ballyhoo

Hello
I'm trying to find out whether anyone can point me in teh right direction.
My father lives in rural France and we are trying to set him up on broadband.
Does anyone know if there is a website where I can check whether his area is covered or not? I have tried Wanadoo (as that's all I know of in France!), and everything is in French. Obviously. It's just that I don't speak French!!

Help!!

Thanks

proo

You could try Neuf Telecom, Freebox etc. I'm not sure if they have an English version though.
Maybe googling ADSL on google.fr may help.

bourgogne

try http://www.francetelecom.fr/en/tools...contactus.html

I dont know where you father is, but sadly the cheapo option by tele2 for ADSL are NOT on offer for me as FT have only just got ADSL running here

give 'em a bell

ballyhoo

Thanks for the info. He is between Macon and Bourg-en-Bresse, in farming land! So I do not hold much hope.
Will contact France telecom and see what info they can give me.
Thanks again

bourgogne

i used to live in bourg en bresse, i know the area quite well.

patrox

Put his phone number here:
http://www.dslvalley.com/adsl/eligibilite-adsl.php

( If the signal strengh is lower than 80 and that it says impossible, it's most likely that he will get it in 2006 ). Else it's impossible for DSL, he'll have to wait for Wimax.

Note that there is a Wimax plan for 2006 ( 96% of burgundy should be covered by the end of 2006 in broadband from what i understood ). FranceTelecom is also moving fast to install more and more DSL relays.
The little village next to ours just got covered, so there's really hope.

I am currently using an 128k ISDN line in a village ( it's pricey but that works everywhere , in case he *really* needs it )
Our village is 93 inhabitants and is going to be wired for 2006 ( woowoo! )

pat.
visit burgundy

bourgogne

thanks good link

and my phone number 1 comes up as 'no chance in hell'
but put in the second number i can have it??? FT/BT no change!

where are you in Burgundy? btw

mpprh

Hi

ADSL is spreading rapidly, even to small villages such as mine (pop 800).

Availability is very localised. My connection is 2mb : a house I can see has 8mb, and the other side of the village can only get 512. It depends on your distance from the node. FT only gives a postcode search which is not very useful.

This site : http://www.degrouptest.com does a simulation based on your telephone numbers exact location within the village.

Peter
www.the-languedoc-page.com

patrox

I didn't understand about your second phone number., if you see a green light "disponible" then you can have it. ( it's possible that your second line depends on another phone central )

I'm in nievre ( relatively close to Autun, saone et loire ).
I'm not an expat, but a "repat" ( "luckily" i'm the only french person in my street! )

There's also a relatively cheap satellite provider for those in villages:
http://www.astranet.fr ( require a modem connexion too )
http://www.euroskynet.com/

pat.

ballyhoo

Hello all

Sadly I have tested his number and the mega red light comes up telling us it's impossible. I'm sure they were laughing at such an idea!!!!!

Pat, I have checked out the satellite links and the Euroskynet seems to be an internet link rather than broadband, which he does have already. I will get him to check out the astranet one, as it's in French and I am limited to my son's YEar 3 knowdledge! Shocking, isn't it?

Has anyone heard of "onspeed"? I believe that may speed up the line, but don;t know too much about it. The reason I am looking for broadband for him is that I and my family are emigrating to Australia and we are keen to get him linked up to Skype Video or MSN messenger. He's really keen to keep in touch while being able to see my family via video link.

Any ideas / suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

bourgogne

Autun is a nice city i just cannot believe its be twinned with a shat hole new town in england like STEVENAGE :scared: :scared: :scared: just shows you to IGNORE the twin town signs LOL

i'm in pierre de bresse .... total opposite to you, close to Jura (39)

mpprh

Hi

Onspeed works by reducing the resolution of images.

So, if you are not looking at images it will not make much difference.

You can look at them in low resolution, then click to see the higher resolutions if needed.

Peter

fairweb

You can check on http://www.free.fr and try the first steps of registration process (you just do not confirm subscription) and they will tell you what kind of broadband you may have (if you may). If not I know that the Tiscali provider in France has a non-broadband unlimited connexion offer which may be a solution for you until broadband is available in your area. Hope this can help.