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Hi all, anyone got any comments about SFRs' NEUFbox services?

I am looking to reduce my communications costs from Orange+France Telecoms' combined 59 Euro a month (France Telecom 50 Euro every 2 months for the landline and Oranges' 34 Euro a month 1Mb broadband with ADSL phone)) to Neufboxs' 39.50 Euro a month package. As I understand it, I can take my existing landline number, switch to SFR, have an adsl phone and (probably) 2Mb broadband and loose the landline charges.

I also believe that there is a single point of contact in the event of a problem arising with either the broadband service or the physical connection.

Is this correct?

 

Mike

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Personally I would not touch them with a bargepole. Impossible to make contact with a person, impossible to get replies to letters or e mails. No help, no hope.

The worst days work I ever did changing to Neuf. I am now back with Orange but Neuf keep taking money from my bank account. I have had to pay now to stop them but getting the dosh back is impossible.

I keep asking myself why I thought it was a good idea to give up my phone line. Doh!
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We have been with them for a couple of years. we degrouped and so far had no major problems. the line does go down from time to time can be frustrating but "you get what you pay for" we are miles from the exchange and can only get 520 speed. Still must quicker than dial up, on the whole 7/10. Dont get the mobile neuf. That is Cr**.
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[quote user="Clair"]I pay Neuf by cheque.
[/quote]

Clair, please explain how you can pay Neuf by cheque as I was specifically told I'd have to pay by Direct Debit.

After my experience with FT, I am now reluctant to pay anyone by DD.

Thanks, Clair.

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I dealt with Neuf by phone for the original set-up order and gave my bank card number for the payments. At the time, I was told payment had to be made by DD on the card or on the bank account and that paying by chq was not possible so my bank card was debited every two months.

When the bank card expired, I called them to give them the new card number and asked them why I couldn't pay by chq. They said I could and I have done so ever since.

I get a hard copy about one week (sometimes less) before the pay-by date. Sometimes I get an email reminder from Neuf saying the invoice is online, but that seems rather unreliable, so I have set up a calendar reminder to make sure I check in plenty of time.

I just like to be in control of my bank account and pay all my bills by TIP or chq.

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[quote user="8pointroll"]

Hi all, anyone got any comments about SFRs' NEUFbox services?

I am looking to reduce my communications costs from Orange+France

Telecoms' combined 59 Euro a month (France Telecom 50 Euro every 2

months for the landline and Oranges' 34 Euro a month 1Mb broadband with

ADSL phone)) to Neufboxs' 39.50 Euro a month package. As I understand

it, I can take my existing landline number, switch to SFR, have an adsl

phone and (probably) 2Mb broadband and loose the landline charges.

I also believe that there is a single point of contact in the event

of a problem arising with either the broadband service or the physical

connection.

Is this correct?

 

Mike

[/quote]

I have just changed everything over to Orange because they have a really good deal on at the moment although it may not suit everyone.

I can't escape FT for my phone line, I have to have it and it costs me 19 Euros per month, I also pay Orange 25 Euros for my adsl, I then pay Teleconnect 22 Euros (all these figures arounde up to the nearest Euros) then there is the cost of the calls about another 30 Euros per month. That little lot totals to around 96 Euros per month.

Orange have a deal on which you can access via http://www.degrouptest.com which for 39.99 Euros a month it includes your FT line charge (something I can't do with anyone else), gives me up to 18mb speed although I can't get 1mb until the new optic cable is run up from Quillan, free calls all over France, free satellite TNT box (I assume because the line speed is so bad), For another 6 Euros a month unlimited European phone calls plus free 30 minutes to any mobile. This is going to save me about 50 Euros per month. The offer is only available till the end of Nov 2008 and is not availabe directly from the Orange website.

To get the offer use the url above, fill in your information and it will seurch out the best deals for you and thats how I found it.

If you want a Livebox you have to add another 3 Euros per month.

