TimeTwister Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 OK I just moved from Norway to Toulouse, France, and I am looking for a dsl service provider for my laptop, but I have seen that some providers down here include a windowsbased software that is necessary for the dsl to work... How do you guys do it in France -any providers you would recommend? I would prefer to be able to go online with my mandy you see. And no, I do not have a server I can set up to share out the line to my laptop. In advance, thanks for all the help! TimeTwister Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devries Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 I don't know about DSL in France but I would guess the windows software (driver) is for a usb modem. Avoid them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Hi, At home and at work we use Free Telecom under Linux and we are quite satisfied. It's one that officially "support" Linux ..... well may be as badly as Windows, that means bad service for both. If you are in a "degroupe" zone you may have a "FreeBox" modem. It's very fast and it has a Ethernet connection witch is fine with Linux. It's a 2048 to 5000 Kb bandwidth, free telephone, TV. Not bad for 30€ / month. Else you may have a Sagem FAST 800 USB modem witch is also supported by Mandrake. A good invision forum (like here) of Free Telecom users: http://www.freeks-forums.org/ bye roland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Hi Try and avoid wanadoo. Its part of France telecom and all national companies tend to perform worse in their own markets... (I believe wanadoo in UK and Belgium is better) You still need a phone line though unless you can get the freebox (more info Roland please!) Watch out for the sign-up lockins... some really cheap offers are available BUT inlude locking your phone line to them for a fixed period... fine if you dont intend to use it. Im looking to change from wanadoo myself.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 (edited) Hi gowator :) So vacation are finished ? (though vacations or work, that doesn't change much for you ) You still need a phone line though unless you can get the freebox (more info Roland please!) Currently you still need a line, even with FreeBox. It's going to change, next year I think. I know 9 Telecom have a quite good similar offer (high bandwidth, Telephone, TV) where you don't need a France Telecom "tax" but I think it's less widely available than the Free one. Worth a look anyway. Watch out for the sign-up lockins... some really cheap offers are available BUT inlude locking your phone line to them for a fixed period... fine if you dont intend to use it. very true. Free don't have hidden cost. That's one of there advertising. Just the modem is not yours. It's there property. You know what I think of Wanadoo ....... bye roland Edit: I forgot: TimeTwister: welcome in France, welcome in this board :) I don't know Toulouse but I've heard it's a good place. Edited August 23, 2004 by roland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimeTwister Posted August 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Hi everyone! Roland, thanks for the replies. I am wondering if you would be so kind and explain abit what you mean by degroupe zone? Cause I am also looking for a phone connection, so If you are in a "degroupe" zone you may have a "FreeBox" modem. It's very fast and it has a Ethernet connection witch is fine with Linux.It's a 2048 to 5000 Kb bandwidth, free telephone, TV. Not bad for 30€ / month. sounds quite good :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimeTwister Posted August 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 and by the way, thanks Toulouse is a nice town/city, even though things take some time around here hehe -not used to that yet :=) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 I saw the Alice Telecom offer as well which was very cheap but again you had to sign up for the phone line and the prices were not available. Apparently alice are part of italy telecom working in France ? TimeTwister.... You may need to step back a little on French Beurocracy and learn to enjoy it! or at least play it to your advantage... :D I havent been to Toulouse but I hear its a great place too. You dont say where your from but bear in mind if like me you have a significant part of your phone bill on international calls then this could be almost as important as the choice of ISP.... there are big differences on this according to supplier... 9-Telecom (quite clever play on words :D) has free calls in france I think but is more expensive international? As always an ethernet modem will work easiest...the USB ones can be made to work but then you find you have to repeat the woprk when you upgrade or change distro etc. whereas ethernet you might have to pay a bit more but then its cheaper. Internet access is actually cheaper in France than the UK for broadband but broadband modems etc. are much more expensive here than the UK. If your looking into Wifi as well then it might be cheaper to mail order from the UK than buy in France but either ways its cheaper than Norway :D Roland, thanks for the info... guess I must do some work.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 (edited) TimeTwister....You may need to step back a little on French Beurocracy and learn to enjoy it! or at least play it to your advantage... :D Well if most were paid to stay at home that would already be a progress. Not that they work much, but the few they do is to piss people off Hem .... Ok concerning your question: "degroupe" means Free or 9 Telecom use there own network without using France Telecom infrastructure. See here if your place is "degroupe" at Free. cheers roland Edit: looks good: http://adsl.free.fr/degroup/midi.html Edited August 23, 2004 by roland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimeTwister Posted August 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Thanks for the answers :) as to phone bills: i will mostly be using skype ;) but if I have understood this correctly: I need to have a landline subscription (which I currently dont have, but the line is ready since the person who lived in the place a year ago had one). Then I contact free.fr and have them open up a line? So my total costs pr month will be about 43 euros or so? Sounds about right, or do I not need a landline (from e.g. frence telecom)? Sorry for the stupid questions, but I have only been in this country for 20 days :) Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 but if I have understood this correctly: I need to have a landline subscription (which I currently dont have, but the line is ready since the person who lived in the place a year ago had one). Then I contact free.fr and have them open up a line? So my total costs pr month will be about 43 euros or so? Sounds about right, or do I not need a landline (from e.g. frence telecom)? Correct. May be before end 2005 you would not need any France Telecom subscribtion any more. Right now you may check if 9 Telecom or Alice (or else ?) already do "degroupage total" that means without any France Telecom subscribtion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Yep the France Telecom liner is quite expensive ... and as Roland says if you dont use it its a tax! If you aim on using skype and a mobile then it might be cheaper to skip the line altogether... in Paris Noos do a cable/movie deal... Its about 30E/month etc. but if you want cable TV then it works out quite cheap .. if you are planning to learn/perfect French thismight be a bad idea ! ... since its about the only place you regualrly get VO movies! Also Digital TV is coming to France so most of these can be done on a regualr TV... all stuff to consider.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Ooops 1- my bad there is a decreasing cost if you cancel the subscription see http://adsl.free.fr/hd/description.html 2- There is already "degroupage total" for volonteer tester (beta) see http://adsl.free.fr/faq/total.html 3- I'm not a Free reseller, in fact I don't care Free, I'm no going to do some advertising of it any more. Better make your own opinion with the link above. If you want me to translate some parts, please ask. roland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimeTwister Posted August 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Thanks for all the replies :=) I have sent them an email (in english I know, but my technical french is not eh....the best :) So now I will see what they say, regards, TimeTwister Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 You can post it and Ill help .... (or better Roland might add some help... im interested to change too.) my technical French is the only reasonable part of my French.... my grammar and general french sucks.... but after getting used to mispronouncing Oracle as Orak and saying passerelle instead of router or BP (bande passant) instead of bandwidth....:D I guess its OK for that... some terms you might find useful... driver=pilot bp=bandwidth latence=latency or delay ... well any more just ask! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.