One of the easiest ways of embracing French life is to get yourself a French mobile number
There are a number of French mobile network providers fiercely competing for your business (Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile – to name the most prominent) and prices are often lower than in the UK. A couple of the supermarkets, have their own mobile plans, like Réglo Mobile with E.Leclerc.
The simplest way is to get a prepaid SIM card (carte SIM prépayée) which you can get from any mobile shop, supermarket or tabac. The French authorities don’t like anonymous accounts, so you’ll need to show your passport or other ID and have a French address you can use, if not your own.
If you don’t want to keep topping up your account, then you can take out an ongoing contract with any of the providers – in store or on-line. And many providers also sell instant eSIMs with French numbers. ID and a payment card are needed.
Once you’ve got your new French mobile number, get used to saying it in French. Remember, the French phone number is not a long string of single numbers but is split into pairs of numbers, e.g. 06 05 82 93 67, which becomes ‘Zero Six, Zero Cinq, Quatre Vingt Deux, Quatre Vingt Treize, Soixante Sept. Sometimes you might see a dot/point between the pairs of numbers. You can ignore these – they are just to separate the number pairs.
