Orange Internet + TV

[James123456]

Hello,

I'm hoping someone from this forum my be able to help me, it look like you are all many steps ahead of me :). I'm looking to get ADSL line in our house. We currently have a phone line with orange and I was hoping to simple add the broadband but it seems a little more complicated. The packages that orange seem to offer all include a TV package.

Could someone kindly let me know how this works e.g. do you plug an areal into the livebox (e.g free view in the UK) or is it a satellite (e.g. Sky in UK) or does it come through a cable in the ground (e.g. cable/Virgin in the UK)

Could you also let me know the set-up process as it looks like I can order online in the uk. Will they simply send out the box and we plug it in or do they fit it for you? Is the LiveBox also a WiFi router or does that need to be purchased separately?

Many thanks in advance for anyones help.

James

[Quillan]

Welcome to the forum.

I have split this away from the thread in which you posted it originally because it rally is a separate issue and deserves it's own thread.

OK, first it will depend on your adsl line speed as to how you receive the TV. You can use the following link, even from the UK, to see what is available.

http://www.test-ligne-adsl.com/ You don't have to enter your email address.

There are two ways of getting TV with Orange. The first is via your adsl line but it needs to be around 4mb, the other is by satellite. Either way a second box is required which you get free and the type of box will be different depending on how you will get your TV. The box, or decoder, will have to be connected to your Livebox.

If you run the above test it will tell you what type you need, if it is by satellite it will say "Télévision (satellite)". Either way Orange will know when you order and will send you the right decoder. If memory serves you have to pay a deposit on the card that goes in the decoder although it's use is free.

There are other options including free calls to the UK etc with some download ability available using a mobile device (no need for a land line at all) for as little as 11 Euros per month depending on how much download capacity you want. For French TV they have TNT which is the French version of Freeview, all you need is a TV with a digital tuner (or a set top box) and an aerial. Either way of course you will have to pay for a TV licence.

[Patf]

Welcome to the forum from me too.

Just an opinion from someone who took that package - we eventually opted out of the TV addition. And just as well as we've had several breakdowns of supply for one reason or another. But thankfully still had TV to watch while the phone and internet were down.

(probably something wrong with my "logic"?)

[Martin963]

I don't know whether it's still part of the offer range,  but Orange do (or did) a simple ADSL service called "Decouverte" which for about 21 euros per month just gives you broadband.    Unfortunately Orange did their best to hide the offer,  it frequently did not come up on the list of possibilities when one did a line test.   In our case we could get the offer to be mentioned by putting in friends's numbers nearer the exchange,  even though all the expensive TV ADSL offers came up for our number which is so far from the exchange that the TV wouldn't have even begun to work and for which Decouverte was the best option!!!

I think Danny has Decouverte as well.  He might know how you apply for it at the moment.  If all else fails a trip to your local Orange shop (local?  - ours is an hour away) and a bit of ground-standing may get them to offer you Decouverte....

Incidentally,   I had a chance to play with an ADSL only TV service recently in Paris (free.fr).   Whatever some people may claim,  the picture quality of TNT channels via ADSL is NOT as good as those offered via the conventional UHF service or via TNTsat or Fransat.    TF1 HD was reasonable but it wasn't as HD as the real thing,   and France 3 for example looked - frankly - pretty awful.     If one is serious about off air picture quality one will not accept channels that are transmitted conventionally via an aerial or satellite to be delivered by ADSL....

(I know in many cases the basic TNT channels are fed via an aerial or dish when one has ADSL TV so in many cases out in the countryside my remarks won't apply.   However in the case I was examining there was no aerial or dish feed so everything on TV was coming via ADSL).

Just my observations.

[Quillan]

The thing is if you live somewhere where there is limited TNT because there is something in the way, like in my case a mountain and you have slow adsl this is a good deal as it is free. At least with having your TV package, for which you don't get a reduction if you don't take it, on the Orange adsl package, it saves the cost of buying a satellite decoder, you can get it replaced foc if it fails which is much better than a warranty and I believe you can still get money back for having the dish installed via Orange. It used to be 90 Euros but I don't know if they still offer this service and if the cash back is the same. Orange is not the only company supplying this service.

[Martin963]

Oh indeed for some people who can't get UHF and can't see Astra 1 or AB3 I can see that ADSL only might be the only answer.    But these people are a tiny minority.

Personally (and assuming one doesn't need free phone calls) I'd rather pay 21 euros a month for simple ADSL than 35 euros a month for the TV package which I can mostly get independently.   In our particular case I could of course have ditched the 16 euro line rental and gone for the ADSL nu,  the only problem is that our ADSL is very slow and often grinds to a complete halt in the evenings.    So for my particular case it's important to keep the conventional analogue phone line (as mobile reception isn't reliable either at our place).

As the OP only wants simple ADSL then Decouverte might be the answer.   But only they can decide (and I should have added that you have to pay 16  + 21 for ADSL,   Decouverte is only available if you already pay the line rental).

[Hereford]

We have Découverte and pay just 21 euros a month. We did not want the TV as we use TNT par satellite. We had sent back our Livebox sometime before when we still had a TV add-on which we did not use.  We use a router that we bought (not expensive). In fact we have two routers - a wifi one in the house for a laptop and a non wifi one in the "office/sewing room" above the garage where our main computer is. The garage is well away from the house so we can't use just one router. So long as one of the routers is unplugged the other can be just plugged in and used. Hope that makes sense. Also a very good way to save paper as the printer is in the garage and we mostly use the laptop in the house!

