wifi in France (1 Viewer)

patch

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Going on our first trip abroad beginning of Sept. Planning to spend a month in France and will probably be asking quite a few questions over the next couple of weeks. Our first question is how accessible is free WiFi?
 

Angus dog

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Going on our first trip abroad beginning of Sept. Planning to spend a month in France and will probably be asking quite a few questions over the next couple of weeks. Our first question is how accessible is free WiFi?

Most local tourist offices have it available.
Good luck and enjoy your trip.
We have just sold a house near Carcassonne.We would recommend that area
 
Jan 28, 2008
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depending on your contract provider it might be worth using one of there euro packages im with vodaphone and once youve signed up to their euro booster or what ever they call it we get our usual contract allowance whilst abroad for £3 a day. its not every day but once you make a call or sign on it kicks in for the day till 12 midnight in coming calls and texts dont trigger it ,if we decide to use it we do it early to get the full day we hot spot the phone and use the wireless on the laptop
when we can we use wifi at cafe restaurants and bars but handy to have it as back up
just remember to switch of internet when your not using as some apps update automatically therefore triggering the charge

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Easyliving

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Our laptop has a very limited range and we had trouble finding free wifi when in France. Tourist offices are good and you can generally get 15 -30 minutes of free wifi access.

Favourite of course is McDonalds. There are a lot of these in France and they all seem to have free wifi. We used to take our laptop into the restaurant and buy a coffee each then sit there for ages catching up on emails etc. Most times we could plug the laptop into the mains socket under the table too. (make sure you have an adaptor with you of course).

Paul
 

mikebeaches

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You didn't mention if you are planning to stay mainly on aires, wilding, or stopping at campsites. If the latter, most offer wi-fi - sometimes free, sometimes at a price. It could be a factor which helps determine the campsites you want to stay at ie free wif-fi. :thumb:

Mike
 

Parcverger

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Here's one campsite where you will not only find free wifi covering the whole site but also a Funsters' discount!:thumb: Cheaper than most ACSI sites (we're too small for them) but keen to look after our Funster guests.

Bob
www.parcverger.com

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Feb 9, 2008
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We find more and more sites in France are offering free wifi (they pronounce it weefee), even the smaller sites.

Enjoy your trip and I too can recommend the area round Carcassonne.

Rgds
Bill
 
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patch

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Thanks everyone. We don't have an iphone so are considering buying a dongle for access but are not very techno-savvy!! Anyone out there use this method? We do use McDonalds in this country so know eventually we would be able to do this. Its quite a few years since we have been to France so am surprised to hear there are lots of McD's there.
 

ukbill

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try 1 of these you will be surprised what wifi you can pick up and so long as they are not locked its ok and sometimes with macd's the signal outside can be iffy this will give you access

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ShiftZZ

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Thanks everyone. We don't have an iphone so are considering buying a dongle for access but are not very techno-savvy!! Anyone out there use this method? We do use McDonalds in this country so know eventually we would be able to do this. Its quite a few years since we have been to France so am surprised to hear there are lots of McD's there.

We were in France in May and we needed a reliable internet connection. We opted for a SFR Mifi, that allowed us to connect more than one device and the PAYG aspect was for 180hrs or so and lasted I think 30 days, it requires topping up ever 3 months or so. It was I think about 90euros, I cant be sure, but as circumstances at the time, it was worth it.
SFR coverage was always good and in most cases 3g.

I know it sounds a lot but if you are a frequent traveller than its worth it.. We struggled (besides Park Verger) to get any free wifi, even though we have an external wifi antenna.

On our return, I switched from Virgin Media to BT broadband, this allows access to the FON system which is availabe in France..

Hope this helps..
 

dug

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Shift ZZ......Said....On our return, I switched from Virgin Media to BT broadband, this allows access to the FON system which is availabe in France..
You don't have to change your broadband supplier,i am on virgin and run a fonera box,one off payment and works fine....:thumb:
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Have fun ,dug............
 

Allanm

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How does this work? I see the one off payment for the box, but what ate the running costs here and in France? How do you connect to the Fon network?
Allan

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Allanm

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I thought there was a catch! I would need to be with BT
Allan

Or maybe you don't.........
 
