Introduction
France has 3G coverage in urban areas and parts of the countryside. Many rural places only have edge, which is considerably slower than 3G but still allows you to access the internet. A map of 3G coverage in France can be found here
Orange
Mobicarte is Orange's prepaid plan. The only good-value unlimited data option on Mobicarte is Internet Max which costs 9€ and provides unlimited data for 1 month. (There is some confusion as the price was 12€, and the pricing transition on the website was a bit slow to filter right through, but it now actually costs 9€ and has done for a few months.)
Without a data plan, Internet is extremely expensive at 50 cents per minute.
Internet Max doesn't include the use of email protocols (SMTP, POP, IMAP). For email a separate prepaid plan can be bought at 6€ (price was reduced in May 2011, used to be 9€) - however if your email service provides it, then you can use browser-based HTTP access which is included in Internet Max. Hotmail, Gmail and almost all other free providers use browser-based access as standard, as long as they are accessed through your browser. GMail application for Android also uses HTTP, not POP/IMAP. If you are using an e-mail program to access your data however, chances are that it is using an e-mail protocol like POP/IMAP/Exchange, which will be billed separately unless you are on a 6€ e-mail plan. Email without an email plan is charged per 10Kb, which can go very quickly especially if you have attachments.
These data plans are for mobile phones and may or may not work on other gear. Tethering is not permitted but seems to work anyway. P2P, VoIP and USENET are specifically banned, so there's risk getting your plan cancelled as well as the loss of any call credit remaining on your account.
As for VPN, it may or may not work. There are examples when VPN worked, one of them is OpenVPN 2.1.1 under Windows 7.
Your phone must be provider unlocked so it can work with the Orange France service (even if you are with Orange in your country).
Internet Max
To obtain unlimited data, first purchase an Orange SIM card (9.90€ at shop or 7.90€ online; 5€ of credit included) frequently referred itself as Mobicarte by Orange staff, and top it up with enough credit to buy the data plan. iPhone 4 or iPad users will need a micro SIM card, which costs more (15.00€in July 2011). For safety, don't put too much credit on your SIM, in case something goes wrong. Before you put the SIM in your phone, the first thing to do is to disable 3G and cellular data use. Especially if you have an iPhone or other smartphone, your phone may quickly start sucking the credits out of your account at 50 cents/minute while you are setting up your data plan, as smart phones tend to access the internet in the background even when you are not browsing or accessing e-mail manually. After disabling data and putting in the SIM, the best way of activating the Internet Max option is by dialing #123# and using the written menu system. It's all in French, so can be a bit difficult to get through. As of early July 2011, these are the steps to go through:
- Dial #123#
- You get a startup menu showing the credit on your prepaid account. You need enough credit on your account to buy the data plan.
- Choose 2=Menu
- Choose 4=Vos bons plans
- Choose 3=Votre multimedia
- Choose 6=Suite (Next) a couple of times until you see Option Internet Max
- Choose Option Internet Max
- Now you get a description, choose 1=Suite
- Then choose 1=Souscrire (Subscribe).
- Finally, choose 1=Valider (Confirm).
That should be it. Officially the option may take 48 hours to come into effect, however in reality it can take 3 hours and maybe even less. You will probably not be notified before it is
The exact menu may change, so the above may not be exactly correct for your particular session. There are other internet options listed in the menu, although they are not good value. Only the full Internet Max choice will give you unlimited access for a full month. It costs 9€, and is automatically renewed each month. However, if there is not sufficient credit on your card to renew the plan, renewal will automatically be cancelled until you reactivate (after having topped up the account). So there is no worry about being billed for it unless you put a lot of credit into your account.
- BP Journee Internet Max lasts for one day at 3€
- BP Week End Internet Max lasts for a weekend at 5€
- BP Semaine Internet Max lasts for 7 days for 7€.
Mail plan
You can also add mail access (POP3, SMTP, IMAP) at 6€, also in the Votre Multimedia menu.
Using #123# is free, so you can screw around in this menu for as long as you like.
If #123# does not work you can try dialing 220. This is a spoken menu so can be even more difficult to get through if you don't speak French.
You can also call customer service, but they charge something like 35 cents a minute, and probably don't speak English.
The options on the Orange website seem to be different to those on #123# - the website only offers a 200Mb limited package for 9€/Month (this option is not for the Mobicarte, it is for a contract (forfait)). The menus are rather complicated to navigate - this page lists the options available.
After all this is set up, be sure to re-enable your 3G and data services (and to disable email unless you bought a email plan).
Note: You may not be able to add the Internet Max option to your account until your registration information has been added to Orange's systems, this may take 24 hours initially. If your registration has not been added yet, you will get an error message if you try to activate the 'Internet Max' option, stating in French that you need to go to a point of sale with your ID. If you order you SIM over the Orange website it does not arrive pre-registered. Although you can activate it, you then still need to go to a shop with your SIM and ID to have your identity registered to your SIM in Orange's systems before you can actually buy the internet MAX option plans.
Note 2: I had to go into network settings and cellular network and change the APN setting to
APN: orange, username: orange and password: orange.
