Without access to his SFR box, Jean-Pierre Flipon, from Monchy-Humières “is deprived of phoneofInternetof TV and lots of functions. This 60-year-old man, a municipal councilor in his village, discovered the loss of his ADSL signal on the morning of October 24 when he got up. The sixty-year-old confesses: he is (was) hyper connected. “I have a lot of home automation equipment: the doorbell that no longer works, the smoke detectors, the heating that I can no longer control, the CO2 detectors.” Anyone who carries out their professional activity from home “can no longer do anything online, which is a handicap”. He had to change his cell phone plan to accommodate his internet needs. According to the village hall, around thirty people in Monchy alone, near Ressons-sur-Matzare affected by this cut, and affected or disabled at various levels. “Especially elderly people,” underlines the municipal councilor.
“Open housing hatches”
On the day of the cut, Jean-Pierre Flipon carried out his little investigation. It was quick: “I saw connection box hatches open, I took photos, I went to the town hall with them.” As is often the case, the diagnosis is clear: “People came to steal the copper cables.” It was not the first time, “they had already passed before October 24”, nor the last: “They came again after”. As acts of vandalism continued, the number of victims increased.
Jean-Pierre and other victims obviously contacted their operator. SFR for the chosen one. But for everyone, the procedures invariably refer to Orange “which is the owner of the network”. The rest is only disappointment after disappointment according to the phone calls to the company: “We are at the end of the ADSL route in Monchy-Humières from what I understand, it is not a priority of come and replace the cables while on the contrary they are trying to encourage people to switch to fiber. Today, he still does not know when he will be repaired: “I was given November 11 as a deadline, but it was pushed back to January 27, and we don’t know why.”
Fiber: another headache
Fiber, let’s talk about it: another hassle for Jean-Pierre Flipon: “I’ve been trying to upgrade to very high speed for six months,” he gets annoyed. “This time, it’s SFR delaying the file,” explains the one who had only one satisfaction: “The responsiveness of SMOTHD (Oise very high speed mixed union) which came very quickly to my house to see if I could be connected.” Because the file is also problematic, and initially comes up against questions of compliance of the installations to pass the fiber: “I have technicians who tell me that I can be connected, others, no, Orange did work, but when SFR came, the technician did not notice it, but he did not come to speak to me either.” “There is both a lack of communication between operators, and also a lack of will…” And the delays “between each intervention or contact are very long, at the rate of 10-15 days each time”.
Subscriptions well collected
A situation which sometimes leads to situations bordering on scams: “I have a neighbor who was told about a four-month deadline to connect her to fiber. In the meantime, we suggested that he buy a satellite box for 400 euros and take a package for 40 euros.” Sometimes, in desperation, users come to accept this type of offer, for lack of a solution: “One of the technicians who came to my house explained to me that in certain places in the department people have been waiting for a year,” says -he.
Jean-Pierre is now waiting for the situation to resolve on one side or the other. With one certainty: that of having to continue to pay. “I sent registered letters to which I did not receive a response: for the moment, I have to pay my subscription of 34 euros, if I do not do so, I will lose my line and my number.” If he should be able to benefit from compensation once things are back to normal, “nothing has been formally promised to me,” he assures.
Automatic direct debits from operators: finally something that works.
