Did we ever summarise this in one post? In any case it is worth an update with the state of play in early 2026.
So:
Technologies
ADSL/VDSL - broadband using your phone line, up to about 100Mbps, not available for new order.
France in common with most countries plans to remove copper from the “local loop” so it is very unlikely that you would be able to order a connection based on your existing copper phone line and existing customers are likely to be required to move to an alternative at some point in the not too distant future.
4G/5G - the same technology that provides a data connection for your phone. Speed mainly varies by distance to the nearest mast and whether you have access to 4G or 5G but also other factors such as how many people’s phones are connected to the same mast or even the weather. Speeds up to 200Mbps+ for 5G under ideal conditions down to a few Mbps in poor conditions.
Fibre - broadband over optical fibre. Speeds up to 8Gb/s for French residential services. Not available in all locations.
Low earth orbit satellite - I.e Starlink although Amazon is about to launch a competing system. Speeds can be up to 350Mbps. Should be available everywhere but ideally the antenna needs to be positioned somewhere that it has a full view of the sky.
Geostationary satellites - systems such as Nordnet, up to 200Mbps but high latency makes the service less suitable for gamers.
Useful links:
Orange Fibre
Sosh Fibre
Free Fibre
Bouygues
SFR RED
Starlink
Map of available access technologies per building
Map of existing and future fibre deployments
Breton project for high speed internet
SFR fibre coverage map
Cell tower info, ANFR
Predicted 4/5G speeds, Zoneadsl
Cell tower info, Cellmapper
DegroupTest. A bit out of date now (still mentions VDSL services, for example) - need to be connected to a French ISP to use.
Any extra resources, let me know.