This is a story of how I struggled to get fast, stable internet connection in France in 2023. I find the story funny and also want to share how complicated and time-consuming the process was, as well as to complain about the utterly inadequate quality of service.

I happened to write this in french so the entire text is a translation by LLM (which I reviewed).

context: Free, Bouygues and Orange are big ISPs in France.

When I moved to my current address in 2020, I discovered that there was no fiber optic and I had to use ADSL. To compare, ADSL internet arrived in Bulgarian villages in the 2000s. I find it funny that this technology is still being used in Paris 20 years later. I kept Free as my internet provider because I had never had any issues at the last address. The first thing I noticed at the new address was the slowness, especially in the evening when it often took 15 seconds to load a typical page. Bouygues had promised to contact me by email as soon as fiber optic arrived at my address (Free had no plans for fiber).

Issues with Free

In September 2022, I started experiencing internet outages. Often, the internet became unstable for a few hours (with outages every 10 minutes that lasted for about 2-3 minutes). I contacted Free on several occasions regarding these outages, but instead of looking for a solution, they always sent me messages saying "your connection has been restored." In other words, they did not look for the cause of the outages; they simply informed me when they stopped. On two occasions, they scheduled appointments with a technician at my address, but the technician never showed up (without warning or apologies). At the same time, they informed me that I would be fined if I did not attend the appointment. In January, the quality of the connection deteriorated even further. I left several messages with the support team, which received a little more attention. They even tried to apologize for the internet outages by blaming them on the war in Ukraine. Here are the latest messages I sent:

“Hello, today my internet connection cuts out every few minutes, even after restarting the router. I feel like the technical support has no effect because I continue to have connection problems for months. I have been using internet at home for more than 15 years, and the connection quality provided by Free is the worst I have ever experienced in my life. I am not sure what the point is of contacting technical support given that every time the response I receive is that the request is closed because there is no problem at the moment. The problem keeps recurring, and I would like the Free team to do something more than just close the request. An improvement in connection stability is desirable.”

"I would like to know what you are going to do to resolve the problem and how long it will take."

“It has been over 4 months since there has been any progress. In the meantime, I continue to pay for the service, and on your end, I have no assurance about the timelines. Do you find this normal?”

Here is the kind of response I received at the time:

“I understand your impatience. Rest assured that our technical teams have been notified since the creation of your incident ticket so that we can restore your services as quickly as possible.

We will contact you if we need to intervene at your home.

You will be informed by email of the resolution of the anomaly but also of each intervention.

We do our best to come back to you with the best possible news.”

“I fully understand your dissatisfaction. At the end of the incident ticket, we will make a compensation request for the days when you did not have access to your services.

We will not fail to get back to you as soon as we have more information.”

Twelve days after this last message, Free sent me a message saying “your connectivity has been restored.” By the way, I did not receive any compensation. I leave it up to you to make your own judgments about the quality of service and transparency.

Issues with Bouygues
 

The last time I contacted Free about these outages was on January 17th 2023. On the same day, I asked Bouygues if they had fiber optic at my address and they said “yes” (of course, they never sent me the promised email). I signed my contract on January 17th. Due to a high number of requests, the first available date for the installation appointment was February 1st.

On February 1st, one technician came and found that there were no cables installed in the building (contrary to what the advisor I signed the contract with had indicated). Therefore, he told me that at least two people are needed to do the installation, but he was alone. He said he transferred all the necessary information and I just have to wait for a call to reschedule a new appointment. I scheduled the next appointment for February 22nd, explaining that I need two technicians.

On February 22nd, ONE technician came and found that there were no cables installed in the building. Therefore, he told me that at least two people are needed to do the installation, but he was alone. I was angry and amused at the same time. Apparently, Bouygues is not capable of taking into account the information that was communicated to them. The technician told me he transferred all the necessary information and that most of the work is outside and can be done without my presence. So I have to wait for a call once the external cabling is done to reschedule a new appointment. He told me to contact Bouygues in seven days if they don’t contact me.

On March 2nd, I went to a Bouygues office and the advisor scheduled a phone call with the responsible department at noon on the same day. I wasn’t called that day at noon. I called Bouygues on the phone to understand what was going on. It took me a few minutes to speak to a human and not to a useless bot. I don’t remember all the details of the conversation, but here are the main points:

Advisor: “It’s another department that handles it, I can’t tell you anything.”
Me: “How long will it take?”
Advisor: “I don’t know, we will call you.”
Me: “When will you call me?”
Advisor: “I don’t know.”
Me: “That’s what I was told last time too, but you didn’t call me.”
Me: “How long will it take?”
Advisor: “It can take between 3 and 6 months.”

