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low phone bills but looking to increase Internet speed


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We currently use telerabias for our long distance calls ( not USA) and happy with the charges.  Last 1/4 we had 5 hours 10mins of over seas calls and the cost was 17.8 euros and local calls 6.5 euros.  Total bills about 70 euros a 1/4 which includes the line rental

I do use the internet but its slower than a reimbursement from the tax man.  Usually 38kb or 40kb on a good day.

I have looked at teleconnect but at 29 euros  a month for the package this is more than I pay currently and perhaps not worth the extra money.

The reason for looking at other providers is that I would like a little more internet speed.

Any suggestions.

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Well, I think you may have confused your current internet speed a little - 38-40 mb is a speed that most us would dream of. I'm pretty sure that you mean 38-40 kb. If that is the case, then I'm assuming that you are on a dial-up connection and not ADSL (broadband).

There are, as you probably know, many companies around who may be able to supply you with a broadband connection, but firstly you need to find out whether you are in an area that's able to get broadband. I've been looking for a link you can go to on the internet to try your line to see if it's at all possible - the only one I've come up with is this one http://www.degrouptest.com/

There are others, I know.

Let us know if I am correct in my assumption before I go any further and if I am right try the line test, then we will have more to go on.

Tim

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Thank you for your posting.

yes another blonde moment but this morning my husband said this was better than calling it  senoir moment

It is 38kb.

I have tried the degrouptest and it gavwe me lots of options.  Yes I could get broadband but there was a lso alot that said impossible.  some include TV but that ius something we are not bothered about.  Unless it was free!..  but nothing is free.

Should I send you a PM with a copy of the results (without my telephone number) on a PM.

Im just going back to look a the site again

 

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Ok - don't worry[:)] I was pretty sure that was what had happened.

I am not going to get into recommending a provider as  it could be considered as advertising - also, if you follow any recomendation of mine, and it goes horribly wrong, I would feel awful and you would not be happy.

What I will do is tell you what I'm using, and if others on this forum do the same, it may help you to decide.

I started up when first moving in with dial up from Wanadoo (now Orange) - this was because I opened my e-mail account with Wanadoo when I was still living in England. This made it very easy to get started over here.

Our village did not have ADSL for the first year after we moved, but when it was installed in the exchange I found we could get 1meg ADSL - this meant that there was no TV option, although this didn't matter to us.

So, we went for this option. It costs €24.90 a month, plus the France Telecom line rental. I wanted to keep the 'landline' because I worked in telecoms in England for many years and was too aware of the issues that can arise when you get a line fault.

We use Skype to speak to nearly everybody back in the UK - also some of our friends in other parts of the world. If you are familiar with Skype, it's a way of using your ADSL to speak to people via their computers free of charge.

So, that's our set up. For our use, it works very well.

There are loads of options available and I'm sure others on here will tell you about them. The question then will be 'which one suits you best'.

If you have any other questions please come back and we will do our best.

Regards - Tim

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We use the same set up, but have reverted to calls via UK Telecom. 2c/min for Europe. I have used Skype alot from home and around the world whilst travelling and find it often poor quality.

I am wondering about one of the others, particularly SFR who are offering line rental, broadband, tv and free calls to Europe and USA for 29.99 a month.

Can someone tell me if this would be VOIP calls ie subject to the same quality issues as Skype, or is it conventional calls like the TalkTalk package in the UK?

 

Thanks.

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I've not experienced the same issues as you with Skype. I've found using a microphone for €5 from the local computer shop improves the quality significantly.  

For calls to landlines we use a pre-paid card which works out at 1.5 cent per minute. Again, it works very well.

Regards - Tim

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I use Orange for everything, including the bundled international calls package which gives unlimted free international calls and as I work from home this is great for me as you get a second telephone number which I give out as my business line.  It costs 24.95 for the internet package per month and 7 euros extra for the unlimited calls package.  The VoIP line quality is good there is no noticable difference between the landline and the VoIP calls.

Panda

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We can't yet justify paying for broadband when we're in France for odd weeks or so maybe 8 - 10 times a year. So for phone calls back to UK we too use Telerabais which are pretty cheap. Taking a few calls at random from our last bill:

31 mins 32 secs  = €0,53

2 mins 21 secs    = €0.11

15 mins 11 secs  = €0.295

These are off-peak times. Cheap enough for me.

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[quote user="Gemonimo"]I have Wannado for internet acces and Phonexpat for the phone from my land line but this thread has pushed me into considering Skype or something similar so comments will be well received as I'm blonde AND senior.........[/quote]

Well, is your Wanadoo (now Orange) internet an ADSL connection? If so, and the people you want to talk to also have a computer and broadband, then Skype will let you talk to them for nothing. It's a free download, all you need to ensure is that your computer has speakers and a microphone.

Tim

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[quote user="Piddy"]

Thanks Panda.

Thought that may be the case.

Would anyone else like to comment of their experience of VOIP calls from home. Free, Alice, SFR etc

Piddy. 

