Sfgraveston Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 We are currently having a house renovated in a town and would like to have a phone line with internet access. Whatwould you recommend? Which package? Should we also go for a packagewhich includes television as well? If yes then which supplier?What pitfalls are there? How would you suggest we proceed?Many thanksStuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Dont even think about Neuf Telecom. [:@] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 For balance: I have no problem with Neuf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sfgraveston Posted November 20, 2008 Author Share Posted November 20, 2008 What problems have you had with FT and the neuf box?Stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 No problems with FT.We transferred to Neuf to get broadband at a cheaper rate, plus the telephone via the neuf box. Saving on the FT rental.During the 45 days we tolerated Neuf we had internet and telephone for just 4 complete days after two weeks of nothing, then during the next few weeks we clocked up a total availability of a further 12 hours made up of an hour here, an hour there etc. The last two weeks were totally zero service.The Neuf tech call service is free from a landline but is not much good if your land line is'nt working !They cannot (will not) accept calls from a UK mobile and hence we had to buy a mobicarte just to ring them. Spent a total of E85 in top ups to have the pleasure of listening for anything up to 20 mins a time to their inane music whilst waiting to be connected to a tech operator.The final straw was being told that they would not assist unless I got someone who spoke better French... The operator told me that IN ENGLISH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 We can only speak for ourselves, and some people say that Neuf is good. However, we had a most unhappy time with Neuf. The problems were similar to powerdesal, but with the addition of a really very very slow broadband connection when there was actually a connection. No amount of expensive phoning (on the modem telephone which was charged) by a native French speaker on our behalf, or writing letters by avis de reception were of any use, and the service remained terrible.We gave up trying to resolve the technical problems and after reaching the end of our one year contract, terminating the contract was a nightmare, including multiple letters with avis de reception and professional translators costs, threats of 150 euro fines against us, French bank charges for stopping a direct debit authority, etc, etc, but that is another long story.We eventually won, and now would not consider any supplier in France apart from FT/Orange even if they may be a little bit more expensive. At the end of the day, regardless of nominally cheaper rates with Neuf, Neuf turned out to be far far more expensive than FT/Orange for a terrible service. We have had technical problems with FT/Orange, but they were quickly and professionally resolved to our satisfaction.Hope this helps,David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 I think it is fair to say that ALL of the ISPs (including Orange/FT who can also be extremely incompetent) can be a shambles when there are problems. For this reason, I still am happy to have the insurance of the FT line in the event of no adsl service.Just to put things in perspective about SFR/Neuf: I am no fan but they have about 3.5 millions clients - including Clair - so they can't be totally useless... Danny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 We are paying about €30 a month for 2mb adsl internet connection with tv and phone. We also pay about €40 every two months for the FT line rental.We have had two liveboxes go wrong, but we simply visit the FT shop and they exchange it without any problems.Apart from a few other minor issues in the past 3 years, I think we are overall happy with this service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Plus, I assume, 10 euros extra per month for the international voip calls - if you want them - and the livebox rental...? just to show the real costs to anyone who may be interested.Orange is generally more expensive than the others. The above charges don't apply with Neuf or Alice or Free. I have had no problems at all with Alice - calls are also free to their helplines and answered quickly. Even with Orange you have to pay to all them up...However...Alice have just been taken over by Iliad (owner of Free) and I suspect Alice's customer service will head downhill as they try to cut costs.Danny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Still happy with Teleconnect here.