How can I get ADSL/Broadband ??

[JJ]

Greetings to you all. We live in a commune of 245 people near Gemozac, Charente Maritime, Dept 17.

We cannot get ADSL at the moment, every time we contact France Telecom, they type in our number, and the compute says No, well "impossible" actually.

We are unable to get any proposed dates either.

We have asked at our Mairie, who do not seem interested.

So Has anyone out there got any ideas on how we can go about speeding the process up.

Many thanks.

[Deimos]

Not a lot you can do to speed things up. You can check for yourself on any status using http://www.degrouptest.com/ which is probably less up-to-date than calling France Telecom but if nothing is schedules you may have more than a 6 months to wait (at least I knew when to expect ADSL 6 months before I actually got it).

You could try getting more people to put pressure on your Marie but in practice in rural communities I think that its not installed on a per commune basis. When my area got ADSL it was actually in a deal done between the department and FT (rather than at local Marie level). Loads of communes were all done at the same time.

There were a few of the “petition” type things on the internet but they never seemed to amount to much and never seemed to make any difference (as far as I could tell). Also, as far as I am aware, FT are not doing the same thing BT used to along the lines of “get xxx people and well install it”.

Sorry, but that’s my (limited) experience.

Ian

[bigjimbishop]

If you get everyone with dial up in the commune to register (you need 100 email addresses) then they will install apparently

Follow this link

http://www.ariase.com/fr/basdebit/france.html

choose your department

then commune and register

bon chance

[David M]

Telling you ADSL was "impossible" just might be a bit of a  clue. It may be an old exchange incompatible with ADSL.

In which case it is just possible that new telephone line installations may be from a new exchange (or new equipment in the same building) that is ADSL compatible or even currently enabled.

Of course you would have to order a new line. I realise its a long shot, but you might just try asking neighbouring communes if they have ADSL.

Regards

David

[Iceni]

Long post as we are just going through this.

Some Departments have made an agreement to ensure that they get ADSL by the end of 2005 if possible. The Lot is one but I know areas near us very near to towns who will not get it or if they do it will be at a speed equal to dial-in - it is down to equipment and age of installation. We are at the end of the line (literally) high in the hills and on Monday were enabled to get up to 4 to 6 mbit (would have been 8 if we were just a bit nearer). We are in the slow process of getting the ADSL service we want so are still on dial-in. Up till September 1st we were told it was impossible as there was no equipment - so don't let that put you off, it may take time but it has been promised to the whole of France - they just seem a bit behind with their dates.

I made the assumption that speeds like this were normal in the UK and find that 1 mbit is normal unless you are in certain large towns - so am looking forward to seeing what this new service is like WHEN we get it (3 to 5 weeks to wait).

I found the best URL to try was http://www.agence.francetelecom.com/eliadsl_ftbynet/html/popup_eli.html which is direct to the FT database.

We got a date suddenly and it kept being put off (was about a month late), we think because it was a new installation as it still does not show on a map, so if they say 1/1/2006 that probably means first quarter 2006.

Go and nag the mayor. Also check your phone number, our number has no reference to our nearest town (which for most is going to be a very slow 56K service) and luckily refers to another town 10 -12 km away - so we get the better service as we come under them. The down side is that we get our electricity from that area also and so cannot get more than 6 KW as the lines are incapable of carrying more.

Check any phone numbers of friends near you and also keep an eye on READSL which although normally slower is a way of pushing ADSL to areas far from the nearest DSLAM. A good URL for this is http://www.agence.francetelecom.com/eliadsl_ftbynet/html/popup_eli.html but their date of installation is not as up to date as the FT site as they are not allowed to post that. You can also check what services you will be able to get and at what speeds once enabled. You can phone them on their free phone number and they speak English if your French is not too good.

We have waited 2 years for ADSL and most of the local area got it in Jan this year - but with ONSPEED we have managed. Hope you get it sorted soon, but do give ONSPEED a try if you are really stuck with dial-in - the difference it makes is noticable and we ran an unbiased check on the Alice/Tiscali site and it really does make a difference.

[Deimos]

http://www.agence.francetelecom.com/eliadsl_ftbynet/html/popup_eli.html is not a definitive guide (as none of them are). For example, on http://www.agence.francetelecom.com/eliadsl_ftbynet/html/popup_eli.html I am unable to have ADSL, even though I have had is for around 1 year with Wanadoo (France Telecom) !!

In no way does this mean the results are worthless, just that none of the databases are 100%. I would keep an eye on them all, though I would expect that for most communes the local Marie(s) will be keeping a keen watch and will have best info.

Ian