Peppy Broadband in Paris

October 30, 2008 1:50 AM

My girlfriend and I are moving into an apartment in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. We'd like to be able to stream video and download various things at high speed and we're trying to figure out which service to sign up for.

Having a fast connection is only second in importance to reliability. Everyone seems to have Orange ADSL but I've also heard people talk about Numericable. Do any of you have experience with either of these? Are there any other options that you'd recommend?

A lot of these come in packages with TV options. I'm having difficulty figuring out if most of the providers support HD. If I get an Orange ADSL package, will I be getting an HD box? My French isn't so great...

As a side note, we're dying without access to high speed Internet. The quicker they are to install it, the better :) I'd rather not wait another month to have fast internet.

Thanks for your help.

posted by swhitt to computers & internet (3 comments total)

As a former 12th arrondissement habitant i have only one word for you: FREE

For some people the setup is long and complicated (because France Telecom has to make some connections in your appartment and they're reluctant do to it quick) But in my own experience FREE built my ADSL line in 2 weeks.

As for the internet speed, i always took FREE in the various apartment i occupied in Paris since 5 years and the connection is really fast and reliable.
posted by Jaloux Saboteur at 3:34 AM on October 30, 2008

I've been using le Neuf for years now and it has not been really annoying (getting someone on the hotline is not always easy though). It offers 5 HD channels in its basic offer.

Free is said to give its users a hard time whan it comes to fix problems (phone calls to technicians interrupted, misunderstandings, and so on) but it's only hearsay, and they offer HD tv with their basic set (29,9 € a month).

Orange is reliable, has a good hotline and real technicians but was a little overpriced compared to the other ones (but according to what I'm seeing on the net now, their prices are getting lower, but still a little above). Orange states that HD TV comes with a set of requirements concerning your hardware (TV set itself) and the place where you live (ADSL is still spreading in France, but in the 12th I guess that it's OK) and that you have to subscribe an option ("time control") which apparently costs 5 more €.

Dartybox offers a service "TV on your PC" which is free (you don't have to subscribe the TV option) but offers also the same services as Free and LeNeuf, except that the hotline seems much more satisfactory. HD is limited to 2 channels, and you have also to subscribe an option (4 € a month). The offer on regular TV seems pretty limited, and expanding your choices is going to cost you a lot more.

Dartybox and Freebox seem power consuming.

Numericable seems to have a lot of bad users evaluations here, but I really don't know this provider.

This states that Free is the best as far as TV is concerned right now (since HD is included for an interesting price), that Numericable is the more expensive if you want to benefit of the TV options, that Dartybox is still creating its offer (it's in its early stages), and that Le Neuf, which has been recently merging with several cellphone and internet operators is going to benefit from their previous experience in the multimedia realm.

Concerning HD, you have to consider that benefiting from the option is related to the actual place where you're going to settle. Ask your neighbours wether they do enjoy this kind of service (distance from the main telephonic wire knots is of the essence). Concerning the various offers : don't forget that the various offers come with or without a telephone line. Unlimited telephone doesn't mean that you have a phone line. It must be stated that the phone line is included (dégroupage total). If you chose an offer without the phone line, you'd have to add 15€ a month approximately to get one, and get connected physically to the network.
posted by nicolin at 3:38 AM on October 30, 2008

Free also has a tv-on-your-pc thing that works with VLC, and has no DRM. I've had to call their technical support a couple of times for physical phone line issues, and have always been quite happy with them.

Plus you get unlimited free phone calls to the US.

The density of Paris should make HD available anywhere.
posted by stereo at 5:43 AM on October 30, 2008