TELEPHONE AND INTERNET SERVICE

[Ron Avery]

[quote user="sueyh"]Have been with tele2 for about two years and have had no probs. 34.90€ per month includes all international calls all day every day, plus internet and (if we lived in the right area) TV. Don't pay for line, thats included. Very good. They have now been taken over by or have amalgamated with SFR. Suey[/quote]

 

Suey does the Tele2 package include calls to UK mobiles as well?   Tele2 have certainly split their fixed and mobile phone companies but I was not aware that SFR had taken either or both over.  When did this happen?

[Danny]

Ron

http://www.presence-pc.com/actualite/sfr-tele2-19465/

note the date...

Danny

[Ron Avery]

Thanks for that, it must be wehen the mobile and fixed aqctivities split, although both are branded with TELE 2.

Its hard to keep pace with all the various operatorsd, I recently had a problem with my fixed phone and phoned TELE2 for a repair man and on the repair note I noted that the repair was listed as to  Orange who I thought were the mobile phone and internet arm of FT or is SFR the mobile side of FT?  My entire bill for my fixed phone is with TELE2 who took the FT line over as well, so I thought there was no longer any connection with FT or Orange.

 

[Tim]

Well Ron, I think the system operates pretty much in the same way as the UK where, although you may have changed suppliers, B.T. are still responsible for the line as I think that France Telecom are here in France.

It caused big problems for us when I worked for B.T. because the other operator would automatically blame B.T. for every fault regardless of what it was, and it often meant that the poor customer was 'batted' back and forth. This is one of the reasons I've stayed with F.T. - for the time being anyway.[:)]

Regards - Tim

[pachapapa]

Of course staying with FT does have very definite financial penalties and as long as the punter takes them into rational consideration then I have no problem; a simple caveat emptor situation. After being charged in UK by BT for premium calls to porno-audio chat lines I found them very uncooperative and only refunded me when I offered to take out an optical feed to a micro-wave tower at the end of the M 40. On the other hand I have always had excellent service from FT and only cost considerations have guided me elsewhere. The weak link is the "boucle locale"; essentially local exchange to telephone socket in wall. The FAI can easily check up to the DSLAM in the exchange and if required get FT to check the physical DSLAM during normal programmed planned maintenance. This second stage may take up to 10 working days if the exchange is in a rural area. The "boucle locale" can be fragile if it is precariously supported on old poles with adjacent tree branches. Mine is underground from the exchange to entry through wall at below ground level. However 150 yards up the road 3 cables gain surface to continue on EDF concrete poles; these have been struck by lightning twice in the last 11 years. In the event of loss of ADSL the FAI does not charge for period of non use, will provide a Dial-Up connection until normal service restored AND put pressure on FT to fix the "boucle locale".

[pachapapa]

[quote user="ErnieY"][quote user="pachapapa"]For some 5 years I have used a USB[/quote]You mean UPS of course [;-)]

[/quote]

Now what the devil did I mean...it was something ending in "leur"; ah ébranleur no; chandaleur no not that; ahh now I've got it ONDULEUR.[:)]

[eniamor]

Thanks everyone for your advice, we think Free.fr is the way to go for us, hopefully our English speaking French friends will help us set it up.

Regards Eniamor

[pachapapa]

I think you have made a wise decision the Free ADSL Nu now covers 97 countries, so gets where the other beers dont, Free will probably get the 4th 3G+ licence which will give interesting novelties with Cell Phones. Their new FreeBox is awwwesome. The Nu option means Free take care of your FT line charge.

 

[Danny]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

I think you have made a wise decision the Free ADSL Nu now covers 97 countries, so gets where the other beers dont, Free will probably get the 4th 3G+ licence which will give interesting novelties with Cell Phones. Their new FreeBox is awwwesome. The Nu option means Free take care of your FT line charge.

[/quote]

as long as the adsl is working OK... if not, there will be no phone calls at all....

At the risk of being boring, just a reminder that if you give up the FT line, all calls are dependent on the adsl and box working. That means no way to recieve or make calls on this number either. Make sure you have a back up service - mobile maybe? Think recent power cuts.

Danny

[smd]

I changed to Orange Net8 MegaMax + Telephone (ligne telephonique incluse)  €39.90 per month plus €3 for the livebox 18 months ago. Our French Telecom account was cancelled.

However, we are paying €16 per month to F.Telecom and I assumed that was mandatory. I feel after reading the above posts we perhaps should not be paying this and shall appreciate anyone confirming my suspicions before I telephone F.Telecom.

Susan

[AnOther]

You've rather aswered your own question I think.

If you cancelled your FT contract then for what reason would you be paying them €16/mth ?

Presumably you did not cancel the FT DD with your bank at the same time and therefore they are continuing to call it off every month.

Good luck in getting the 18x €16 back [:'(]

 

[smd]

Thank you for your reply Ernie Y.

