No phone line with France Telecom??

[NikkiMK]

OK so I am in the process of getting settled in my dinky lil studio, and was researching Neuf. From what I understand, from other assistants, I MUST set up a phone line through France Telecom before I can get internet through anyone else (Neuf, etc). But on Neuf's website, I see "Neuf vous permet d'ouvrir une ligne et de bénéficier directement de l'offre Internet + Téléphone + TV à 29,90 €/mois(1), sans avoir à souscrire préalablement un abonnement téléphonique auprès de France Télécom."

So, do I need to brush up on my French, or is Neuf saying I *don't* need to go thru France Telecom?? Will this cost a small fortune?? Advice, please!!!

[Samantha.]

It's been a while since I looked at that, but I think there are certain conditions that need to be met before you can get a line directly through Neuf - ie. you need to be in a zone dégroupée, you need to know the phone number of the person who lived there before you, and the line must have been inactive for less than 3 months or something like that.

[bebeclara]

I'm moving next week and am planning to get internet/phone with the Alice box. They are also advertising skipping the France telecom abonnement. Samantha's right, you need to know the phone number of the person before you (hoping they had one), and I believe the line can be inactive for up to 6 months. But I was actually surfing around Alice's website the other day and found this.

Comment connaître l'ancien numéro de téléphone de votre habitation ?

Branchez un téléphone sur une prise téléphonique de votre logement et composez un numéro (ex: 0123456789). Un serveur vocal vous communiquera le numéro de téléphone de votre prédécesseur.
Ou
Appelez le 10 33 (appel gratuit depuis un poste fixe, disponible 24h/24, 7j/7)

On that same page there's also something about a promotion where they'll reimburse up to 71E of your France telecom bill, if for example, the person in your apartment before you didn't have a phone line.

So yeah, Alice seems like a good deal. Actually, now that I'm here, can anybody tell me about the reliability of internet service with Alice?

-Claire

[sci_fi_lullaby]

I set up Neuf in mid September and hoped they would organise my phone line too but nope! There was no phone number before me so I had to get France Telecom to come and install it etc... but the day after I switched to Neuf who cancelled my contract and I've been using it for a month now

[kldavis]

Avoid Alice like the plague, its got the worst reputation. Try Neuf, Free or Darty those are the best. then after that it boils down to personal experiences..

[emltrav]

On the other hand, I'm pretty much hating Neuf right now! They "say" it won't take long to get your line activated if you had the old phone number & everything, but then you have to supposedly wait up to 2 weeks after activation for it to actually start WORKING. Well, my two weeks is up, where the hell is my internet? I'd suggest going with someone who has an actual store in your city/town. I've only been able to deal with Neuf via phone/email (mostly phone) and it costs an arm and a leg to call them.

Good luck!

[sci_fi_lullaby]

Hmm well I ordered my Neuf box through The Phone Shop so as soon as I have a problem I visit them and I use their phone to call Neuf. This way it doesn't cost me anything and every time the problem has been fixed instantly so maybe this is another alternative?

[bebeclara]

The reason I am anti-Free is because a couple of years ago I had it, and because of financial reasons I had to move. So I cancelled my contract, and they automatically took over 100E in fees from my bank account. I believe Neuf charges a hefty cancellation fee too..

So if Alice should be avoided, anyone know anything about the Darty box?

[Samantha.]

How come no one ever mentions Club Internet? A lot of my in-laws are with them, and so when we moved, they encouraged us to go with them. And it's true that I've heard both good and bad stuff about Neuf, Alice, Free, etc, but I've never heard anything bad about Club Internet.

We haven't been with them very long, but so far, I'm really satisfied. My internet was up and running within the promised time period, and every time I've had a question, I've contacted them by email and actually gotten a reply back! And not only a reply, but a reply that answered my question - whereas pretty much every other time I've tried to email a French company, I've either gotten one of those standard cut-and-paste answers that has nothing to do with my question, or one that basically says your question cannot be answered by email, please call our helpline for the low, low price of 32 cents per minute.

[kldavis]

Darty Box is good, they have stores that you can go into and if you're degroupee there's no cancelation fee or installation fee! I've only heard good things about them.

Yeah, Free is obnoxious, when I canceled them this summer I put a block on the virement so they couldn't take out the cancelation fee (its a long story but I should have to pay it... ) they have yet to contact me to get me to pay it hehe

[framericaine]

I have Darty Box, and didn't have internet for the first three weeks after it was supposed to work... we kept calling, and they would say it was an issue with France Telecom's lines that needed to be cleared up and that it was FT's fault... when we asked for a time frame, they kept telling us "five to fifteen days", which is a bit too vague for me. We went into the store after week two, and the woman who helped was very nice, and said it should be working when we returned home. It did... for a little over 24 hours, and then it was the same fiasco all over again for the next week or so. They didn't charge us for the first month, and I don't know how much of the issue actually *was* FT's fault, but it was a serious pain in the ass. As of now, it works fine, although our connection is a bit slow. Really though, I think it's more luck of the draw- I don't know of any internet provider (in France or the US) that is really stellar anyway.

[emltrav]

That seems fairly similar with Neuf. I was told a couple weeks ago that it should take 2 weeks for it to start working after it's "activated" and today (since it's been over 2 weeks), I went to the Phone House to ask some questions. The girl who was behind the counter said that often it takes 3-4 weeks instead of 2 weeks. So, I'm hoping that when I get back from vacation next week it'll be working. We shall see....

[mary kate]

When I signed up for internet with FT I was told it would take "7 to 10 days" for it to start working .... this was late September, and as I recall we didn't have internet until a few weeks after we got back from the Touissant holidays. So it could very possibly be FT's fault, they suck at life.