Chancer

I was ambivalent and disinterested no longer living in the UK, I have watched it unfold with interest, I better understand some of the extreme reactions of those who like you wanted to maintain the status quo and were I to be staying in France I probably would have fallen into that camp but not lost sight of the fact that it was me being selfish for myself and not pretending my concern was for the UK résidents.   I dont intend returning to the UK or only temporarily dependant on how things pan out but from what I have seen and learned since the referendum I thnk that they are right to become independant of the EU.   I admire your honesty Nomoss, it doesn't have to be public, the important thing is to be honest with oneself.

Hard to find fault in anything he said, that will be hard to swallow for some.

Martin, no problem at all.   Albof, I have zero knowledge or competence in this subject so am not able to decide what I am told is rubbish or otherwise, I rely on the provenance of the person, someone whos competence I trust said that when several devices are sharing bandwidth priority is given to video so your daughter may be preventing you from doing what you want.   Certainly when I have guests watching films or videos that is when my speed slows to next to nothing, I unplug the guest router and all is well, do it a few times and they stop trying. I also have to do it when shouty Australian grannies Skype their offspring with the Windows wide open.

I am out in the sticks and have no 4g coverage from Free, there is Orange 4G but I think all the time I can get a 3G signal from Free it wont connect to it even though it will allow me to register with it (or whatever the term was) whereas it wont allow me to register with the Bouygues or SFR antenne, maybe if I could unregister the two Free 3g antennes it might work but I think the sharing of the Orange network is solely to fill in dead spots in the phone network, not for internet access.   Where my situation differs from the rest of us is that I have degroupée ADSL at 12mb so do not have the connectivity and speed problems that makes 4G such a great result for you all, for me it would be just a standby and its a head-scratcher why when I connect it is so slow and why I cannot connect most of the time out and about, it is not a desperate problem that I am seeking resolution to, were it to be, were I in the same boat as the others I could perhaps understand Martins frustration with me.   Another anomoly, the phone wont connect for me when I have tried outside of the house (just for trail, I had no need of the internet on the move) yet when i look at the data consumption on the Free sim, not the wifi I find that it has used what seems to me to be an enormous amount of background data compared to the tiny bit i used when I did connect, so clearly its connecting without me knowing it and consuming my data allowance uploading mise a jours for stuff that I dont want and cannot remove like weather.   Its either a phone or user problem, most likely to be the latter.

Martin, I am really surprised at your posting, it really is out of character for you, at least the for very decent character that I thought you were.   You could not have misread the situation further had you tried to, and there are a couple out there who always do their best to do that, I had never considered you to be of the same ilk.   FYI I have not shot down anyones suggestions and would never take pleasure in doing so, its not a cse of refusing to follow anyones advice as of how important and pressing the problem is to me, it is neither, just another of the numerous problems that occur with an unwanted and forced change of technology.   I have 12mb/s internet access, Wi-Fi throughout the property from 2 routers and a repeater which give similar speeds, I have absolutely nothing to be gained at this point from having yet another complicated bit of kit that I dont understand and a 3rd mobile phone abonnement to run it, it would be nice to have a solution for next summer when there are lots of guests with multiple devices preventing me from accessing the internet to run my business but for the moment there are a hundred and one far more important things for me.   It would be nice to know why others can get internet at high speeds on their smartphones while out and about and I seemingly cannot but as there have only been 2 or 3 occasions in recent years when I realised that being able to connect with the net when out would have helped again its not up there amongst the priorities, its an intellectual exercise, when I saw a thread on this friendly forum talking somewhere close to the subject with informative helpfull people like yourself I naturally asked a couple of questions to be better informed and I thank you again for your responses, believe me I would never ask the same question on the other forum as there is someone there who relishes every opportunity to belittle me whenever they find any opening to do so.   You have misunderstood my situation, and misinterpreted my responses, once again I am very gratefull for your informative replies but am really surprised at your reaction, I can see that you are pleased that some neighbours have benefitted from a 4g router and a change of mobile service provider, i am pleased for them also but doing the same to please you would not bring me any benefits here at my home in France with 12mb ADSL and soon to be fibre optique, it may however help me in the UK if I can no longer use one neighbours log in détails for anothers BT Wi-Fi with Fon.   Knowledge is never wasted.   P.S. Re seeking out someone with a suitable phone, only one person visits me here and he has an old school phone just like me, I am not going to phone around everbody that I know asking them to come over to my place to dépanne me (your words) when I dont have a breakdown, i am patient and when someone is here who isn't with Free, and everybody that I know is, then I will ask them to see what signal and speed they are getting  and to try their sim in my phone, it will take time, a commodity that I have.

