Mobile telephony and Internet box: how do the French judge their operators?

The magazine 60 Million consumers conducted a survey to find out if you are satisfied with the services of mobile telephone operators. Decryption in franceinfo conso with Amine Meslem, section manager at the magazine. He surveyed 2,000 subscribers.

franceinfo: First observation almost half of French people who have Internet are connected to fiber. And yet, it often gets stuck when you have to make this connection. Because of the deadlines and the work to be done in themselves?

Amine Meslem: Yes, you would think that with so many French people benefiting from fiber, the connection is now a formality. But that's not really the case. 46% of subscribers surveyed had to wait more than a week before having their access activated.

Sometimes things get stuck afterwards, at the time of installation, the dissatisfied point out the actions of the service providers, in charge of commissioning, reproaching them for not using the existing infrastructures, for example ducts to pass the cables or they carry out small works, without the prior agreement of the owners.

And what we learn in your article is that nobody is safe from Internet cuts on the other hand?

Yes. Unfortunately, the majority of those interviewed have already seen it occasionally. But those we observe the most are SFR subscribers, who most frequently observe this type of fluctuation. There are even 30% of the latter who regularly experience cuts in their access, which is twice the average. In general, these service interruptions are due to bad weather or work being carried out on the network.

There is a real scourge that you regularly denounce among 60 million consumers, it is the increase in the price of Internet packages on the pretext that it is substantial. Does this apply to all operators?

Unfortunately, there are operators who increase the price of their current packages, claiming an enrichment of their offers, such as a larger volume of data or the addition of a new service. And there are 31% of mobile operator customers, and 27% of fixed line customers who say they have experienced these unsolicited changes to offers. They are particularly frequent at RED by SFR and SFR and Bouygues Telecom.

And we can refuse, when we are a customer, this kind of offers?

So most of the time, the operators leave the possibility of refusing the change, but they force the users to report the refusal on their customer area within a given time. When operators do not allow the initial offer to be retained, subscribers always have the right to terminate free of charge within four months of the modification of the contract.

A word on the quality of service of mobile operators. It's quite surprising, Sosh, the low cost subsidiary of Orange, seems to give more satisfaction even though it's the same network as the parent company. How is that explained?

Probably because Sosh offers more attractive prices than those of Orange, and while offering an equivalent quality of service. But simply, I think that the perception on the part of the subscribers we questioned is more favourable, in the sense that they paid less to have a quality of service which is overall very satisfactory.

When it comes to having someone on the phone to solve a problem. There, we have the feeling, when we read your survey, that all operators are actually equal, right?

So yes, we can have this impression, indeed the vast majority of subscribers to our panel who contacted their hotline waited more than five minutes. So yes, five minutes on the phone is a long time and 27% of those at SFR even had to wait more than 10 minutes. It's still a lot.

It is more obvious today to change operator, to leave. But do the French do it with more freedom?

So yes, subscribers do not hesitate to compete. Two-thirds of those we surveyed have changed Internet service provider at least once and three-quarters have changed mobile operators. So, yes, they don't hesitate at all. And usually they do it to get cheaper rates.

A word, moreover, if you want to change operator. What should be paid attention to?

So start by checking that the new operator covers your place of residence. It seems obvious, but it's still the first thing to do. Then, you have to compare prices over a period of 1 or 2 years so as not to be fooled by promotions which are often limited in time.

And finally, take into account the possible costs incurred by the termination of your fixed or mobile access, but also remember to indicate that you wish to keep your current telephone number. This is an operation called "portability", which is possible with both a mobile number and a landline number.