Tweedpipe

We re-located back to France from Singapore some 15 years ago, knowing that we'd have very few problems in the countryside location planned on.

One can be surprised at the excellent tel. & internet experience on the outskirts of some small places. Here in the SW, we are surrounded by vineyards about a mile or two outside a small town (pop: approx 1.4K). Internet is super-rapid, downloads appear at lightning speed. We're with one of the largest if not the largest provider, and have been for the past 15 years; can't remember the last time we had a problem. Totally satisfied. Mme TP opts for a brand new mobile phone from them every 2nd year for about 10euros. Although I'm a lover of new and all interesting technology, I never carry a phone (can't stand the things), but do carry one in the car in case of emergencies - haven't used it in ages; keep it topped up with a LeClercMobile paycard - believe it's 5e/month. Again, totally satisfied!

grannybunz

Lucky ou is all I can say.

scrubbedexpat056

For a couple of years between 2013 and 2015 we lived on our sail boat in the French med between Agde and somewhere past Porquerolles. On my nephew's advice I bought a Huawei mobile hotspot device for around £40. I also bought an additional aerial that could be plugged into the back since we have a steel boat and the signal bellow could diminish and I could stick it out of a porthole. I bought a data only sim with one of the big providers (I can't remember which off hand, but could find out) on a monthly contract that I shouldn't really have had since my address was a marina that I left. It did everything we needed. We weren't running a business, but we could watch videos without them buffering, download our subscription newspapers, books, organise flights, read and send emails etc. I can't remember a time when it didn't work. It was explained to me that the reception and tethering capabilities of a mobile hotspot are greater than a smartphone since they are designed to do one job only. I would hate for the first person who tries this on my say so to prove me wrong. All I can say is I am bringing it with me next year when we cruise the canals in the SW, house hunting, and assume it's going to work as it has.

calman014

Satellite is not the only option. Depending on your region I would first look at mobile coverage using 3G or 4G before going down the satellite route.

If you have a reasonably stable 3G signal it can be adequate for daily tasks such as mail and occasional updates to a website or surfing. If you are lucky enough to be in a 4G area then speed is dependent on your provider. There are special modems for this. You pop in a SIM card which is linked to your mobile account and away you go.

There are Wi-Fi options available that go under different names. Basically you will use an external antenna to link up to another transmitter someplace that there is a broadband connection. Speeds vary according to suppliers as mentioned above.

graham.miln

As another data point, we are enjoying better Internet speeds in our village than in the centre of Lyon.

That said, we avoided upgrading from copper to fibre in the city because we heard the service was similar due to congestion. Had we stayed longer in Lyon, we would have upgraded to fibre for reliability more than speed.

In 3eme, Lyon, a mobile 4G connection fluctuated between 5 and 70 Mbps download depending on the time of day. Uploads ranged from 1 to 10 Mbps.

In our village, a mobile 4G connection is consistent at a symmetric 10 Mbps. The speed feels capped.

In Lyon, we got ~35 Mbps via a copper landline and in the village ~55 Mbps.

So the move for us from city to rural France has landed us with a better Internet connection!

Before buying our land and building, I made sure the telecom exchange we were on was degrouped and had VDSL as a service. The links in my earlier post provide all the exchange information.

For maps of mobile coverage in France, see https://www.monreseaumobile.fr

All that said, it took eighteen months for Orange to install our landland. Patience continues to be a requirement.

grannybunz

If you have a reasonably stable 3G signal it can be adequate for daily tasks such as mail and occasional updates to a website or surfing. If you are lucky enough to be in a 4G area then speed is dependent on your provider. There are special modems for this. You pop in a SIM card which is linked to your mobile account and away you go.

We don't have a stable 2G connection and following extensive enquiries had to conclude that satellite IS our only option.