Linnorton Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 Have received a leaflet today to say that the Consul-General in Manche has decided that haute-debit (not certain I've spelt that right but assume it's Broadband equivalent) will available to everyone in Manche by the end of 2006. Apparently, he decided it was important for all businesses and individuals to have access and allocated public funds. Also it will be available through a range of providers and not limited to French Telecom. Not for the first time, I find myself really impressed with the way things are done here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazan Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 I'm afraid that you have been taken in by the way things are done here. Haut-debit is already available to nearly every single household in metropolitan France either by ADSL, by cable or by satellite. Only those who live in a deep hole can't get it. To promise it for two years time isn't saying much at all.Even the national government is wise enough to include satellite in their promise of broadband for all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linnorton Posted January 25, 2005 Author Share Posted January 25, 2005 Don't know about that but for the last two years in our particular deep hole I've only seen high speed internet access offered by France Telecom and at pretty steep prices. I've stayed with my convential speed UK AOL account because of it's unmetered access but I will be interested in changing if I'm offered it at a competitive price. I shan't be holding my breath waiting for the cable installers to arrive down our lane and don't want another satellite dish to complement the one we have. Is ASDL the same as ISDN? And does anyone offer unmetered access? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazan Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 I'm surprised that anyone would describe ADSL in France as expensive: on average it is in fact amongst the cheapest in Europe though recently the price has crept up in non-degrouped (rural) areas due to Cegetel replacing their 15€ offer with another at 25€. You perhaps need to look at bit more carefully as if FT offer ADSL in an area then so do at least 5 other ISPs: they all sub-let the FT equipment. If it is available at all where you are then you can get ADSL for from 20€ per month.Satellite is also available for 20€ - 60€ per month, though it isn't an option I would want to use.ISDN is not at all the same as ADSL. ISDN is normally available everywhere and is a worthwhile alternative if you are too far away from an exchange to ever get ADSL (and plenty of people are, no matter what your Prefet says).Unmetered dial-up (on analogue or ISDN lines) is currently still offered by a few ISPs and prices go from about 30€. This has been covered extensively in earlier messages here, as has ISDN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 We've had several copies of that leaflet, and, yes, it does sound all very honorable and plausible and I am sure that the conseil regional sincerely wants all of its inhabitants to have access to the latest technology. But this is France, and wishes, promises - even legal requirements - don't really mean that much. After all, try actually getting France Telecom to meet the requirement it supposedly has to provide ISDN (or RNIS in France) anywhere.Sorry, but we aren't exactly holding our breath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 I live in rural 24 and have been waiting for ADSL for ages. We have filled in petitions from the Marie to FT over 18 months ago. Walla this week a phone call from Wanadoo telling us ADSL will be available from 31st Jan 05 for 19.90 to 30 per month. In my grovelling greatful thanks I forgot to ask them what I needed to do. Do I need a new modem? If so can you help with product description. Will ADSL suddenly be there on 1st Feb?Grateful and grovelling thanks to all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battypuss Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 If you are anything like us here in St Lô, you need to go to FT and collect a natty little box and a disc. Plug in one, insert the other (diagrams are really self explanatory, even I managed it). I seem to remember they charged me one euro for this wizadry.Of course, being a dingbat, I changed to ADSL online and didn't have a natty box. Don't make the same mistake! It cost me a fortune, but was entirely my fault.Failing a branch of FT near you, haul the box to a computer supplier. For about 10€ they'll fix the lot. Don't loose any bits of paper you're given, Wanadon't has hiccups occasionally and you have to put your code in again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazan Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 For the umpteenth time:You never need to go to an FT office for ADSL: you can do it all online via an ISP of your choice. You never need to use Wanadoo (if you can get ADSL at all then you can get it from at least 5 providers and most offer a better deal than Wanadoo). You never need to use an ISP's CDRom (except for AOL).The way that FT/Wanadoo consistently abuse their position really annoys me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linnorton Posted January 26, 2005 Author Share Posted January 26, 2005 It all sounds too boring to bother with; think I'll stick to slow AOL and see what develops locally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted January 26, 2005 Share Posted January 26, 2005 Same promises being made in the Lot. Problem we have is that half of the two nearest reasonable sized conerbations have been 'done' so there are not enough folk to push for the rest to be done. One has just lost their school (which was probably the reason they got it in the first place). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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