It is with great pride that I can say that the people who I see regularly do not have smartphones [:D] So it will take a long while before I get the opportunity to do some swapping.

As an ADSL customer I have nothing but good to say about Free and it must be close to 10 years now, one time there was a line fault after F.T. worked on a boitier up the road, usual job creation, they fix one line and deliberately cut off a few others, it took maybe one day longer through Free than if I were a F.T. customer and its a big maybe, they can only notify FT after 24 hours of no service or problem.   Nothing but good things to say about the mobile phone service until I was forced into getting a smartphone, on 2G I was always connected to Orange, never once picked up a Free signal but I have learned from this thread that they dont have any! In any case how can you moan about something which costs absolutely nothing and which would have cost at least €40 a month before Free shook up the market?   I must get to the bottom of the lack of internet connectivity on the smartphone with the 2nd Free simcard, I have 2 Free 3G transmitters close by, one I can see line of sight, have a perfect signal for phone calls and texts, the indicator on the phone seems to have 3 or 4 bars out of 5 often with an H or an H+ yet the download speed is a paltry 200kb/s at best, I can drive for 40 kms visit the 2 biggest towns, drive right up to the transmitters and the phone will either not connect to the net at all or with only 40kb/s download speed, yet ALBOF and his kids can drive anywhere even in the depths of France and always connect to the net using FreeMobile.   Like ALBOF most of the Wi-Fi hotspots around here are Free and maybe that is what people are doing when they are out and about, I have to disconnect the public access to mine and hence cant use it myself elsewhere because cars were constantly stopping outside blocking the car park entrance to check their Fessbook or to see what rubbish yet another worthless celeb had Tweeted.

Good explanation, in the absence of any knowledge I believe it is correct as it sounds very plausible.   I think if at this stage either the buyer or the seller try to back out (seller because he has found a serious buyer) unless both agree then the property will be effectively blocked from sale, the deposit effectively blocked with the notaire and of no benefit to either party for as long as it takes for the legal system to bleed both partys dry.

[quote user="AnOther"]is there something you're not telling us ? [/quote]   Given the OP's response to someone that they were judgemental "without knowing any of the facts " then I would deduce that there is a lot that isnt beng said.    

I dont have problems with phone coverage, never have done and I have been with free as long as you or longer, one of their first customers.   My problem is with internet access on the phone when I am out and about which is a larf in itself as I will probably be the last person in the world to want to use the internet while I am out, its for getting notifications of réservations via the app which needs internet access to do so.   So my question to you is do your kids get internet access on their phones outside of the metropolis in troudeculdemondeville or do they wait till they arrive at someones house for the Wi-Fi?   That seems to be the case with most of my customers, when I am showing them around and giving them the absolute minimum of essentail information many of them are so impatient and rude as to demand the Wi-Fi code straight away and anything said after that is lost on them.   I have recieved 4 bookings this afternoon, phone is right by the Wi-Fi transmitter and myself beside it, only 3 of them gave a notification beep, the other did so when I switched the phone back on from sleep mode, it gave the time as one hour earlier.

To me my mobile phone abonnement is just that, a phone contract, it has given me stirling service both here and wherever I am for probably a decade now, that to me is a superb reputation.   Now the smartphone has been forced on me by other companies and the need to run my business and be informed of last minute bookings and arrivals while I am out, when it was done by text message it was faultless but then they stopped sending them and have been lying ever since saying the problem is with mobile phone coverage, network provider etc when in fact they have got 99% of users to use their app on a smartphone, and stopped sending the texts 2 years ago.  also the only way to take credit card payments was with a smartphone.   It does all of this here at Chez Chancer using the Wi-Fi when I am out and about I miss most of the notifications as there is not an internet connection, I cant criticise Free for not providing internet coverage everywhere, they are to me a mobile phone provider.   Also it took me several weeks to even be able to make a call on this stupid thing that calls itself a smartphone and not a computer, I still cannot actually answer an incoming call but luckily no-one actually knows the number.

