Internet Providers in France
Since the market is deregulated in France, a large number of Internet providers offer various services and packages which are not easy to distinguish. To facilitate the choice of a provider, Management Mobility Consulting has analyzed the offers of the main providers in France including Orange, Free, SFR / Neuf Télécom, Darty, Bouygues and Numéricable. The study focuses on the basic packages including ADSL / fiber optics plus land line telephone calls and television.
Although the fees are slightly higher than those of the competition, Orange represents approximately half of the French market. Thanks to a good service liability, a high technical quality and a specific hotline, available in English, Orange seems to be in a good position to meet most expatriates’ needs.
Orange is followed by Free, second provider on the French market. The main advantage of Free consists in their competitive fee structure. Due to the fact that some channels are only offered by Free, such as Japanese television, this provider is very popular among Asian clients. The subscription is done online or by phone, shops are not available in France.
If you prefer to choose your package in a physical shop, you will certainly prefer SFR, Orange or Darty. These providers are well represented in France with a large number of shops.
It will be a pleasure for us to provide our clients with the detailed results of our comparative study including each provider’s strengths and weaknesses, addresses of shops with English speaking personal and information about the English hotline.
The following table gives you an overview on the basic packages, updated in September 2011 (the information is provided without warranty of any kind).
Internet Providers in France
ORANGE | SFR | DARTY | NUMERI- CABLE |
BOUY- GUES |
FREE | ||
Modem | LifeBox | NeufBox | DartyBox | ncBox HD | BBOX | FreeBox | |
Monthly costs for modem |
3.00€ | 3.90€ | |||||
Monthly cost for ADSL | In bundled areas | ZEN From 23.90€ during 6 months after 33.90€ |
Evolution From 31.90€ |
From 31.90€ | iTNT From 24.90€ |
From 31.90€ | Révo- lution From 29.99€ |
In un- bundled areas |
ZEN From 23.90€ during 6 months after 33.90€ |
36.90€ (without TV) |
From 31.90€ You pay 15€ one time to become “dé- groupé” |
Idem | 39.90€ | 35.98€ | |
Fiber optics | ZEN Fibre from 33.90€ |
34.90€ | 37.90€ | NC power 29.90€ the first 3 months, then 42.90€ |
39.90€ | Idem | |
Activation costs | None | None | None | 50€ | None | 39,90€ without existing line | |
Speed up to Max/Mb | ADSL | 20 | 25 | 20 | 30 | 20 | 28 |
Fiber optics | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | |
Unlimited calls to landline |
100 desti- nations |
106 desti- nations |
80 desti- nations |
60 desti- nations (ADSL) 100 desti- nations (Fiber optics) |
100 desti- nations (3h/ month free calls to mobiles in France) |
104 desti- nations |
|
Unlimited calls to mobile in France | + 6.00€ | inclusive | + 5.00€ | inclusive | +5.00€ | Inclusive in some packages | |
TV chan- nels |
ADSL | 140 | 160 | 120 | 19 (for free) | 120 | 185 (in bundled areas only) |
Fiber optics | 140 (13 HD) |
160 (12 HD) |
90 | 150 (16 HD) |
120 (10 HD) |
185 + blu-ray player |
|
Minimum contract | 12 months | None | 12 months | 12 months | None | None |