Comments on: On Being a Service Provider in the Land of No Service http://blog.cocagne.com/on-being-a-service-provider-in-the-land-of-no-service.htm Cancan, foie gras, computers, expatriotism Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:57:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Blog Odyssée » Exemplaire DMP http://blog.cocagne.com/on-being-a-service-provider-in-the-land-of-no-service.htm#comment-6360 Blog Odyssée » Exemplaire DMP Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:43:44 +0000 http://blog.cocagne.com/on-being-a-service-provider-in-the-land-of-no-service.htm#comment-6360 [...] Mais peut-être faut il se résigner à laisser ce rôle à d’autres ; comme l’a récemment écrit mon ami Denny sur son blog : [...] […] Mais peut-être faut il se résigner à laisser ce rôle à d’autres ; comme l’a récemment écrit mon ami Denny sur son blog : […]

]]> By: site admin http://blog.cocagne.com/on-being-a-service-provider-in-the-land-of-no-service.htm#comment-6317 site admin Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:57:26 +0000 http://blog.cocagne.com/on-being-a-service-provider-in-the-land-of-no-service.htm#comment-6317 No Brian, it\'s not just you. Unfortunately, switching is not a promising solution either. All the suppliers have horrible reputations when it comes to resolving problems. And while it doesn\'t excuse any of them for their inefficient rudeness, a lot of the problems arise because some France Telecom technicians greatly resent the loss of their monopoly, so they don\'t mind causing mischief for non-FT clients down in the cable room. No Brian, it\’s not just you. Unfortunately, switching is not a promising solution either. All the suppliers have horrible reputations when it comes to resolving problems.
And while it doesn\’t excuse any of them for their inefficient rudeness, a lot of the problems arise because some France Telecom technicians greatly resent the loss of their monopoly, so they don\’t mind causing mischief for non-FT clients down in the cable room.

]]> By: Brian Herdman http://blog.cocagne.com/on-being-a-service-provider-in-the-land-of-no-service.htm#comment-6316 Brian Herdman Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:20:21 +0000 http://blog.cocagne.com/on-being-a-service-provider-in-the-land-of-no-service.htm#comment-6316 And I thought it was just me! I use FranceTelecom/Orange and have also suffered from the regular disconnects. Then for the past few weeks all was working perfectly, until the other day when the disconnects returned with a vengeance. They are now longer, web surfing has become incredibly slow, web pages freeze, the screen goes blank, listening to internet broadcasts, such as those from the BBC, is impossible as they sound echoey and Martian, if, that is, I can get them at all. Having tried the assistance phone line before I am just hoping that it all resolves itself, because I just can't face it any more. I have been thinking of switching to Teleconnectfrance in the no doubt erroneus belief that as they have a service line in English I might be better able to get through. And I thought it was just me! I use FranceTelecom/Orange and have also suffered from the regular disconnects. Then for the past few weeks all was working perfectly, until the other day when the disconnects returned with a vengeance. They are now longer, web surfing has become incredibly slow, web pages freeze, the screen goes blank, listening to internet broadcasts, such as those from the BBC, is impossible as they sound echoey and Martian, if, that is, I can get them at all. Having tried the assistance phone line before I am just hoping that it all resolves itself, because I just can’t face it any more. I have been thinking of switching to Teleconnectfrance in the no doubt erroneus belief that as they have a service line in English I might be better able to get through.