Wi-Fi switched off when I try it, found that one out the hard way.   I am keen to stay with Free as they have done me well for years, I pay nothing for my main contract and only €1 per month for the second one which is only for me to work out the bugs in the smartphone, I dont need 2.   I can select Orange because free have a deal with them, my 2G dumbphone defaults to that automatically, the smartphone wont all the time there is a Free signal albeit a very slow one, also i dont know how fast the Orange one would be but as its a 4G one I reckon a lot faster.   Fibre optique is only a few meters away now and I should have it within a couple of months, that might resolve all my issues of the ADSL being overloaded with too many clients at my place with multiple devices, I currently have a legal challenge because the Com de Communes have given a Monopoly to one service provider who has at least partially funded the cabling, I want to stay with Free and we are supposed to have open competition in the télécoms market.

Mobile data is/was on.   Had another play and found what networks were available, Free 3G plus another Free 3G (the 2 local transmitters), a couple of other operators 4G ones that were listed as interdit or something, then I found Orange 4G and registered the phone to that, then Free 4G came up but every attempt to register the phone to it fails.   Phone showing H or H+ but still only get a maximum of 150 kbps but whether they are bits or bytes I know not, all I know is it is fecking slow and a lot less than your link tells me I should expect from a 3G network.   Will have to find a teenager.   Re Free not installing 2G transmitters, I was correctly informed but remembered and repeated it wrong!

I am still having problems getting any useable internet access on my smartphone, thank dog I got a new sim card to play around with.   It connects fine to my home Wi-Fi and gets up to 7mb/s dependant on how many customers are also using it, it says that it is connected to Free but I dont know if its 3g or 4G, its a tiny triangle symbol less than 5mm2 seems to be 3/4 filled out or completely filled out, sometimes it has an H beside it, sometimes and H+. Trouble is connecting to the net with the Wi-Fi switched off only gives me 40kb/sec, the other day I got 200kb/s but no more.   So today when out in the car I tried it in various locations in 2 major towns, icon showed a good signal, traingle filled out with H+ but it either would not connect at all or got 28kb/s maximum, I even drove to where I know the 2 Free antennes are and it was no different, I know that I have to be not directly underneath.   Returned home and got 41kb/s better than anywhere in the town but still pants, have tried changing the settings preference of 4g/3g/2g etc and no change.   Customers have shown me they are getting downloads of 40Mb/s on their mobiles but I guess they were not with Free.   Any suggestions? I would really like to know what signal I am getting, 3G or 4G, I have line of sight to the transmitter, its about 1km away at the top of a château d'eau with nothing between us.   Phone is a Wiko Freddy   Editted, it was an hour of driving within and between 2 towns of 10K + habitants each plus adjoining communes. Surely I should have got some connection somewhere? Free have 2, maybe 3 antennes in my town including the one line of site and another 600m away on top of an HLM.  I am told that they only install 4g transmitters, both of these went on line in the last year, my 2G dumbphone with a Free simcard only ever connects to Orange.

That was my logic as well, except...........................   It was connecting outside of the home, sometimes it would beep when I was running past a Wi-Fi hotspot so I turned off the Wi-Fi, maybe that turns the data on. It seems to have a mind of its own with things turning themselves off or on. At one time the notifications would chime and alert me when the phone was on standby just as I wanted but an Android tablette with the same settings would not do so until I switched on the screen and swiped off the screen lock so not really an alert at all, sometimes it would not chime but the written alert would be on the screen.   Now the phone that used to alert me will only do so now if I switch the screen on and swipe off the screensaver like the tablette, then it chimes and the alert comes through.  I am not following Twatter or Fessbook all I want to be alerted of is if there has been a last minute booking so that I can return home and be ready hopefully before the customers arrive, as it is I am once again housebound 24/7 except for an hour or so in the afternoon if all the changeovers are done before check in time.