Yes, you are correct I didn't cancel FT DD. I never gave it a thought but it will be first job Monday morning.

I am resigned to losing  the money we should not have paid, it is my own fault.

[Danny]

[quote user="smd"]

I changed to Orange Net8 MegaMax + Telephone (ligne telephonique incluse)  €39.90 per month plus €3 for the livebox 18 months ago. Our French Telecom account was cancelled.

However, we are paying €16 per month to F.Telecom and I assumed that was mandatory. I feel after reading the above posts we perhaps should not be paying this and shall appreciate anyone confirming my suspicions before I telephone F.Telecom.

Susan

[/quote]you need to contact Orange ASAP. The offers 'net' are definitely without telephone line - that means all calls are routed through the livebox.

how did you not notice? for a year and a half !!!

call 3900 for customer services but it costs so if you are mean like me go in to the nearest Orange shop...they have screwed up so don't give in

Danny

[smd]

Thank you Danny for your advice.

I was leaving the house to go to the Orange shop this morning and mentioned to my neighbour that I was going to query having to pay €16 to FT even though my telephone is via a livebox. He said he paid the same as me €39.90 for Orange Net + Telephone plus €16 per month to FT, and it is because we retained our original FT telephone number.

I shall appreciate if someone will please confirm whether this is correct or not before I go to the Orange shop on Monday. I feel foolish enough not having queried this for 18 months without becoming embarrassed again.

Susan

[pachapapa]

In principle the Orange Net8 MegaMax + Telephone includes VOIP telephone and the line charge is included; however there is nothing to prevent you keeping your analog FT service in adition; in that case you will be charged for the line. You will however have two telephone services one via the live box and the other an analog service. The analog service will be accessed via low pass filter; the filter is easily recognised by having a standard T plug going straight in for the FT phone and on the bottom an RJ11 socket which is connected to the LiveBox.  Many Britty expatriates are exhorted by their peers to retain this duplicate service for reasons which are in my opinion largely spurious. There is a post above of similar tenor.

Of course another possibility is that you have without real knowledge contracted the retention of the original service with FT without actually connecting in analog, thereby incurring correctly 18 months of line charges.

[Martin963]

(Many Britty expatriates are exhorted by their peers to retain this

duplicate service for reasons which are in my opinion largely spurious.)

It all depends where you live pachapapa and how fast/reliable your ADSL is.

For our first ADSL year the service failed most evenings for at least an hour,   and often for most of Saturday and Sunday afternoons and evenings.

Complaining did no good,  we lived with it.   We had to,  we spent €18 asking for help at the start and none was offered.  We would have been bankrupted by the premium rate line if we'd fought on.

Our new provider is better in terms of continuity of service but often our speeds drop to 200 kbps,  or sometimes lower.   The VOIP quality is mediocre to very poor (ie unintellible).   Other people in our commune have similar problems.

We happen to live half a mile from the nearest neighbours,  we have next to no mobile coverage,   and so - for us - it's sensible to keep our baseband telephone. 

But if you've never experienced a rural ADSL like ours then of course you have the option of saving €16 a month.   Danny and I have always suggested that one keeps one's FT service initially after signing up to ADSL,  and then subsequently ceasing it if the ADSL is rock solid.   Most (but perhaps not all) ADSL providers let you do that.

I don't think it's a question of exhortion,   more a case of pointing out the risks in some areas of dumping FT.

[pachapapa]

Agreed in your case you and your fellow "communards" have a recognised problem. I would suggest that the reasons are therefore not spurious but a reflection of hard fact.

[smd]

Pachapapa,

Eighteen months ago I telephoned FT because we were unable to use our FT analog line. I was informed that because I now subscribed to Orange ADSL our FT account was now closed and the ADSL would be 'switched on' the following day, which it was.   After your message today we unplugged the livebox and connected the telephone to the T plug, we are still unable to telephone out using the analog service. Should we therefore be paying €16 p.m. for the FT service just to retain the origional number?

Susan

 

[pachapapa]

I would say no but puzzled by your neighbours assertion that he retained FT analog.

Observation this sort of "misunderstanding" doesn't seem to happen with non Orange ISPs who have what is called ADSL Nu, when the norm is NO FT and the ISP requires your clear notification if you want to retain the FT line.  The telephone number is a different issue, for example I am with Alice ADSL Nu and still have the same number as I had originally with FT.

I am glad to hear that you seem to have had satisfactory service even without the FT analog line in use which supports my "spurious" argument proposition.[:D]

A prompt visit to your FT/Orange boutique should resolve the matter, ostensibly in your favour. Bonne Chance.

[Chancer]

I am sure that the following is applicable to other operators as well as Free.fr

You can cancel your FT line and still keep your old number by agreement with your new subscriber at no charge, it is called "porting" in the UK, I have forgotten the French term.

