Good Wi-Fi

[Thebiga]

Hello

As well as it being for ourselves we would would like to get Wi-Fi for out guests we have here (Gites) and we are running ADSL. I am looking for something thats going to give me a good coverage (further the better) mostly in the grounds but nice if it gets inside the other properties but as long as its accessible in the grounds is fine. Also it needs to be a good speed also and a something that will run with Windows 7 if that matters.

I look forward to your input.

Thankyou 

 

[AnOther]

Might I suggest that you read THIS thread before you get too engrossed in your plan [;-)]

[Thebiga]

Hi AnOther thanks for that. I think I did actually post on that thread as we did want to do it at the time. Where does anyone stand now? A lot of gites places like us are offering internet access and it seems that its what a lot of holiday makers want now. We don't want to be not having people stay with us because we haven't got it, But we don't want to run the chance of getting into a mine field as to what people are downloading or looking at.

We find ourselves between a rock and a hard place as they say. It is a worry, but as I said do we fall behind in the market beacause we can't supply what people want. What would you do? 

[Quillan]

Personally I wouldn't be bothered about the link AnOther has given. I doubt your holiday guests have come to stay in your Gite specifically to download films, porn and other things just because its free. They can also go McDonalds and do it there if they wish who if you have noticed have taken absolutely no action what so ever over this new law. It's just not enforceable.

I can't speak about Gites but the last 3 out of 5 B&B reservations received people have asked about WiFi availability (even though we say we have it on our website [:@]) and we have had quite a few people use it over the years. Usage has mainly been by none French people. We also supply a laptop for guests to use. In fairness in a survey we carried out last year very few people said the chose us because we did have WiFi.

Anyway it's difficult to know how to answer your question specifically because we don't know your layout i.e. where are the gites in relationship to your house (I assume thats where your current Internet router is), how far apart are the gites etc. If we assume everything is together and that you have a WiFi network in your home you will have to make it a public network (disable SSID) so people don't need a code to access your network. That does of course leave you open to being hacked by guests and anyone else passing by but in reality it just does not happen at our level in the real world. You will need Wifi repeaters (sometimes called extenders to extend your coverage. Click HERE to see an example, its what we use and you can see by the reviews its a good product. We have one that covers the bedrooms and another that covers the terrace area and part of the garden.

You might consider putting one in a specific outside or common area (near the pool for example) and designate it as a Wifi hot-spot.

[tel]

Hi,

In the main I agree with Quillan, however I disagree with the disabling of SSID.  There is nothing to stop you setting your Router with access to allow new devices automatically but I would use the WPA/PSK encryption key (you set the password).  This allows your guests to access the network when you give them the password but not anyone else within range.  Once your guests have left the area they won't have access to your network with their equipment.

I have 3 neighbours who have unsecured networks and despite having told them they choose to ignore my warnings, this means anyone close enough can use their internet connections with imputity.

Regards

[Quillan]

If you live in a town or city then I would agree with not disabling the SSID. If on the other hand you live in a rural position with one or two neighbours or none even then I don't consider it that important. I am sure you would notice somebody sitting outside in a car or otherwise bashing a way at a laptop. [;-)].

[Thebiga]

Thanks for your input people. At the moment we have just a modem 'Orange' and only have a speed of 512k. We would like to up that very soon and at the same time have wireless at the least for ourselves. Have you any reccomendations on which wi-fi would be a good choice for us and a possible place to buy. I know Amazon have a vast range and would propbably get one from them.

So do you have any recommendations on whats a been a good buy for yourselves and that could possibly be expanded for outside use.

Thankyou

[Quillan]

If your with Orange just get a LiveBox from them, 3 Euros per month, after a year its free and its theirs so there is no warranty problems if things go wrong.

[Dog]

It's OK for you people that live in built up areas - I wouldn't mind an ADSL line nevertheless Wi-Fi.

[Théière]

[quote user="Quillan"]

I can't speak about Gites but the last 3 out of 5 B&B reservations received people have asked about WiFi availability (even though we say we have it on our website [:@]) and we have had quite a few people use it over the years. Usage has mainly been by none French people. We also supply a laptop for guests to use. In fairness in a survey we carried out last year very few people said the chose us because we did have WiFi.

