Mathieu Nouzareth's Blog

Free does it again !

This morning, Free (one of the leading ADSL operator in France with close to 2 millions subscribers) has announced that they will launch FTTH in the first half of 2007. About 10 millions people will be eligible to upgrade to this new offer. Press release is here (in French only)

Here is what you will get :

- 50 Mbit/s *symmetrical* bandwidth (they will upgrade this speed for sure over the next few years, my guess is that they will reach 100 Mbit/s before the end of '08)
- Unlimited free phone calls to land lines in more than 20 countries
- High Def TV channels with PVR functionalities built in the "Freebox" terminal
- Wifi (with the innovative Mimo technology) broadcast all over the house

Al this for just € 29,99 per month !

No doubt that France will remain the front runner in Europe for broadband. All this will benefits the consumers and content owners. Congrats again to Free.

Cracking the business upgrade code ?

I have been traveling all over the world lately (spending more than half of my time away from home). Since we are still a cost conscious start up, I travel coach most of the time, even for very long flights (Boonty shareholders, take note !).

I am flying Air France most of the time and I have noticed that I am upgraded to business about half the time. At one point I thought I knew how to be upgraded : book a 777 or a 330/340 since I have noticed that about half of those planes are business seats. On the other hand a 747 has very little room for business so upgrades are more difficult. I was also recently upgraded when I strained my ankle and I called my amex insurance, they took care of everything.

So how do they upgrade you ? is it just based on your frequent flying card ? Do you need to be nice to the desk person in charge of check-in ? Do they even upgrade you from time to time so that you are hooked to it (like drug dealers giving away free stuff) ? Do you need to be late at the check in (it happened to me once) ?

if you travel a lot, be sure to check this site : Seatguru.com, lots of useful information for frequent travelers.