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Advice On ADSL & Telephone Packages


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Hi - I am presently using Alice for my ADSL package (nonDegroupee), paying FT the normal line rental and using Tlk2 to cover the cost of our landline calls.

Having studied the various publications and excellent postings on this Forum, I have decided to take the plunge and go fo an inclusive package for both ADSL and Telephone calls/line rental.

I have looked at Tele2, Neuf, Free, Orange and Alice. My findings are that

  • Tele2 require the number 4 to be keyed in instead of the first 0 for every call - is this the case for all the other providers

  • Alice will charge me 6 cents to call Ireland and the UK, Orange have differing charges, while Free/Neuf and Tele2 will charge me nothing and without (it appears) time limits

  • The prices seem to vary from 29.90€ per month to 34.90€ per month

  • They all state that I can retain my old telephone number 05 49 ** ** ** - I dont understand the significance of this

What I dont understand is the following:

  • Is this system of free calls using the VOIP method of connectivity

  • What happens to my old 05 49 number if I make a landline to landline/mobile telephone call

  • Do I in practice have 2 telephone numbers - 1 ADSL based for VOIP and one analogue as in my old 05 49 number

  • Do I need to buy special handsets for the use of the new ADSL number or will my old handsets work

  • What impact will this have on stand alone fax systems

Unfortunately my French language skills are not good enough to figure all of this out.

If there is any other advice or suggestions I would be grateful to you all for any helpfull nudges.

Cheers

Paul

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Hi Paul

They all state that I can retain my old telephone number 05 49 ** ** ** - I dont understand the significance of this

This means that if you choose to ditch the Ft line and take ADSL Nu (Freebox only – in the case of Free) then your present FT number can be transferred to your new VOIP number…. 

Is this system of free calls using the VOIP method of connectivity

Yes 

What happens to my old 05 49 number if I make a landline to landline/mobile telephone call

Nothing – it remains the same and you pay FT for the call 

Do I in practice have 2 telephone numbers - 1 ADSL based for VOIP and one analogue as in my old 05 49 number

Yes

Do I need to buy special handsets for the use of the new ADSL number or will my old handsets work

Any modern telephone should work. If you have a cordless unit with extra handsets, plug the base unit in to the modem. That works quite well. You don’t have to call next to the modem.

What impact will this have on stand alone fax systems

Not entirely sure but I think that fax machines will not work on the VOIP. If you have another phone socket, use that. It will then pass through the ordinary FT line and you will be charged by FT.

 

This is all assuming that you keep the  FT line. That is another issue. Most of the all in packages now offer the option of opting out of the FT line (ADSL NU)(and saving 15 euros pm) but that means that all your calls are going through the modem. If the modem packs up or there is a fault on the line you cannot make or receive calls. MMMmmm…

For the moment I am sticking to keeping the FT line.

As it happens, there is now a fault with our ADSL and I am doing this on dial up (painfully slow) and I don’t know how long it is going to take to resolve. This means, of course, that I could not receive or make any calls, business or otherwise if I had gone for the ADSL Nu option.

This is after a year of great service with virtually no call charges.

 

Basically, Free is the cheapest. The others a bit more expensive and teleconnect and Orange a bit more expensive.

The services offered by Free, Neuf and Alice (for the money)are more extensive.

You may choose to have the comfort of the big company(Orange) or everything in English (Teleconnect) and pay a bit more for similar facilities.

For what it is worth, I am about to plump for Free very soon but keep the FT line

 

Danny

 

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 Danny,

I understand your point of keeping the FT line to maintain comms particularly in the case of power failure or ADSL failure but..... I suspect an awful lot of people have cordless house phones (as we do) and may or may not realise that a power failure takes that phone out even with a retained FT line.

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Danny - great response and wonderfully simply delivered. Many thanks for that.

Basically, you advise to go for a package such as Free and keep the FT line either as a back up or for incoming/outgoing fax.

One big question which, therefore, is prompted from the VOIP issue. I presently use Skpye on a PC2PC basis. My normal download bandwidth is between 600 - 800kb (but is usually around the 650kb level) and upload of circa 120kb (these are results of Speedtest). With this level of bandwidth, Skype is pretty poor and quite often the sound quality is poor with even worse results o on the Webcam imagary.. How will this new service with Free, for example, be affected by such a relatively low bandwidth.

If I retain my old FT line (which I believe is the correct step) am I then given a separate number with Free (or whoever).

One other thing that puzzles me, Tele2 (who offer the free calls to 49 countries package) ask you to dial 45 49 ** ** ** instead of 05 49 ** ** **. Does this indicate that their service is not VOIP but a normal subscriber line routed through their systems? Or have I lost the plot altogether. 

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Paul

I am not really sure about how well the included VOIP calls will work on that level of service. I have around 1.5 MB and it works very well. Normally it works as well as the regular line calls. Maybe someone else on the forum can give you an answer on how their included VOIP calls with Neuf, Free or others work at around your connection speed. I know that Martin Watkins has Club Internet at around that speed. Also,Clair has Neuf but Idon't know at what speed.???

Your second question: Yes, you are allocated another VOIP number (probably beginning with 08 but sometimes 05) and the other number still works. Here is what happens with the Club Internet VOIP - I imagine the same happens with the others. When someone rings us on our 0565 (FT) number, all the phones ring - even the one plugged in to the modem. If someone calls our new 08 VOIP number, the phone attached to the modem rings and the FT line is still free. You can, if you want, use the phone in the other socket (normal FT call) at the same time as you are on the VOIP call. Maybe this is useful. You will be charged for these calls of course.

