But probably all using fibre installed (and owned) by Orange (Edit: or, in this case, possibly Free - see below).
Another pet hate of mine - the term “no contract”. There’s always a <expletive deleted> contract.
What they mean is one month notice on your side of termination.
Really?
Edit, OK, I’m impressed - Free are actually using 10Gbps EPON (Ethernet over Passive Optical Networks).
Well I never 
I would just be a bit wary as i suspect those are max speeds? Not guaranteed? I don’t know the best solution and given discussions I’m not sure anyone does? We will stick with Starlink for some time
Agree @billybutcher
Not created or owned by Orange. Local government owned as Orange didn’t want to do it due to cost. That’s probably why we have 10 operators, including Orange.
It’s actually ‘sans engagement’, which means no commitment, which is always taken to be no long term contract, i.e 12/24 months. The termination period is to the end of the month you have just paid for, and there is no penalty.
Yes, I was sceptical as well. Then I saw that SFR are offering 8Gbps up + 1GBps down for E 36.99 per month. That of course may not be available on all networks. I would be very impressed if I could get it here, in the sticks.
Be sceptical. They offered similer with 4g boxes. Not at all
You won’t have 10 fibre providers though.
I guess the French could reasonably claim that their description of the situation is better than the term “no contract” which is what gets used in the UK - as I said, of course there’s a bloomin’ contract.
In fact even the French term is somewhat inaccurate as there is a commitment - you commit to paying for the service. You can change your mind giving just one month’s notice but you’re obliged to pay for it if you want the service.
You might argue that this is not important, no one cares about the minutiae and everyone understands what “no contract” means - well, yes, but “no obligation” cuts both ways. Are they obliged to provide a service?(usually not if you dig into the T&C of a retail package). What happens if it goes wrong? If there is a problem with the underlying fibre and your existing (retail) provider can’t/won’t persuade the network infrastructure provider to fix it what then. Having one month’s notice and 10 different retail ISPs doesn’t help if the problem is the infrastructure.
Is this just a moan as the same is true in UK too?
The difference with ADSL and 4G data is that the speed you get is dependant on an analogue signal which is transmitted over a medium (a copper wire of variable length, or to a base station) that may not support the max speed, which is why some people are disappointed. There is also the dreaded ‘contention ratio’, which basically means that up to a certain number of people share a certain ammount of bandwidth and so if everybody is using lots of data, then your connection may slow down. Fibre is different because if it is installed correctly, and there are no downstream issues, then it should always be able to support the max speed. There may of course be contention so you won’t always get the max. The service you’re connected to may also not be able to support the full speed. It is what it is.
Yes, 10 residential providers that can supply a fibre contract at a price, with the proviso that some, such as Nordnet, are owned by another provider, Orange. Not of course 10 different companies all installing thier own fibre infrastructure. There are also 30 commercial providers. This is all from the operators website.
Quite.
It’s much better than it used to be though - back in the day several major ISPs were notorious for slowing down at peak times (Orange was definitely one of these) but it’s not generally something you see much of these days. Perhaps it will return with increased availability of 1Gbps+ fibre internet but TBH who the heck actually needs 1Gbps at the moment.
My TalkTalk connection in the UK is 500Mbps symmetric - and (at least for now) it does actually deliver just over 500Mbps up and down.
Indeed and to an extent although I rant on a bit about people’s understanding of contracts it’s mainly in the knowledge that there isn’t a whole bunch you can do as a retail customer as all terms of service are similar (roughly - we’ll try to give you an internet connection but you can’t insist if something goes wrong; if we’re feeling nice we might compensate you if it breaks).
It’s mainly OK because modern networks are actually pretty relilable.
My “old” ISP (though still active as TalkTalk don’t offer fixed IP address on residential) had, as one of it’s USP’s, that it would always chase the underlying operator to resolve issues.
Complicated
I’m somewhat “stuck” with Orange here, and no full fibre option - but 80 down and 14 up is not too bad for most things.
The 4G in the village has had a massive upgrade in the village recently though, so the “back up” situation is at least better.
I really do think you’re flogging a dead horse here. Whenever you buy a service, there is always some sort of contract or agreement, and if a payment is due then for most things like this it is periodical, usually monthly and you agree to pay the monthly ammount. I don’t think you’ll find a provider that does better than that.
Probably.
I use Free in Yvelines and it really is quite impressive though it’s difficult to actually use 5Gbps as the ports on the router only support 1Gbps (IIRC) though there are three ethernet ports available, plus the WiFi connection. It’s pretty good for bragging rights though.
It seems to have accelerated around here in Normandie.
The extra bandwidth is useful if you ever host numerous devices, such as when you have a loads of visitors.
Even if speed or capacity is not a concern fibre connections are inherently more stable as they are not subject to electromagnetic interference. A classic ADSL confuser in a rural setting is your local farmer stringing electric fence lines too close to your incoming 'phone line.
The state of the copper telephone infrastructure is also a contributory factor for poor ADSL connections. Until we recently went over to fibre ours & 6 other connections were routed through a broken junction box (tractor damage) with all the internals wide open to the elements. That’s not to mention the overhead lines that had had multiple repairs over the years, & the two missing posts.
As the copper network is being phased out commune by commune (hence no maintenance) there will come a point when all connections will be via fibre, even those that are currently a true POTS*/“ligne fixte”.
*Plain Old Telephone Service.
Worse, Billy.
What they mean is 1 month notice (or just possibly 60 days) of notice by them that they are withdrawing the deal they sold you.
Watch out for this with Sosh, and Free to my personal knowledge. Lebara also did a bait and switch on me this year - 1 month after I moved to them, imposed a price rise taking effect 2 months later of 30%.
I have ADSL with RED (SFRs cheaper option). I’ve had it 4.5 years now, and I don’t pay any more now than I did 4.5 years ago. I can also cancel at any time with no penalty. I only pay for the month I’m in when I cancel, the month I have already paid in advance. Same for my mobile, same price as 4.5 years ago, except foran extra paid for option I added, and I can cancel at any time. Not sure if they still do these types of offer, but then it was cheap and a no brainer for flexibility.
Ah yes. … prévue and désolé.
I could add navré to the list of cut and paste formula words that basically make me think “No, you aren’t sorry…” or “No, it won’t happen” (but they’ll run you up to the wire of when it should happen, before they confess)
Was there any evidence anyone worked on it at all, today?
I’m running 2 of these at the moment… One where Chronopost has repeatedly lied to me and the retailer and failed to deliver a package to me over and over again for 5 weeks. And another where GLS dumped a monster package over my gate without any préavis in my absence, landed it in to long storm-sodden grass long after the order had been cancelled due to over two weeks of them not delivering(vs advertised delivery time 3-5 days). I’ve had to write legal letters to get the retailer (a well known retailer) to remove the package and weeks later they’re trying to fob me off with a voucher.
So prévu… désolé… navré…that’s just their lips moving.
That’s the thing, Orange will not tell me what the specific problem is or where it is other than to say the fault is with another provider over which they have no control. During my travels locally I am aware of where communication masts are sited and a number of large roadside control boxes but no one seems to be frantically working on them.
I hope you have a better outcome with your two ‘cases’ than we are currently experiencing.
Sorry to hear that, Karen. When things go wrong they do go really wrong. Mind you, my daughter in the UK regularly has similar problems so it’s not just France…
