Telephone Installation (for the first time)

[mickey jim]

I wonder if anyone can help.

We are in the process of buying a house which currently does not have a telephone connection.  The house is about 1km down a Chemin Rurale with no immediate neighbours.  Our Agent has said he's spoken to France Telecom about the cost of installing the cables to our property, and apparently we won't have to pay for anything that is on a public right of way (ie the Chemin Rurale), we just have to pay for the cable on to our property (about 2 metres to the house) and of course the standard connection fee 55 Euros.  I'm sceptical about this as it seems an awful lot of work as the Chemin runs through the middle of a wood before it gets to our house.  We have been told that we can't speak to France Telecom about it until we are the owners - which is another 2 months away, but I'm getting rather nervous that we'll have an horrendous bill from FT when it comes the the work actually being done.  I'm also worried it will take ages to organise once we're in there, and our mobile phones won't work there either - argh!!! Has anyone else been in this situation or knows what France Telecom's policy is? 

Any feedback would be useful.

Thanks

[Nick Trollope]

Of course you can talk to FT! If someone tells you otherwise, they are trying to hide something from you IMHO.

Ring FT and ask for a devis for the work. Easy peasy, really, although it is best to visit an FT shop - that is what they are there for. I believe that FT now have an English-speaking sales line, although you will have to rely on someone else to tell you the number.

Befoe you speak to them, have the Cadastral number of the property to hand. They should be able to find it from this. (It should be on your Compromis de Vente).

 

[charlie*]

The nearest telegraph poles to us stopped about 500 metres away. It took months before our phone was connected, apparently the delay was partly because FT reckoned that had to get planning permission from the Maire. FT were not good at keeping us informed but I did find their English speaking branch very helpful , the number from inside FRance is 08 00 36 47 75, you can I think email them also but keep on at them!

[Deimos]

The 0800 number is from France only. To call the English speaking service from overseas its + 33 1 55 78 60 56

Full details of the service on their web site http://www.francetelecom.fr/en/tools/others/contactus.html

I would certainly agree with everybody that maybe somebody is hiding something and I would certainly not trust the word of an agent (who has a very vested interest). If you are unsure, and there are issues that you cannot get a quote before being the owners (which does sound dubious), then require the vendors to get you a quote before signing anything.

Ian

[Will]

No need to be suspicious, the agent is perfectly correct. Why not ask the agent to help you out, you are paying the fees after all.

[Nichthewood]

When we had a phone installed a couple of years ago. There were no poles up to us so French telecom used the electric poles. This i believe is the norm in France. No charge for instalation . We Brits have a bit to learn about customer service and charging.