I currently have a phone and broadband through Orange, and pay about 35 euros per month. A friend tells me that he has mobile broadband. This is a device with a SIM card which sends out a signal that the tv, iPad, computer and mobiles can connect to and download data. One buys data packages and can use the data when you want, as opposed to paying Orange 360 plus euros per year. However, his device is a UK sim, and I am not sure how long he will be able to run it on the current tariff. As I can now only use the house for about 3 months per year, replacing my expensive deal with orange with a data hub holds a great deal of attraction to me. Does anyone know if there are French providers from whom I could get such a service, and what the likely cost would be? Thanks
You can buy a 4/5G dongle and put a data sim in it. You can buy the dongle from orange but they are much cheaper from Amazon.
I think the SIM card costs £10 from Orange and they can be used for up to 12 months.
You top the SIM card up with data but each data purchase is only valid for 30 days.
35gb costs 40 euros but you can buy less.
I have used one whilst waiting for fibre to be installed. However you can use up the data quite quickly watching the TV or if have a few devices connected.
I managed to use 45gb in 6 days!
Also bear in mind the range on a dongle is not as good as a WiFi router but you could by a proper 4G router which will be better.
A 4g dongle is really meant for travel anywhere and isn’t much bigger than a credit card and only about 2cm in thickness.
Edit, 10 euros for the card from Orange France.
Bought a TP link sim card router from A when my old one got spiked by the EDF supply. Use a sim card from Reglo mobile (leClerc) €5.80 for 30gb but €9 for 100gb is available without contract and top upable on line. The TP link router also has SMA aerial sockets for an external aerial as well.
Very helpful, thanks. As I have a Prime subscription I might have to look at how many gb I am likely to use, as well as downloading the paper, books and general surfing.
Thanks. I will check out Reglo, as 9euros per 100 gb sounds good value
Looks like they now give you even more data…
https://www.reglomobile.fr/forfaits-mobiles/forfait5G0980?offerName=forfait5G0980
I pay Réglo €7.80 a month for 200gb, my wife pays them €9.80 for 300gb…we depend entirely on 4G mobile internet for our mobiles, laptops etc. No WiFi…Total internet bill for the year is €211.
Good be my bad memory Gareth, I remember some quite generous whole number. Will upgrade to that when friends come over next. 
Wow, I am getting seriously ripped off by Orange!
In due course once you experence the culturally local customer un-service or even anti-service with a few other providers you may chnge your mind and become gratrful to be ripped off by Orange.
Hi George. What router do you use? I tried to get a 4G router / data service from a number of companies and couldn’t, because fibre broadband was available. I’ll check out Réglo. Thanks for the info.
Just buy your own 4g router from Amazon or a used one on Leboncoin (there are plenty since people are switching to fibre). A new one is about 60 euros- used ones half that. The Big 4 want to lock you into a contract. Buy a no-contract SIM card that has a lot of data. We use Prixtel and Lebara which both use SFR network.
Thanks. I’ll look into that!
Although we’re mulling over getting a 4G router from Amazon, as Nunthewiser sensibly advises, we don’t currently have a router at all. We either use our phones to connect directly to 4G or tether our laptops to the phones hotspot if we need larger screens for some purpose (eg doing our tax returns).