Getting connected in France: phone, SIM and internet
Good news for once: French mobile is among the cheapest in Europe and almost nothing ties you into a contract. The only real puzzle is home internet if you're rural — which, in the south-west, plenty of us are. Here's how to get online in 2026.
The short version
- A prepaid SIM gets you a French number on day one — no bank account, no address proof, sold at any tabac or supermarket. The bridge while you sort the rest.
- A monthly forfait is better value once you're settled — huge data for little money — but most postpaid plans want a French RIB (bank account). Another reason to read our bank-account guide first.
- Almost everything is no-commitment. Sans engagement is the norm — cancel or switch anytime. The low-cost brands (Sosh, RED, B&You) are online-only and the best value.
- Keeping/switching a number is easy: dial 3179 for your RIO code, give it to the new operator, and portability completes in a few days with no gap.
- Home internet depends entirely on your address. Fibre now reaches ~94% of French premises — but if you're the other 6% (often rural), a 4G/5G box or satellite is your friend.
- The old copper (ADSL) network is being switched off between 2026 and 2030. If your rural place still runs on an old phone line, plan your move to fibre, box or satellite.
- Orange and Bouygues run English-speaking helplines — worth knowing in your first weeks.
After the heavier admin — visas, banks, healthcare — getting connected is a pleasant surprise. France has some of the lowest mobile prices in Europe, the market runs on no-commitment plans by default, and you can walk out of a tabac with a working French number in ten minutes. The one genuinely fiddly bit is home broadband if you've bought somewhere rural, so we'll spend most time there. Mobile first, though, because it's the easy win.
Mobile: prepaid to start, forfait to settle
There are two ways to hold a French number, and most newcomers use them in sequence.
A prepaid SIM (carte prépayée) is the day-one solution: no contract, no credit check, crucially no French bank account required. You buy it at a tabac, supermarket, or operator shop, top it up as you go, and you've got a French number immediately — which you'll want the moment you're filling in forms or waiting for a tradesman to call back. Prices start around €5–€10 for a few GB.
Once you're settled, a monthly forfait (postpaid plan) is far better value — it's normal to get 100+ GB for around €10–€20 a month. The catch, and it's the recurring theme of settling in, is that most forfaits want a French RIB (bank details) to set up the direct debit. So the natural order is: prepaid SIM on arrival, switch to a forfait once your French account is open.
The operators, decoded
Four networks own the actual antennas: Orange (most reliable, English-speaking support), SFR, Bouygues Telecom, and Free (cheapest, easiest signup). Each also runs a low-cost, online-only sub-brand on the very same network — Sosh (Orange), RED (SFR), B&You (Bouygues) — which is where the value is: identical coverage, lower price, no shop. Beyond them sit MVNOs (Lebara, Lycamobile and co.) that rent the big networks and specialise in cheap international calls — handy for ringing the UK.
One to watch in 2026
SFR is being broken up and sold to its rivals — a deal finalised in 2026, with customers migrating to Orange, Bouygues and Free through 2027. If you're choosing an operator now, it's a mild reason to favour one of the other three, or simply to know your SFR/RED plan may change hands. Nothing to panic about, but worth knowing before you sign.
Keeping your number — or your UK one
Switching French operators without losing your number is refreshingly painless: dial 3179 from your French phone to get your RIO code, hand it to your new operator, and they handle the port — usually done within a few days, with no break in service and no paying two bills at once.
As for your UK number: you can't port it into a French plan, but you don't have to lose it. Many British movers keep the UK SIM alive cheaply (a low-cost UK PAYG, or a service like Wise/eSIM options) purely to receive the odd UK bank or NHS text, while living day-to-day on the French number. Post-Brexit EU roaming on UK plans is no longer guaranteed free, so don't rely on your UK SIM for data in France — get the French one.
Home internet: it all comes down to your address
Here's the rule that governs everything: what you can get depends entirely on your exact address, so always run an eligibility check (by address, not postcode) before choosing a plan. France has one of Europe's most advanced fibre rollouts — fibre (FTTH) now reaches around 94% of premises — but the last stretch is disproportionately rural, which is exactly where a lot of British buyers end up.
Your options, roughly in order of preference where available:
- Fibre (FTTH) — the gold standard, from about €23–25/month, speeds from 300 Mbps up. If your address has it, take it. No-commitment fibre exists too (Freebox Pop, Sosh, RED, B&You).
- 4G/5G home box — the rural hero. A plug-and-play box that runs your home internet over the mobile network: no technician, no phone line, working within minutes. Orange, Bouygues and SFR all sell them. Ideal where fibre hasn't arrived, and for holiday homes since you can start and stop between stays.
- ADSL/VDSL (old copper line) — still works in places, but being switched off nationally between 2026 and 2030. Don't build your life around it; treat it as interim.
- Satellite (Starlink and others) — the genuine last resort for remote properties with neither fibre nor decent 4G. Works essentially anywhere with a clear sky; higher cost and latency, but transformative if you're truly off the beaten track.
The south-west reality
If you've bought a ferme down a lane in the Tarn-et-Garonne or the Gers, don't assume the worst — fibre has reached a surprising number of rural communes thanks to government-backed rollout, and the eligibility checker may pleasantly surprise you. But if it hasn't reached your hamlet yet, a 4G box is usually perfectly good for browsing, streaming and video calls, and Starlink is the reliable fallback for the truly remote. The one thing to avoid is signing a fibre contract before confirming the line actually reaches your door — "fibre in the commune" isn't the same as fibre at your address.
What you'll need to sign up
- Prepaid SIM: just ID and cash/card. No bank account, no address.
- Postpaid forfait or home box/fibre: a French RIB (bank details) for the direct debit, and usually proof of address. This is why the bank account comes first in the settling-in sequence.
- An unlocked phone helps — French plans are mostly sold SIM-only, separate from the handset, so bring an unlocked UK phone and just swap the SIM.
Sorting the basics in order?
Phone and internet lean on your French bank account — which leans on your address, which leans on your residency. It's a chain, and doing it in the right order saves weeks. Our Library walks through the whole settling-in sequence.
The honest bottom line
Mobile is the easy part: grab a prepaid SIM the day you land, move to a cheap no-commitment forfait once your bank account's open, and keep a minimal UK SIM alive for the occasional British text. Home internet is only complicated if you're rural — and even then the answer is usually straightforward once you've checked your address: fibre if you're lucky, a 4G box if not, satellite if you're properly out in the sticks. Check the address first, sign nothing before you have, and you'll be online faster than the paperwork ever suggested.
This guide offers practical, general information, not a recommendation of any provider. Prices, plans, coverage and the copper-switch-off timetable change and depend on your exact address. Always confirm current offers and eligibility with the operator before subscribing.