Teleconnect - Anglopack

[Kitty]

I have just signed up to this company.  I feel rather nervous whether I have done the right thing.

It advertises itself as English speaking.  I've just spoken to someone in customer services who was very poor at English (I had to repeat the spelling of my French address several times), she kept having to go away to consult someone for the information that I needed, she has given me incorrect information (saying I had free calls from the UK when I haven't - a bit of bloomer, that one) etc.

Oh and yesterday, customer services were away and couldn't be contacted...

What do others think?  Before I signed up, I checked threads on the Forum and mostly, they had a clean bill of health.  Mmmmm.....

[Rozmum]

We've had a phone only contract with Teleconnect for the last 2 years or so.  We've only had one problem with them during that time and that was resolved fairly quickly.  However, we did have a rather odd email from them at the end of August which said that 'Customer Service was closed for one week'.  Oh, ok then!!!!  But they are always polite and usually available.  We do not have Broadband with them, though - just a bit nervous about all our eggs in one basket, I suppose.

Sue

[AnOther]

I'm with TC for BB plus the free calls for the extra €5, Been with them since January when we bought and can't say I've had any real problems.

I have experienced the odd interruption here and there and I think BB was off for about 30 minute once but other than that I have no complaints. I too got the letter about them being closed in August which I did consider a bit odd.

I do have an ongoing dialogue with them over my line and what I can get. Somewhere along the line (sic) the checker database has me down as 4830m at which distance I should be struggling for 1.5mb but in actual fact my line is nearer 3.5km and a I get a rock solid 2mb. My router is synching with the exchange at around 5-6mb so therefore I should be able to get much faster, at least double, allowing a margin for error, but thus far have been unable to persuade them to upgrade me.

I suspect I'd have exactly the same problem with any ISP though and until my Franch is up to arguing my case I'll stick with them.

As for eggs in one basket, if you keep your line with FT you'll always have the ability to make and receive standard phone calls.

[Kitty]

I'll keep an open mind. But when they sell something on the basis of saying that they speak English, I wish that they did properly.  "Customer Services" must be one person?

[AnOther]

Perhaps I should have added that the 3 or possibly 4 different people I've spoken to there all spoke good English and one was in fact English although he was a proper tech guy and not actually manning the customer support lines.

I'm not recommending them or otherwise, simply relating my personal experiences.

[cartref]

Just as  matter of interest I had occasion to report my VOIP line dropping with TC this week. I then got a call from a very French lady who also had me spell out my name/address and phone no and still couldn't help me. Yesterday morning I got a call back from a French guy with perfect english who talked me through the pros and cons of losing internet connection. Apparently my SNR Margin Downstream is running at around 5-6 and should be between 7 and 11. He suggested I checked my socket wiring. I don't think so said I, probably lose all phone connection if I start messing. Like Ernie, I'll probably have to tolerate the occasional lack of internet for the sake of a few minutes a day. If it is a socket problem, I would probably have the same problem with any ISP. [6]

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[AnOther]

5-6 dB is quite low and could certainly explain your problems.

I wonder what your attenuation is compared to what degrouptest says. If it's significantly higher then you have a line problem which is FT's job to fix.

I wouldn't be afraid of checking your sockets, it's only 2 wires coming in after all and it doesn't even matter which way round they are [;-)]

[cartref]

What am I looking for on the degrouptest thing, ErnieY? Lots of figures and options via other ISPs but where and what is this attenuation?

Somtimes I can log on to my PC and cheque the SNR Margin thingy and it is 11 or less but then drops significantly throughout the day. As soon as it takes ages to download a page I know it will have dropped to under 4.

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[AnOther]

Just enter your full phone number where it says "Votre téléphone" (no spaces) then hit "Demarrer le test"

On the resulting page under "Informations Techniques" you'll see your line characteristics

You're primarily interested in length and attenuation.

[pagnol81]

Cathy

I used Teleconnect for BB and fone for 5 months in the summer. I had occasion to fone  few times and spoke to different people ( at least three) one of whom struggled a bit with English. I also had a good response to emails. Once we lost our BB connection, couldn't get thro on the fone so I used my old dial up connection to email them. ( We had kept the FT line ). The service was up and running sometime later and then I got a fone call apologising for the break in service and asking if everything was OK. After some of the stories of customer service on this forum I was surprised.

When the time came to cancel they said I could write the cancellation letter in English.  I sent everything back and waited. The last bill came thro a little late and I foned to check the amount as it didn't seem to be enough. I was told they weren't charging the 45 Euro cancellation fee. Needless to say I was very pleased.

I will use them again next summer.

Vanessa

[Kitty]

Thanks Vanessa.  That's encouraging.  It must be difficult for them to recruit English speaking staff.  Perhaps there's a job for some of us there.  I wonder where their offices are?!

 

[pagnol81]

I sent the modem back to Montpelier, but I think the call centre is Paris?

Vanessa

[AnOther]

Just to add to my personal experience with TC:

My modem got zapped on Sunday the 9th.

I phoned TC on the Monday, got throught reasonably quickly and to a very competant English speaker.

Initially he told me that I had to send the modem back before they could issue a new one but I argued for one to be despatched sooner if not immediately because I work form home etc. (cough cough) and he eventually agreed to try and speed it up and it did in fact turn up yesterday. Whether that was actually quicker or not I don't know but I was happy enough because I had, in the meantime, been able to get back online with an old modem I'd brought with me from UK, albeit without VOIP.

