Since the passage of storm Ciaran 4 months ago, this Orange customer based in Brittany is still without internet. Despite repeated reminders to the operator, repairs are still pending.
As you may know, Brittany was hit hard at the end of 2023 by storm Ciaran. In addition to the numerous material damages, bad weather deprived thousands of households of internet for many weeks. In January 2024, there were even more 6,500 homes without connection or telephone network. However, the director of Orange in the Grand Ouest Jean-Marc Escalette was clear at the time: all lines will be restored by the end of February 2024.
As the executive explained, the repairs dragged on for several reasons. First of all, the storm brought down no less than 15,000 poles. For the operator, the amount of operations amounted to several million euros. Faced with such a project, it was therefore necessary to proceed methodically, focusing first on the heart of the network before tackling “to the local loops which bring the network to the user”.
At the end of March 2024, we could therefore expect internet connections to be restored to all affected users. At least, if we are to believe previous statements from the executive of the French operator. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different.
Also read : Optical fiber – the agreement between Orange and the State is not unanimous, the controversy is brewing
This Breton customer is still waiting to recover the Internet
As our colleagues from Ouest France tell us, this resident of Langonnet (Morbihan) is still deprived of the internet at the time of writing these lines. Yes, so it’s been almost 5 months (the storm passed in early November 2023) that this subscriber is without connection. For Alain Breteau, this nightmarish situation cannot continue.
However, this historic customer of the operator (subscriber for more than 30 years) quickly contacted the operator to resolve the problem. At the beginning of December, he received an encouraging letter from Orange, which promises a return to normal by the end of December. But after the end of year holidays, no news from the company.
Faced with this worrying silence, the subscriber gets back in touch in January 2024. It is at this moment that the infernal machine of subcontracting begins. Different companies are mandated by Orange to repair the broken pole near Mr. Breteau’s house. In total, six different meetings are scheduled in February, before all being postponed between March 5 and 22, 2024. The line is finally repaired, and the pole changed. All that remains is to connect the line and pull the fiber optic cable to your home…
But as we write these lines, Mr. Breteau is still waiting for a new intervention date to finally find your Internet connection. As if that were not enough, the operator did not hesitate to continue debits from the account of this unlucky subscriber, at least until February 2024.