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Wifi should be last of B&B guests’ worries
Re: Bob Elliott’s comments in the February issue. I totally disagree that guests in a holiday home should call the Internet Service Provider.
Although there are English-speaking support staff, they will assume they are talking to the account holder; will ask for account details and assume the caller has access to a PC, an Ethernet cable to connect to the router and full authority to revert to default settings.
As a gîte and B&B owner in SW France, my advice is this (in order):
1. The guest could try another tablet or smartphone.
2. Turn off the modem / router and wait two minutes. Turn back on.
3. Connect a laptop (with its Wifi switched OFF) using an Ethernet cable (the owner should leave a cable in the back of the router for this). If the laptop connects to the internet immediately, we may surmise the Wifi element of the router has a problem.
4. Call the owners for them to call the ISP.
With regard to thick walls and the loss of signal; this is easily solved. Electricity cables in the walls act as perfect data (internet) cables so, by buying a powerline adapter to connect to your router, along with one or more WiFi access points (which plug into a plug socket), you can extend your Wifi everywhere.
John Stephen, Lot-et-Garonne
Bob Elliott, of UK Telecom, replies: 15 years providing a range of telecom services has seen a pattern of requests for assistance from customers renting their property – especially those not resident in France. It is wrong to assume we would believe we are talking to the account holder. The special arrangements for these customers was a response to many requests asking us to contact renters directly. Every time, we email the customer so that they are always informed.
Addressing the points set out, the first, trying another device, is usually already done before the guest contacts us. The second is a standard action but makes no mention of the information the ISP can get from knowing what lights are showing on the modem.
Providing this support takes a short time – and if it is a local exchange fault, it will be quickly identified and engineers can be allocated sooner.
The wifi extender reference is correct but in these articles space does not allow all subjects to be covered!