[/quote]

We ran a survey last year and it was won by the not very interested in WiFi although the result was very much that way for early Booker's by the close of the season it was a much narrower victory for us not having to sort this out.

By comparison, this year more people have already voted for an internet connection and we have definitely lost one booking so far.

[Thebiga]

Quillan, What does a livebox do for me? Does it do wi-fi? Can I expand to it so that others can use it? Our main use I want to be wi-fi, we will have 2 pc's and a note book that will move around the house somehow. So how does the livebox differ from the bog standard modem we have at the moment?

Thankyou

[Quillan]

You probably got your 'modem' when you signed up with Wanadoo and the LiveBox was not around then. If you sign up with Orange today you will get a LiveBox. The LiveBox has outputs for a fixed network port (plugs in to the Ethernet port on your PC), a phone socket should you choose to have free calls etc, WiFi built in, another socket that can be used either as an extra fixed network port or for your TV decoder. On the Orange website there is a place to type your phone number in and it will then return what speed is possible on your line, I suspect that it may be faster than you currently have which may be currently restricted by the 'modem' you are using, it would be interesting to see how fast your line will actually support. Once you have the new LiveBox you can use extenders if required to 'boost' the signal to areas of the house (and beyond) that the LiveBox WiFi does not reach. One benifit is that if you can't set it up or you have a problem you talk to only one company.

If you are interested you could combine your phone and possibly stop paying for your FT line and get free French and International landline calls. The whole package would cost you just 49.99 Euros per month all in. We for instance have cordless phones in all our rooms so our guests can make free calls. If they use it to phone a mobile we can check the cost via the Orange website and add it to the bill. Foreign guests quite like this (as do some French), they can phone home FOC and check on their family etc.

 

[Thebiga]

If I don't want to plug either pc into the livebox and just use it wi-fi is this fine? I think that when I tested our phone number on the orange site it came back that we could have 8mb or gb can't remember what it said but can remember 8. Would it matter which range extender we bought to take the signal further? The whole package you were talking about for €49,99 what speed does this give and because we are a business we need to keep our same phone number so would that be a problem? Also can I use any usb dongle to place in the back of the pc's for the wi-fi or does it have to certain ones?

Thanks for all your information its very good.[:D]

[Bugsy]

[quote user="Thebiga"]

If I don't want to plug either pc into the livebox and just use it wi-fi is this fine?

Also can I use any usb dongle to place in the back of the pc's for the wi-fi or does it have to certain ones?

Thanks for all your information its very good.[:D]

[/quote]

Yes you can, but I don't believe that Wifi is never as reliable as an hard-wired ethernet connection.

Any USB 2.0 WiFi dongle should work fine.

.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Thebiga"]

If I don't want to plug either pc into the livebox and just use it wi-fi is this fine? I think that when I tested our phone number on the orange site it came back that we could have 8mb or gb can't remember what it said but can remember 8. Would it matter which range extender we bought to take the signal further? The whole package you were talking about for €49,99 what speed does this give and because we are a business we need to keep our same phone number so would that be a problem? Also can I use any usb dongle to place in the back of the pc's for the wi-fi or does it have to certain ones?

Thanks for all your information its very good.[:D]

[/quote]

8Mb, god I am jealous. [:(]

You will get whatever speed is the fastest, just keep in mind that like the UK its maximum possible speed that is quoted. It depends on time of day, how many are using it etc, etc. If it states 8Mb the you are realistically probably looking at 5 or 6Mb which believe me for many is pretty good. I know one forum member who would bite you hand off for that speed. [;-)]

Yes you can keep your existing number. Its only new users, users who move from another ISP where they gave up their line or those that want to keep their fixed line as well as going down the IP phone route that get new style numbers. We have kept our number but on VOIP as being a B&B this was important to us also. One nice thing is that you can call forward when out and about, means you don't miss out on enquires etc. You can also call forward instead of going to the answerphone so if you have a power failure the calls divert to your mobile.

I personally use internal (PCI) cards for my Pc's and PCMCI cards for my laptops because I believe they work better (plus I got them free) so I don't use dongles myself. Having said that I have seen guests who have dongles and they seem to work fine.

I use the Linksys extenders/repeaters and they work fine with my LiveBox.

