On my www.AllRentalsFrance.com website we offer free advertising for any vacation property owner. Some friends of ours in the village of Vias near us have a super home only a few minutes from the Mediterranean. Recently they asked advice about having an Internet connection…
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Hi Tony-
Hope you and Carole are doing well.
Last time we were in Vias we spent some time researching our options for Internet access in the house.
Just last night we were told by a friend who has homes in Paris and Provence that we would interest more renters if we did have wifi in the house. I know that we, personally, would certainly choose a rental that had Internet access above one that did not, but I am not convinced that people who choose our little village for a holiday would have the same priority. In all the years we’ve been renting we have only had one specific request about accessing internet.
Do you think that there is enough of a demand for Internet access that it would be worth our time and expense to obtain it for our place?
Thanks and fond regards from both of us-
Anne
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Hi Anne
I do believe that it will get you more bookings – you do not know who does not enquire because you do not say you have wifi.
My experience is that every single person we had at our own place as renters wanted Internet access – we advertised we had it and we know we had renters because of this. It will cost you about 35 euro a month and you can then have totally free phone calls world wide and offer this as well.
Hope this helps
tt
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Tony
Thanks so much for your response – sounds like we have a good reason to make another trip to Vias!
We’ve had recommendations for Orange, Neuf, and more, and most recently, Dartybox.
Do you have a preference? Vias is still behind the times – we can only get internet and phone, no tv yet included in the packages available to us.
Thanks again-
Anne
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Hi Anne
We use both Neuf and Orange – both seem OK – only the big cities get TV at present, not us hillbillys
See you soon
tt
Tony, my wife and I have just returned from a week’s stay in a gite. On offer was wifi so I took my laptop on holiday for the first time so I could stay in touch with family and business contacts (but not too seriously!)without searching for cyber cafes.
I did not try such a connection before arriving at the gite, assuming I only had to push the right buttons. Wrong. As it turned out, the setup in my laptop needed the attention of a specialist to get its wireless card to talk to Windows. Our hosts organised for a local computer expert calling on them who they needed for their own reasons to also help me too. The bill was reasonable but the lesson is to fully check the wifi link before leaving home.
Keep the news from France coming as it is the most genuine available on the web.
Regards
Peter
Tony,
When it comes to internet access in Beziers, what would you recommend for occasional use? The internet is one of those tools I take for granted these days, and miss being able to do a quick search when I need to know something. I live in the UK but have a house in Bezier that I use for about 4 weeks per year. Having a telephone line and DSL on an annual contract would work out expensive for 1 months use in 12. Are there WiFi “pay as you go” services in the area? I’ve seen that Neuf have a WiFi network, but it appears you need to have a subscription to their other services to get access to WiFi. In the UK there are “pay as you go†mobile data offers from Vodafone, 3 and T-mobile, but none of them are affordable outside the UK when roaming in France. Have any of the French operators started to offer “pay as you go†mobile data yet?
Graham
I viit Franetwce a year.I have a pone line from France Telecom and dial up from Orange. When I go back I can suspend both services. This can set up in England at 0033 155786056, you are speaking to english speaking staff. Hope this helps.
Bruce.
Graham, you can get a pay as you go Orange 3G dongle from Orange shops in France. If you do not live there , then the cost is 90euro, with 2 hrs free. 15euro for 2 hours therefater, or 15 euro for a complete weekend up to 100mB download limit.
I live and work in the Dordogne and am involved in installing and fixing computer and wifi problems mainly for English speaking clients. One of the most frequent problems I am presented with, is connecting a laptop with WiFi to an French Telecom / Orange “Livebox”.
You need to press the “Pairing Button” on the Live box otherwise if it is a non-orange wifi card/dongle on the laptop it will not connect, even if you have input the “WiFi Key Code” if it is in secure mode”.
Colin