What offers are available?

There are a lot of offers available with various service providers. At the time of writing this article, they were all much of a muchness, offering a standard rate of around 35 euros (once you have totalled the monthly service charge, plus the modem rental), with the enticement of free phone calls to European countries.

However, this is a very competitive market, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see even better deals being made available by the time we go to print! Therefore, always shop around just in case! What is also generally standard is the duration of your contract. You will be tied into a 12 month contract. There is normally a 7-14 day ‘cool-off’ period at the start of the contract, during which you can opt out of the service, and get a full refund. However, this option is not available after that - the ‘cool-off’ period - not even if you are having problems with getting a fully functional service. So if you do decide to cancel after this time please be prepared for potentially extortionate charges for early termination.

Part-time packages

For those of you who are coming and going from holiday homes and only need to use a service now and again, the best way to avoid paying for fulltime usage is to sign up for a ’Pay As You Go’ dial-up connection – Bas Debit. Currently the only service provider which offers this service is Orange. You can sign up for the account on-line from their website www.orange.fr (or pop into our shop, and we can do it for you!).

Removing France Telecom from the Equation

Club Internet offers a service to save you the France Telecom line rental charge – this is also available with other Service Providers. It is an offer available at any time during your contract, for a fee of just 45 euros – with line rental costs at around 15 euros per month, after just three months you have recouped the cost, and can start saving. This sounds like a great investment, however, it does not come without a few risks. By it’s very nature, a Broadband connection is completely dependant on the modem, as it receives the signal from the telephone line, and translates it to a language your computer can understand. When you cancel France Telecom from the equation you effectively become dependant upon your modem for both the internet and your normal telephone service - you will not be able to plug a phone straight into a phone socket in the house. Therefore, if anything happens to your modem – for example, lightning damage, or a general fault - you will lose your telephone service completely.

All service providers are obliged to replace a rented modem as soon as you notify them of the problem. However, you may have to jump through some hoops to get hold of them. The first hurdle is that you can only contact them via their ‘premium rate’ technical support hotline. Next, you will be confronted with their seemingly mindless protocol, when they seek to verify that your modem really is faulty. And, as if this wasn’t enough, they will almost certainly demand that you call them from your mobile at your house. In short, you need to decide whether the risk of these costs and inconveniences outweighs the benefits of a 15 euro saving per month.

To be 'Free' 'or not to be'

There are some misunderstandings to be wary of when your service provider offers ‘free’ phone calls. It is always important to read the small print on this. Some companies create the illusion that ‘unlimited free phone calls’ are limited to certain times of day, or limited to a pre-determined volume of calls, and some are not even free at all, because you have to pay an extra tariff to get the service!

However, the most common pitfall we have encountered is the definition of a ’landline', although you might be calling a land-tied line at a call centre, it is not deemed a ’landline' if it starts with a special tariff code, such as ’08’ numbers. This applies for Europe in its entirety. The only phone numbers that are deemed to be ’landline' are those starting with local numbers – so for the UK you are looking for 0207, or 0161 etc, and here in France it is the 05 numbers for most of Limousin.

Activating your line

For those of you in a rush to get up and running, I’m afraid there is no way of fast-tracking your broadband connection. From the date you sign up for your account your service provider will guarantee activation of your line within 20 days. In most cases it is less than this – in our experience with Club Internet it is usually nearer 10 days, and has sometimes been within a couple of days - however, there is no way of predetermining the time frame, and absolutely no way of getting fast-tracked.

Frequently asked questions

My broadband connection is intermittent, can you fix it?

With the best will in the world, we cannot repair faults on a clients telephone lines. Our service includes checking your computer and modem for problems but if we establish that there's a problem with your line then you must deal with the service provider directly to resolve it since we're unable to deal with line problems ourselves.

My service provider can’t fix the problem, would I be better off with Orange?

Although Orange are directly linked with France Telecom there is no preferential treatment in their after-sales service. You need to talk directly to your current service provider - who will have the same service level agreement with France Telecom as Orange will - and ensure that they are arranging a technician to repair your line.

Will the helpline talk to be in English?

As I write this there are only two Internet Service Providers who promise to offer English after-sale service. They are Teleconnect, and Phone Ex-Pat. In our experience, Phone Ex- Pat are by far our favourite, consistently proving themselves to be friendly and helpful. Generally, they do not offer you the best deals when you sign up; however, if you need English after-sale assistance then the extra costs will well and truly be worth it!

…and finally, a thought for the future

Compared to much of Europe – and indeed a lot of France itself – the rural areas we have elected to live in here in the Haute Vienne are a little behind the times when it comes to technology. Therefore, we have to employ a little more patience, as work carries on to upgrade the infrastruture. The good news is that over the last 6 months a lot more exchanges have been switched on, and progress still continues.

And finally, for those of you unable to get Broadband we are assured that work is underway for satellite systems to be made more readily and affordably available. As soon as we have any news on this we will let you know, alternatively, if you have any updates please please please let us know!