You do not need a Livebox just to use ADSL so ignore Orange if they say you do.  We had no problem swapping to Découverte although the lady in the Orange shop was bemused that we would not want the TV.  Once we explained that we did not use a Livebox so did not get TV anyway she changed it there and then in the shop.  It is, as someone has said, able to be cancelled at any time.  However it may be that be would have to wait to get it reconnected, so perhaps apply online a couple of weeks before returning to the house?   Using your own router gets over the Livebox problem.

Mrs H

[HoneySuckleDreams]

[quote user="James123456"]The packages that orange seem to offer all include a TV package.

[/quote]

When you order this stuff through the internet , there is little check box that you can uncheck so that you don't get it. If you leave it checked I think you have to pay a one off charge for the box they supply so that you can get the TV

 

[quote user="James123456"]

Will they simply send out the box and we plug it in or do they fit it for you?

[/quote]

They send you the box in the post

 

[quote user="James123456"]

Is the LiveBox also a WiFi router

[/quote]

yes it is

 

Edit: As mentioned above by other posters, if you are not interested in the telephone package that they offer, then you can plug your own ADSL router in. We were happily using a Draytek Vigor for years with no problems. One thing to note though if you do use your own router (I found anyway) is the maximum speed is limited. The Vigor managed 5Mb whereas the Livebox is running at almost 8. We switched to the full VoiP package to take advantage of the free calls (and with no line rental)

[BJSLIV]

Don't forget the Livebox Decouverte package at 39.80 which includes a traditional phone line, not VOIP, "up to" 20mg Broadband, and free calls France and abroad.

In other words the same price as the basic ADSL offer and lione rental, but a faster ADSL and free calls.

[Quillan]

The decoder, be it for adsl or satillite is free. You pay a deposit for the card that goes in it (like you have in a Sky box), I think, if memory serves, it is either €40 or €45. If you cancel your account with Orange and return all the equipment along with the card you get the money back. With the Orange decoder you get video on demand and you can rent films and buy extra channels. If you like rugby for instance there is a rugby channel and another for football. You can also select original language so if the film is an English language film you can watch it in English. It is the same with TV series. Personally for me it's the rugby channel that does it.

[James123456]

Thank you all for your feedback! It was very helpful.

We could not find the 'Decouverte' product, very possibly 'user error'.

Please see below, we 'un-ticked' the TV service so I think we are just getting the internet? But the line test results of 8Mbs seems to indicate (based on kind feedback) that we could get the TV though the ADSL line? We are based in the countryside and my concern is that if we add the TV package (the rugby channel is tempting) we may get the same issues as SW Gers had, could you please share your thoughts?

Quillan, could you kindly give me a little more information regarding the TV licence, we (might) currently have Sky (only British channels) in the house (and a British TV licence) but I am now a little concerned that we may also need a French TV licence? Also if we opted for the Orange TV would we need to get a French TV Licence in addition to the subscription fee?

Summary of your order:

Products and services:

Livebox Zen to 20 + mega phone

Antispam more

Parental Control

Livebox

Your Offer

Livebox Zen to 20 + mega phone

€ 28.90

you keep your phone service

Flow supported by your line is 8 Megamax

Livebox

€ 3.00

Equipment

Livebox

Your total bill for the first month

€ 31.90

Thank you all for your help!!

James

[BJSLIV]

Irrespective of whether you watch French TV, you should already a French licence to cover your existing set up.

Put your phone number into Degroupetest.com, and that will tell you whether the TV offer requires a satellite dish. unless you are in a medium size town, it's more than likely that ADSL TV won't be available.

[HoneySuckleDreams]

[quote user="James123456"] information regarding the TV licence, we (might) currently have Sky (only British channels) in the house (and a British TV licence) [/quote]

Why do you need a British TV Licence?

[Keith]

We have just got the Orange Unlimited ADSL Internet/telephone/TV package for €39.50/month and so far am very impressed but we do have a 8MB connection here in Sarlat.

The package includes our phone line rental and gives us free calls to many countries to landlines over the Internet from our normal house phones. I believe calls to mobiles are also free (although only in France).

The quality of the TV picture is excellent and will, I hope itwill be useful to improve our French. We even get HD TV over the ADSL line. Unfortunately the programmes are rubbish.

Since our TV is in a different room they gave us 2 free plugs to connect the TV box via the electrical circuit of the house.

They have even given us a SIM card for a mobile device eg IPad, but you only get 200mb data/month I believe. We have not tried this out yet.

PS they give you 2 months free trial of several things eg sports channel, anti-virus etc but if you don't cancel these it will work out a lot more than €35.50. These are fortunately easy to cancel on the Orange website

[Keith]

PS Sorry just realised am paying €39.90 not €39.50 per month.

PPS You may ask why we do not get digital French TV to improve our French. Where we are we cannot get TV over an aerial and already have satellite dish for Freesat and do not want 2 dishes on the house.

[Rabbie]

[quote user="HoneySuckleDreams"]

[quote user="James123456"] information regarding the TV licence, we (might) currently have Sky (only British channels) in the house (and a British TV licence) [/quote]

Why do you need a British TV Licence?

[/quote]One of life's little mysteries[:)]