Photive

Hi there,
just a few questions that I wanted to ask you all about utilities and that sort of stuff.
So i've paid my deposit on a rental property. Set up a bank acc with Britline and need some advice about utilities.
Phone/Internet including mobile phone- the best options and where to find them?
Water - no idea how this works at the moment..
Electricity - are there a list of providers?

And anything else that i'm not seeing or thinking about at all?

Thanks in advance,

Peter

EuroTrash

Phone/internet - plenty of packages for under 30€ a month for unlimited internet and unlimited VOIP calls throughout Europe.
This is a good comparison site for adsl providers (there are other comparison sites) where you can start by finding out which providers are available to you at your address, and then look at the packages on offer: Comparatif d'offres ADSL et Internet - test ADSL et abonnement ADSL
Everyone has their own views on the various providers, for every recommendation there will be a horror story and vice versa.
Orange, used to be FT, is the only provider that offers English speaking customer services AFAIK, and many people prefer them because they are responsible for the lines no matter what provider you use.
FWIW I'm with Free (they're not free) and I haven't had any major issues over the years. My bête noire is SFR - but some people no doubt think SFR are great and Free are rubbish.
Free also has a special mobile offer for adsl clients but I didn't actually take it up. Mobile deals are a very individual thing aren't they, what's best for you depends on your usage pattern - are you a low user, do you want PAYG, or do you want a pay monthly with all the bells and whistles.

I don't think you normally get a choice of water provider, it's whoever your commune has partnered up with. Sometimes the commune supply their own water. Ask your landlord, or at the mairie.

Electricity is normally edf, so if that's the case it would probably be simplest to start off with them and move to another provider later if you want.

Hope this helps! Utilities in France generally have excellent websites and just about everything can be done online, it's all a lot easier than it was ten years ago.

Photive

Fantastic Advice Euro, greatly appreciated!

TinaBee

If you are in a rural area mobile phone signals can be patchy. If you have neighbours it might be worth asking which service providers have the best coverage in your area.

cyrian

For services you can set up prélevements automatic (direct debits).
You will need a RIB for your bank a/c.
This would normally be available in your chequebook or to download online or print at a CA atm.
You could be asked for a RIB anytime someone asks for your bank a/c details.
Print out a couple of them.

Frenchie51

If you are in a very rural situation, like us, Orange is the only option. When we have approached other suppliers they have wanted an extra premuim due to our situation, Also as said earlier Orange have an English speaking helpline and always get out to us quite quickly when we have a problem,which is quite often.

Photive

Going for Orange! it seems to be the best option for our rural house, thanks for the advice all..

JohnHammond

Hi
we bank with Britline too although our house is not in Normandy. They are great and their monthly service charge is less than a Euro. But our local Credit Agricole stinks so we closed the account, (which they never gave us a cheque book for.) (Each region has its own Credit Agricole, they are NOT branches of the same bank, although they have the same name.)

We use Orange Livebox for internet and landline. Great. We have a PAYG orange mobile which we only use in emergencies or when certain French businesses insist on ringing you on a mobile, as they refuse to ring a British mobile. Companies like Orange or EDF. So for mobiles we normally use our British ones and even though we are in the sticks we get a signal although mine is with Tesco which means it simply searches for the strongest signal then uses it, which happens to be Buygues (not spelt right) most of the time.

EDF are the biggest bunch of idiots out, but as we are tariff "Tempo" which has 3 daily rates and three off peak rates, it saves us a ton of money when we are not there i.e. in the winter 6 months. When I say they are idiots, they didn't read our meter for over a year so when I went the half mile it took to go to the meter, it was bust! Still not fixed! They blame Enedis who do all the electrical installation for them.

Water, unless you have your own well or spring, you'll be stuck with the local provider. Not usually a problem.

Gas, no idea, we are off grid for that and simply use butane or propane cylinders for cooking.

Wood for a log burner, if you have one, cultivate a neighbour to find a good supplier and buy it in 1 metre lengths, then get a cheapish chainsaw to cut it into 30cm lengths unless you have a huge log burner! We tried 1/2 metre lengths and still had to cut the ends off quite a few. Also for some reason you get more wood in a stere of 1 metre lengths than you do in a stere of 1/2 metres lengths. Don't know why. Make sure it is "hardwood" i.e. anything except any form of pine, and dried for at least a year.

Best of luck

JohnHammond

Also, depends on how good your french is, but I find it is best to webchat with them if you have a problem. Emails don't get answered or get stock answers. Letters don't get answered, conversations can end up in rows, even though I taught French for 34 years, there can be misunderstandings on the phone, plus it costs a fortune to phone them from the uk. If you are in France, not a problem.

scrubbedexpat056

I went with EDF for my electricity because they have an English speaking service. When I asked, it turned out they also supply gas so I use them for both. I use SFR for the landline and internet since they had a special deal for newbies of 15 Euro a month unlimited internet and they gave me a free sim card for up to 2 hours calls per month. Not much admittedly, but free and useful for signing into internet based accounts that demand a French number and the odd call if you haven't already got a French phone. Suez supply our water so I was able to simply set up an account online.
SFR don't have an English speaking service, though when someone rang me yesterday and I got bogged down enough to make it a waste of both our times, she said an English speaking colleague would call me. I missed a call today so we'll see if this ad hoc system works when I call back. I have to say there was an annoying lack of communication between the SFR boutique where I went and ordered the internet, my French being up to face to face conversations, and the technical department that were supposed to come round and set up and test the system. It all worked in the end, but I lost a couple of weeks internet use just when I was trying to set the utilities up.

south_bound

That surprises me, in the past we have just had the boxes and cables delivered with instructions on how to set it up, and a web-chat link for if we need help. There always seems to be a few days without connection whenever we have moved or changed suppliers, but not the end of the world.

scrubbedexpat056

I think the technician was needed because I also paid them to reconnect the line. The confusion was simply that the first visit was cancelled, but they called to tell me on a number that I used as a data only sim in a mobile wifi device. From the beginning the woman in the boutique understood and was very helpful saying they would use my email if they ever needed to contact me. This didn't get through to the technical department. Even with the aforementioned free sim logged as the primary contact on my account they phoned the wrong number for three weeks trying to arrange a visit. I would cycle in once a week to complain and they would confirm the right number on my account, phone the technicians and point it out and then say to me they could not arrange the appointment on my behalf from the boutique. Finally I suspect they got sick of me coming in and one of them phoned the technicians and arranged an appointment. The guy who came took 5 minutes and it all worked perfectly.
All the other things I have had to arrange so far have gone well so I can't complain. Too much.

HarvsUK

Hi, this is my first post. I just have bought a property in Maubourguet, SW France, and wish to get a broadband connection ASAP. I have tried to ring the Orange English speaking service, but it all appears to be in French, and as yet, my French is insufficient to be able to interact with the verbal menu system. Does anyone have a number which connects directly to the Orange English speaking service? Thanks in advance.

Novocastrian

It took M. Google 0.36 seconds to come up with 09 69 36 39 00

HarvsUK

It took M. Google 0.36 seconds to come up with 09 69 36 39 00

Thank you for your response. This is exactly the number which I rang and which is entirely in French, hence my query to the forum.

Thanks again.