Free pledges to resolve blackouts
Problems with making mobile phone calls in evenings should be sorted out over the next fortnight, says the firm
FREE Mobile has promised to sort out recurring problems with lost signals over the next fortnight.
In recent weeks many users of the new operator’s service have had problems making and receiving calls on certain evenings.
Free admitted yesterday in a message posted in the users’ section of its site that “due to congestion of certain connections with our partner operator [Orange, some of whose network Free has to make use of to cover all of France] it is possible that you might need to try several times in order to make calls in the evening.”
It added: “We are working with the partner to increase the interconnection capacity between our two networks, and expect a progressive return to normal over the next 15 days.”
The president of telecoms authority Arcep has confirmed that the connection problems were “mainly due to technical difficulties linked to the interconnection between the Free and Orange networks”.
However Orange has refused to accept any “responsibility for the malfunctions”, and has even threatened to suspend its contract with the new operator if “incidents on the Free Mobile network start affecting the quality of service” to Orange customers.
