::Le Mag Group:: Taking the Lid off the French Telecom Market

Taking the Lid off the French Telecom Market, Oct 04

Poor exchange rates and dramatic increases in utility and fuel bills means there has never been a better time to look at making savings. Your telephone and broadband services are one area where you can make big savings and improve your service at the same time if you do your homework.
UK Telecom is one of the fastest growing telecom companies in France and provides services to English speaking Expats. The company is launching a new service in November that provides a ‘one bill’ solution for customers, allowing them to have a single provider for their line rental and calls – with many different call packages to suit all customers – giving savings of up to 60% on their calls. For the first time customers can even choose their own combination of overseas destinations to include in their very own bespoke call package.
Bob Elliott, Commercial Director of UK Telecom says ‘Compared to the UK, France lags behind in the competitive telecom market. The most obvious examples are very high call charges and poor customer service. Looking at the cost of calls first, the fact is that almost every provider charges 12 cents every time a number you dial is answered. Connection charges have long since disappeared in the UK and as it costs the telephone companies no more to deliver the first minute of the call than the last, it is their way of inflating their profits. Next is the level of service delivered by France Telecom when a new line is ordered or it develops a fault. New customers asking for a line to be installed can be met by a determined France Telecom sales person insisting that unwanted call packages are purchased at the same time. The incentive for the sales person is the commission they receive but the cost to the customer is that they can no longer choose from the many other providers who can deliver a good service and save a lot of money. Refusal to take an additional service has been known to lead to the FT sales person simply putting the phone down on them!’
Some customers also face difficulties reporting faults with their line as the France Telecom service is available in French only. The combination of rapid speech and a technical subject often makes the fault harder to resolve. With UK Telecom’s English speaking Customer Support service via a freephone number these problems can be overcome.
There are lots of companies offering ‘free calls’ but many of their adverts are misleading and would not be allowed in the UK. What is being offered is a call package that has to be purchased and this will give you unlimited calls, typically to land lines but not mobiles, for one or more countries. Be very careful though as some of these offers have connection charges on top of the cost of the package so what are advertised as free calls can be anything but!
‘Free calls’ are also offered over the internet. Those going over a broadband service may be of a poor quality, depending on how far you are from your local telephone exchange. Anything more than 5 km will result in clipping of words to calls failing part way through. There are many examples of mis- selling of broadband and as there are activation fess and cancellation fees you can pay a lot of money for something that does not work. Protect yourself by doing your own test, get access to the internet and put your number in www.degrouptest.com; if the results show you are more than 5 km away from the exchange or that the signal to noise ratio is more than 60db it is very unlikely that any provider can give you a reliable service.
Having got the service you want, take steps to minimise problems. Unlike the UK much of the telephone line network is on poles, not underground in ducts, so it is more vulnerable to damage from the elements. Use a surge protector for your modem and PC. This will not guarantee full protection but will help in less severe conditions. Remember to disconnect both your telephone and modem if there is a bad storm as power surges regularly damage phones and modems and your supplier will not be liable for their replacement.
You can find a 20 page Free Guide to the French telecom market by visiting www.uktelecom.uk.net