Likely you will not receive any notification of InternetMax option activation. You can test whether the plan is in effect by this procedure;
- Check your prepaid credit amount by dialing #123# or create an online account on orange.fr.
- Do a tiny bit of web surfing.
- Allow up to 5 minutes for billing to catch up.
- Again check your credits and compare against the original amount. If no money has been deducted, likely your Internet option is in effect.
Orange only guarantees 500MB of traffic, after which bandwidth gets limited. But so far, the limit does not seem to be enforced.
Store employees are usually unaware of prepaid data options, having been known to supply outright WRONG information (like internet plans not being availabe on Mobicarte) so don't expect prepaid data assistance from them.
Many different plans are available for unlimited calling, evening calling, evening data, etc. See their site for more information.
Default data rate
- Internet Max: Unlimited 3G Speeds, excluding email at 9€.
- Email is available for 6€ extra per month.
Normal Pricing
- SIM card + 5€ credit = 7€ (currently 5€ extra credit if you buy online)
- Calls 0.50€ / min to mobile and landline
- SMS to Orange or to any France mobile number only 0.12€
- SMS to non-EU mobile number: 0.28€
- MMS 0.30€
- Data 0.50€ / minute (It cost you a fortune and will quickly suck your prepaid account dry.)
- Email 0.15€ / 10Kb
- GPS 0.15€ / 10Kb
Pricing Plans
- Unlimited internet 1 day 3€ (actually 22 hours from 2am to 12am - watch out for the 2hours in between)
- Unlimited internet all weekend 5€
- Unlimited internet 7 days 7€
- Unlimited internet Max, one month, 9€
- Unlimited e-mail (SMTP/POP/IMAP) 1 month 6€
- Unlimited calling to Orange mobiles and all landlines daytime (7h - 17h) 3€
- Unlimited calling to Orange mobiles and all landlines evening (21h - 24h) 3€
- Unlimited weekend 10€
- International (at least UK) 10MB for 1 day 5€
- "Duo Journee" for 3 Euros, gives 1 hr of calls and 15 SMS to French lines (9h - 21h)
Availability
SIM and Mobicarte available in Orange stores and related vendors, and online. Generally more credit is included in the price if you buy online.
Data plans must be subscribed to via automated phone system by calling 220, online or #123# menu system. If you bought your SIM online, you are required to take your passport to an Orange store to record your details before being able to activate a data plan for the first time. This is a French legal requirement, and the plans should be available 24 hours after registering.
Expiration
MobiCarte SIM card credits expire in 2 months if no recharge applied during the period. After registering your SIM for the first time and topping it up with credits, the SIM number will stay in operation for a year. You can check the expiration date online when you create an account, but you will probably also get an SMS stating the expiration date. Expiration of recharge credits depends on amount. 10eur electronic recharge should be activated (i.e. added to account) in 15 days since purchase.
SIM Sizes
- Mini SIM (2FF)
- Micro SIM (3FF) (iPhone 4 and iPad)
Tethering
Not allowed (But they dont seem to bother if you do)
SFR
Subscribtion is called "La carte". An activated SIM card is 9.90 euros, and the 'iPhone3G Internet + Mails Illimités' recharges provide data service. These are priced at 3 euro for 1 day, 10 euros for 7 days, and 20 euros for 20 days. Text and calls are charged separately. See their site for more information.
Some SFR stores have prepaid "top-up" terminals, from here, you can buy a €20-for-20-days pass, or a €24-for-20-days pass that includes an additional €10 of call and text credit. (Note that the card itself already contains a €5 credit, so all in all the €24 option gives you €15 of calling credit as far as I understant). Certain workers in SFR stores don't know about the availability of PAYG data for iPhones, even though their top-up terminals directly sell them. So if the worker seems to have a problem, just point them to the SFR website and navigate to the plan, or go to a store with a top-up terminal.
In order to activate these data passes, you should call the service line (costs call credit, or call from a landline) and tell them your code and to activate the data plan. This usually takes about an hour (actually the process itself took me about an hour, but only two days later did my line actually activate). Also, at least by some accounts the cellular internet connectivity is found to be problematic. Some discussion and possible solutions, including changing the APN settings, can be found on this discussion.
You probably should be able to speak french to use SFR, or you may ask the store clerk to do it for you. The support lines are reputedly only allowed to speak french, and the prepaid section of the website is all in french.
Default data rate
Unlimited
Availability
In some - but not all - SFR stores. Generally not available at tabacs. Recharges available online, but the site requires an existing SIM card and a European (smart chip) credit card.
SIM sizes
Mini SIM
Tethering
Not allowed
Bouygues Telecom
On their prepaid cards Bouygues Telecom offers free of charge POP3/IMAP access for most mail-providers, including gmail - see site , tab Internet Mobile. La liberté en mobilité: "Réception gratuite et illimitée de vos e-mails de votre messagerie Internet directement sur votre mobile en France métropolitaine. Liste des messageries compatibles et paramétrage sur www.bouyguestelecom.fr".
Only catch is that sending mails (SMTP) still costs, but that's quite fair trade. I've been using it for more than a year; it works perfectly fine.