Susan, from what you have described you definitely no longer have a France Telecom service or abonnement and I am sure that when you go to see them they will have no record of you, i.e. you dont exist.

You are however still paying the €16 per month as you have not cancelled your prelevement, arguably they should not still be taking the money but hey this is France!

I fear that it may well take you another 18 months to get them to admit that you exist, existed before as a customer and that they have taken money from you for the last 18 months, only then could you start to argue for its return.

[Danny]

[quote user="smd"]

Thank you Danny for your advice.

I was leaving the house to go to the Orange shop this morning and mentioned to my neighbour that I was going to query having to pay €16 to FT even though my telephone is via a livebox. He said he paid the same as me €39.90 for Orange Net + Telephone plus €16 per month to FT, and it is because we retained our original FT telephone number.

I shall appreciate if someone will please confirm whether this is correct or not before I go to the Orange shop on Monday. I feel foolish enough not having queried this for 18 months without becoming embarrassed again.

Susan

[/quote]

Susan, first thing I would check is whether or not your telephone line is still active... remove (from your telephone socket) the cable which comes from the livebox and plug a telephone directly into the wall socket. If you have an ordinary dial tone your line is still active. I suspect that it is not though.

The Orange Net subscriptions are exactly ADSL Nu. In this regard Orange are no different from the alternative suppliers who offer a choice of keeping the normal FT line or not and when you subscribe, it is up to them to take over the line from FT. In fact, the only difference between the NET offer and the other adsl 12 month packages is that you keep the FT telephone line with the other packages. It is not possible to keep the FT line and subscribe to the Net offer. It is contradictory. So that suggests that there is something fishy about your neighbour's description. Even if you chose to keep your telephone number, you don't pay for this. It is called "portabilité du numéro" and allows you to carry the FT number to your new service without charge.

Have you been getting bills from FT for all this time? I presume not, as you would have thought it strange before now I guess. This is not uncommon for FT/Orange to mess up with prélèvements.

Just go in and show them your bank statement and ask them to explain why you have been paying the FT prélèvement all this time.

Danny

[Danny]

[quote user="smd"]

Pachapapa,

Eighteen months ago I telephoned FT because we were unable to use our FT analog line. I was informed that because I now subscribed to Orange ADSL our FT account was now closed and the ADSL would be 'switched on' the following day, which it was.   After your message today we unplugged the livebox and connected the telephone to the T plug, we are still unable to telephone out using the analog service. Should we therefore be paying €16 p.m. for the FT service just to retain the origional number?

Susan[/quote]

Sorry, just noticed your next post. That answers my first point then. The answer is definitely NO - you should not be paying the 16 euros p.m.

Danny

[Danny]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

In principle the Orange Net8 MegaMax + Telephone includes VOIP telephone and the line charge is included; however there is nothing to prevent you keeping your analog FT service in adition; in that case you will be charged for the line. You will however have two telephone services one via the live box and the other an analog service. The analog service will be accessed via low pass filter; the filter is easily recognised by having a standard T plug going straight in for the FT phone and on the bottom an RJ11 socket which is connected to the LiveBox.  Many Britty expatriates are exhorted by their peers to retain this duplicate service for reasons which are in my opinion largely spurious. There is a post above of similar tenor.

Of course another possibility is that you have without real knowledge contracted the retention of the original service with FT without actually connecting in analog, thereby incurring correctly 18 months of line charges.

[/quote]

Pachapapa, this is not right.... when you sign up for Orange NET, it is exactly the same as signing up for Alice ADSL NU or 'Freebox ONLY' with Free.

You sign a contract and authorise Orange to take over the RTC line from FT just like with Alice or Free or Neuf (now SFR).

So with the 'Net' package, you can't keep the FT line...if you want two lines you have to take the formule at 29,90 pm and keep paying the FT line charge...

The fact that Orange and FT are essentially the same company doesn't really affect this. In theory, I suppose this means they should get it right more often but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Danny

 

[smd]

[quote user="smd"]

I changed to Orange Net8 MegaMax + Telephone (ligne telephonique incluse)  €39.90 per month plus €3 for the livebox 18 months ago. Our French Telecom account was cancelled.

However, we are paying €16 per month to F.Telecom and I assumed that was mandatory. I feel after reading the above posts we perhaps should not be paying this and shall appreciate anyone confirming my suspicions before I telephone F.Telecom.

Susan

[/quote]

I went to the Orange shop today armed with a plethora of paperwork, and I was able to cancel the monthly invoices and bank debits to FT. That problem is hopefully now resolved, but to be on the safe side I shall write to the bank and cancel the direct debit.

I requested reimbursement of any monies paid to FT in error, and was told that they would contact me within 72 hours with a decision. I shall not hold my breath over this but I live in hope.

My sincere thanks to everyone who advised me what to do, it has been such a help.

Susan