You can bypass the VOIP line (on the phone plugged in to the modem)by pressing the ## twice and the FT dial tone will sound.

I don't understand about the TELE2 thing. Beware...

Some operaters (Tele2 and Neuf) also sign you up for their preselection at the same time for normal telephone calls if you take their basic ADSL. Because they also offer traditional telephone services. If you don't want preselection, they charge 5 euros more for the ADSL. This means that they carry your normal phone calls and bille you for them at their rates and You just pay the line rental to FT. This may have something to do with your Tele2 question but I am not sure. I am not sure if they sign you up for preselection if you take the 100% Neuf box offer or the TELE2 equivalent.

I'm sorry if is starting to get too complicated but the more you look into it, there are all sorts of little issues...

Better just to pick one and hope it works OK than waste loads and loads of time(like I have)...By all accounts, all the ISPs are great if it works and crap when it doesn't

Good luck

Danny

 

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Paul

I just noticed that you said in your first post that Alice charge you for calls to the UK and Ireland. This is not the case with their package. There are inclusive VOIP calls to 23 countries.

see here

They also have a 3 months free offer at the moment. That might be tempting - saving 105 Euros...

More to think about...

Danny 

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Spot on Danny about our personal situation..   Most of the time the VOIP calls with Club Internet work well.   On local calls we do often have a slight  echo our end which is not heard by the other party.   However,  calls to the UK via VOIP are actually much better with next to no echo,  much more satisfactory than when we used to dial the UK with Onetlel via our FT line,  when there was usually a bad echo plaguing the called party's end.

However,  at 500 kbps we do find that it's best NOT to use the ADSL too heavily whilst on the p[hone as the data transfer punches little holes in the VOIP conversation,  at least as heard at our end,  an odd staccato effect.   It isn't that serious,  and sometimes if it gets bad we hang up and redial which often cures it - costs nothing to try.

But I would BEG the OP not to ditch FT until the quality of the VOIP service has been ascertained;   some friends did just that and had to buy a mobile for emergency use at the times when our village (in its entirety,  nothing to do with individual operators) loses its ADSL feed.   And that's surprisingly often.

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Thanks Danny

I never previously found that page that you linked to as my browser automatically goes to member logon page and it defaults to my existing account page.

Since your link I have been searching through various paperwork and web pages within Mon Compte from Alice and have discovered a telephone number which begins 05 16 66 ** **. Ir also appears in the telephone directory - which I had never noticed before. Does this, in your opinion, indicate that I already have this service. [8-)]

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Does this, in your opinion, indicate that I already have this service.

Probably...yes. Do you not have anywhere you original paperwork and is there nothing there about alice box and telephonie?

OK, If you have an Alicebox,

do you have phone plugged in to your modem? if not try it. If it is functioning, it must be VOIP calls!!

Look furthere on the alice site. I am not with alice so cant log on but they must have bits something like 'telephonie' 'suivi votre consommation' or some other things.

I found a few things here....you should have two adsl VOIP telephone lines at your disposal see this page

See also this page about telephonie

and generally, lots of info on these pages...

get the dictionary out and try to plough through it all!!

Do you have a different modem ( ie not an alicebox) ? how much do you pay per month?

Don't forget that Alice (was Tiscali) also do normal telephone services so it can get a bit confusing.

You could try calling them up and saying " est-ce qu'il y a quelq'un la qui parle anglais? " or get a french friend to di it or even just to read things for you

If you have an older modem, I am sure you will be able to change your offer to the Alicebox offer.

good luck

Danny

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Morning Danny

The more I look the more it appears that AliceBox (which is what I have) does offer me the free calls via VoIP. I am certain that this was not the case when I signed up 18 months ago as I received a list of charges for Ireland, UK and so on. However, all the info that you have found and that I have trawled through shows that the facility is there. I will plug a phone set into the AliceBox and call my normal landline and see where that takes me.

Once, again, many thanks for your patience and detailed responses. I greatly appreciate it.

A bientot et merci - Slan agus go rath mile maith agat[:D]

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Paul

"I received a list of charges for Ireland, UK and so on"

These will be for normal calls plugged in to an ordinary FT phone point, I would assume. Unless of course the VOIP International calls were introduced after you subscribed.

Let us know how you get on and if it works get on the phone to the UK and Ireland and other places and save yourself some cash. Careful that you don't (unwittingly)call other places not on the list of countries - you will be charged. By the way, the included VOIP calls cover France too, so use them for that. Make sure the Alice box is on!!! Otherwise you will be calling over a normal chargable line.

Danny

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I sent and email to Free and one to Alice. Got the usual Auto Responders from both. Nothing yet from Free but Alice sent me a very detailed and totally informative email explaining that I had the free calls via VoIP facility and how to set it up. The sender recognised that I wasnt French (or a very good French speaker) and gave me the details in virtual paint by numbers format. God bless her for that too.

I believe, from what I read in the email, that they automatically migrated me onto the newer system and it costs the same as I was paying - 29.99€ per month.

I'm delighted with their response time and must say that despite many pundits who have slagged them off they have come very good on this occasion at least.

Danny - I tested the system as you suggested and called my FT landline number and guess what - it rang. [:D]

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