Recently have been living abroad, and have internet deal for the first time with Orange in France. However should be returning to live back in Sheff soon, and was wanting advice on the following.
1) I will only be 6 months into my 12 month French internet contract. Am I likely to just have to pay up for the whole of the rest of the unused months ?
If changing countries is any transfer of contract internationally likely ?
2) if I decide to have broadband internet in UK, what are my best deals going to be- I'd like internet, and home landline phone- not too bothered either way about TV.

I will only be 6 months into my 12 month French internet contract. Am I likely to just have to pay up for the whole of the rest of the unused months ?

I'm not sure if contracts work any differently in France but would suspect not, so yes, that's most likely.

If changing countries is any transfer of contract internationally likely ?

Always worth asking though I have to admit I've never known this to happen.

if I decide to have broadband internet in UK, what are my best deals going to be- I'd like internet, and phone- not too bothered either way about TV.

The forums on http://www.thinkbroadband.com are pretty well known and that's a question that gets asked fairly often - have a scout about in the 'Which ISP? (residential)' forum and you'll get an idea of what's on offer.

of course plusnet (http://www.plus.net) can offer monthly contracts for both broadband and home phone if you feel like taking a look...

The only way to find out for sure about the contract transferance etc must be to phone Orange?

I would hope that Orange UK would be able to continue your existing contract, but who knows how these things work!?

I would phone Orange and see if they can transfer your contract internationally. You never know... but I wouldn't imagine it's likely because it means you need a local phone line first to begin with. Even if you have broadband in the UK, you still need a phone line, which is likely to be with BT I think. Then the Orange BB on top of the lines etc. I think that is how Orange provide their service.

You can check this site for ISPs and BB deals.
http://www.net4now.com/

I thought that you need to sign for a 12 month contract whever you go. I don't know whether you can transfer the BB if you move. I think Telewest used to allow you to do this, but I'd check with the individual ISP provider to begin with.

I myself is on the go, and have now opted for the laptop broadband deals. I've cut my landlines, since I don't make full use of it. So 12.50 per month for 7 Gb data is good enough for my usage, as I just surf and shop, and don't do any heavy downloading of files, or gaming. This is with Three with a new mobile contract, but I think they also offer this without a mobile contract for less. The dongle acts as a modem, and I think I can actually use this whilst abroad too, but I will check. I certainly can use my mobile minutes in some countries while dialling back to the UK. I also now use my free minutes in conjunction with Auracall which makes my oversea calls cheaper too.

Don't think I've answered your questions directly, but it's something to think about. To know if Orange allow you to transfer, you can only ask Orange directly.

[Added] I thought I'd give you the lowdown too, cos I feel like your requirement matches that of my own just a little while back.

phone = mobile 1100 min/mth (18 hrs) = 22.50
internet = mobile broadband = 7Gb/mth = 12.50
oversea/0845 no. = Auracall.com = 5/mth (Pending on how much I use. Costs around 1p-5p per min)

40 per month to achieve all this when I was paying for around an average of 50 on calls and oversea calls which was crippling me. Especially those calls which catch you out as its charged per minute! Now I think I've got it covered. The downside is that I cannot do heavy downloading, so any big files is out of my league.