Hope that helps

[AnOther]

I echo Quillans caution, it's not unknown for people to misread what they see on the checker sites. What did it say about Longueur de ligne and Affaiblissement theoretique ?

With those we can have a good guess at what you might get in the real world.

If it is 8mb and you have a hand left I'll bite it off !

What sort of WiFi range are you looking to achieve ?

[Rose (& Greyman)]

[quote user="Quillan"]If your with Orange just get a LiveBox from them, 3 Euros per month, after a year its free and its theirs so there is no warranty problems if things go wrong.[/quote]

Just noticed this comment Quillan. Is that right that it's free after a year ? We've been with them for 2 years now and are still paying the 3 euros. If it's right I'll give them a chase.

[Thebiga]

Quillan, Even though we are with FT for our phone and Orange for the internet and we change to a Livebox at €49,99 we can still keep our original pnone number?

AnOther, We want to get about 150m range if possible which should be the max we need.

Also I am not completly up to speed on pc speak and when you say ethernet do you mean the normal line that we are using at the moment coming from the plug in the phone wall socket?

[Quillan]

[quote user="greyman"][quote user="Quillan"]If your with Orange just get a LiveBox from them, 3 Euros per month, after a year its free and its theirs so there is no warranty problems if things go wrong.[/quote]

Just noticed this comment Quillan. Is that right that it's free after a year ? We've been with them for 2 years now and are still paying the 3 euros. If it's right I'll give them a chase.
[/quote]

"Ma Formule"

mon offre d'accès
net internet + TV par satellite + téléphone tarif : 39,90 EUR mois TTC

 

mes options et services internet

 

Anti-spam Plus inclus tarif :gratuit non résiliable en ligne

 

Location Livebox M livrée tarif :3.00 EUR / mois TTC non résiliable en ligne

 

Location Livebox M remise tarif :3.00 EUR / mois TTC non résiliable en ligne

 

Accès Minitel etat : Actif désactiver

 

Paiement à l'acte   voir le détail etat : Actif désactiver

 

mon téléphone par internet

 

Le téléphone illimité tarif :gratuit non résiliable en ligne

 

1h mobiles + international illimité tarif :7 EUR / mois TTC non résiliable en ligne

 

So I currently pay 46.99 Euros per month saving be about 40 to 50 Euros per month, happy days [:D]

 

 

[Quillan]

[quote user="Thebiga"]

Quillan, Even though we are with FT for our phone and Orange for the internet and we change to a Livebox at €49,99 we can still keep our original pnone number?

AnOther, We want to get about 150m range if possible which should be the max we need.

Also I am not completly up to speed on pc speak and when you say ethernet do you mean the normal line that we are using at the moment coming from the plug in the phone wall socket?

[/quote]

OK I will try and keep it simple.

YES you keep your number and the physical telephone cable from your house to the exchange.

When you get your LiveBox (and assuming you want free calls) you simply plug it in and go through the setup. A short time after you install it they turn off your normal phone at which point you simply unplug it from the wall socket and plug it in to the LiveBox and your phone is back working again. At this point you stop having to pay FT for your line yet its still physically there. The existing number is automatically transferred to your LiveBox so anyone calling to your old number will get through. You are simply changing your phone from one socket to another and everything else stays the same. Trust me it works and you keep your number.

Ethernet - There are three different ways of connecting to the internet in your home (well four if you include the old dial up modems). One way and its what I suspect you have is a modem that plugs in to the phone socket with a cable that plugs in to a USB port on your computer. The next method which is more commonly used and more up to date is to use an Ethernet cable between what you refer to as your 'modem' and your PC. It requires that you have an Ethernet port on your PC which most modern computers do have, even laptops have them. The third way is to use wireless which is more popular as it means you don't have to run cables round the house to connect your PC to the internet.

Your question about range is difficult to answer as there are many things that effect the range, electromagnetic interference, radio interference, thickness of walls (and possibly ceilings and floor), where the WiFi box is placed etc so nobody is going to give you a definitive answer, its going to be a 'suck it and see' exercise. To give you an example. Before I fitted a couple of extenders I could walk down my garden to about half way and it still worked (we have a 7,500M2 garden) but inside it would just about reach two, sometimes three rooms.

