Free Mobile.

[NormanH]

There will be a piège and I will fall into it [:)]

[Chancer]

I have been looking at some news items with video clips of Xavier Niel's media presentation of the new offers, I like his style, he reminds me of a straight version of Branson and he really doesnt pull his punches regarding how the French have been milked by the big three monopoly to date, those of us with knowledge of Uk prices will long have known this.

Here is the first one, you will need good French, read the text whilst the annoying advert blares out and then scroll down to the video when he starts to talk. -  http://www.lepoint.fr/high-tech-internet/free-mobile-xavier-niel-on-vous-presse-comme-des-citrons-10-01-2012-1417206_47.php

I will post the second one in a moment as i dont know how to cut and paste, he sounds like a market trader!!

Here is the second one, he points out that Free are 5 times cheaper than the social tariffs that were imposed on the big 3 providers (and with Free you get 50% more calls) yet they are making money, it is not a loss leader (illegal in France) despite having to buy airtime from Orange, he says you now know to what point the poorest of you have been had by the others, it is scandalous etc. http://www.lepoint.fr/high-tech-internet/free-mobile-un-forfait-social-a-2-euros-par-mois-pour-1-heure-d-appels-et-60-sms-10-01-2012-1417190_47.php

[pachapapa]

[quote user="NormanH"]There will be a piège and I will fall into it [:)]
[/quote]

Yeah! by the time i change my AliceBox for a FreeBox...the counter will be clicking on 3,000,001.[6]

[Chancer]

Well I am one step closer, yesterday I could not get my RIO (whatever one is!) from Lebara when I called 3179, I got a "n'est pas attribué/accesible" message, today it worked and I have my RIO, all i have to do now is indulgently waste the €10 credit remaining with Lebara and I can carry the number over to Free, that way i dont even pay the €10 fee for sending the carte sim.

So for the first time ever in France I am carrying my mobile with me, its switched on hence I am contactable and I have a shed load of calls to make!

Plus henceforth I can continue to do the same and it wont cost me one brass farthing, at last a return to normality as the rest of the world know it, when (French) friends ask me for my mobile number I can give it to them instead of having to explain my circumstances which genrally results in them thinking I am all the more weird and uncomprehensible.

Its great news for me on what was already a special day [:D]

I am guessing that the Lycamobile sim will never arrive now!

[NormanH]

This sums up the disadvantages which I can live with:

http://www.freemobileasso.com/articles/481-lufc-que-chosir-pointe-les-defauts-de-free-mobile

[pachapapa]

L'UFC & Free have had their legal contretemps...consume in moderation with a pinc of salt.

OT. TF1 tonite not to be missed.

http://www.programme.tv/une-famille-formidable-4103558.php

[Chancer]

Got back in time PPP and looking forward to watching it [;-)]

[pachapapa]

Les echos reports that 8 out of 10 persons view favourably the Free Mobile offers.

http://www.lesechos.fr/entreprises-secteurs/tech-medias/actu/0201845034320-free-mobile-8-francais-sur-10-ont-l-intention-de-souscrire-aux-offres-275727.php

[rico]

We currently have a Leclerc mobile in which we pay 1.50 euros a month which comes out of the credit you have on the phone and not from the bank. If we input the RIO number to the free contract for 2 euros per month, what happens to the remaining credit on the leclerc sim card and do we have to inform Leclerc or is the deal with them over once the credit runs out.

[Chancer]

I am in a similar situation with outstanding credit (Lebara), I am just going to use nearly all of it leaving 20cts for a call to customer services if need be before switching to Free assuming that the site will accept it.

My belief is that you need do no more and within 48 hours Free will have taken over your line, I did a similar thing in the UK with porting a number to Asda, it was seamless and there was no loss of service, I could use my old provider (Vodafone) up to the second I recieved a welcome texto from Asda.

When I got my RIO it said that my contract was sans engagement, those that have prélévements set up with their existing supplier would be advised to cancel them as they may end up paying for a long time otherwise

[NormanH]

[quote user="Chancer"]

I am in a similar situation with outstanding credit (Lebara), I am just going to use nearly all of it leaving 20cts for a call to customer services if need be before switching to Free assuming that the site will accept it.

