Connecting the Phone, ADSL and Pay TV in France

There are many good phone and internet deals in France but I decided to get my ADSL with France Telecom (Wanadoo soon to be Orange) which is not the cheapest. I went with them for one reason only, it was easy.

My French is okay but I'm not very confident talking on the telephone so I always prefer to talk face to face with people if I can. This is why I decided to get the internet with Wanadoo.

The first thing you need is to get the phone connected. Go to the nearest France Telecom shop and they will do this for you. You'll need your passport, your RIB (your bank account details), and the previous tenant's name and that's it. There is usually a long queue at France Telecom but they are very patient and don't push you into anything.

Once you've arranged for the phone to be connected you can go ahead and connect the ADSL. You can do this at France Telecom at the same time you connect the phone or you can go to another provider. For me, it was quicker and easier to set it up with them at the same time and that's what I did.

You'll pay a deposit for the Livebox (the ADSL modem) but that is refundable when you return it. There is also a connection fee of 55 euros but I think this is waived for students. The connection will take a week or so but you should be able to receive phone calls after a couple of days, if not make them.

You can also get pay TV via the telephone line and the Livebox with either TPS (as I did) or Canal+. This is a great way to get TV as you don't need to set up a satellite dish as it comes via the ADSL. I think this is a great option if you want internet access and digital TV.