Internet
Low bandwith/Modem
Wanadoo, Club Internet, Cegetel, AOL... and cable companies are offering low bandwith connections (dial-up) for about 10 EUR/month for 30 hours (or 1 to 2 cts per minute).
Broadband ADSL
France is leader in Europe in term of ADSL Broadband access. This position has been reached by the high competition that happened a few years ago with France Telecom droping its monopole and the company Free offering cheap fast broadband with additional services (TV and phone). In big cities (Paris, Lyon,...) they have ungrouped (dégroupage) the telephone line leading to faster connections. At the end of 2004 they were offering 15 Mbps at the same price as their modem connection with 56 kbps a few years ago.
ADSL uses your existing telephone line for your Broadband connection. In addition to the modem (or a specific box when you want the use of TV as well) that is provided you will have filters (MicroFilter for Phonesockets) to put on your telephone socket to allow both use of the telephone and the broadband at the same time.
With an average of 15 EUR/month, you will find a lot of Broadband Providers (FAI) in France:
Free: leader of innovation in ADSL and trying to stay ahead of its competitors, Free offers up to 15 Mbps for 29.99 EUR/month in some areas. In addition you have access to 100 TV channels with the Free box and free illimited phone calls.
Wanadoo: It's the offer from France Telecom. 1Mbps is 29.90 EUR/month for a 12 month contract. In order to compete with Free they offer a Livebox service similar to the Freebox.
ClubInternet: subscription 512K + telephone illimited 34.90EUR/month. 8Mbps is 24.90/month
9Telecom: 2048K at 29.90 EUR/month (+ illimited national and local phone calls)
Cegetel: from 128k to 6 Mbps.
AOL: 1024k for 16.90 EUR/month or 5Mbps for 22.90EUR/month.
All rates are for infomation purposes and varies with time.
You might think about going wireless. All of those providers offer WiFi packs for an optional price. Overwise you can also buy your modem at shops like Surcouf (Netgear or D-Link for example). Be careful, in France all WiFi modems are not compatible with all providers (usually the retailer will be able to inform you).
Broadband Cable
Cable Broadband uses a special cable connection which needs to be installed into your home. You must check that it is available in your area (you will need to live in an area that can receive Cable), and an operator will need to come to your house to install the cable.
Your package will include most of the time digital TV channels and phone line (unlimited telephone package for a fixed monthly cost) as well:
Noos: 4 offers Noosnet 512, 1024, 2048 and 4096 Kbps that you can associate with a multiple channel offer, Noostv.
Television
In addition to aerial TV, NoosTV (that we saw above with Internet access) and the Freebox, you have two providers of satellite TV:
CanalSatellite
TPS
The TV licence currently costs about 110 EUR.
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