You may of seen in various adverts from Internet Service Providers that contain references to ADSL 2 or ADSL 2+. If you are looking to get connected to the Internet or to change your provider then you may be wondering what the differences are.
ADSL 2 is an improvement on the capabilities of ADSL and provides potentially faster speeds to access the Internet. It all really depends on how far away the exchange is from the point where the connection terminates, as in your home etc.
ADSL typically reaches 8 Mbit/s within 1.5 km (5000 ft) of the exchange which houses the equipment used to make the connection to the Internet.
ADSL 2 provides higher download rates of up to 12 Mbit/s for distances of less than 2.5 km (8000 ft). Upload rates also improve allowing you to send information out such as emails etc. at faster speeds.
There are other improvements which allow the higher speeds such as the way the information is dealt with if there are any errors in reception.
Sadly as with all new technology, you will have to upgrade your ADSL box if you want ADSL 2. You will need to have equipment that will work with ADSL 2 standard as ADSL equipment will not work with the higher speeds of ADSL 2. So if you have an existing ADSL line and you wish to upgrade to ADSL 2 or you already have an ADSL box and looking to have ADSL 2 then you most likely need to obtain a new box. As ever, check the manuals or the supplier of the ADSL box to make sure.
Most Internet Service Providers will supply all the equipment you will need. They will send to you the ADSL box and WIFI adapter along with all software and manuals. And yes it will all be in French! However don’t panic! From experience, the Wanadoo LiveBox instructions contained lots of pictures.
However with operating systems such as Windows XP, the installation can be fairly easy and uncomplicated. I have heard that Alice Internet as Tiscali was called, will send out an engineer to assist. I am not sure if this is correct but it would be nice if it was true!
On the 31st March 2006, France had 10.5 million broadband connections, of which 94% are ADSL subscribers, a 3.2 million lines or 43% increase from a year before. ADSL 2 is still a fairly recent development and Internet Service Providers are starting to bring out offers with many bundled features.
Providers such as Free (www.free.fr) and Cegetel (www.cegetel.fr) offer such features as multi-channel TV, movies on demand and much cheaper phone calls. Higher speeds will allow better viewing of TV and films and ADSL 2 will provide a service to enable that.
If you are looking to find out what services are available to in your area then all you need is your phone number and post code (or possibly just your department number). Here are three websites to use to see what is on offer
http://www.dslvalley.com/adsl/eligibilite-adsl.php
These websites are in French but seem to fairly easy to use and understand.
Even though ADSL is spreading all over France there are still areas with limited services or choices of Internet Service Provider. Most will find Orange (www.orange.fr - used to be Wanadoo) will be available but there are cheaper services around. Choose the best deal suited to your needs. Good luck!
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My name is Bob Toovey, a UK expat living in south west France. I have worked in IT for over 20 years. I hope to give you helpful advice about using your computer and more whether you run a business or just enjoying expat life.