My belief is that you need do no more and within 48 hours Free will have taken over your line, I did a similar thing in the UK with porting a number to Asda, it was seamless and there was no loss of service, I could use my old provider (Vodafone) up to the second I recieved a welcome texto from Asda.

When I got my RIO it said that my contract was sans engagement, those that have prélévements set up with their existing supplier would be advised to cancel them as they may end up paying for a long time otherwise

[/quote]

Free may well cancel for you in a short time. Whether they will get your new Sim card to you in that time remains to be seen.

[Chancer]

Well we are waiting for your feedback as our cobaye [;-)]

[Chiefluvvie]

Virgin mobile called me today, as an existing customer, and offered me the same deal as Free mobile - i.e. 19,99€ per month unlimited national calls, sms and internet (reduced speed after 3GB) plus all the normal Virgin services...just cancelled my Free mobile order!

Chiefluvvie

[Chancer]

Well i thought that it would take me a while to use up my remaining credit but the phone sent 20 textos to the UK whilst in my pocket today [:(]

I have tried to swop using my details on the Free website but it keeps coming back saying that my RIO number is not recognised, I have tried both upper and lower case.

I recieved it by text after dialling 3179, it is in the format of  2 numbers, a capital letter, 6 numbers and 3 capital letters, is that correct?

The 3rd of the final capital letters is zero, I wonder if it is in fact a nought?

Any ideas?

Editted. Yes it did indeed work with "E0T" instead of "EOT"

Happy days[:D]

[Chancer]

Another question.

They show tariffs for calling overseas, its 22cts a minute for the UK on the "Free" "Free" tariff but I am not sure of a couple of things.

I am assuming that you cannot use the inclusive 60 minutes for overseas calls

Can you simply call the number and the cost will be added to your monthly bill or do you have to buy a €5 voucher to make these calls, it appears to last 3 months from activation but I am unsure how one would buy one, from the phone or from mon compte on the website?

[NormanH]

I am a bit confused.

I thought you were going for the 0€ option. (fixed

With the 15.99€ (as you are an existing customer it would be that) you can call the UK free (fixed) as you can from your freebox

[Chancer]

Correct Norman, I have chosen the free Free option!

40 pages of the user guide so easy to get confused but their are differnt tariffs for each, costs nothing to call UK on the illimité forfait and IIRC 22cts on the free one but there is a footnote about having a €5 credit for international calls that has a validity of 3 months, I assumed that they dont give it to you and you have to pay for it [;-)]

I will of course continue to use the home phone to make my rare calls to the UK but I would like to know that if need be can I use the mobile or must I first buy a credit. 

[NormanH]

I said I was confused [:)]

I read the post from Chief as if it were one of yours...[blink]

[Quillan]

Seems there are some problems with the 'roaming' that Free uses. Some are finding they can't get a signal. Free uses the Orange network and whilst you may currently get a good signal with your Orange phone you may not get any with your Free phone from the same antenna.

http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2012/01/18/telephonie-mobile-c-est-vraiment-la-guerre_1631180_651865.html#ens_id=1224268

Preempting a possible move to Free after reading the initial post I applied online to get my SFR phone unblocked, what a palaver. Seems they have no information on me, my account or my phone which is strange because they keep billing me every month and my usage is shown on the bill! I have had to send off my original 'delivery note' with the ESN on it. Seems to me they are deliberately trying to make it difficult for people to get their phones unblocked and then possibly move to another company.  Anyway I got a call from SFR yesterday asking why I want my phone unblocked so I told them I was thinking of moving. They have now reduced my 'plan' by nearly €10 per month (€16 down to €6 for one hour per month with 'roll over' on unused minutes) just to keep me as a customer. So it seems to me that the best thing about Free and it's offer is that it is attracting so many people that it has the other operators running scared and there are deals to be done.

