SFR Neufbox - a pleasant experience (to date)

[zeltus]

Last Sunday I bit the bullet and ordered a Neufbox from SFR, direct from their web-site.

At 34.90€ a month all-in, it's far cheaper than France Telecom Line rental, Orange ADSL and Teleconnect "cheap" 'phone calls.

But living in France does give me that sinking feeling when trying to do things like this - "Customer Service? - no sorry, can't translate that"

A spate of e-mails from SFR and frantic calls to their help-line (well, they call you back, really) didn't quieten me - none of 'em spoke English, I speak no much more French and wifey, who is quite fluent, can't/won't/doesn't speak techie. Sigh. It wasn't looking good.

Then today, the actual box arrived. Along with a letter stating they would e-mail me to say when it was going to go live.

Two hours later, the internet connection disappeared and a few minutes after that, the 'phone line went down (permanent engaged tone)

Not to worry, hastily install Neufbox in place of existing NetGear (I despise Liveboxes) and what do you know? All the lights lit up, a quick connect to http://192.168.1.1 gave me a helpful "first time login" screen in French that even I could follow. Before I knew it, I had reset passwords, logins and WiFi SSIDs to what I wanted them to be and I was (and still am) happily up a running. All in all, it turned out to being a very painless experience.

Remaining on my ToDo list are

a) test 'phone to make sure it works fine on both incoming and outgoing calls (my brief test to date has been 100% so I'm hopeful)

b) Work out how to change the Neufbox DNS settings to OpenDNS (umm, it's all in French! But I speak techie so I'll cope)

c) Work out how to install my DECT 'phones and my Answerphone - in effect I now have but one 'phone socket as the Neufbox blocks my "normal" 'phone line and invisibly makes me use VOIP for all calls (which are free to just about everywhere) - an experiment with multiway extenders is beckoning.

So, a pleasant experience to date, in case anyone else is considering this. Mind you, YMMV (Your Mileage Might Vary)

Bill [geek]

[Maricopa]

Well, I have been with Neuf for nearly 2 years and cannot fault the level and quality of service.

Welcome aboard[:D]

[zeltus]

An update

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a) & c) All three of my 'phone services (DECT, handset, Answerphone) all work using VOIP even when the internet side of things is artificially made very busy with large uploads/downloads. Sound quality is comparable to what I had before with an "ordinary" FT line. All I now need is a splitter to allow all three to be conencted at the same time (like this, but I need one this side of the Atlantic)

b) OK, so it seems it is not possible to change the Neufbox's DNS server settings.

This is annoying but not catastrophic, as I can set each PC I have to point to OpenDNS rather than looking to the Neufbox for DNS provision. And I am only interested in my PCs, I have no interest in whoever is in my Gites and using my WiFI - so long as they can get their e-mails, they don't really care.

d) It would be nice if the Neufbox allowed for a voicemail system, call forwarding (to a mobile) and a few other bits and bobs, but as I have now cut down my monthly bill to nigh on a third of what it was, I'm not complaining too much! [;-)]

[NormanH]

I think that all of us who have these offers would agree with you on the financial side.

I went over to  Free, about 3 and a half years ago,  and in addition  to the savings I benefit from a separate 'box' for the TV, so there is no need to have it anywhere near the computer.

The ethernet signal is carried from one powerpack (for the freebox) to the other (for the TV box) via the mains current.

The TV and box can be plugged into any socket in the house.