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Today I have spoken to FT regarding suspending my line when not in France. No problem says their operator I can do this for you right now, and when you require it activated a phone call is all that is needed

I aked could I do this over the internet? he said no.

I used the English speaking number 0033 15 57 86 05 6

JOHND

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[quote user="JohnD"]Today I have spoken to FT regarding suspending my line when not in France. No problem says their operator I can do this for you right now, and when you require it activated a phone call is all that is needed

I aked could I do this over the internet? he said no.

I used the English speaking number 0033 15 57 86 05 6

JOHND

[/quote]

According to their blurb, you can activate or deactivate on their website.

See Article 5 here: http://www.agence.francetelecom.com/doc/contrat56.pdf

You would need to create your own "Espace Client" to do so.

[quote]... possibilité de suspendre votre ligne de 1 mois à 1 an et ce jusqu'à 6 fois dans l'année.

Tarifs :

  • Abonnement mensuel métropole : 16 EUR TTC* (idem à celui de l'Abonnement Principal).

  • Suspension de la ligne : 4,69 EUR TTC en métropole .[/quote]
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Clair is absolutely correct.  Once you've set up your Espace Client, it is very simple to turn your service on and off;  I've been doing it for several years.

One thing to note: after you've entered the commande, however soon FT may actually throw the switch for your service, it will take a couple of days before this is reflected on your account page on the website.  However, you should have received a confirmation email from them quite soon after placing the order.

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[quote user="Sunnysandals"]

Please does anyone know if this is possible when you have Internet service also through your telephone line?

Thanks.

 

[/quote]

You can definitely have FT Residence Secondaire for your telephone service even if your internet service comes through your telephone line.

As Clair mentioned, there has been some discussion (and disagreement) as to whether you can turn your internet service on and off.

I believe that it is also possible to turn off your internet service under certain plans (the sort that have limited usage and/or per minute charges).  However, the Orange ADSL unlimited usage service that I have (the 24.90/month one) cannot be turned on and off (even though it is effectively "off" when the phone service is suspended).

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Having seen many conflicting stories on this subject I would just like to add the truth as I am experiencing it.

We are a UK-based family with a second home in France. We have a France Telecom land line on Residence Secondaire status in France and we have ADSL (internet) also through France Telecom (on the tarrif that has no fixed time limit - ie we are not tied in for 12 months). We switch off and on our telephone AND internet connection with no difficulties what so ever.

Mechanism:

You can definitely switch the telephone off and on using the espace client section of the France Telecom site but I don't think you can yet use that mechanism to switch the internet off and on. I think this is because they don't actually switch the ADSL off - they just move you to another non-charging product and then move you back when you want to switch it back on.

I  use the English speaking line (as mentioned above) and I have found them very helpful. In fact today when I phoned up to switch off both facilities they asked when we would be returning to France and offered to phone me up in advance of our next trip to confirm reactivation. That is service indeed, so we will see if it materialises.   ;-)

I hope others find this helpful information.

Irene

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[quote user="Halldfandid"]Having seen many conflicting stories on this subject I would just like to add the truth as I am experiencing it.

We are a UK-based family with a second home in France. We have a France Telecom land line on Residence Secondaire status in France and we have ADSL (internet) also through France Telecom (on the tarrif that has no fixed time limit - ie we are not tied in for 12 months). We switch off and on our telephone AND internet connection with no difficulties what so ever.

Mechanism:
You can definitely switch the telephone off and on using the espace client section of the France Telecom site but I don't think you can yet use that mechanism to switch the internet off and on. I think this is because they don't actually switch the ADSL off - they just move you to another non-charging product and then move you back when you want to switch it back on.

I  use the English speaking line (as mentioned above) and I have found them very helpful. In fact today when I phoned up to switch off both facilities they asked when we would be returning to France and offered to phone me up in advance of our next trip to confirm reactivation. That is service indeed, so we will see if it materialises.   ;-)

I hope others find this helpful information.
Irene

[/quote]

That's good to know.  Do you really have unlimited ADSL usage when it's switched on?  Would you mind telling me what the monthly charge is when it's on, and what, if anything, Orange charges for switching between the two products?