[Quillan]

Reading through the papers this morning you may also find the following links interesting.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/hightech/2012/01/18/01007-20120118ARTFIG00569-free-mobile-un-couac-dans-la-portabilite.php

http://www.latribune.fr/technos-medias/telecoms/20120118trib000678783/free-mobile-apres-le-buzz-les-premiers-bugs-.html

http://www.latribune.fr/technos-medias/telecoms/20120118trib000678882/plus-de-25.000-abonnes-quittent-bouygues-telecom-pour-free-mobile.html

This one is interesting.

http://www.20minutes.fr/high-tech/857512-free-mobile-sfr-orange-bouygues-repliquent

I think this has a long way to go yet so I think I will hang on to my SFR account until the dust has settled. What I am interested in is the price of 'data' which currently is very high in France which is why I am always on the hunt for a WiFi connection (I am amazed as I walk around places like Carcassonne at how many private people have open access WiFi).

[Chancer]

So it seems to me that the best thing about Free and it's offer is that it is attracting so many people that it has the other operators running scared and there are deals to be done.

Precisely what happened to internet subscriptions when Free entered the market several years ago, until then the cost in France was far higher than the rest of Europe, in one stroke Free made France (then) the cheapest, the same has now happened with the mobile phone network.

It is interesting to note that some of the internet suppliers left the market and the others did not reduce their prices down to the Free level, nor did Free ever raise their prices, when the big three learned that Free were going to launch a mobile phone service it was then that they started to introduce Internet packages that were (at the time) more attractive than Free, I am talking about the last 18 months.

Why did they do it? Because they knew exactly what to expect, some of them were going to die so they started a campaign tht Free could not compete with until they were operating. What did they do? They offered a telephone television internet package for the first time competitive with Free but with extra cost option of including your mobile phone at a much better deal than had been previously available, many plans with unlimited calls.

What they were desperate to achieve was to trick as many customers as possible to sign up to a 24 month contract so as to give them some breathing space when Free launched their offer.

Free were only ever going to offer one mobile package, it has always been their mantra one simple all inclusive offering but they were so outraged by the RSA contract that the others made after government pressure that they decided to offer 50% more for one fifth of the price and enforce the point "We are making a profit on this", it has been a great publicity coup for them.

Has anyone got their Sim from Free yet or their existing numbers switched to them?

[NormanH]

Don't forget that Le Figaro = Sarkozy= Bouygues.

I predicted the problem of the delivery of the Sim cards in a previous post, and I have seen reports that Orange are deliberately providing a second class service to Free.

I have been a client of Free for about 5 years and I know that there are always problems on change over

No Chancer nothing has happened yet

[pachapapa]

Chancer Norman; some clarifications in the post press conference Free Mobile Q & A with press.

Notable that the € 1 "RSA" social forfait will NOT be limited in total numbers.

http://www.lesnumeriques.com/free-mobile-xavier-niel-revient-sur-offres-ideales-dans-entretien-a1531.html

And what did the Free boss say RSA stood for!?

[Kong]

An interesting view on Number portability and shipping of SIM cards:-

http://www.clubic.com/telephone-portable/operateur-telephonie-mobile/free-mobile/actualite-470356-free-mobile-perturbe-services-portabilite-numeros.html

I would be interested to hear of anyone who has  received a SIM and ported their number successfully.

JK

[Quillan]

[quote user="NormanH"]Don't forget that Le Figaro = Sarkozy= Bouygues.

I predicted the problem of the delivery of the Sim cards in a previous post, and I have seen reports that Orange are deliberately providing a second class service to Free.

I have been a client of Free for about 5 years and I know that there are always problems on change over

No Chancer nothing has happened yet
[/quote]

and I believe the guy who owns Le Monde also owns the company that owns Free.

France is a very incestuous country when it comes to business. They like to keep it that way hence it's so difficult to start one up from scratch. It's like a club, only available to the rich and few, so much for 'equality'. [:(]

In one of the articles it did say people were loosing their current number before the SIM became active and that the SIM's can take a while to arrive but to be patient as demand has outstripped supply.