You may be right, i am a Free abonnée and my €2 (free) sim card remains in the dumbphone, the new one came from the vente privé for €1 per month, in any case so far in any month I have not used a fraction of  one single gigawhatevertheyare.   Will try your tip thanks!   Tried it and the display shows a tiny + beside the signal strength when data roaming on and Wi-Fi off, so small I needed a jewellers loupe to see it.   I did not know that data roaming was turned off, I have used the phone to access my banks etc when out and about so what is data roaming?

How can you tell whether you are connected to 4g or 3G?   I have an android phone and whilst the signal icon is smaller than a spec of dust it does not appear to indicate what réseau it is  connected to, cant find anything in the settings menus etc either.   The phone is showing a connection to Free where I have a big data limit on 4g but not on 3g, my dumbphone with another Free sim connects to Orange at 2G because Free were not interested in serving that from their antennes around me.   Any ideas?

Alternatively if your neighbour has a shotgun then his feline problem might just resolve itself miraculously.

Probably some small bore clear tube like used for aquariums or car windscreen washers, buy it by the metre and cut it to length, exactly what you said, that would give the least visual impact for the neighbour.   Otherwise do what I do with my coat hooks on the trendy looking but damaging wire shelf/coat rack thingys, I push champagne corks over them to protect the coats, well OK wine corks.   1000 should only take you a week or so to build up and its free and saving the planet, if not ask your mates in Eymet to contribute.   The only snag is that the French around here collect stuff like that and try to sell collections of them at réderies, a neighbour here would pinch the lot and probably sharpen the spikes at the same time.

Duh, I am a muppet!   The lead I use to charge the phone is an USB lead, I realised that I could connect to the computer with that but how could I then charge the phone?   I hadn't realised there was a seperate charging socket and charger, wonder where I stored the charger? [:$]

I have a WikoCheapo also!   I will try the tethered wifi-hotspot when I am next in YUK, if I can ever get away from the changeovers here that is, I get what you are saying about the 3G/4G plus the Wi-Fi hammering the battery, I will have a look and see what leads came with the WikoCheapo and see if  I can connect the computer, that way I could test it here.   Thanks for the advice, will have some time soon I hope to send the PM about a vehicle repair.

[quote user="dave21478"]Dammit, why does nobody tell me these things? I have been using my phone connected to the laptop by USB and switching on "tethering" to connect via my mobile contract and it gets a reasonably solid 1.5mb, sometimes 2; While fiddling with the phone I found out it can be used as a wifi transmitter...ie it connects via my mobile contract and re-broadcasts via wifi which the laptop connects to instead of USB. For reasons unknown this is literally twice as fast...I now get a solid 4mb.[/quote]   I thought that was what tethering was?   Never tried it though as its all too complicated for me and I am an unwilling smartphone debutant, but I thought that Imight use "tethering" in the UK and had always thought it was Wi-Fi or perhaps Bluetooth (whatever that is) I did not know that you could even plug a USB cable into a phone.   My computer is connected via an ethernet cable because everyone tells me that it will be quicker than the Wi-Fi, it certainly seems more stableas it often freezes or hangs on Wi-Fi, as you say odd that your laptop is quicker without the cable.   So what exactly is tethering?

Thanks, it might be a while as I have 5 changeovers to do today including washing and ironing.

Thanks Dave, I already have an espace perso for the first Free simcard, the one I get for nothing, seemingly I have to create another one for the 2nd sim as it will only allow one account, as their username and passwords have higher security than Nasa I cannot remember the existing ones and its all too much grief to create the second account for a phone which will not even be making or recieving calls.   The wee icon for signal strength is too wee for my eyes so if the 3G/4G info is there its invisible to me.   The phone says that it has used 37.9MB so I am guessing that it knows what the billing periods are and has reset, would that be right?   Can I send you a car question by PM?

I've only just lost my cherry to a smartphone so am new to all this mobile t'internet malarkey.   I got another Free sim card, the €20 one that was on promo for €1 per month for a year, it has a huge data allowance on 4g and about a 5th of that on 3G.   My question is how can I tell what signal it is recieving, 3G or 4G and/or how the data used has been shared between the 2.   I have just had the first facture, €1 + 77cts for textos, is shows the data used as 50MiO whatever that is and no charge, it spends most of its time connected to the Freebox Wi-Fi.   What are MiO's compared to GigO's of which I think I get 100 per month on 4G or 20 per month on 3G?