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We are on the 24.9 euros / month tarrif which is the maximum speed (1Gb) that our distance from the exchange allows. There is a faster rate available (I think it is 8Gb) for 29.9 euros / month. Both of those are "sans engagement" ie no tie in for a specific time. I switch the internet off and on for no charge. I think there is a small charge (approximately 5 euros) for switching the telephone line (residence secondaire) off. For us, although the monthly rates for internet are higher than many other providers the simplicity of the arrangement has been worth maintaining.

It works very well for us.

I hope that helps.

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Halldfandid,

We are hoping to get a phone installed this year, you say you have line "residence secondaire" is that a specific contract you asked for, and does the contract specify that, or is a normal contract that you can juggle around with. The reason I ask this is last year we looked into it and the guy in the FT shop said we could turn on and off a normal line. Just want to get all the facts before we go back later in the year.

Thanks

Steve

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Hi, it is a normal land line but it on a specific tarrif called "Residence Secondaire" which means you can turn it off and on. I think that you will find that most orange / france telecom shops will offer it as standard if you say it is a holiday home. We were offered it without asking for it. It is a standard, off the shelf regular tarrif.

http://www.orange.fr/bin/frame.cgi?u=http%3A//www.agence.francetelecom.com/mx/%3F%26tp%3DHTM%26IDCible%3D1%26page-suivante%3D/php/vfrance/esav/residentiel/pages/formules/sommaire_form.php

More info above if your French is up to scratch!

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We have been with France Telecom for our telephone line on the Residence Secondaire scheme and Internet a la carte with Orange for nearly 2 years now.  To stop the service we ring the English Helpline and ask them to 'Suspend the telephone line' and 'downgrade the internet to dial up (which is free anyway). We pay approx. 5 euros each time.  To re-start we ask them to 'unsuspend the telephone line' and 'upgrade the internet connection to internet a la carte'.  If you are ringing France English Service from England we use Skype on the following number +33800364775 which ends up being a free call.

 

 

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[quote user="Techno"]we have been with France Telecom for our telephone line on the Residence Secondaire scheme and Internet a la carte with Orange for nearly 2 years now.  To stop the service we ring the English Helpline and ask them to 'Suspend the telephone line' and 'downgrade the internet to dial up (which is free anyway). We pay approx. 5 euros each time.  To re-start we ask them to 'unsuspend the telephone line' and 'upgrade the internet connection to internet a la carte'.  If you are ringing France English Service from England we use Skype on the following number +33800364775 which ends up being a free call.[/quote]

I have been following this thread with great interest as I hope to have my telephone installed this year. I already knew about the Residence Secondaire scheme  and intend to use that , but I was worried that I would either have to use dial-up or pay for ADSL for every month even if the phone line was suspended.

If both Techno and Halldfandid are correct as I understand them: pay only for time the phone line and ADSL are 'Live' and pay small fee to turn on or off, sounds great, now all I have to do is find someone in FT to agree with them!! as it seems not all employees know all the the services they provide!

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Halldfandid,

Please can you confirm that you only pay for the actual time the broadband internet is "switched on" i.e. If it is "switched on" say from 22 March until 5 April that you are charged for 15 days use and not a full month (or even two)?

I already have a "residence secondaire" line that I switch on and off for 2/3 weeks at a time about 6 times a year (via the orange web site) and that works very well with as you say only the actual days used  rental charged for plus a small fee of around 5 euros for suspension.

To have broadband when I am France would be great, especially given the time it takes to update things like AVG.

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Thanks SO much everyone for the information you have provided.  This is my first post to ask a question on this message board and I am absolutely knocked out by the response.  I have found out so much just by reading all the posts - such an incredible amount of valuable (and money saving!) information!  I hope I will be able to contribute my fair share in due course but we've only just bought our property in the Vendee so we've still got a lot to learn and a long way to go!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Apologies for the delay. I needed to dig out the bills and have a look.I can confirm that it appears that FT / Orange have changed their billing policy and now charge for the number of days rather than the entire month.

In my view it is a great deal.

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We have ADSL via Orange (live box) - the package that includes TV and free calls to Europe / N America.  We were told when we took it out that it is a minimum twelve month contract and that we couldn't turn it off when we weren't at the house (unlike the FT phone which is on the 'residence secondaire' package).  Reading the posts above it seems we can get an ADSL package that we can turn off.  Have the rules changed with Orange or do we need to change internet providers when our twelve month contract comes to an end (in July)?

