Phone and Internet for Residence Secondaire

[dreamer]

Hi

I am sure this has been talked about endlessly and I have read the threads but I am still unclear. I would love someone to clarify some points. When you are able to turn the phone off does that mean you do not pay for the line rental during the period of suspension? I have looked at the Orange tarifs and it gives E16 as the basic. I cannot see phone and internet together. I have read that you can stop the internet too. Looking forward to getting my head around this! Many thanks

[Théière]

First part is true, once you turn off the phone on R/S line no more line rental. You cannot do the same with the internet but can I beleive change it to a dialup service and avoid charges that way but it's not an on/off at will sevice.

[Danny]

although phone and internet are both provided by FT/Orange, they are separate contracts so are handled separately.

The phone line needs to be changed to 'résidence secondaire' status. Once this is done, you can stop it when you are not there and only pay rental for the months you are there. The simplest way of doing this is to call up, copied from this thread to save me writing it http://www.totalfrance.com/france/forum/viewtopic.php?t=106402

as soon as I get to france I dial 1014 , ask them

to start it immediately , and by the time I get to the house it is

working ; on one occasion I forgot so when I got to the house I went

next door and asked for the connection ..by the time I walked back it

was working

suspending ....just pick up the phone the day I leave the house

There are conditions to this service of course....

The internet (by ADSL) is another kettle of fish.

You need to have a basic 'Découverte sans engagement' contract on the line.

You may or may not be able to suspend this anymore as Orange seem to want to stop this facility especially for new contracts.

You can of course just cancel the service to stop it. This needs to be done by registered letter with 10 days notice.

It is advised to use your own compatible modem/router to avoid any hassle of returning rented liveboxes.

Any other Internet contract with Orange is taken out for a minimum 12 month subscription so is not suitable for temporary visits.

Danny

[JeanS]

We have both landline and internet with France Telecom/Orange. For the landline we turn it on and off via the espace client - that's if it's working - I do this from the UK the day I'm leaving. With the Internet - it's a separate contract. At first - a few years ago, it was possible to turn it on and off but now not so - as previous you have to stop and then take out a new contract. We find it easier to leave the internet in situ - I know to some it is an unnecessary expense 0f E24 per month but we find it works.

[johni]

This is very useful information as I'm in the same boat. One question though - if I decide to pay the monthly Orange contract (currently around E29 for phone and internet if I understand correctly) does that mean I still pay for the R/S on an ongoing basis to France Telecom (E16 per month when activitaed) as well as the Internet contract to Orange? Thanks for your input.

[Danny]

johni,

The monthly Orange Internet and VOIP calls contract is for a 12 month minimum subscription so you cannot cancel it any time in the first year.

There is no suspension possible with this service either

You (normally, on most lines) have the choice of this contract with or without keeping the FT line.

If you have a résidence secondaire FT line, then you will continue to pay for the Internet even if you suspend the FT line when you are not there.

It may be better value to have the internet/phone service all year without paying for the FT line at all.

Cheapest service at the moment without any FT line is 33,90 per month plus the livebox rental if you choose, of 3 euros per month.

http://abonnez-vous.orange.fr/residentiel/forfaits/livebox-zen.aspx?idnode=110414003

It is obligatory to use a livebox for the Orange VOIP service but you can also buy one if you do not want to rent one.

Or, it may be better to have the r/s FT line and the simple Decouvert internet service at 21 euros which you can cancel with 10 days notice.

I suppose it depends how much you are there...

Danny

[tenniswitch]

Unfortunately for me (after years of using it), the link for suspending my RS service stopped working sometime last fall.

Now when I click on the link, I get a popup window that says IE cannot display....

[Pierre ZFP]

Are you using an out of date browser like IE6 ?

If so I'm not surprised it won't display properly.  Try updating to IE8 (or preferably Chrome)

[KathyF]

 

We're with Ornage (basic Internet Decouverte) and just bite the bullet and pay for it year-round. Our phone line is Ligne Residence Secondaire and we simply turn it on on-line before leaving the UK and off the same way before leaving France. Works every time. [:)]