Telephone Box

A Brit I spoke to the other day was bellyaching about the time it takes to change mobile telephone operators in France while keeping the same number (what’s called “portabilité”): around 60 days compared with one week in the UK which explains why so many clients here remain “loyal” to one company. But that’s finally changing. As from January 1, 2007 (for mobiles) and April 1, 2007 (for landlines) the whole transaction will be completed in just 10 days. All you’ll have to do is ask the new operator you’ve chosen to take over your number and that’ll be it.

My displeased Brit had issues with his current provider, as many people do. His business takes him frequently to Italy and he gets hit by the high charges you face when “roaming”. I looked into his situation and found that when making calls Orange, SFR and Bouygues would charge him the same (hmm ...) but what he’d pay for receiving a call (of 4 minutes) was variable, costing €1.35 with Orange, €1.40 with SFR and €1.86 with Bouygues.

Do you still have a landline at home? Some 2.5 million French subscribers have dumped their home telephones and the number is increasing all the time, despite lower charges. One motive for keeping a ligne fixe is to dial into online data services.

From Reporter 114 - Apr/May 2006

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