MNers living in France - help with finding a Broadband provider

[aznerak]

Hi there
We have a villa in the Languedoc and want to install Broadband. We have ASDL in the village so that is no problem (both neighbours either side are online in fact).

Can anyone advise me who the best company is to go with to provide unlimited broadband?

Best in terms of price, reliability and ease of use.

Thank you!!!

I would not go with Free. My MIL has it and she has no end of problems with broadband and the phone line as well. Maybe she just chooses the lowest cost option and that's why the service is so poor or maybe there is a problem with location (right on the coast) but Free might be one to avoid.

Agree that Free equals ZERO service! There is no call centre... That said, we're with them and have never had any problems so we find it good value - our monthly fee includes all calls to the UK (and other countries!) which is v handy.

Our friends are mostly with Wanadoo and Alice ADSL.

Sorry no comments on cost because DH gets his paid for by work (so he can intervene from home in the small hours if need be). Packages change regularly anyway.

Reliability: DH uncle having all kinds of problems with Neuf.
No complaints from friends with Alice, Cegetel and Tiscali.

It may be that I am v unlucky, but wanadoo/orange
a) swindled me out of over 400 euros and
b) wiped all the data off my hard drive when pointlessly updating my "espace wanadoo".
Even the hardboiled techy guy whom I called in to try and retrieve my data was shocked at how they'd managed to accomplish such a cock-up. They are still denying it.
Maybe ask your neighbours who their provider is, as quality varies from one place to the next. And if you find a good one, let me know.

P.S. as far as cost goes, think they're all in cahoots as they all seem to cost the same, when you sift through their offers.

We use Tele2 for adsl and telephone, they also chuck in tv if you're in the right kind of zone, for approx 30euros/month. Telephone is free to land lines in about 20 different countries too. So far we've had no probs whatsoever, apart from the usual setting up blips, and even then they had a very helpful, and free helpline. Would fully recommend them.

Thanks everyone. Some food for thought here!

Belgianchox - Tele2 looks good though as i am currently in the UK, I cannot phone their number - do you know if the Customer services has an email address that I can try?

Thanks

Aznerak, i'm not at home at the moment, but when i get back next week i'll look into tele2's contact details for you. I'll post them to this thread so you know where to look for it
I'm not sure you'll be able to do much from the UK anyway tho, we tried from Belgium, and it was impossible to get anything set up until we had a landline established with France Telecom which they then takeover. Sorry, just re read your post, you probably already have a phone in the villa so it could work out.

Thanks Belgianchox.

There was a phone line but we didn't carry it on when we bought it, so although all the points etc are throughout the villa, there isn't an active line.

How easy is it to get a lin reconnected in France with France Telecom?

Hi Belgianchox. Any luck with their contact details?
Thanks!

We threatened to take free to court.

Now use neuf but am v hesitant going degroupage totale; never had prob with neuf.

Right, i have all our installation stuff in front of me. So, it doesn't look like they supply an email address, the details they give are as follows:
Service clientele: 0 811 24 00 10
Assistance technique: 0 892 892 789
or www.tele2internet.fr
I doubt that either of those numbers are available to call from outside of france, so probably your best bet would be their web site. Just reread all the bumf, definitely no email contact anywhere.
Concerning reconnecting an existing line, this should be really quick, you just need to get in touch with France Telecom, as i recall that was the quickest part in the whole process.
Good luck!

aznerak - to get your phone connected call France Telecom at 1014 (from France) and give all your details. You should be connected within 5 working days. They can connect you to broadband too for 29.90 euros/month. It gives you free phone as well but only nationally. hth.