A week later, I received a voicemail that was incomprehensible even for french native speakers. I could understand that it was Bouygues. On March 10th, I called them and scheduled an appointment for March 20th. They assured me that this will be the last appointment to have fiber.

On March 20th, two technicians came. One of them came to my door and asked me what I currently use for internet. He wasn’t very talkative because the conversation ended there and he went outside to look. A few minutes later, I saw through the window the technicians working in the street. I didn’t see them again after and I still don’t have fiber optic. To compensate for this failure, the feedback link for the intervention doesn’t work :)

Commentary

It seems that quality of service no longer exists and we should never believe a company’s promises. The only thing I can do is share my experiences in the hope that it can encourage the companies in question to improve.

At this moment, I had no expectations from Bouygues. I didn't know if they would call me and if they would install fiber one day. Fortunately, as long as they haven’t installed the fiber, I don’t pay. It’s also fortunate that I work from home and didn’t need to take time off for the three useless appointments.

After the ordeal with Bouygues, I decided to terminate the contract. I returned the router in May, thinking I would try Orange. Since it’s a bit more expensive, I expected better service quality. In the meantime, I continued to receive messages and calls from Bouygues for a month. Apparently, their system didn’t register my contract termination. In the end, they called me to ask for feedback, and I explained how dissatisfied I was.

Issues with Orange

I signed the contract with Orange on June 7th. The wait times for fiber installation were much shorter than with Bouygues, which I took as a good sign.

On June 13th, a technician came and found that there were no cables installed in the building. Just like with Bouygues, he told me it would require at least two people for the installation, yet he was alone. I scheduled a new appointment for June 16th in the afternoon. I chose the afternoon because my natural rhythm is to stay up late and wake up late, and if I don’t get enough sleep, my mind doesn’t function well - it’s a very unpleasant feeling, and I consider such a day wasted. I made sure the appointment was in the afternoon (I think around 3 or 4 PM).

On June 16th, I woke up and went to the living room. I had left my phone there on silent mode to avoid being woken up by spam calls. I saw that I had missed calls and messages. Apparently, Orange had come for installation in the morning, tried to call me, and "I wasn’t present." I called Orange to explain their mistake, and they rescheduled the next appointment for June 19th.

On June 19th, only one technician came. The story repeated itself :) The technician informed me that the router on the street was in poor condition, and Orange would take care of replacing it. Once done, they could proceed with the fiber optic installation. I was called later for another appointment on June 22nd.

On June 22nd, the Orange technicians came to change the router on the street. My presence was not necessary, and it was absurd that they had asked me to be there. Fortunately, I work from home. The next appointment was scheduled for the 27th.

On June 27th, Orange canceled the appointment. The next appointment was set for the 29th.

On June 29th, Orange technicians came and couldn’t install the necessary cables in the street. They told me I would be contacted by phone. When they called, they said I would have to wait for months. I didn’t inquire further. There has been no contact from Orange since (as of November one year later).

In the end, I really have no choice. No one can provide me with quality internet connection in Paris. Is France a third-world country in terms of internet service?

Returning to Free

On September 20th, I received a message from Free indicating that fiber optic was now available at my address. I booked the earliest available appointment date, which was September 25th.

On September 25th, a technician came and found that there were no cables installed in the building. He said he couldn’t proceed with the installation and that I would be contacted soon. Apparently, he was a contractor associated with Free. On the same day, a Free technician contacted me, thinking that the fiber optic installation was for a supermarket. It seems the contractor had given them incorrect information. In the end, three technicians came on the same day to assess the situation. They told me it would take more time, and it was already too late, so we needed to schedule another appointment. The next appointment was on September 27th in the morning.

On September 27th, the technicians came. They had to pass a cable through a pipe that was already filled with other cables. They asked me to give them a bucket of water and dish soap. Apparently, it helps to lubricate the cable for it to go through the pipe. Two buckets and a few hours later, they succeeded and proceeded with the installation in the building. By late afternoon, I had fiber.

Summary

I had to schedule a total of 11 appointments with 3 ISPs and wait for about a year to resolve my internet problem. I find it hard to understand how it works if a person has to take a day off for each appointment. These companies have no respect for the customer’s time.

As you can see in the image, the difference in bandwidth is significant (download 1 MiB/s -> 100 MiB/s; upload 100 KiB/s -> 70 MiB/s). Previously, the bandwidth was particularly awful in the evenings (when everyone is watching, I assume, cat videos and soap operas). The connection is much more stable as well.