I got online with the new modem no problem but lost service this morning so phoned Tech Support to see what was going on, got through almost immediately, again competant but different English speaker, and was informed that there was a problem which was being looked into and that things should be back to normal soon as indeed they were some 10 minutes later.

I have no experience of any other French ISP's but I think the service I have received from TC is probably at least as good, if not better, than I might have got from some.

[Kitty]

I lost service this morning for a short time - possibly 10ish.  What I have been told to do is, if I lose service, to switch the modem off (at the back of the modem itself, not at the plug), wait a few seconds and then switch it back on.  They said that occasionally they do something at HQ and the modem needs to re-configure itself.

After losing service, I did this, this morning, and hey presto, was back online.  But maybe everyone lost service and that I didn't need to switch off-on.

Apparently, the techno bloke said, I might have to do this two or three times per month, especially first thing in the morning as they usually do their "technical fiddling" (my words, not his) during the night.

The technical support seems very good, other than they are closed for weekends, which is frustrating.  It's the customer services support, which is suspect.  They have, for example, put me on the wrong financial tariff and seem unable to sort it out.

 

[banyuls diver]

Do I still need to  rent the line from France Telecom or does Teleconnect include line rental?

[cartref]

Hi,

Cathy:  I am with TC for VOIP phone and internet. Every morning I get up to the fact that I have no service. Like you were told, I just switch off the modem while I have breakfast, then switch on and its OK. I had occasion to speak to someone recently (see previous posting) and I did manage to check the phone wiring. Now from having a download stream of 5 - 6 it is now 19 -21. Huge difference and my line never drops throughout the day at all. Well please with this guys advice , all in perfect English.

Banyuls: I still rent the phone line from FT mainly because if anything happens to my PC I can still use the phone.

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[memb]

[quote user="Cathy"]

I lost service this morning for a short time - possibly 10ish.  What I have been told to do is, if I lose service, to switch the modem off (at the back of the modem itself, not at the plug), wait a few seconds and then switch it back on.  They said that occasionally they do something at HQ and the modem needs to re-configure itself.

After losing service, I did this, this morning, and hey presto, was back online.  But maybe everyone lost service and that I didn't need to switch off-on.

Apparently, the techno bloke said, I might have to do this two or three times per month, especially first thing in the morning as they usually do their "technical fiddling" (my words, not his) during the night.

The technical support seems very good, other than they are closed for weekends, which is frustrating.  It's the customer services support, which is suspect.  They have, for example, put me on the wrong financial tariff and seem unable to sort it out.

 

[/quote]

We have experienced a LOT of problems with Teleconnect.    Always used them for telephone only which was excellent service then when they introduced BB we went with that too, things then went downhill.    See previous post on here http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1090045/ShowPost.aspx

Since they moved to Montpellier the service has got worse, possibly through becoming too big too soon, and not enough staff to cope.  The very worst level of service is being promised a ringback from a booked in call and them NEVER ringing back.   ErnieY guided us to the website to test our signal, and we've passed this info to other friends who are experiencing trouble with them.   

[Kitty]

Thanks, 47, just giong to have a look at your thread now.

I think that they should have technical support at weekends, even if it just one man and a dog.  If enough of us asked, perhaps they would?  I asked a couple of days ago and was told that they have no such plans.

 

[memb]

[quote user="Cathy"]

Thanks, 47, just giong to have a look at your thread now.

I think that they should have technical support at weekends, even if it just one man and a dog.  If enough of us asked, perhaps they would?  I asked a couple of days ago and was told that they have no such plans.

 

[/quote]

Hello Cathy, we suggested weekend cover way back in January ..... I hasten to add talking to them by reconnecting to FT because we had no modem working.   It turned into a nightmare trying to get it sorted, we can't use our fax/answerphone with the modem either.  We have to do the 10 second reboot about 4/5 times a day.      Good Luck.

[Danny]

[quote user="banyuls diver"]Do I still need to  rent the line from France Telecom or does Teleconnect include line rental?[/quote]

from the Teleconnect site:

"*Offer subject to preselection of France Telecom phone line with Teleconnect. If preselection fails, a monthly supplement of €5 applies. AngloPack is not compatible with the Teleconnect's original fixed-line offers (Happy Hour, Pro International Call Plan or WorldPlan). All rates applies on calls made on the voip line (i.e., phone being plugged into the modem) and not on the analogic France Telecom line (phone plugged on the wall plug), except when otherwise stated."

 

So if you want to go with them, you must keep your FT line. And have preselection on the line. If you don't understand this, it means that you sign up to all your calls being carried by them ( and charges paid to them) still using the FT line and paying the FT line rental.

 

Danny

[AnOther]

Well, as in most things, different people will have different experiences

Cathy, mine was around 10 ish too but I had already restarted my router 2 or 3 times, it's always the first thing I do if I think I have any problems.

The guy I spoke to at TC said they had had a lot of calls.

Re the FT line, although it's not an option with TC (nor in my village either) my personal opinion is that unless €15 per month is make-or-break money it's worth hanging on to for those occasions when it does all go pear shaped.

Also it might make changing ISP somewhat less complicated if you were to decide to do that at some time in the future.