28kbps connection, why?

[Michelleb]

signed up with wanadoo a couple of months ago, complained about this slow speed and got several reasons why, one of them was the condition of the line, can i ask for the line to be checked and replaced if neccessary, would a new modem (external) do the trick, this modem is quite new and didnt have any prob in the uk, have checked all the settings but cant come up with a solution.

Any ideas?

[LesLauriers]

Take a look at this link:

http://www.livingfrance.com/dcforum/DCForumID33/1191.html

[Duncandst]

I have just had the same problem which was due to a bad line, unfortunately it was the internal line in the house and I had to pay for a new line inside from the France telecom box to the Internet jack and Telephone jack. Fortunately the repairman ( a private enteprise contracted by France Telecom) did it for me without having to go through the process of contacting France telecom. It cost €87.33. The funny thing was that AOL would connect but kept crashing and Tiscali told me I needed a new modem, I tried two computers and the chances of two modems crashing in the same week was remote to I knew it was a Line problem and had to call 1013, parting with €87.33 was very dixtreizing for a Yorkshireman but at leat I can communicate now.

[Will]

Thanks Duncandst. Sorry to hear of the distress caused to your wallet.

I put this reply on the old forum, just before it was turned off, which became detached from the topic when transferred (you can often find your old postings by doing a search, if you think something has been lost):

You may be able to get an improvement by keeping the length of phone extension cables to a minimum, or connecting the modem directly to your main phone socket rather than via a number of plugs and sockets. You may find that a good external modem will perform better than an internal modem (certainly that has been my experience). However, the fundamental problem is likely to be line quality, and France Telecom (like BT in the UK) will not guarantee any more than the bare minimum connection speed.

ISDN (in France Numeris, or RNIS) is a possibility but if your phone line is that poor it is unlikely to be suitable for ISDN. In theory FT offers RNIS throughout France but in practice things can be somewhat different if you are a long way from an exchange or the overhead lines are past their sell by date. We got over the problem, in the absence of broadband or ISDN, by having a second line installed, with the main socket for that line right next to the modem. Line installation is not expensive.