€29.90 for ADSL€5 for unlimited VOIP to UK & US (only 2 which are important to us)€16 for FT line (optional but keeping for backup if the ADLS goes down)Total €50.90/mth plus the odd € or 2 for the very few local calls we make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Danny,You state Quote "I think it is fair to say that ALL of the ISPs (including Orange/FT who can also be extremely incompetent) can be a shambles when there are problems. For this reason, I still am happy to have the insurance of the FT line in the event of no adsl service" unquote.This seems to be a sweeping statement and you do not say how it is fair to make this statement. I cannot comment on ISPs other than Neuf and Orange/FT. However, your comment confuses me for two reasons, and I would be grateful for further info, as I suspect the OP would also.1 - You say that Orange/FT can also be extremely incompetent yet you go on to say that you are still happy to have the insurance of the FT line. This seems to be a contradiction.2 - You make a serious allegation that Orange/FT can also be extremely incompetent, yet you give no examples. This is the first time that I have heard this allegation about Orange/FT and I would be grateful if you could give further information, including some evidence of the actual type of alleged extreme incompetence. As I said in my post I did have technical problems with Orange/FT, but these were resolved quickly and competently to my satisfaction. At the very least with Orange/FT you can go to the local FT shop and complain. I have done this with Orange/FT and the local shop could not have been more helpful. Neuf do not have any local shops, and I suggest that this service should be considered when chosing an internet provider. I have also had the overhead telephone line, which provides the internet connection, accidently demolished by the local farmer. Only one phone call (by mobile phone) was required to Orange/FT who came out very quickly to repair the line. I also received separate text messages to the mobile phone advising me of the receipt of complaint, the time of attendance by their engineer, the time of repair, and the results of final testing. Hardly extremely incompetent! I do not know what would have happened if I was with Neuf and was without an FT phone line. As you saw in my post I gave an outline of my problems with Neuf. These comments were based on my own experience, and I can back up all my comments with copies of letters sent to Neuf and received from Neuf. My comments were based on provable fact, and I did not include any suggestion of exaggerated hearsay in my post.I am sure that your post was written in the same helpfull manner, and I would be grateful for your explanation of your conclusion that Orange/FT can also be extremely incompetent, as I am sure that you would not like to mislead the OP.I have sadly learnt that in this life "you get what you pay for", so after bitter experience I have chosen to pay a little extra and use Orange/FT.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 I think the availability of a local FT office is substantially important, in our case the office at St Lo is great because they have a very cooperative English speaking lady on staff which makes my wife much more confident in her dealings with them (I am obviously not in France).The attitude of Neuf was totally un helpful, arrogant and to some extent insulting. They may have x million customers but from conversations here at work with my French colleagues I note that their reputation is failing amongst the indigenous French population and their off putting service is not just directed at the immigrant English.I have yet to receive their expected threats as mentioned by David but, to be honest, even if it costs me more money to get out of their system it will be money well spent. Living a separated life for most of the year means we rely very heavily on reliable communications, both telephone and internet. VOIP calls are not an option to this part of the World and my daughters in UK can call France free of charge so it was just not a necessary part of the FT package. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 David, I'll let Danny respond to your lengthy post but in terms of the FT line there is no confusion or contradiction.For the most part the basic FT line is pretty robust and reliable and is not, of itself, necessarily responsible for poor performance on the part of an ISP, be that Orange or A.N.Other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 When I first came to France I lived in rented accommodation for about 6 months and used Wanadoo as it was then via a dial-up and very good it was too.When I moved to my house 6 1/2 years ago I changed to Wanadoo broadband. I was paying 39.99 for the connection. About a year after they told me they were dropping my bill to 29.99 because we can only have 1mb here which I thought was great. For phone calls I used Teleconnect and were happy with their service. I have never had a problem with Wanadoo/Orange in all these years.Recently I upgraded my Wanadoo/Orange account to ADSL, VOIP and TV (via a satellite decoder given FOC by Orange). I no longer have a FT land-line and the cost is not that far off what Ernie pays i.e. 39,99 Euros for the service (including free calls to French numbers), 3 Euros for the rental of the Livebox and 7 Euros for 30 minutes of free calls to mobiles plus unlimited international calls which totals 49,99 Euros a month and that's it, I no longer pay for my FT line.The only problem I can foresee is if I have a power cut but I have just bought a small UPS for £39.99 which will keep the Livebox working for several hours, I also have my mobile off course but living in the mountains I have to stand down the bottom of my garden to get a signal, not much fun in a force 9 or when its raining hard.I have only ever had one problem in all these years and that's been with the phone line which was dealt with quickly by FT. With this problem it would have made no difference at all if I still have a normal phone line or just VOIP.The other thing with Orange is