Hope that helps

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Quillan

I found your post a bit misleading

The same deal is available on the Orange website

http://abonnez-vous.orange.fr/residentiel/hd/hdnetTriple.aspx?idnode=98

assuming you mean the 'offres net' for 39.90. This does not mean that it includes your FT line rental. It is the very opposite. It is Orange's version of ADSL nu or no real phone line to make or receive calls through should your livebox go pear shaped (pretty common occurence) This means that all your calls are routed through the livebox - and are VOIP calls

If you do want to have a real FT phone line you have to pay for it. You can still get the Orange offer for 29.90 a month. At least you still have a working phone in the event of problems with the ADSL or modem. I imagine that you would want to receive calls for your business in this situation. If you go for the offres 'Net', you will have no proper phone service.

The unlimited VOIP calls to rest if Europe and US etc are 7 euros a month and as you said 3 euros extra for the livebox rental.
Overall, it still works out more expensive than Alice, Neuf or other providers.

You do get the Satellite TV package with both 'formules' and 'Net'which is not available to most people who are in  a Zone degroupée with other providers.

Danny

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I take your point  about using adsl for the phone but as I said it does not suite everyone.

Firstly I have to have a line because my phone can't be degrouped or so the test says. All the other offers, Neuf, Alice, SFR, Nordnet, Dartybox and Free say this. Orange is the only one that allows me to not to pay for my line, or are they paying it for me, therefore I am paying for it but indirectly as part of the offer.

Neuf seems to have a bad reputation so I wouldn't choose them even though they are one of the cheapest.

The Alice box would cost me 34.95 per month if I could get rid of my line and I would loose my existing phone number (so to keep the line and my number I would have to spend another 19 Euros per month (16+Tax)) so all my advertising etc would have to be changed. With Orange I keep my old number even for voip "Vous n'avez pas besoin d'abonnement téléphonique France Télécom pour

bénéficier de cette offre, si vous en avez un il sera résilié

automatiquement mais vous conserverez votre numéro." or is that misleading as well.

All my email goes through my wanadoo account so that would have to be changed which again means more problems.

I have been with FT and Wanadoo/Orange for 7 years and never had a problem but then I have never had a Livebox either. Its still a big saving for me.

I have some questions on the Livebox but I will start a new thread for that.

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Its better if you understand what you are taking on with a new contract as most of them last one year and once you sign up, you are stuck with that choice.

[quote user="Quillan"]

Firstly I have to have a line because my phone can't be degrouped or so the test says. All the other offers, Neuf, Alice, SFR, Nordnet, Dartybox and Free say this. [/quote] This is not the case. All of the main ISPs offer the choice of keeping the FT line or giving it up and relying completely on the telephone through the box (livebox or neufbox etc) even in a zone degroupée.

They all mention something along the lines of 'abonnement telephone inclus' but this is a bit cheeky. It implies that you will still have a phone line but it just means that your abonnement is now a VOIP one and it is with them (the ISP)

Don't put all your eggs in one basket comes to mind...

 

[quote user="Quillan"]Orange is the only one that allows me to not to pay for my line, or are they paying it for me, therefore I am paying for it but indirectly as part of the offer[/quote] As I said they all offer the choice but it means that you give up the proper FT line even with Orange. You have no normal telephone line any more. If you plug a phone in to the socket in the wall, it won't work.


[quote user="Quillan"]The Alice box would cost me 34.95 per month if I could get rid of my line and I would loose my existing phone number (so to keep the line and my number I would have to spend another 19 Euros per month (16+Tax)) so all my advertising etc would have to be changed. With Orange I keep my old number even for voip "Vous n'avez pas besoin d'abonnement téléphonique France Télécom pour bénéficier de cette offre, si vous en avez un il sera résilié automatiquement mais vous conserverez votre numéro." or is that misleading as well.[/quote]

Its not misleading, you have just misunderstood it. (Sorry if that sound cheeky! its not meant to be) They all also offer the choice of using your present FT number as your new VOIP number should you go for ADSL nu ( no FT line) This is called 'Portabilité du numéro'

[quote user="Quillan"]All my email goes through my wanadoo account so that would have to be changed which again means more problems.[/quote]

If you can keep your wanadoo mail, then that is useful. It is a real pain to have to change.

