How much should broadband be in France?

[Mario149]

I'm trying to get my mum set up with an iPad and wifi - she's been to the local hypermarket telecoms place and has got a broadband contract which she says costs something like €34 per month....this seems outrageously expensive compared to England. Is that the going rate in France or has she been taken for a ride? She has regular telephone already, so I was just imagining something like an extra €10. I suppose it's possible she's changed phone provider so both phone & broadband cost that much, but it still seems pricy.

Any ideas?

[Janosh]

Sounds right, although that price will include the phone line, router, free calls over the net, digital TV etc.

I don't know of a cheaper solution.

[Perik Omo]

About right, we pay €53 per month for 'phone and broadband (Primus for 'phone and Orange for broadband) but Primus have just come up with an offer for both 'phone and broadband that's a bit cheaper.

[Johno]

About €40 for us, router, Darty TV box with endless channels, ISDN phone so free calls anywhere you'll ever really need to phone and 100mb broadband where we are .... All as one package, perhaps that's where the confusion is?

[Mario149]

Hmmm, guess I'll have to see when I get out there in a few days. It's eminently possible she has all the extra stuff you mention but has no idea. It'll be her first experience of using any kind of computer apart from playing scrabble on a Nintendo ds, I'm dragging her into the 21st century with the bribes of Internet banking and emails with pics of her grandchildren (my sis's, not mine!)

[Perik Omo]

Johno said:

About €40 for us, router, Darty TV box with endless channels, ISDN phone so free calls anywhere you'll ever really need to phone and 100mb broadband where we are .... All as one package, perhaps that's where the confusion is?

Jeez, 100mb !!!! We're supposed to be on 2mb out here in the wilds of the Haute-Vienne but rarely get over 1mb and often a lot less than 1mb.

[Le Pop]

Perik Omo said:

Jeez, 100mb !!!! We're supposed to be on 2mb out here in the wilds of the Haute-Vienne but rarely get over 1mb and often a lot less than 1mb.

Us too... ditto for rural Lower Normandy!

[Cunning Punt]

Janosh said:

I don't know of a cheaper solution.

If TV isn't a requirement, I think OVH has quite a good deal; €24/month for broadband/wifi router/free calls.

[Johno]

Perik Omo said:

Jeez, 100mb !!!! We're supposed to be on 2mb out here in the wilds of the Haute-Vienne but rarely get over 1mb and often a lot less than 1mb.

Fibre Optic etc etc ... Leafy burbs of Paris though, so not so comparable but happily stream HD TV, whilst on phone, plus 2 iPads surfing the net, no issues ... Sorry!

[Perik Omo]

Johno said:

Perik Omo said:

Jeez, 100mb !!!! We're supposed to be on 2mb out here in the wilds of the Haute-Vienne but rarely get over 1mb and often a lot less than 1mb.

Fibre Optic etc etc ... Leafy burbs of Paris though, so not so comparable but happily stream HD TV, whilst on phone, plus 2 iPads surfing the net, no issues ... Sorry!

Boo hoooooo.........

[magooagain]

0.5 of an mb in my hamlet,they say its because we are at the end of the line. Still got the free phone deal also, for about 35 Euro per month.

[mikey77]

Yup, me too. 1.1mb in our part of Haute-Vienne if I'm really lucky and no prospect of improvement, I'm told.
Rural France can be pretty much like the Third World. It took a long time to get used to the lights flickering.
Just out of interest, here's a pic of a repair to our phone line done a few years ago by France Telecom...

[PottyMouth]

I've got a Freebox in my apartment. 34 € including TV and unlimited calls to landlines in 90 odd countries.

At current exchange rate comes in at just over 25 quid. Less than I paid for just internet in the UK.

[Mario149]

Spoke to my mum yesterday and she seems to think that she only gets internet and telephone for the money. She does live half way up the side of a big hill in a small village with a communist mayor so I guess that might explain it

Anyway, flying out this morning with shiny new iPad in my bag...welcome to the future mum (hopefully)! If you could work the VCR and a Nintendo DS, you can work one of these Maybe she'll even read this thread in a few days!

[Expatloon]

Internet usage is normally uncapped to, none of your 'fair use' policies.

[anonymous-user]

Im on €32.90 with SFR for TV and Broadband.