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It sounds like you are just on the wrong France Telecom/Orange ADSL tarrif. The tarrif that you can switch off and on is slightly more expensive per month (sans engagement) - there is no time limit. As far as I am aware Orange and France Telecom are effectively one and the same - so you don't need to change ISP. Speak to the English speaking helpline (number is quoted earlier in this thread), they will be able to help you. I have tried using the French speaking service a couple of times and always seem to come unstuck on this issue but it is never a problem when going through the english speaking line.

I hope that helps.

Irene

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this is the service that you are suggesting

http://abonnez-vous.orange.fr/residentiel/hd/hdtv.aspx?idnode=100

However, according to the "caractéristiques détaillées" it says: and this applies to all ADSL contracts. Obviously after the12 months have expired for the 'forfaits' with an engagement of 12 months.

"toute demande de résiliation devra être adressée par courrier recommandé avec accusé de réception au Service Client France Télécom. La résiliation sera effective dans un délai de 10 jours après la réception du courrier de résiliation par France Télécom."

It seems to me that this contradicts those who are saying that the service can be stopped and started with a call to Orange or on line. I am not saying that it is not possible to do this, just that according to Orange, it doesn't work like that.

It may be that it is not a case of 'résiliation' and just a matter of having a little break from the service (and the payments) but I did not think this was possible.

Is it possible that those who say they stop and start the service are actually being billed for ADSL for the periods of non use? Can you look at your bills for us, please? Let us know what you are charged by either FT or Orange.

It seems that Orange are not being very clear...

Sorry if this is muddying the waters but it would be a pain for second home owners to change to this and then find out or be told that it is not possible to stop and start the ADSL service.

Danny

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Danny, just to muddy the waters a little more.  I've not yet attempted to (temporarily) suspend ADSL service (having been told when I signed up that it wasn't possible on my plan), BUT...

When we were finishing the renovation of our 2nd residence secondaire, not wanting to have a break in telephone service or internet access, I signed up for a second phone line and ADSL service for that house.

After we moved into the "new" house, I called the English-speaking helpline to ask what I needed to do to close the ADSL account for the old house.  The customer service rep told me she could take care of it, and the service was stopped within a couple of hours.  (It was a good thing I didn't have any important email in that Orange account, because access to that stopped then, too.)

So, apparently there is a bit of wiggle room in the FT/Orange rules.

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I can assure you that we are not being charged when the service is switched off. I have just this afternoon gone through all our france telecom / orange bills. The line and the ADSL are billed separately - France Telecom bill the line and FT Orange bill the ADSL.  If you read earlier in this thread you will see that they do not actually switch the ADSL off - what they do is move you to the dial-up service (which is free) then when you want it on again they move you back to ADSL and you're back on a chargeable service.

I initially added to this thread because I wanted to try and clear up all the mis-information on this subject. I have been switching on and off my line and ADSL for the last 12 months (always using the english speaking help line because I have found that is the smoothest mechanism - they are familiar with the request.)

It most definitely does work.

Irene

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[quote user="Halldfandid"]I can assure you that we are not being charged when the service is switched off. I have just this afternoon gone through all our france telecom / orange bills. The line and the ADSL are billed separately - France Telecom bill the line and FT Orange bill the ADSL.  If you read earlier in this thread you will see that they do not actually switch the ADSL off - what they do is move you to the dial-up service (which is free) then when you want it on again they move you back to ADSL and you're back on a chargeable service.
I initially added to this thread because I wanted to try and clear up all the mis-information on this subject. I have been switching on and off my line and ADSL for the last 12 months (always using the english speaking help line because I have found that is the smoothest mechanism - they are familiar with the request.)

It most definitely does work.
Irene

[/quote]

Irene,

Thanks for your clarification.

BJSLIV, from this Orange page, it says:

modification de l'offre2 changements offerts puis 60€ TTC par changement supplémentaire

which, to me, suggests this is the process Irene and others are using. Unlike the stopping and starting of the FT line service it is offered free, but will cost 60 euros each time if you do it more than twice.

Danny

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