The amount that we prize telecommunications (mobile,
internet etc.) cannot be undervalued, especially with the number of smartphones
now in possession. It is only because I have been living without Internet for
the past few weeks that I can write about our reliance upon it. While we may
get dozens of spam email a day, there are often at least a couple that demand a
reply or even just need to be read.
In France, the system is a little strange and makes
everything harder than it should be. Since my iPhone was unlocked, I’m
fortunate enough to be able to use it in France and pop in a French sim card
(many of my American friends don’t have the same luck).
Yet getting the Internet to work on it was somewhat more
difficult as it required the network to unlock the sim card to be able to use
Internet (which takes 24 working hours) – this was on a pay as you go phone of
course. Getting a contract with the Internet included was easier, although the
prices are most definitely more expensive than in the UK. It also seems strange
that they seem to not value phone calls as much and often, contracts will
include an hour of ‘free’ calls.
Getting a contract was relatively difficult also. In order
to get a mobile phone contract, you need proof of address, which seems fair
enough. Yet you cannot show your contract to the phone company nor even a bill
that you have paid. You have to show your civil and house insurance. The
problem I had though is that since I had only just moved when I was getting my
contract, I did not have the insurance as the bank’s earliest free appointment
was 15 days later.
Of course, I could have waited that long to get my contract.
Yet pay-as-you-go is simply not worth it in France. €5 credit will expire after
a week for example – which means that you have to pay at least €20 a month.
What is more often the case though is that you will need to top up relatively
often, simply because using a pay-as-you-go phone is also very expensive.
I therefore went to the shop of another phone network, on
the same road, where they were more than happy to give me a phone contract.
While they usually ask for the same details as the first store, I think they
realised that it made more commercial sense to accept me as a customer
especially considering that I was showing them a contract to rent an apartment
for 6 months.
The next problem was getting Internet in my apartment,
something I am currently without, 10 days after going to the store. Yet this is
comparable with the UK, where people often have to wait a month or so to have a
working Internet connection. However I received a text yesterday letting me
know that my Internet should be activated in the next few days. The problem? I
don’t yet have the router and other equipment to have a working Internet
connection. Allow me to explain.
When I went to get an Internet connection, it was a very
different experience to getting a phone contract. The only thing I had to give
was my RIB (a little sheet with all the information about my French bank on it)
so that the company could set up a direct debit. They then checked to see
whether a phone line had previously been activated at that address by
crosschecking the address with previous customers. At this point, I was shown a
list on previous tenants and was asked whether any of them lived in my studio.
Obviously I had no idea – so I dropped over to the nearest McDonalds and sent
an email to my landlady asking whether [name removed] previously lived at my
address.
Having confirmed this, I went back the next day, happy in
the knowledge that I had saved the €50 activation fee and a rather weird
experience. Another
group of language assistants had to activate their line and
were told, “A man will come to your building and create a line. You will not
see this man but he will be there” and they then received an email with the
same information.
Back in the shop, I then sorted out all the paperwork and
asked about the equipment. Unlike in the UK, where technicians will often come
and install the router, you have to go to a random address (it could be a café,
a pub, a bar or just anywhere really) to pick up your equipment – and no, you
cannot just ask to pick it up at the store, that is apparently too difficult. So
I am currently sitting in a home that may have a live Internet connection and
waiting for a text telling me that I can go and collect my router (Neufbox)
from a bar.
However, I still feel a little lucky about this situation.
Another group of friends in the same city were with Orange and it took over a
month – and a lot of hassle and argument – to have working Internet. This is
particularly strange considering that yet another language assistant with
Orange acquired a working connection within 10 days.
So now I wait for a text to pick up my router while my
emails are (mostly) read on my phone. The only problem is that when I need to
properly work or need to send articles or documents, I need the Internet on my
computer. Ah well, I guess all this time frequenting cafés is helping the
French economy…
