Ligne Secondaire and Internet

[Chris T]

Hi, I have a FT Ligne Residence Secondaire phone connection, and have also subscribed to a 1 megamix broadband service. Although I have suspended the phone line at the moment, the charges for broadband seem to be charged regardless. Does anyone know if this means that I can continue to use broadband whilst the phone line is suspended?

Thanks Chris

[YCCMB]

Technically speaking I don't know if you can use an internet connection when your phone line is suspended. Practically speaking I can tell you that on Monday of this week I spoke with FT's English-speaking helpline: except I spoke with them in French - not because I'm a smartarse, but because I know very well when I am on shaky ground with my French,(and I'm enough of a smartarse to know that it's not often[;-)]) but I can't always tell when a French-speaking person is on shaky ground with their English, and I wanted to be 100% sure of what I was discussing, especially with regard to an internet connection.

I was asked, alomost as soon as I'd said I wanted a "Ligne residence Secondaire" if I would also like an internet (broadband) connection. In fact, if I was a suspicious person, I'd say the haste with which the woman asked me the question was almost indecent.

So, I asked, quite specifically, if this would be on the same basis as the phone line.

"Do you mean can you switch it on and off and only pay for it when you use it?" she asked

"That's exactly what I mean" I replied

"Ah......no" she sais. And went on to explain that the line needs to be physically created and established each time and it therefore isn't financially or technically viable to offer a "switch on-switch off" internet connection. But the cynic in me feels that the conversation might not have been so enlightening if I hadn't specifically asked, and in French. From what's been said by people on other forums, I get the strong impression that there are those who think they have actually opted for a second-home package for their internet connection as well as the phone, and one that works the same way.

I have specifically researched this, including checking on a fair number of French-language forums for answers, and I can (fairly - there may be someone who knows different) confidently report that such a service doesn't exist.

FT, meanwhile, made the following suggestion to me, which might be of interest to some people, although if you're only going to your holiday home for very short trips I can't see the benefit:

If you sign up for FT/Orange's "acces decouverte" package (which I think is about €25 or so a month) then you can convert it (as long as you notify them 15 days in advance) to an "acces libre" account for when you're not actually there.  You can check out what each offers on their website, but essentially the latter is a sort of "pay for what you use" deal, so if you aren't using it it's more-or-less free, the way I read it. The two are "sans engagement" so there's no cost for the change, but there is the problem of a delay to activate (and, I suspect, cancel) it. It's not really that much use to me, because  most of our trips are about a week maximum, so I'd have to get it set up AND cancelled before I arrived!! And €25 for a week online is a bit expensive, because it will still work like the phone line in that even if you  only activate it for a week, you will still pay that entire month's rental charge. My Local Leclerc will give me 8 hours online in their internet zone for €5.

[Chris T]

Thanks, very comprehensive reply, and glad you did the leg work! Much as I thought.

Chris