Telephony

Lines, exchanges and services of the Republic of Fluid

Getting a line

A connection is provision. There is no purchase, no contract and no negotiation. What varies is the wire, and the wire belongs to the commune.

How it goesAbout a fortnight, longer for fibre

Five steps

  1. Ask, at the commune office or on 100. A new household, a new building or a line that was never pulled. The request records the address and whether a line is already installed.

  2. The line cooperative surveys. What is in the duct, how far the cabinet is, and whether the commune has to open anything. A survey takes under a week and the result is read back to the household.

  3. If digging is needed, the commune votes. The land is communal property, so opening a lane is a decision for the people who live on that land. Where the assembly refuses, the connection is dial-up or ISDN over the copper already there.

  4. Where the vote passes, the cooperative does the work and hands over the equipment. A modem or a terminal, built to a published specification, is left with the household. It becomes their property, it has no lock on it, and the drawings for it are on the hardware pages.

  5. The resident identity already exists. Nothing is created at this point. The resident identity works on every service the moment the line comes up.

The five linesWaiting times as at July 2026

What each one needs

What each line needs at the premises
Line In the wall Equipment given Waiting time
Fibre New hole or an existing one TS-27 terminal and TS-24 router 3 to 20 weeks
DSL The copper pair already there TS-31 modem and TS-24 router 4 to 9 days
ISDN The copper pair already there TS-8 terminal adapter 6 to 12 days
Dial-up The copper pair already there TS-22 modem 2 to 5 days
Fixed wireless Nothing, an aerial outside TS-38 indoor unit 1 to 3 weeks

AfterwardsEquipment passes to the household

Ownership of the equipment

Nothing is rented and nothing is returned. The household may open it, reflash it, replace it with equipment of its own construction, or refuse it and use its own. Connected equipment meets the line specification, since a modem out of specification degrades the pair for the neighbours sharing it.

Repair workshops serving every commune stock parts for at least ten years, and the tool libraries keep the tools and parts.

Changing the line type

Moving between line types costs nothing and needs no reason. Households on dial-up ask for ISDN most often, which is a same-copper upgrade and needs no digging at all.

When it breaks

Report a fault on 101 from any line, including a neighbour's. Since the network keeps no logs, the caller must describe the fault.