Teleconnect hooks up expats with DSL service

NANTES, Sept 5, 2006 (Expatica) – Telephone service operator Teleconnect is this month branching out to the high-speed Internet market with an ADSL-package aimed specifically at English-speaking residents of France.

Teleconnect launched AngloPack September 1 offering up to 20 megabit/second data delivery for EUR 29.90 month, a price that includes the required Teleconnect modem.

The company is a subsidiary of Budget Telecom that already boasts some 500,000 customers for its fixed and mobile telephone service; it has been targeting the expat audience since 1993 with not only English-speaking customer service agents and “American-style customer service”, said spokesman Jacques Neher.

“With one of the other operators, you’re taking your chances that the person who takes your phon call will understand your problem and be interested in solving it,” said Neher, referring to customer service calls.

As Teleconnect is a call operator, customers who sign up for AngloPack will also have all their calls transferred through Teleconnect’s call-handling system. All Teleconnect customers must continue to pay France Télécom for their phone number.

The package price includes two hours per month of free digital calls, routed through the modem, to the UK, USA, Ireland, Canada or Australia. After the two hours is up, any additional calls are sent through Teleconnect’s regular system and billed at their regular rates.

Neher also specified that the system automatically switches from digital to analog mode in case of power outage.

Customers can also get a separate phone number that allows friends and family in the UK only to call them in France for the price of a local call.

The AngloPack service requires a connect fee of EUR 30 but the company is waiving the fee until November 1.

UPDATED September 15, 2006

Subject: French news