]]> By: Michael Grant http://blog.cocagne.com/on-being-a-service-provider-in-the-land-of-no-service.htm#comment-6315 Michael Grant Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:59:23 +0000 http://blog.cocagne.com/on-being-a-service-provider-in-the-land-of-no-service.htm#comment-6315 I live near Grenoble. It took me several years to get adsl while people not far away had it. Our village had to do a petition to FT. FT didn't want to do it because they knew damn well it would hurt their bottom line getting rid of all those people paying per minute to access the internet. The thousands I spent using the internet for my work paying per minute, it was incredible. When the day finally came to put in the adsl, they cut off my dialup account, disconnected my phones, then when no tech arrived to hook things up, I was told it wasn't available and they couldn't reconnect it! No phone, no adsl, and since I was previously on isdn, no possibility to go back to isdn because they had deinstalled it. I put in a "repair" order to get my line repaired. A tech showed up the next day, he understood the problem. On my behalf, he sat on my terrace (plyed with beer) and proceeded to scream at his collegues on the other end of his mobile phone for the better part of a day. He personally mobilized his colleagues to come out the next day and string several km of new wire down the street! I had my adsl and phone the next day. I'm sure if I had not taken Wanadoodoo, this would not have happened. For the most part, the adsl works. I have called FT several times to ask about things and their customer support is abysmal. The problem is always my fault. It's my equipment, It's the fact that I'm supposedly just beyond what is technically feasible. For some reason, my line disconnects briefly several times a day. I finally decided to get a static ip address so that everything I was doing didn't break when this happened. 18 euros/month for a static ip! It nearly doubles the cost of my line. But it makes things more stable. I'm not sure if it's the distance or if FT actively causes these disconnections to disrupt service making it more difficult for people to run servers at their home. And if they do, the customers have to pay a huge premium so that address doesn't change. If you only paid 1 euro to call customer service, you got off very lucky. It's 34c/min and it averages with me about 5 euros and often 10. More if I have to call on my mobile. All I ever get when I call them is 1) It's my fault or something I've done, 2) There's nothing that can be done, 3) I'm trying to do things that are not supported (like using the internet!) 4) I'm accused of illegally downloading music and that's overloading my line (which I hadn't done!) and of course, someone will call me back which they never ever do. Now I know I can get a working adsl connection here, I am thinking of changing to something cheaper than Wanadoodoo. However, just the thought of disrupting things for weeks makes me just not want to touch it. It's seriously worth ordering a second phone line just to avoid the hassels. I live near Grenoble. It took me several years to get adsl while
people not far away had it. Our village had to do a petition to FT.
FT didn’t want to do it because they knew damn well it would hurt
their bottom line getting rid of all those people paying per minute to
access the internet. The thousands I spent using the internet for my
work paying per minute, it was incredible.

When the day finally came to put in the adsl, they cut off my dialup
account, disconnected my phones, then when no tech arrived to hook
things up, I was told it wasn’t available and they couldn’t reconnect
it! No phone, no adsl, and since I was previously on isdn, no
possibility to go back to isdn because they had deinstalled it. I put
in a “repair” order to get my line repaired. A tech showed up the
next day, he understood the problem. On my behalf, he sat on my
terrace (plyed with beer) and proceeded to scream at his collegues on
the other end of his mobile phone for the better part of a day. He
personally mobilized his colleagues to come out the next day and
string several km of new wire down the street! I had my adsl and
phone the next day. I’m sure if I had not taken Wanadoodoo, this
would not have happened.

For the most part, the adsl works. I have called FT several times to
ask about things and their customer support is abysmal. The problem
is always my fault. It’s my equipment, It’s the fact that I’m
supposedly just beyond what is technically feasible.

For some reason, my line disconnects briefly several times a day. I
finally decided to get a static ip address so that everything I was
doing didn’t break when this happened. 18 euros/month for a static
ip! It nearly doubles the cost of my line. But it makes things more
stable. I’m not sure if it’s the distance or if FT actively causes
these disconnections to disrupt service making it more difficult for
people to run servers at their home. And if they do, the customers
have to pay a huge premium so that address doesn’t change.

If you only paid 1 euro to call customer service, you got off very
lucky. It’s 34c/min and it averages with me about 5 euros and often
10. More if I have to call on my mobile.

All I ever get when I call them is 1) It’s my fault or something I’ve
done, 2) There’s nothing that can be done, 3) I’m trying to do things
that are not supported (like using the internet!) 4) I’m accused of
illegally downloading music and that’s overloading my line (which I
hadn’t done!) and of course, someone will call me back which they
never ever do.

Now I know I can get a working adsl connection here, I am thinking of
changing to something cheaper than Wanadoodoo. However, just the
thought of disrupting things for weeks makes me just not want to touch
it. It’s seriously worth ordering a second phone line just to avoid
the hassels.

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