ADSL, for those who don’t know what it is, is a very fast ‘always on connection’ to the Internet. It can be fast enough to watch Television on! Even though France Telecom are promoting its’ qualities and declares 90% of France has availability, in reality it’s only about 70%. The major limitations are the distance from a suitable phone exchange, currently up to 10Kms. When at least 100 customers in the same local service area petition to France Telecom for ADSL (a long process) the service can be made available. Our local village ran a campaign to bring ADSL to the local populace, after 2 years we are just about to get it. Installing ADSL equipment in the exchanges costs money to the commune and France Telecom and they are not always keen.

So, what are the alternatives? If you use the Internet for email and the occasional browsing of websites then continue with a modem. As you can pay-by-the-minute it could work out to be your cheapest option. If you regularly use the internet or run a small business from home then you may wish to consider ISDN, known in France as Numeris or RNIS. This gives a connection speed of 64Kbps, faster than a modem. Modems state they can give 56Kbps; subject to the ‘quality’ of the phone lines. Numeris gives 64kbps as a digital connection. I have heard that there are still phone exchanges unable to provide even that! Costs of Numeris connection vary, some ISPs (Internet Service Providers) charge extra than a standard modem connection.

If you run a full time business from home or an office and need a high speed connection then consider satellite dish connection, not cheap, but if connection and speed are important then this may be the only option if ADSL is unavailable. France Telecom do offer Internet Satellite service for areas with patchy or no ADSL service. Take a look at their website at http://www.francetelecom.fr

To find out if ADSL is available to you visit www.agence.francetelecom.com/vf/tel_maison/index.htm and click on the small red box on the lower right marked “L'ADSL chez vous?” A new window should open where you can enter your phone number.