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Neuf Telecom - Good, Bad, Ugly?!


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Wondering what the service is like on Neuf for Internet / Phone calls (via the Internet).  They claim they can do 8Mbps DSL and [worldwide - almost] illimite phone for 35 euros a month and no payment to FT (that would be about 25 euros/month less than I'm paying now).

Now the 25 euros saving certainly sounds good, but I'm more interested in reliability of the Internet connection with Neuf, and are VOIP calls any good?  My experience of Skype is that they aren't, but I would imagine their technology is a bit more advanced.

Is there anything in France the equivalent of adslguide.org.uk that compares all the DSL suppliers from a users point of view? I'm with Tele2 at the moment for Internet, and to be quite honest they are useless.  Their DSL goes off at least once per week and support service is dreadful to the point that I don't bother to call now.  After a 30 months of non-stop connection with BT in the UK, having the connection go down for several hours a week is frustrating to say the least! Trouble is I don't want to change as I don't actually know at the moment if the others are any better!

Any comments apprecited.

Cheers,

Matt

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[quote user="Quillan"]Be careful with the 8MB bit, it depends on the line quality and distance from the exchange. Some areas can only give 1MB max.[/quote]

Good thought, but we have 2Mbps at the moment and we live in town so I don't think there will be a problem - FT suggest we can get up to 18Mbps (supposedly!)

Tele2 was down again this morning between posts - it was down for 3 hours on Sat morning and dies on a daily basis for several minutes at a time - not life threatening I know, but it just adds to the perception that the service is pretty useless! (not to mention the earache I get when SWMBO is bidding on eBay!)  I think in the end I'll plump for the extra cost of FT and hopefully get a more reliable service - I can sign up "sans engagement" so I can switch again after one month if it turns out to be just as bad!  Unless anyone can tell advise me otherwise?

Matt

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 I would also be keen to see what you all say.  I am still on an ordinary ADSL connection from Orange/Wanadoo.  It works, it is reliable, never have any trouble.  But of course I don't get free phone calls or TV channels, and it costs more.  I have been totally afraid to change anything, since the nightmare stories I hear seem to make it not worth the bother.  For me its most important to have reliability and good help line if needed.  I really don't care about a bit of extra speed as I never do films or music, just email and surfing.  As I am about to get a new computer I might have to make a decision.  It is totally beyond me how these people get way with selling a product that is such a bother.   And since they don't really exist, and hire as few people as they can, there is nowhere to turn.  They should be jailed, from some of the stories I hear. 

I shall watch the responses with great interest.  My advice is to by a simple fast connection without a phone deal and without TV channels and just be happy with it.  Although it would be nice to ring people for free [:D]...and the sports on TV....[:-))]

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[quote user="mmaddock"][quote user="Quillan"]Be careful with the 8MB bit, it depends on the line quality and distance from the exchange. Some areas can only give 1MB max.[/quote]

Good thought, but we have 2Mbps at the moment and we live in town so I don't think there will be a problem - FT suggest we can get up to 18Mbps (supposedly!)

Tele2 was down again this morning between posts - it was down for 3 hours on Sat morning and dies on a daily basis for several minutes at a time - not life threatening I know, but it just adds to the perception that the service is pretty useless! (not to mention the earache I get when SWMBO is bidding on eBay!)  I think in the end I'll plump for the extra cost of FT and hopefully get a more reliable service - I can sign up "sans engagement" so I can switch again after one month if it turns out to be just as bad!  Unless anyone can tell advise me otherwise?

Matt
[/quote]

Matt, be careful with the small print - cancellation charges etc.. Free.fr offer the same (essentially) as Neuf for 29.99 with the possibilty to stop paying FT 15 euros pm also...

Are you in a zone degroupee? if so you should get the Neuf for 29.99 - check on the neuf.fr site if you haven't done so already. Don't know about quality of Neuf VOIP calls but Club - internet have been great for the last 9 months. Modem didnt work for an hour on 2 mornings in all that time. I still want to go with Free when my year is up....

Danny

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[quote user="Jane and Danny"]

Matt, be careful with the small print - cancellation charges etc.. Free.fr offer the same (essentially) as Neuf for 29.99 with the possibilty to stop paying FT 15 euros pm also...

Are you in a zone degroupee? if so you should get the Neuf for 29.99 - check on the neuf.fr site if you haven't done so already. Don't know about quality of Neuf VOIP calls but Club - internet have been great for the last 9 months. Modem didnt work for an hour on 2 mornings in all that time. I still want to go with Free when my year is up....

[/quote]

Free charge you something like 90 euros if you want to leave.  This gradually decreases the longer you are with them.  I found Club Internet crap.  I was unable to access my website server for 2 months last year and CI "helpline" was useless - I gave up after 2 months of dreadfully bad communication where they would not respond for days, weeks even, I dumped them and went to Free.   All has been terrific for the first 8 months but I still would not recommend Free.  If it works well, you'll be fine with any of them.  If it doesn't, if

something goes wrong, they all seem to be rubbish.  I would not

recommend anyone. No, I wouldn't.  Not me.  No sirree. Never.

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I've also had problems with Neuf  - sometimes over a week without a telephone and thus no internet connection.  The 'help line' each time goes through the usual 'which lights are flashing etc' by which time my mobile has packed up due to bad signal in this area. I'd like to change as I've just bought a house/gite and need a reliable telephone line but it looks like I have to accept that ISPs in France are not that reliable. 

