Yeah we went into a bouygues to look at phone contracts when we first moved back and found the experience (burly bouncer locking the door behind you, wired salesman interrogating with a fixed grin ) a bit unsettling which put us off going into boutiques again for a while
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Not a SIM card, but a 4g or 5g router, unlocked, and then buy your own SIM card from somebody like Lebara or Lyca. As suggested, you might find that the tower has multiple carriers. We have one tower in Chars with 4 services.
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Cool thanks, will definitely look into this if we’re still hanging in a couple of days
When I researched on the map I think it’s the east facing one which was operated by orange which is the one facing us. Unless I’m mistaken there was a list of the different antennae and angles of direction. As you can see I’m no expert!
I have a similar conspiracy theory that our VDSL became slower when fibre became available.
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Our service hops from one operator to another with no real drop outs, could be orange in the morning and free in the afternoon for example but all off the Lebara SIM.
You may be no expert but it looks as though you’ve done some good research that’s pointed you in a direction. I’m no expert either but I’ve read that 5g needs a good line of sight as it is more prone to disruption and interference than 4g. It is a much faster technology than 4g but it does need optimum conditions to achieve that. Whilst not being anywhere near as quick - though quick enough for most needs (unless you want to stream top quality video) - 4g is less prone to disruption and the signal carries a further distance. (I hasten to add 4g is not rock solid and is prone to variation too, horses for courses maybe)
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The VDSL link speed, if anything tends to go up slightly as people move to fibre and there is less interference from other VDSL signals.
What your operator does with their backhaul I couldn’t say 
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The UI can be a bit tricky to navigate - if you find yourself staring at a blue display try zooming out, if it doesn’t know where you are it assumes 0° lat 0° long. Then choose an operator before zooming in on a specific location in France, finally clicking a tower should show you the coverage.
A phone with a UK SIM might be instructive as it will tend to roam to the strongest signal.
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We are within eyesight or the tower and the signal strength is perfect.
Orange do something probably illegal with their internet sim leaning that it only works with their router which is/was frustrating at the time but it has not thrown a wobbly for getting on 4 years …so no complaints.
I initially put the orange sim into the tp link router and it refused to connect and I don’t have the time nor interest to try and brick it or the sim.
We are in the same boat and the router has line of sight to the tower so no worries there. We then installed a mesh to feed the rest of the house and they work a treat!
It isn’t illegal for them to lock the 5G box to Orange SIMs
Somewhat hopeful for a decent service then - but I would check that the tower you can see is the tower that is serving your location.
With cellmapper.net when you get it right you see something like this
I have been with Orange for a few years now. Sim and landline.
On copper wires for years, then In Aug 2025 they sold me fibre landline connectivity. They installed that after a few weeks, and all went well. In July this year it was cut for planned work scheduled for 2 weeks. I got a message saying service resumed, but it wasn’t.
Visits to home from 3 technicians, all of whom say the problem is in the line further along, not here.
Promise after promise. Still nowt.
I can just get a mobile signal indoors, but for www I need to go outdoors.
I now have a Bouygues sim to use their 5g service. I chose that after looking at the mapping on N-Perf(?)
At first that was running well indoors, but now only is available outside.
#a bit fed up
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Sounds like you would do well with an external antenna then.
My experience with SFR was Go to a town with an SFR shop … Sign the contract ..assuming you have a French RIB , get the Box in the shop and the SIM , drive home plug in …working. Bills start arriving regularly every month. . Stopping the contract is a little more complicated . Log into your SFR et Moi account , which you set up with the phone number on the SIM ,terminate services , they will send unstructured of where to return the Box. Normally it will be something like they send labels you print out, and you package the box in its original.package with the labels and bring it to one of those Relais de Post or .ChronoPost and they take care of the rest . In villages these Relais might be a service in a Tabac or mini supermarket.. I decided to eliminate the requirement of returning the kit by bringing my own Box and terminating contract after the 2 months
This summer and using SFR 5G was the Best Internet Service I have had in France in 26 years
Yes thanks…I looked on Cell mapper and this is the tower.
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I think that sounds like good advice.
Going from copper to fibre earlier I didn’t notice much difference. I don’t use www for work or anything heavy, so I expect with a better antenna I would manage OK.
Go on please, what should I be looking for?
Ed I have looked on Cell Mapper now, and there are several towers circling me, but none nearer than about 20/25km direct line.
Excellent.
Not sure what is happening with the TP Link router and the SIM - I would be entirely unsurprised if the Orange box refused to work with another operator’s SIM but am a little surprised the Orange SIM does not work in a generic unlocked router - only a little though because Orange will certainly have the ability to block anything other than their own consumer equipment.
Assuming your router has two “stick” antennae that you can unscrew to reveal an “SMA” connector (same as wifi) , then something like this
If it has internal antennae and no external SMA connectors than it would not be possible to hook up the external antenna.
Blimy that might as well be on the moon. It can be tricky to get CellMapper to show all the towers though as it depends on the operator you have selected (sometimes even where a tower carries multiple operators).
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Thanks for the reply.
Pretty flat around here but never been a good mobile signal.
I tried the different providers on Cell Net menu. However I know there is a tower (of some sort) nearer as I have seen it, but it does not show on the map. I can only guess it is a mobile network of some type, but when I looked on a bike ride that way, I could see no identity on it.
.I really need to do some background reading!
No independent router here, just the Orange box connected to the (currently non-existent) fibre, and a mobile phone sat on the terrace acting as hot spot as I type indoors on the laptop.