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Apr 27, 2008
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We find more and more sites in France are offering free wifi (they pronounce it weefee), even the smaller sites.

Enjoy your trip and I too can recommend the area round Carcassonne.

Rgds
Bill

Unfortunately the only site within walking distance (Le Cite) has very expensive wifi. Many other sites are also expensive if they've splashed out on the kit to cover the whole site.
I prefer the ones where you can only get a signal within 50ft of reception as these are almost always free. Many of those that charge are more expensive than using you own 3g connection, and usually much slower.

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Apr 27, 2008
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Fon is good in the UK as there are hotspots all over, but they are like rockinghorse poo in France I'm afraid.

If you use a dongle or MiFi T-mobile (which is now also Orange and EE) seem to work out the cheapest on UK PAYGO in France. A french SIM may save a bit but you have the problem of obtaining one, and it's not a lot cheaper as the French charge a lot for mobile broadband.
 

mentaliss

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Going on our first trip abroad beginning of Sept. Planning to spend a month in France and will probably be asking quite a few questions over the next couple of weeks. Our first question is how accessible is free WiFi?
its been topic'ed before have a look at MotorhomeWiFi ..... MiFi, sim card, laptop, phone etc, and you create your own WiFi hotspot will work anywhere in EUROPE provided you purchase the correct set up...( there's always issue's with camp site's, cafe's, free WiFi)
 
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autoswan

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Hi we've been in France for almost a couple of weeks now and got the sfr sim to put in mifi 2GB lasting 30 days thought would be enough for our 5week tour here , it was great first night couple of hours use then next night couldn't get on just messages in French asking for more money and other things in French which I and with help off others couldn't make sense of so unless I come across another sfr shop that's 30 euros wasted. Site we've stopped on has free wifi around bar and reasonable cost to use in mh further away but tried 2laptops n couldn't get on tho tried all sorts they managed a couple of mins for hours trying, but had no probs using daughters I pad n I pod they seem to work better than laptops with better range to. Also picked up free wifi on them around a few towns and other places just randomly looking for connections as well as those places mentioned here so if needed it is around . Good luck

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Oct 5, 2012
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as ukbill says if you want free wifi you need a wifi aerial - a latop wifi aerial is nowhere near powerful enough to regularly pick up wifi in a motorhome. At the very least with a wifi aerial you can pick up the campsite wifi with your laptop in the comfort of your van rather than having to hang around a camp office/cafe or wherever they site the camp wifi if its not on a repeater. I was really suprised during my last trip at the amount of people who dont have an aerial and choose to sit on uncomfortable seats or worse stand balancing their lappy possibly outside and running on low battery when for £40 they could be comfortable in their van.

thinking about it I seem to remember there is some legislation about picking up open wifi in France ?
 
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Heyupluv

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Hi we've been in France for almost a couple of weeks now and got the sfr sim to put in mifi 2GB lasting 30 days thought would be enough for our 5week tour here , it was great first night couple of hours use then next night couldn't get on just messages in French asking for more money and other things in French which I and with help off others couldn't make sense of so unless I come across another sfr shop that's 30 euros wasted. Site we've stopped on has free wifi around bar and reasonable cost to use in mh further away but tried 2laptops n couldn't get on tho tried all sorts they managed a couple of mins for hours trying, but had no probs using daughters I pad n I pod they seem to work better than laptops with better range to. Also picked up free wifi on them around a few towns and other places just randomly looking for connections as well as those places mentioned here so if needed it is around . Good luck

Hi
It may have something to do with you not being a resident...address...did you have the SFR shop set it up and activate....also did you buy it from a SFR shop... or on ebay....how long have you had it....when did you activate it...
The reason I ask this, I purchased a "3" network sim last year from the uk ready for when I came over for a month on activation it said NO mb....this was on a 1gb new sim??? so I purchased another "3" 3gb sim and all was fine.....

I am just asking questions trying to find out why!!....I am running now on a SFR sim pay as you go...it should have been 500mb (mo) for 7 days..but on topping up it said they have given me 1024mb for the same money...

You must go to a sfr shop and get it sorted...this is so the next time you come to france just click on your icon on the laptop and top up to what ever is best for you on the pay as you go...