[/quote]

I am very happy with our Alice pack 34.95 pm all in inclusive unlimited VOIP calls to most places and 2mb Broadband here. Cheaper than FT. Best of all calls to customer service and tech help etc are FREE. If there is a problem I just hate having to pay to call them up. Still kept the FT line - as others have said - just insurance if the adsl goes down

No phone call charges for 2 years now

Danny

EDIT 3 months free at the moment is a nice saving too

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[quote user="Piddy"]

Would anyone else like to comment of their experience of VOIP calls from home. Free, Alice, SFR etc

[/quote]

Hi Piddy

We have the complete dégroupée package with neuf, and can thoroughly recommend it.  Touch wood no problems so far, in over 6 months of constant use[:D]

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VoIP via Free works fine for me. Occasionally the line has an echo but re-dialing usually solves that. No charges for calls to fixed numbers in 70 countries and reasonable charges for calls to mobiles. Very efficient detailed online invoicing updated within 48 hours and extra call charges are added to the monthly bank debit. 9/10 in my opinion [:)]

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I'm with Teleconnect and pay the additional €5/mth to get all my calls free not just 2 hours.

I find VOIP to be virtually indistinguishable to land line, the only thing being that is it can take a moment to connect sometimes.

I also have retained the FT rental but then in my area it wasn't a choice !

Perhaps others have a cheaper deal but I place some value in having an English speaking ISP.

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‘Thanks Panda.

 Thought that may be the case.

 Would anyone else like to comment of their experience of VOIP calls from home. Free, Alice, SFR etc

 Piddy. ‘

We have a Philips VOIP 841 wi-fi Skype phone. This is plugged in directly into our Netgear router and works without any connection to a pc.

It also functions as a normal cordless landline phone.

Quality on SkypeOut calls is very good - we have free calls to French landline numbers and low cost calls to the UK.

Seems to be the only decent wi-fi Skype phone on the market - avoid the Belkin wi-fi ‘dog’!

Regards,

BobC

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Like BobC we use the Philips 841 dual phone which is excellent, if a bit pricey. You do not need to have your computer switched on to receive or make calls and the quality of speech is very good. As BobC says it also doubles as a normal phone. And of course if you call someone who is also on Skype it is completely free. Skype have introduced a new package called Skype Pro which, for a small monthly subscription, allows free calls to landline numbers within the area of the country you are in. In France those calls are restricted to Metropolitan France but in UK any number beginning with 01 or 02. it is worth taking a look at what is available from Skype.

But they do have serious competition, for instance Jajah, no software to download, you use your regular handset and if the person you are calling is registered with Jajah the call is free. You just put in the number you want to call and your handset rings, then the system calls the person you want to reach. You do need your computer on for Jajah. Call quality is as good if not better than Skype. Facility exists to pay for calls to people who have not subscribed.

There are other providers out there but these are the only two that I have used.

I would just add that whilst you can use Skype on a dial up connection it is at its best on broadband, ditto Jajah.

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Good to know that there is someone else out there with the Philips 841 phone!

Would agree that it is expensive but good value for the build quality and performance.

I would be interested to know if you have been able to get the landline voicemail screen notification to work. We have Skype Pro and it works fine for missed Skype calls. We have FT voicemail and the phone picks them up but does not show on screen that you have a landline voicemail.

Kind regards,

BobC

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I agree that the Philips 841 is the best dual phone on the market at the moment, the speech quality is excellent  and I use it all the time in both Skype and Landline modes. I am in New Zealand on business so I am using the phone with NZ Telecom. The only indication I get  that there is a landline voice mail for me is when I pîck up the phone and press off hook, then I get a series of beeps. To be honest I haven't really tried to get the on screen  indicator working for landline though it does for Skype.

You should try Jajah "www.jajah.com". For some calls it is cheaper than Skype and you do not need any special equipment.

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Hi there

 

I was interested to read your comments on telephone/internet use in France and I would be keen to find out more from you.

 

We are moving to the Lot et Garonne area in April and France Telecom have quoted us 16 Euros per month for the landline and then using them to use Orange it is an extra 39.90 Euros per month to include up to 8 megs of internet/broadband/livebox and international call package. 

 

The above all sounds expensive.  Would love to know your exact package and what you pay.

 

Many thanks

Foxylady

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Ours  - with Alice 34.90 per month with 3 months free. Very happy so far. It is a good idea to keep the FT line at 16 euros per month  which is possible with most other operaters whilst still benefiting from the VOIP calls etc

Read all the conditions carefully - even with FT/Orange

Danny

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Danny is right that its a good idea to keep the FT line.

€39.90 sounds a bit expensive and not entirely sure what "to include up to 8 megs of internet" means as it's a nonsensical statement.

I think perhaps you mean your speed could be up to 8mb which is pretty standard if you're near enough to the exchange.

If you go with FT/Orange don't be conned into in running the setup CD they send you, it's completely unneccessary and all you need is your user ID and Password to get logged into the Broadband service and then the mail server settings to put in Outlook or Outlook Express.

No personal experience but the same probably applies to any ISP who supplies a setup CD - AOL excepted, but then only a raving lunatic would use them [:P]

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