comprehensive information I synch with the exchange at nearly 7mb which ties in perfectly with what I know my actual line length to be confirmed by the actual 43dB attenuation and which implies a real world performance of maybe 6mb.

[url]http://www.speedguide.net/dsl_speed_calc.php[/url]

BTW the actual attenuation is the one and only accurate indicator of line length and calculators such as that above the true indicator of the speed you should be able to receive.

[Danny]

AnOther,

I have a feeling that your village has gone 'dégroupé' since last year.

Check if they offer you anything other than "Freebox (adsl non dégroupé) Max 2" which is what I get.

If you get 'Freebox total' then you can go for it.

http://www.free.fr/adsl/index.html put in your telephone number as usual.

You may get a choice of two services http://adslcgi.free.fr/subscribe/01_choose_box.pl but the ADSL connection will be the same with either.

I suppose it does not necessarily guarantee a huge speed increase but Free do not limit the service at all and you should get the maximum technically possible.

Good luck,

Danny

[AnOther]

Thanks Danny, I hadn't checked for a while and it is showing Freebox Total.

I take it you are with Free now if so how is it and how smooth was the transfer ?

[Danny]

No, I am still with Orange.

We are not dégroupé here [:(] so I can't tell you much about changing to Free.

I suppose you will have to suck it and see. Let's hope that you can improve the speed of your service.

Danny

[AnOther]

It looks like I will have to pay Orange for my line if I want to keep my 0565 number which is a bit of a bummer !

[Danny]

That seems very odd. What does it say about this? Does it specifically say that you are not able to use your present number? Have you already given up your fixed line and using Orange VOIP?

You should still be able to transfer that.

Normally, you ask for the number to be transferred in the sign up process in the bit about 'Portabilité de Numéro'

Your existing 0565 number gets transferred to be your new Free VOIP number.

from Free here

"Avec votre abonnement Freebox, vous disposez d'une ligne téléphonique dont le numéro est de type 09.

Lorsque vous avez choisi de vous affranchir de l'abonnement

téléphonique (dégroupage total ou Freebox Only), et sous réserve

d'éligibilité, ce service proposé sans supplément vous permet de

continuer à recevoir les appels émis vers votre ancien numéro.

Vous pouvez ainsi être joint aussi bien sur votre numéro Freebox

en 095 que sur votre ancien numéro dont les appels sont redirigés

automatiquement vers le premier." (My emphasis [8-)])

SEE THIS PAGE for more very useful and indepth info about this situation, especially about the traps to avoid (pioches!)

also THIS PAGE

keep you busy reading for a while [:-))]

Danny

[Judith]

Back to the original question - I've been ringing the English speaking line from Wednesday onwards last week, and everytime after I'd gone to client services rather than technical it said, all lines engaged .. I decided that they must only have one or two people on, 'cos its the holidays you know, and that I'd see how I got on this next week .... I agree they can be difficult, but two weeks ago when I rang (this is an ongoing problem so I've been ringing quite a lot over the summer), they said it was 10 minutes .... and I did get through to the technical side when I needed to, so I think see what happens now we are at the rentree ...