I live in France we prefer the 500mb for 7 days....and top when ready again as we may not use the laptop every day.....so we are not wasting internet time...
Let us know how you get on...Mel

I still say in france for us is the sfr dongle / mifi for motorhoming in France....and any free ones are a bonus....

One of the latest deals in France on a dongle / mifi was on a monthly contract was 19.?? euros per month for 3gb...don't mock that is good deal for France...I was paying with Orange fr...15 euros for 200mb + 200mo free to use at weekend..that's 400mb per month (What a disgrace!!!)..but that's life
 
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Heyupluv

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We were in France in May and we needed a reliable internet connection. We opted for a SFR Mifi, that allowed us to connect more than one device and the PAYG aspect was for 180hrs or so and lasted I think 30 days, it requires topping up ever 3 months or so. It was I think about 90euros, I cant be sure, but as circumstances at the time, it was worth it.
SFR coverage was always good and in most cases 3g.

I know it sounds a lot but if you are a frequent traveller than its worth it.. We struggled (besides Park Verger) to get any free wifi, even though we have an external wifi antenna.

On our return, I switched from Virgin Media to BT broadband, this allows access to the FON system which is availabe in France..

Hope this helps..

Surely Dave, that was the initial cost including the mifi....so when you come back to France you can just top up like myself at about 9.50 euros for 500mb for 7 days..or one of the next tarrifs 1 day or 30 days....you won't be paying 90 euros to top up each time

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Spottycatz

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Still making mistakes! But they're not as costly.
I can't even think that I will come across a McDonalds when we are there. If we do, I'm lost:Doh:
 

june123

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Sorry - Mc D's are everywhere - just ask your satnav.

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Spottycatz

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Still making mistakes! But they're not as costly.
TV, but's it's gone now. No good when we get really south and far too much extra weight.

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jollyrodger

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Just had rercent tour of France did not have to use dongle or mifi have a FON router ON at home qth so used fon spots on all locations visited as well as some aires with free wifi slow at times but managed the connections fine fon hot spots worldwide

http://maps.fon.com/

I also have a wifi antenna
bought from this guy ? on eBay works fine




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autoswan

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Hi
It may have something to do with you not being a resident...address...did you have the SFR shop set it up and activate....also did you buy it from a SFR shop... or on ebay....how long have you had it....when did you activate it...
The reason I ask this, I purchased a "3" network sim last year from the uk ready for when I came over for a month on activation it said NO mb....this was on a 1gb new sim??? so I purchased another "3" 3gb sim and all was fine.....

I am just asking questions trying to find out why!!....I am running now on a SFR sim pay as you go...it should have been 500mb (mo) for 7 days..but on topping up it said they have given me 1024mb for the same money...

You must go to a sfr shop and get it sorted...this is so the next time you come to france just click on your icon on the laptop and top up to what ever is best for you on the pay as you go...

I live in France we prefer the 500mb for 7 days....and top when ready again as we may not use the laptop every day.....so we are not wasting internet time...
Let us know how you get on...Mel

I still say in france for us is the sfr dongle / mifi for motorhoming in France....and any free ones are a bonus....

One of the latest deals in France on a dongle / mifi was on a monthly contract was 19.?? euros per month for 3gb...don't mock that is good deal for France...I was paying with Orange fr...15 euros for 200mb + 200mo free to use at weekend..that's 400mb per month (What a disgrace!!!)..but that's life

Hi Mel. I got sim payg just after we arrived in sfr shop guy put sim in mifi but to busy to set up laptop said enter code n be no prob, it was fine first night then blocked sfr messages I couldn't make out but looks like want more money, I will show or write messages. To show more tech minded locals !
I paid 30euros for the 2GB 30 day sim as payg tho receipt showed 30.90 euros wen I checked transactions on line last night it showed paid 39.90 euros ! Bit worried now guy may signed me to a dodgy deal tho I said n packet showed payg !
It's been a pain but site here has free wifi around the clubhouse n cheap wifi further away but only good on I pad, laptop connects to theirs but won't go on Internet I tried alter settings n firewall etc but I think it's to do with laptop adapters wot ever they are so will push on and hope there's an sfr shop in La Rochelle in a week or so.
Thanks. Jack
 

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