Mostly, in no small part to the great advice I have received on this site, I have managed to overcome most of the barriers (quirks?) of the French bureaucracy, and I get it, it is a way of protecting the French way of life and it is a "you can come here but on our terms" statement, which quite frankly, I wish my country had more of.

I like a challenge

But getting the French mobile and internet for the house from outside of France I hate to admit, has me beat. I would like it all set up before I arrive in October as setting up utilities etc. generally requires a French phone number, and I have a lot of renovating to get on with when I get there, so I want to hit the ground running.

Due to coverage in my area, I am targeting SFR. I have tried going directly to SFR on the internet, using Papernest, and calling SFR directly.

What I have deduced from hours of "research" is the only way to get a French mobile number activated from outside France is to:

• get an ESIM, no problems, upgraded my phone to one that handles ESIM,
• you also need an existing French phone number they can send a confirmation code to, OK, I got my friendly Immobilier to allow me to use his number.
• then I learned that you can only change an existing physical (activated) sim card to ESIM, which can only be activated from within France. Checkmate!

So, I am interested in anyone who has managed to crack this one (the holy grail), or failing that, how hard is it to walk into a phone retailer (in this case SFR in Clermont Ferrand) with limited French, and get it sorted in a couple of hours?

I haven´t set up utilities, but failed to be able to reserve seats on a special shuttle bus going from Strasbourg to Europapark without a French phone number.

Since the only day we could have visited was the first day, we decided to skip the park this time but made enquiries for our next stay, since we liked Strasbourg so much.

We´ll get a prepaid sim at arrival next time but in our research we found that some providers offer to send sim cards to addresses outside of France.

Check with the different providers where you can order online whether your location is covered. As far as I know, "Le Frenchmobile" sends sim cards to most places in the world but other companies might, too.

You´d probably have to change your contact number with all your providers once you get a phone contract in France, though.

 

Yes, I have seen that some providers will send you a SIM card, but my understanding is that it can only be activated once you are in France.

 

I think that is correct. I don't think it is possible to activate service until the phone communicates with a tower in France. I would suggest Lebara. They use Orange towers. They sent me a SIM card to the US in less than a week. It was easy to set up and fund an account online the day we arrived in France. They charge my US credit card and are very cheap.

 

I have no idea if this works or not, but you might want to check it out:

Get a Virtual Phone Number in France | Ringover

Create a +33 virtual phone number in France in 1 minute. Unlimited calling from Web and Mobile App to over 100+ destinations. Get a local presence in France right away.

www.ringover.com

 

I also used Lebara to get a SIM card sent to the USA many years ago. I got it activated the day I arrived in France.

 

For those who are in a similar situation to me, I have had some success.

Most of the carriers e.g. Orange and SFR require you to have a French phone number so a rep can call you to discuss your requirements. This was never going to work for me as:
a) I would be using an acquaintance's phone number which I would not be answering, and
b) my French is not yet up to a conversation about phone contracts.

However, I went through the registration process with Free, and have faired better.

First, you need to sign up for their "FreeBox" internet (which I needed anyway). You will need a valid address for this as they deliver it, however, I was able to change the address to someone who can hold it for me till I get there.

Once you have signed up for the FreeBox, you are invited to sign up for a sim card. This can be a physical sim or an e-sim. You do need to supply a French phone number, however, they never rang it.
I was duly supplied with a French e-sim which is now installed on my phone. The only glitch (which was a surprise to them as well) is that it will not actually work for the first time, untill I am physically in France. Whilst this is a bit of a setback, at least I have the phone and the Internet sorted for the day I arrive in France, and don't need to take my chances of finding an english speaking rep at a Kiosk, and it was all done online.

And as others will attest to, Free is quite a bit cheaper than the others, (I didn't have to give them my kingdom) so I am a happy camper!

Thanks all for the help and suggestions.

 

Once you have signed up for the FreeBox, you are invited to sign up for a sim card. This can be a physical sim or an e-sim. You do need to supply a French phone number, however, they never rang it.
I was duly supplied with a French e-sim which is now installed on my phone. The only glitch (which was a surprise to them as well) is that it will not actually work for the first time, untill I am physically in France. Whilst this is a bit of a setback, at least I have the phone and the Internet sorted for the day I arrive in France, and don't need to take my chances of finding an english speaking rep at a Kiosk, and it was all done online.

After the house purchase, we weren’t able to get the bank account opened until a couple of days before we had to return to the US. Once we had the account, we raced to the Free store and signed up for the FreeBox/Free mobile bundle, which offered significant discounts for the first year. (I’m sure if you research it there are better deals, as Nunthewiser points out, but Free seems cheaper than the big guns and if you have a package similar to ours you’re not obligated to stay with them anyway.)