Any thoughts/advice?

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Is it possible that your problems were not due to the ISP but the local line??? I have heard good and bad reports from all so if I were you I would plump for another ISP  If it works well, great and you can use their telephonie VOIP (very cheap) for your calls but don't give up your FT line rental. At least you will have a stable telephone number which 'should' always be available for clients to ring. Free.fr 29.99, others a bit more. also FT are changing their tariffs a bit look at the orange.fr site for more info - you could do without the  telephonie and get basic broadband  from orange and use your own modem router... the saga continues... I'm going to go with free soon but I am in two minds about going without FT line rental. is it worth 180 euros a year to have an FT line???? basically like Cassis says "yes,if it works"

Danny

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[quote user="le val charente"]

We are with Wanadoo and sick to death of them and their so-called customer service!  We know 3 sets of people who cannot praise Neuf highly enough, and as soon as we can change over to them, we will!

[/quote]

In the other camp theres people like me. I can't say anthing about orange/wanadoo customer service because I have been with them for 5 years and it's never gone wrong nor let me down and I have never had to contact customer services. Like another poster I could be tempted by a cheaper price but then I read people are having a problem with this company or that company so perhaps my 29,99 per month is money well spent at the end of the day.

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As we have said before the suppliers are all as good/bad as each other. It really is the luck of the draw. If you have one that works stick with them. Where they are all equal is in customer service, where they are all without exception awful.

Personally we are with Neuf and for the first three months the performance was no better than dial up, and  the helpdesk couldn't do anything I was on the point of leaving, then overnight things became stable, and delivered the speed I was paying for. That was despite the fact that their installation disc never worked with my PC.

As has also been said before, if you are tempted by the prospect of ditching the FT line rental, sign up with your new supplier but keep you FT line for the time being. You can cut FT out later on once you have a stable system that is working to your satisfaction. Just think, how are you going to complain if you have no phone line? Its bad enough talking to a help(less) desk for thirty minutes and getting nowhere, its even more galling if you are doing it on a mobile, or trying to describe the problem from a friends house.

PS I am waiting to hear from someone who has signed up with the newcomer Darty. They have re badged ADSL from one of the smaller suppliers and it will be interesting to see  if they manage to keep their reputation for excellent customer service. On the other hand it might turn into a Carphone Warehouse (Talk Talk)  or Virgin Trains brand impairment exercise.[:(]

 

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I found Neuf to be simple to set up with the disc giving a good picture description if not au fait with french techie language. I was cut off from FT for two days during the change over but was told about this when signing up. No more line rental for FT either. Since then no problems and was pleasantly surprised to have my first bill showing zero cost for many calls to UK landlines. Now I have two puters connected to the same neuf box both with fast access.(one for the missus shopping,- hours spent on it). Another nice offer from them was a mobile card gratuit with ten minutes free calls each month for 0.00 euro's and no time expiry. All in all a really good service, a refreshing change from the UK providers.
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[quote user="Cassis"]A good site for testing your REAL Internet speed - don't believe FT.

Internet Speed Test
[/quote]Online speed checkers are notoriously inaccurate e.g.

InternetFrog shows me at 400kb, ZdNet 5.3mb whereas BT, who I'm with in UK, shows 6.5mb which is correct....!

This one seems more consistent than most  http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/

 

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Thanks for pointing that out, Ernie.  I should also have said that you should perform the test several times in succession as these tests can give fluctuations in results.   Internet Frog seems to have gone bonkers, as you say, so I've deleted it from my bookmarks and replaced it with the one you mention.

The bbmax link you gave provided me with the following when I just tried it 5 times in succession:

Download     5686    7209    6400    6833     8900

Upload         601      613      642      630      740

The other speedtest I keep bookmarked is this:

http://www.speedtest.net/

This speedtest link is more consistent - does that mean more accurate?  It just gave me these results:

Download     8781    8777    8782    8780     8786

Upload         755      753      752      756      757

[URL=http://www.speedtest.net][IMG]http://www.speedtest.net/result/95262556.png[/IMG][/URL]

We are about 50m as the crow flies (and 350m as the cable runs to the router) from the NRA (FT relay station) so we get good speeds here with little attenuation.  These results are therefore close to the maximum for our offer with Free.

EDIT:

PSG/SUE'S LINK RETURNED ODD RESULTS, 2076 AND 913 THE FIRST TEST 2272 AND 914 THE SECOND TEST.  THAT'S WORSE THAN I GOT WITH THE DODGY FROG.

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[quote user="Cassis"]
EDIT:
PSG/SUE'S LINK RETURNED ODD RESULTS, 2076 AND 913 THE FIRST TEST 2272 AND 914 THE SECOND TEST.  THAT'S WORSE THAN I GOT WITH THE DODGY FROG.
[/quote]

That is most interesting, I cannot think of an explanation as I have always achieved fairly consistent results using audit my pc, allowing for the usual time of day fluctuations due to high number of users etc. I have just tried it again and it was still fine for me. The site was recommended to me as having one of the more accurate counters. Sorry it didn't work for you.

Sue [8-)]

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[quote user="Cassis"]We are about 50m as the crow flies (and 350m as the cable runs to the router) from the NRA (FT relay station) so we get good speeds here with little attenuation[/quote]You lucky lucky sausage. I'm giving up 8mb in UK for 2mb at best in France [:(]
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