I know that Orange (& therefore it’s cheaper offering, Sosh) are often a source of complaint & ridicule by many people on & off this forum so, for once, I’d like to tell a positive story.
Without warning in late June this year (2023) Orange’s subcontractor in our area (14500), Sogetrel, installed the 1100m of fibre from the main road to our hameau of 4 houses. A couple of weeks later they installed the termination box from whence individual clients are connected.
Although we (nor my nearest neighbour) never received a direct notification that fibre was now on offer I did notice it was an option when organising the swap of our Livebox after it got fried by lightning 4 weeks ago.
I finally got around to applying for fibre (via Sosh’s website) on a Wednesday evening, 23/08/2023. I had instant acknowledgment of my order, & asked to set a rendezvous for the connection, which could have been as early as the following Wednesday! Due to a previous commitment I pushed that to the following day, Thursday 31/08/2023.
The fibre (& the traditional 'phone line) arrives at our hameau overhead. When we first had a 'phone line 20 years ago I had installed the 150m of underground ducts needed to reach us from the last poteau; my neighbour, quite rightly, had objected to (then) France Telecom putting up the 3 new poles that would have been required to reach us on his land. I had put in 2 ducts (as was regulation at the time) - one for the telephone & one for future fibre.
I had a busy weekend locating all the 5 old regards that I had put in, then having to thread in new pull lines. The most annoying bit was finding that one of my fibre ducts had been trashed/block by a géometre’s borne that had been added in the intervening years. However, the installer was quite happy to pull the fibre through the same duct as the 'phone line.
Sosh dispatched the new Livebox 5 the following day & it was delivered to us (via a Point Relais) on Friday 25/09/2023.
During the few days after the order I received many emails & texts dealing with the contract change, plus confirming the rendezvous time - arrival of installer between 10.00 & 13.30, with the job estimated to take 3,5 hours from their arrival time.
Separately, Sogetrel, the subcontractor, sent a questionnaire to find out if we knew where we wanted the optical termination point to go in the house, whether the incoming line was overhead or underground &, if underground, where “the” regard was - there was no option to tell them the distance & the number of regards.
Even more impressively the evening before the installation I received a text with a link to a special webpage that introduced me to the technician who would be coming, with the option to send him a direct message. I took the opportunity to tell him exactly what was involved, the fact that I would be on hand help him & that being an electrician I had plenty of experience pulling in underground services. I was also able give him the exact location, as the online application (despite correctly showing our hameau) decided that it had a totally different name.
On the day of installation the technician called me about 10.00 to double check the address, then arrived at 10.15. We had some huffing & puffing pulling in the cable, but he was very good natured & nothing was too much trouble. Apart from a brief coffee break at lunchtime everything took the time estimated & he left us with a completely working system, & a big smile.
We’ve gone from a 5,6mbps download & 0,9 upload ADSL connection to a tad over 300mbps in both directions. The offer from Sosh is for a minimum of 300mbps, which I suspect is more than adequate for most people.
“What’s the cost?” I hear you say… Our rubbish ADSL used to cost us 20,99€/mois - the 300mbps fibre is ours for 30,99€/mois. There was no installation charge. I’m hoping to claw the increase back by taking up a cheaper option for my mobile, but that’s another story.
EDIT: This offer is NOT one that increases dramatically after 12 months, unlike some.
In conclusion, Sosh are highly recommended.
I could not have asked for a simpler, quicker & more pleasant experience from Orange/Sosh. The only hurdles were physical ones related to the state of my old underground ducts, & the worry about the possibly incorrect address.
This wasn’t meant to end up being this long - any more & I’ll need to call myself a blogger, or start a podcast.
