Choosing the mobile phone subscription
Here’s a quick checklist to help you choose the right mobile phone subscription plan in France:
- Do you need a phone or just a SIM card?
- How much data do you need?
- Where will you be calling?
- What’s your budget?
Depending on your criteria, you can feed those filters into any mobile contract provider. Once you see the results, you can make a comparison and go with what suits you best. There are hundreds of different offers available and they change regularly, so if you don’t like what you get (and you have a “sans engagement” plan) you can easily switch back and forth).
I recommend heading to one of the comparison sites using the info you have collected above. There are several to choose from, but I usually find mine by googling “meilleur forfait mobile” or “forfait mobil pas cher”. The top choices being touslesforfaits.fr, lemon.fr, or selectra.info
Good to know:
In France, your mobile network can be different from your internet provider at home, so you don’t have to work with the same company if you don’t want to. Keep in mind that if you have a French bank account or plan to just pay as you go, there will be differences in the offers you can choose.
What to look for :
- “Sans engagement” – meaning you can cancel at any time
- “Prix fixe” – fixed price. A lot of offers increase after 12/24 months, look out for this!
The provider will usually send you a SIM card in the post and the contract begins on a date you decide – it’s quite easy. However, there may be an included cost for the SIM card (normally around 10€) so don’t forget to include that in your budget. If you take out your contract in person, they will give you the SIM at the store.
Good to know:
If you want to change your mobile phone provider while keeping your current number, you will need your RIO number (Relevé Identité Opérateur). You can find out yours by calling 3179 for free. It’s a 12-digit code including numbers and capital letters, so keep a pen handy! Sometimes they will send you an SMS at the same time, that’s A LOT easier. If you enter this number when signing up for a new contract (and if your original one is sans engagement), the new provider will automatically cancel the old contract for you.
Vive la France and its customer friendliness!