[Thebiga]

Thanks for keeping it simple. When you unplug the telephone and plug it into the livebox and it works again you say you stop paying FT for the line. Do we have to tell FT anything for this to happen or are FT  & Orange part of the same company so they know? I have seen french calls are free but I didn't see international. Thankyou

[Quillan]

You will know when to move the telephone plug because they may well phone you to tell you they are going to change your line in the next hour or so. Likewise you will see (even if they don't phone you) the light under the Telephone symbol on your LiveBox go green. The beauty of doing this over the Internet is that you fill all the forms in online and it automatically goes through the system. If you do it over the phone they have to type stuff in, errors can be made, forms held up or not even sent to the right place. Some have experienced several weeks delay before changing over but then any calls made on the old FT line (I believe) have been refunded. In my case they were on the phone within 24 hours of the LiveBox arriving telling me they were cutting off my old line, I had to hold them off for a couple of days because I was too busy to install the LiveBox.

Orange will deal with everything for you as it is one and the same company as FT.

Oh I forgot there is an English speaking helpline, detals can be found by clicking on the link below.

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1801254/ShowPost.aspx

 

[Danny]

[quote user="Thebiga"]Thanks for keeping it simple. When you unplug the telephone and plug it into the livebox and it works again you say you stop paying FT for the line. Do we have to tell FT anything for this to happen or are FT  & Orange part of the same company so they know? I have seen french calls are free but I didn't see international. Thankyou[/quote]

No one has mentioned that it is also possible to keep the FT line if one wants and have all the other Orange stuff. The cost is 39,99 including livebox rental and calls etc instead of 49,99 for the pack without the FT line.

In fact with Orange, giving up the FT line saves only 6 euros per month compared to the Formule internet

I personally prefer to keep the FT line in place. It also means you can continue to use the FT line and have another line for making free calls on. For some people it may be very useful to have two lines. This also means a phone line still functioning in case of ADSL problems, modem failure,  power cuts etc.

Danny

[Âme]

[quote user="Quillan"][quote user="greyman"][quote user="Quillan"]If your with Orange just get a LiveBox from them, 3 Euros per month, after a year its free and its theirs so there is no warranty problems if things go wrong.[/quote]Just noticed this comment Quillan. Is that right that it's free after a year ? We've been with them for 2 years now and are still paying the 3 euros. If it's right I'll give them a chase.[/quote][/quote]Quillan, When/if you have a moment...

I'm sorry to ask again about the same point as Greyman but is the Livebox being free after one year's rental particular to the 39,90€ package? I can't find any mention on the FT/Orange website under that formula or under the livebox information.  Did the reduction happen automatically or as a result of some negotiation with Orange?

Thanks

[Danny]

[quote user="Quillan"]

[quote user="greyman"][quote user="Quillan"]If your with Orange just get a LiveBox from them, 3 Euros per month, after a year its free and its theirs so there is no warranty problems if things go wrong.[/quote]

Just noticed this comment Quillan. Is that right that it's free after a year ? We've been with them for 2 years now and are still paying the 3 euros. If it's right I'll give them a chase.
[/quote]

"Ma Formule"

mon offre d'accès
net internet + TV par satellite + téléphone tarif : 39,90 EUR mois TTC

 

mes options et services internet

 

Anti-spam Plus inclus tarif :gratuit non résiliable en ligne

 

Location Livebox M livrée tarif :3.00 EUR / mois TTC non résiliable en ligne

 

Location Livebox M remise tarif :3.00 EUR / mois TTC non résiliable en ligne

 

Accès Minitel etat : Actif désactiver

 

Paiement à l'acte   voir le détail etat : Actif désactiver

 

mon téléphone par internet

 

Le téléphone illimité tarif :gratuit non résiliable en ligne

 

1h mobiles + international illimité tarif :7 EUR / mois TTC non résiliable en ligne

 

So I currently pay 46.99 Euros per month saving be about 40 to 50 Euros per month, happy days [:D]

 

 

[/quote]

this is the first I have heard of this Quillan. There is no mention of this anywhere that I can see on the Orange site.

http://abonnez-vous.orange.fr/residentiel/hd/hdtvtelephone.aspx?idnode=95

It may well be that there is an anomaly on your account. If you can find a mention of this somewhere more concrete than just on your account, I am sure loads of people will be interested.

Danny