The traditional contact with home through letters and occasional long distance phone calls has long been replaced by a world of instant contact through the internet and very inexpensive calls to international destinations. We look at some great ways to save money when you set up phone and internet in France.
There is a wide range of telephone and broadband providers you can approach to get connected. The French telephone network is owned by Orange and all alternative companies will use this network. Orange has an English speaking help line and there are several expat providers offering services to English speakers. Repairs to the network are carried out by separate sub-contractors who give all telecom companies equal priority for their customers. If you are not fluent in French or would find it helpful for someone to manage installation of your new line some of the specialist multi-lingual telecoms companies providing services to expats will do this for you, making a small charge for the work involved. There are only a few companies which provide landline telephone in France one of which is Orange www.orange.fr.
Telephone and internet for remote locations in France
If you live in a remote area and there has never been a line installed it may be necessary to have additional telephone poles erected. It expensive and you will have to have a trench dug from the boundary to your property for the line to be laid in which will incur additional costs.
Fast internet service is now available across much of France.
Telephone and Broadband for second homes in France
You may have purchased a second home and if so, you might want to use telephone and internet services only whilst you are there. Providing you can prove that your main residence is elsewhere, you can choose to subscribe to line rental and broadband services that can be suspended. The line rental is known as ‘ligne residence secondaire’ and the broadband speed will be restricted to 0.5Mbps – be aware, this is slow by ordinary standards.
Look behind the headline prices to get the best deal
If you are going to be resident in France then you will want to consider taking a call package as this may be more cost effective. The market is very competitive with headline costs all competing with one another. It is worth noting that your call pattern may be different to the typical French customer for whom the call packages sold by French companies are designed.
If you are likely to call UK non-geographic numbers such as those used by banks, insurance companies, some government departments and other service related businesses you are likely to pay high charges for using them via a French telecoms service. Expat specialists can provide very attractive rates to call these UK specific numbers and the savings could be significant depending on your use.
Take a look at the back of credit cards and other items from organisations you use as, in addition to their 0845, 0847 0870 type of numbers, they often have an international number, use that instead. It will of course work in the UK if you drop the international prefix, and this will save you money when back in the UK!
Save money on friends and family calls in France
One other often overlooked saving offered by the expat specialists is that they can ‘translate’ your French number to a low cost 0844 UK number. It does not affect the way your French number works but if you give this number to friends and family they can make huge savings when calling you. Typically a call made on a domestic BT line in the daytime will be six times as expensive as using your 0844 number. The service is FREE and there is no contract to commit to.