If you want to stay with Orange, you may be better going for the Formule internet, TV and telephone at 29.90 and keeping the FT line. At least that way you will always have a phone service in the event of the livebox or the adsl having problems. Could you manage to be with out telephone service for a week or two or three while it gets sorted out? It costs 16 euros TTC (not 19) a month fot your FT line but then the 'net' offer is 10 euros more. So for 6 euros a month you still have an FT line. Personally, I think it is worth it but its up to you.

I hope this is clarifying some things for you...
Danny

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Hi Danny thanks for clarification and the points you raised.

I don't know if its something unique to us (and a friend in the same village) but all the other offers when you do the test say we have to keep the phone line with FT. I will try and do a screen scrap so you can see. Likewise we get a free Satellite box because we can't get TV through the modem because we are too far away and we currently get under 1mb line speed. Apparently when the new optical is run in (we are 8.2km from the exchange and we have been promised this for the last 5 years) the satellite box goes back and we can do what we want.

The Alice box definitly said we would loose our current phone number where as I can confirm (because I called them this morning after your post before last) that whilst, as you correctly said, we won't have an analog phone anymore our VOIP phone will have our old number.

Another consideration is that I have heard some people have been pushed from pillar to post by some of the ISP's when they have a problem, "its a Neuf (as an example) problem, no its a FT problem etc, etc" and its taken days if not weeks to get resolve where as the lady today said you just phone one number as its all the same company. I know it sounds great in theory, in practice it might be considerably different but having only ever had one problem in the past things were fixed within 24 hours. If its a line problem, which those people I know (true its not many and one who has TalkTalk has had his problem for a year) have had as opposed to a box problem it does not matter if you have both normal or VOIP, neither will work.

Anyway, I have years contract and we will see, at the moment I am confortable with what I have ordered (if I can make it all work) and only time will tell. Thanks for the help Danny.

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Just another two penn'orth.  I've been with Neuf  (degroupage partial) for two years and up until yesterday had had very little trouble - down for two periods of about 20 minutes.

Yesterday morning there was no internet connection. Phoned the helpline and got an instant message that the line I was calling from was subject to problems which were being resolved. I don't know what the problem was but it was sorted by the end of the morning and has been OK since.

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[quote user="Quillan"]Hi Danny thanks for clarification and the points you raised.

I don't know if its something unique to us (and a friend in the same village) but all the other offers when you do the test say we have to keep the phone line with FT. I will try and do a screen scrap so you can see.
[/quote]

The choice to keep or give up the FT line is made in the sign up pages - here is a pic of the one from the Alice site and the one from neufSFR and a pic of the page on the Free site.

here is a pic from my degrouptest results. For Alice, NeufSFR etc. it says 'facultatif' for the FT line abonnement - maybe it is different from your results

As I said it is possible in zone non degroupée - same goes for Orange

This is not the case with Teleconnect and some other ISPs. with them you must keep the FT line

Danny

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I made the effort to try to move from orange/FT but in the end gave up...

There is firstly the problem that FT dont make the effort to fix your line if you are with neuf/alice etc. so a few weeks wait can be expected.

However, my biggest obstacle was that alice do not support a credit card machine..

I also do not know who supports a digital line and who does not... if it would work... the support of multlines(we have an additional 10 lines) etc

When I think about all the trouble to change over and then there is some technical problem that crops up... has put me off.

I should still mention that I hate orange/FT and would love to change over... may be one day [dreaming]

My advice would be to make sure you are fully prepared before making the move and can accept any adverse consequences.

Mind you this problems refers to life, the universe and everything... not just FT

osie

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Same experience yesterday, Chas.  Still, we have mobiles and would have used them to make phone calls if we needed or wanted to.

As for the incoming calls, if they're really important, the callers would try and try till they get us.  Important calls are all very well but, I always ask myself, "important to whom"?

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