you keep your existing phone number.I chose Orange because I was already with them, I am happy with their service and I have found them to be pro-active at times (see next paragraph for an example) I rent my Livebox rather than bought it outright as I believe if it all belongs to them and there is a problem they will sort it out quicker rather than worry about is the Livebox in or out of warranty. Also Orange is owned by FT so if there is a line problem I won't get pushed from pillar to post that others I know with their service suppliers.When I upgraded they forgot to send me a Livebox, they phoned me a couple of times to change me over to VOIP but I told them my Livebox had not arrived. When it finally arrived and I set it up they changed me over to VOIP in about 6 hours. Because they forgot to send me a Livebox they have knocked 10 Euros off the next two months bill in compensation for their error, I didn't ask for it they just did it, that's the best customer service I have experienced in France [;-)] .The only technical problem I have had is I bought a Liveplug to link my decoder and Livebox together. The instructions on how to install it said you just plug them in at each end and off they go. Unfortunately its not like that you have to change something on the Livebox which they don't mention but fortunately I had read about it on another thread here, tried it and it worked first time.So I am sticking with Orange and yes I would recommend them to others, indeed I have to two people and they are also very happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 [quote user="David"]Danny,You state Quote "I think it is fair to say that ALL of the ISPs (including Orange/FT who can also be extremely incompetent) can be a shambles when there are problems. For this reason, I still am happy to have the insurance of the FT line in the event of no adsl service" unquote.This seems to be a sweeping statement and you do not say how it is fair to make this statement. I cannot comment on ISPs other than Neuf and Orange/FT. However, your comment confuses me for two reasons, and I would be grateful for further info, as I suspect the OP would also.1 - You say that Orange/FT can also be extremely incompetent yet you go on to say that you are still happy to have the insurance of the FT line. This seems to be a contradiction.2 - You make a serious allegation that Orange/FT can also be extremely incompetent, yet you give no examples. This is the first time that I have heard this allegation about Orange/FT and I would be grateful if you could give further information, including some evidence of the actual type of alleged extreme incompetence. As I said in my post I did have technical problems with Orange/FT, but these were resolved quickly and competently to my satisfaction. At the very least with Orange/FT you can go to the local FT shop and complain. I have done this with Orange/FT and the local shop could not have been more helpful. Neuf do not have any local shops, and I suggest that this service should be considered when chosing an internet provider. I have also had the overhead telephone line, which provides the internet connection, accidently demolished by the local farmer. Only one phone call (by mobile phone) was required to Orange/FT who came out very quickly to repair the line. I also received separate text messages to the mobile phone advising me of the receipt of complaint, the time of attendance by their engineer, the time of repair, and the results of final testing. Hardly extremely incompetent! I do not know what would have happened if I was with Neuf and was without an FT phone line. As you saw in my post I gave an outline of my problems with Neuf. These comments were based on my own experience, and I can back up all my comments with copies of letters sent to Neuf and received from Neuf. My comments were based on provable fact, and I did not include any suggestion of exaggerated hearsay in my post.I am sure that your post was written in the same helpfull manner, and I would be grateful for your explanation of your conclusion that Orange/FT can also be extremely incompetent, as I am sure that you would not like to mislead the OP.I have sadly learnt that in this life "you get what you pay for", so after bitter experience I have chosen to pay a little extra and use Orange/FT.David[/quote]David,I did not realise what I said was a 'serious allegation' but I have had bad (personal) experiences with Orange - as have others I know - and with Club Internet previously. I have also read quite a lot about all the French ISPs and their customer service and it has led me to the conclusion that they are all fine if there is no problem but they are all capable of being quite incompetent at times. I am glad that you are happy with the service you have received from Orange/FT but that is not everyone's experience.Danny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 [quote user="Quillan"]The other thing with Orange is you keep your existing phone number.[/quote]Quillan, this is not just with Orange but all the ISPs who offer ADSL nu (no FT line) offer to keep your existing phone numberDanny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Thanks for clarifying that Danny, fair comment and I now understand your disagreement with my first post.David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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