For the last few months our internet connection has been getting progressively worse. It has been frustrating, not only because we were busy with many other things, we needed to do our online driving practice tests, but also to keep in touch with people, read news and so on. We have a second phone line which works over IP but without internet, that doesn't work. We are also supposed to have a TV decoder for paying channels but without internet that also doesn't work. If the decoder is connected and there is no internet, the tv won't work either, so we have not installed it in view of our current situation.
At the start, the internet would cut out around 8am and sometimes come back around 10 or 11pm. We spoke to other people in the village and they told us this was normal. So we thought, ok, we can live with that, even if we don't think it's normal. The connection slowly became worse, with the outages increasing in length. The tone on the phone was also worse and I could hardly hear anyone calling in.This was no longer normal.
On contacting Orange (French Telecom) and explaining the situation, they asked us to try a few things, and then decided to send a technician. The technician arrived and we explained (again) the problem and he told us - this is normal. He didn't look at anything or do anything.
So 2 weeks later the internet was even worse and we ended up with no internet whatsoever, so it was time for more serious action. The only way we could connect to the Internet was by engaging the phone as if we were going to make a call and then as soon as we finished doing what we were doing, disconnect and the Internet connection would immediately disappear.
Contacted Orange again and they asked us to change the filter, change the phones around and if that didn't work, they would send someone. "They" happened to be two lovely older technicians who looked at all our cabling. They found a few problems - so we're not mad - an old line with bells, apparently from an old phone system, which may interfere with the current system, a birds nest of cables in the loft which looked like a plate of angry spaghetti. The internet worked, but the phone didn't sound much better. But they left, we were happy - for 5 minutes and then the internet connection disappeared. Back to the same old tricks.
Called Orange again and they decided it might be the Livebox (router). So we arranged with our friends up the road to collect it from Limoux (as no driving for us!) and spent a while installing it. Finally we finished at 1am and did some work on the internet. All seemed to be well. But the next morning it was back to its usual self, with the red light flashing like mad and no connection at all. The phone trick was also starting to be unreliable.
So I formulated a condensed series of events for the next call from Orange - they were going to call us this time, after the installation of the new Livebox. I was going to tell them that as Orange was not able to provide all the services we are paying for we feel they were not keeping their side of the contract and they should have checked before selling us this package that it would actually work in our area - basically Orange sold us a lemon. But when the lady called she was so sweet (they saved her for this moment) and she was very understanding and said they would arrange for a specialist technician to come out the next day.
The technician called and said - bonjour, we have found a small problem on your line - I found this quite funny as each time we rang Orange they "checked the line" and found nothing. So I asked him to repeat it and he said yes, there is a problem on the line.
He arrived today - without smile, without greeting, and started taking apart what the other lovely guys did last week. But what happened today? We had a thunderstorm at lunch time and somehow that got rid of a lot of gremlins in the system and the internet worked perfectly for over an hour - blast - they finally send someone specialised and the thing works! But I should have relaxed as it was short lived - as soon as he started moving things around, the connection disappeared. Wouter showed him what we had to do to get internet. He found the whole thing strange too.
The time spent on sorting this out has been significant and I can well understand people getting upset with helpdesk assistants on the phone who try to establish the details of the problem. But for now we have internet and I will be interested to see whether or not it is still working tomorrow morning.
Thursday 2 July 2009
Driving Test
On Friday we sat our theory exam for driving. It's been an interesting experience to go through all of this, but I must say it has helped understand how the French drive, even though I get the feeling noone actually follows the letter of the law - maybe that's why they have so many laws and red tape here - if there is enough of it, one of these days someone is bound to follow the rules. We've also met quite a few new people and some new contacts.
Three times a week we went into Limoux to the driving school to do practice tests like they would be in the exam, and be frustrated beyond belief at the logic behind some of the answers. However, after a few times we feel we have come to understand how the French drive and think when driving. One interesting thing we found out is that smoking and eating while driving is 'interdit' - forbidden - because it means you must take your hands off the steering wheel to do it. Also, using the cellphone is interdit - every second car here you see someone talking on a cell phone or smoking a cigarette.... It doesn't help if you do the online tests and then find out that some of the answers are wrong, like this one (we chose the correct answers by the way):
Here are some sample questions - the question is read to you and then you have around 12 seconds to enter your answer, there may be more than one correct response to a question, and there is always at least one incorrect option amongst the options:
On 13th month, after the sign, I may:
make a stop - yes.... A no....B
park - yes....A no....B
I may:
- park before the sign......A
- park after the sign............B
- stop before of the sign.....C
- stop after the sign............D
On a new vehicle, the tyres installed on the front axle and also those installed on the rear axle must be:
- of an indentical structure
yes......A no........B
- of an indentical type
yes.....C no........D
I am well positioned for:
- turning right...................A
- continuing straight ahead....B
- turning left.....................C
- making a u-turn................D
Answers:
Q24 = A D Q3 = B C D Q19 = A C Q23 = C D
The test itself was another story. We did a practice exam at the school and then went down to Rue Blanquerie where we used to live. There is a huge building there, and we always wondered what was inside. Now we know - a lovely courtyard with lovely flowers and exotic plants and a big hall like the old NZ school halls with a stage and big windows. All the different driving schools turned up with their pupils who were all nervous (including us) and hoping to pass (ditto). Then you had to queue up for your turn, as they put the papers in a certain order so you have to go in by the order of the papers - sounds something like trouping the colour... Anyway, we were outside and Wouter thought this is a good thing because even though it was hot and sticky, sitting inside a hall with no air con for half an hour is awful before an exam. We felt better - slightly. Butterflies continued finding their way around my stomach and we wished each other luck. Handsets were given out and then the instructor said a lot of things which we neither heard nor understood due to lack of volume and speed of speech. But we managed to put in our security codes correctly before the exam started. The first few questions were all a blur as I realised this is it - we're really doing the test - all those weeks of reading, trying to do our internet tests (this is another story), going to classes, it's now or never. The end of the exam - phew, sigh, relief. Each person went up to the desk of the softly spoken man in exactly the same order as entering the room. The man tells you once you have given in your handset whether or not youv'e passed - in front of everyone. So there was another advantage to enter the hall almost last....... Poor people who didn't pass - no privacy to say BUGGER! Wouter's turn - PASS, a few more people, my turn - PASS. Excitement and happiness follow and we are both really pleased we passed. Of course now we are not allowed to drive until we have had our practical exam and (hopefully) passed that too.