We were approved immediately to port our SFR burner phone number to the Free account, but it took a week for that actually to happen. By then we were out of the country so the phone would not activate until we returned. However we were able to listen to voicemail messages by logging into the Free website. And the phone activated as soon as we returned.

 

And as others will attest to, Free is quite a bit cheaper than the others, (I didn't have to give them my kingdom) so I am a happy camper!

I respectfully disagree but I suppose it depends on what you are talking about exactly with Free. Free does have some perks, but I think if you compare raw data amounts , you can do better.

There are several MVNOs that buy service from the 4 major networks and pass it along at very low cost.

We use Prixtel for our 4G router at home, which buy service from SFR. Lebara buys from Orange. Lyca from Bouyges. Syma from..I forget. Auchan and Eleclerc (Reglo) also repackage and sell it. Very competitive market compared to the US which has become an oligarchy and prices are about 2 or 3x France. ( I am discovering that I much prefer France's bridled capitalism to the US's unbridled version).

I suspect that you can't get anything completely turned on until your device communicates with a cell tower in France.

 

Nunthewiser, I am sure you are correct there are better deals out there, however, I was comparing Free to the large players (Orange SFR ect.) and it is significantly cheaper (for the 1st year anyway).

Ms Chocolate, Thank you for the info, I am hoping it will miraculously activate when I land on French soil next week. Good tip about retrieving the voicemails. Thankyou!

 

Compared to the other 3 large players directly, I tend to agree Free is the most competitive. They were, I believe, the catalyst (or one of them) that made the market more competitive. I used to hear some stories that their coverage wasn't as good as some of the others out in the sticks, but that may have changed.

 

I am sure you are correct there are better deals out there, however, I was comparing Free to the large players (Orange SFR ect.) and it is significantly cheaper (for the 1st year anyway).

The whole notion of a "better deal" depends to a large extent on what you plan on using your French phone number for. If what you need is "raw data" maybe it's not the best deal. But for actual phone service, it's tough to beat. But you have to evaluate your own requirements. (And since you don't have to sign on for a minimum period of time, you can always switch services and transfer your phone number to the new service.)

 

I'm a satisfied Free customer. You can set up a 'my space' on their website and report any problems. The two times I've notified them they were very responsive with a tech guy coming the next day. I've got fiber and it's very fast. Better than the google fiber that I had in the the US for twice the price.

 

Easy.
Get off the ferry, drive into the nearest LeClerc
go to the isle where they sell phones, laptops etc
select one of their pay as you go type sims (hanging up on a display rail, sealed packages)
the monthly fee (the 9.95€ per month package is a good choice in my opinion) will auto deduct from your bank
go to the checkout
fill in the form with your details.
make the first payment there and then.
put the sim in your phone and you‘re sorted.

someone there will usually help you through the process.
.

 

If you can use a physical SIM, you might try Le French Mobile. They have a SIM package mostly meant for tourists. They'll mail a pre-activated SIM anywhere in the world.

I can't guarantee that what worked for me will work for you, but LFM sent me the SIM while I was still in the US. They said that I'd have to use it in France to get the phone number, but on a whim I popped it into a spare phone and tried sending a text to my US mobile phone. It worked! So I then knew its number.

In the US, it wouldn't connect to 4G or 5G, but it was able to roam (voice/text only) on the remaining T-Mobile 2G towers. Fortunately, one was close to where I was living. This may no longer be possible from April 2024, however.

It's definitely not the cheapest option. However, for light usage, it's OK. I'm in France now and haven't had any reason yet to change to another carrier. IIRC, it uses Orange towers here.

For setting up a fixed line in advance, try calling or emailing a small local computer store (maybe not a big chain store) in your France town. Some of them will help you pick an ISP/phone supplier, and might even order the service and a modem for you to install when you arrive in France.

 

To give some feedback on my experience now that I am in Creuse, Free is not working out well for me. Where I am, there is next to no coverage. Most of the locals use Bouygues, which is more expensive, but considering I have very limited connectivity with free, maybe false economy? The internet through the Freebox (ADSL) works fine. Hopefully, when I return next year, their coverage will have improved.

 

Just quietly, I've had it up to pussy's bow with Free. We've only got pay as you go mobile with them, but they've been nothing but trouble. They wouldn't accept that I'd paid for our service last month, and it took dozens of messages, sending them copies of my bank statements, and an attestation from the bank too assure them that I paid. Will be switching to someone else shortly...

 

Just quietly, I've had it up to pussy's bow with Free.

I suspect you're running into one of the typical "gotchas" here in France. A service or function that may work perfectly well in one area can be a complete disaster in another area. Most typical within the Administration (procedures and systems vary from one prefecture to the next). Unfortunately that's also the case for private services. Check with your neighbors to see who they use and how satisfied they are with those services.