broadband availiability in france?

[Keelstow]

I have been checking out what’s available in my area using telephone numbers of the local "mairies" into

www.journaldunet.com/adsl/

and remain unimpressed with the zero offering in most places! Even reasonable sized towns remain on dialup

Is there any commitment as in the UK to roll out services to all areas of France. One of the locals in the village says people want it but the mayor has the final word. In affect the town underwrites the offering and without it can one goes without! I guess we had the same in the UK where people put names forward so that BT could assess demand before doing an unbundling of the local loop according to greatest demand. To be fair just about all of the UK is now broadband.

For the moment the house in France is used for breaks (and this includes from TV and computer use), but when I go and live there I need broadband for an ever increasing list of uses.

I would be grateful to know how others have seen services arrive at their houses and what pressures would facilitate access. Surely the rural  economy needs broadband, as some the villagers already testify, and implementation would provide a boost

 

[Just Chris]

We live in the wilds of Correze.  Before we actually moved we were promised that ADSL would "arrive" within the year, as it was President Chirac's intention that virtually the whole of France should have access to broadband.  As it stands now, nowhere near 100% have access, and the likelihood of that happening appears to be low.

Physically, it is near impossible for us to benefit as we are so far from the nearest exchange.  The alternative was to be Wimax (Wifi over long range), but even the roll out for this is sufferng delays, and the technology doesn't seem to able to cope with the terrain of the area in which we live (wooded and hilly).

So, our chosen (and currently only) method of a half-decent connection is via a hybrid system of dial-up uplink, and satellite downlink.  Far from perfect (we can't use Skype, or benefit from video links), but it works, with reasonable download speeds, but is not as inexpensive as land-line based broadband.   Bi-directional satellite links are also possible, but often prohibitively expensive for fast connections.

Best thing (if broadband is important) is to ascertain whether ADSL technology exists where you want to live before you purchase.

 

Chris