We still think there is something wrong with a system which will allow the exchange of driving licences from countries such as Nigeria and Liberia, Vanuatu and other little dots of islands that not many people have heard of. But rules are rules, and NZ licences do not qualify to exchange for a French one. We could have gotten around it several ways - had we known in time what was required. One way was to go to Britain and become resident for 3 months, and then 3 months before the expiry of our international licence, apply for a British one, come back here and exchange it for a French (EU) one. Another way was to visit Vanuatu before leaving NZ and get a licence there. A straight swap would have been done in that case. Another way was to contact some guys over the 'net and "buy" an EU licence, but both of us didn't like the look of them - they reminded us of used car salesmen and we wondered how far our money would go if we attempted to buy another licence in cyberspace.
Three times a week we went into Limoux to the driving school to do practice tests like they would be in the exam, and be frustrated beyond belief at the logic behind some of the answers. However, after a few times we feel we have come to understand how the French drive and think when driving. One interesting thing we found out is that smoking and eating while driving is 'interdit' - forbidden - because it means you must take your hands off the steering wheel to do it. Also, using the cellphone is interdit - every second car here you see someone talking on a cell phone or smoking a cigarette.... It doesn't help if you do the online tests and then find out that some of the answers are wrong, like this one (we chose the correct answers by the way):
Here are some sample questions - the question is read to you and then you have around 12 seconds to enter your answer, there may be more than one correct response to a question, and there is always at least one incorrect option amongst the options:
On 13th month, after the sign, I may:make a stop - yes.... A no....B
park - yes....A no....B
I may:- park before the sign......A
- park after the sign............B
- stop before of the sign.....C
- stop after the sign............D
On a new vehicle, the tyres installed on the front axle and also those installed on the rear axle must be:- of an indentical structure
yes......A no........B
- of an indentical type
yes.....C no........D
I am well positioned for:- turning right...................A
- continuing straight ahead....B
- turning left.....................C
- making a u-turn................D
Answers:
Q24 = A D Q3 = B C D Q19 = A C Q23 = C D
The test itself was another story. We did a practice exam at the school and then went down to Rue Blanquerie where we used to live. There is a huge building there, and we always wondered what was inside. Now we know - a lovely courtyard with lovely flowers and exotic plants and a big hall like the old NZ school halls with a stage and big windows. All the different driving schools turned up with their pupils who were all nervous (including us) and hoping to pass (ditto). Then you had to queue up for your turn, as they put the papers in a certain order so you have to go in by the order of the papers - sounds something like trouping the colour... Anyway, we were outside and Wouter thought this is a good thing because even though it was hot and sticky, sitting inside a hall with no air con for half an hour is awful before an exam. We felt better - slightly. Butterflies continued finding their way around my stomach and we wished each other luck. Handsets were given out and then the instructor said a lot of things which we neither heard nor understood due to lack of volume and speed of speech. But we managed to put in our security codes correctly before the exam started. The first few questions were all a blur as I realised this is it - we're really doing the test - all those weeks of reading, trying to do our internet tests (this is another story), going to classes, it's now or never. The end of the exam - phew, sigh, relief. Each person went up to the desk of the softly spoken man in exactly the same order as entering the room. The man tells you once you have given in your handset whether or not youv'e passed - in front of everyone. So there was another advantage to enter the hall almost last....... Poor people who didn't pass - no privacy to say BUGGER! Wouter's turn - PASS, a few more people, my turn - PASS. Excitement and happiness follow and we are both really pleased we passed. Of course now we are not allowed to drive until we have had our practical exam and (hopefully) passed that too.
We still think there is something wrong with a system which will allow the exchange of driving licences from countries such as Nigeria and Liberia, Vanuatu and other little dots of islands that not many people have heard of. But rules are rules, and NZ licences do not qualify to exchange for a French one. We could have gotten around it several ways - had we known in time what was required. One way was to go to Britain and become resident for 3 months, and then 3 months before the expiry of our international licence, apply for a British one, come back here and exchange it for a French (EU) one. Another way was to visit Vanuatu before leaving NZ and get a licence there. A straight swap would have been done in that case. Another way was to contact some guys over the 'net and "buy" an EU licence, but both of us didn't like the look of them - they reminded us of used car salesmen and we wondered how far our money would go if we attempted to buy another licence in cyberspace.
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