Degroupee? Broadband

[Steph]

Hi there, sick to death of my slow, expensive dial up connection. Am looking into broadband and don't understand anything! Could someone please explain what degroupee means .... I've discovered that my area is non-degroupee .... ??????

Also, who do people recommend ... wanadoo, alice, free ... are there any others out there ..

Wanadoo seems expensive, alice & free seem reasonable ... but if wanadoo are more reliable and straightforward then I don't mind spending the extra.

 

Yours very confused ...!

[Deimos]

You can check on http://www.degrouptest.com/ who can offer you an ADSL service and at what speeds. It is not 100% but probably not complete rubbish either.

I use Wanadoo and its is not too expensive and not too bad. They all have good and bad points and to a large extent I believe you will get what you pay for. Most ISPs will probably want a min 12 month contract (so watch) and if you find their service poor then you might have fun trying to get out of the 12 month contract (lots of “fun” arguments in French).

Many have premium rate support and commercial contact telephone numbers so, should you need to call them any saving on the monthly subscription might easily be lost through premium rate telephone calls.

I’m afraid my attitude was that I was not interested in hunting around to save a couple of €s per month. If the costs were that important then I could save far more money through other means than by getting the “cheapest” ISP.

Ian

[Steph]

Thanks Ian, I'll have a look at the site ...

Sorry, have another couple of questions .. if I sign up with wanadoo do I still pay the 26 euro (ish) bi-monthly charge to France Telecom for my line ... I'm assuming yes, but not too sure .. !

Also, all my telephone calls go via One Tel at the moment, will this still be available?

Sorry to sound so thick but I really haven't got a clue!

[Deimos]

My understanding (and if I’m wrong, others please feel free to correct me) is that you pay France Telecom for the line rental pretty well come what may (although I have heard about some deals or laws that allow other companies to “take the line over” from France Telecom and these other companies then also take on the responsibility for repairs, etc.). Ignoring that, France Telecom charge for the line to your property. There are then different ways for 3rd party telephone suppliers to take your calls. Most companies want to do “pre-selection” where any number dialled from your line is routed via them automatically. They set this up with France Telecom and they (the 3rd party company) then charge you for your calls, though you still pay France Telecom for the line. Alternatively, you can not opt for pre-selection. Without pre-selection, calls starting with zero go through France Telecom and are charged with your line rental bill. If you then set-up accounts with others (without agreeing to pre-selection) then they will give you a different prefix to route the call through themselves. E.g. 4 for Tele 2. Thus dialling 01 23 45 67 89 would go through (and be charged for by) France Telecom and dialling 41 23 45 67 89 would call the same person but would be routed through (and you would be charged by) Tele 2.

Who you select for your ADSL is quite separate and not related to your telephone call routing. However, some ISPs may also require to take your telephone calls as well and, with the growth of Voice over IP (telephone calls over internet data connections) may offer special deals and/or equipment to give you good deals on telephone calls.

For example, I pay France Telecom for line rental and a few calls that I make in the number format 01 23 45 67 89 (i.e. starting with a zero). I have an account with Tele 2, so I can call 41 23 45 67 89 and the call will be cheaper and billed by Tele 2. I use Wanadoo for my ADSL.

All the companies want to extract as much money from you as possible so try to tie you in for as long as possible for as many services as possible (maybe a slightly cynical view). I’m afraid I don’t know One Tel so cannot comment on what arrangements you might have with them.

Ian

[Steph]

Thanks again Ian ... another couple of questions .. promise this should be the last time!

Have decided I'll go with wanadoo as they are part of FT ... I notice their are 4 different options ..

512k, 1 mega, 8 mega, 18 mega .. as I don't want to spend a fortune the 1 mega option seems ok at 30 euro (ish) a month ... is this a reasonably fast option or would I be wasting my time and I should I go for the 8 or 18? Plus do I have to have the "livebox", I'm not bothered with watching TV or making free local calls at the moment so do I need it ..?

And finally I don't know whether I need a modem .. at the moment I'm on dial up and just have the lead that plugs from the laptop into the telephone socket, so when ordering (if I don't have the livebox) do I tick the "modem ethernet" box ..?

Yours still confused but not quite as much!

Thanks

[Deimos]

Re: Speed. Most people will tell you something different and everybody will be right. I personally have a 1MB and use it for browsing, e-mail, VoIP (internet telephone calls but not through Wanadoo), etc. and have never felt inclined to go for anything faster. Half the time it is the speed of the internet or site that limits how fast things go (e.g. this site).

Re: ADSL Box. You need some sort of ADSL Box and getting one from Wanadoo when you subscribe is normally far cheaper than buying one in the shops. The LiveBox is an all “singing and dancing” one. Which of the others depends on how you want to connect to your PC(s) and use the system. WiFi ones are normally used where people want a RF (radio) network within their house (cordless connection to ADSL box and between computers). It is normally more expensive and needs radio cards in each PC. The Ethernet ADSL Box (modem) is connected to your computer through an ethernet network cable. Wanadoo supply a number of different Ethernet ADSL boxes and you will get whichever they happen to favour/have at the time. They certainly do not all include an Ethernet hub (e.g. Thompson 510). However, you can connect it directly to your computer if you have an Ethernet connection built into your computer. Most people use Ethernet ADSL boxes where they want to connect more than one computer to the internet at the same time. The USB ADSL Box/mode is normally the cheapest and connects to the computer via USB.

Re: Connection. The ADSL Box (which is sometimes called a modem) is the device you use and it will replace your existing modem (but it is not the same). With Wanadoo, their own software uses the internet connection is a similar way to your existing dial-up (i.e. you connect to and can disconnect from the internet using “dial-up”). However, the connection is virtually instantaneous, you do not pay by the minute, etc. and your normal telephone works at the same time as you are connected to the internet (making and receiving calls). If you are technically minded you can modify the way the connection works to leave it connected the entire time.

When you get your ADSL Box (from Wanadoo) it will come with “filters” that go between the telephone plus and socket and have a side connection for the ADSL cable to the box. This ensures that the telephone and ADSL do not interfere with each other (when used at the same time).

Ian

[Steph]

Ian, you are a star .. thanks for all your help ...

[Gyn_Paul]

Depending on the results you get from the degroup test page, you may well be limited to the maximum speed you can expect. There is no point in paying for a ADSL connection faster than this (e.g. if the degroup page says 655, (.65meg) then paying for 1 or 2megs is a waste of money).

Onetel is excellent and works with Wanadoo ADSL with no problems.

If you currently have FT's messagerie 'Top Message', then they will tell you that you can't have it if you subscribe to another carrier (like Onetel), however I have Onetel and the Top Message still works fine! Maybe it's a problem with Tele2 or Neuf Telecom but certainly not Onetel.

p

[Steph]

thanks for that, but from what I can work out all the Wanadoo services are available to me .. I think!

Agree with you about Onetel, don't have to dial a prefix either and all my calls go through them apart from the internet access which is on FT .. hence my bill being so big. Have top message too.