I need to find a place to live and work, so finding a place has a lousy signal will be a deal breaker. Does anyone know of a web-based map that shows signal strengths across France for all the main networks? I have SIMs for Orange, SFR and Bouygues.
My latest trip to France begins in a few days (26 September) so quick responses would be really useful.
Thank you
Why not talk to uksofa dot eu? You link to it on your biog page and I’d have thought that they’d be ideally placed to advise you …
You might find some info at 3G / 4G / 5G coverage in France - nPerf.com
There’s also https://www.cellmapper.net
And https://monreseaumobile.arcep.fr/ as above
However the maps are usually only a vague indication - local conditions vary enormousy. The best network at the front of my house is not the best on the patio at therear, for instance.
If you are coming into France from elsewhere you will be roaming, and your phone should automatically choose the best signal.
Indeed, I agree, which is why I also asked them the same question at the same time as posting on SF, just thought local knowledge from SF would be really useful.
UKSofa came back with a brilliant site that even has overlays of each network and signal strengths. Could be worth viewing if your current provider is not great.
Thanks Billy. Good info coming back from everyone at SF. The reason not to use my own roaming UK SIM is I don’t want to visit an area just to find the signals bad - but who knows, the house may be too good to miss and then its Starlink 
Not entirely convinced about the “Zone ADSL&Fibre” map, for one thing it seems to be saying we have 5g which is not the case and its radiation rosettes are all perfect circles so it can’t be taking account of local topology.
That said the centres of the two rosettes close to my village do correspond roughly to the location of the two local transmitters and despite my criticism above the speed indicated chez moi is a reasonable guesstimate of what I actually get.
Another vote for nPerf.
The advantage though is that you can pick each operator in turn and see which has the best signal.
Though if you want to “find a place to live and work” and need good internet just go for somewhere with fibre.
Just back in the UK after our latest French visit.
I took a roaming SIM and checked the operators’ signal strengths, all good.
The reason for going mobile was cost . In the UK you can get a UK month-by-month SIM with 300GB of overseas roaming (renewable every 30 days) from around ÂŁ30. Perfect for each month when in France ,and for resilience if a network fails then another is normally available on the same SIM.
I had looked a Fibre but that comes with an up-front cost, an install, a delay and a monthly long term commitment. With immediate availability and multi-device connectivity (for the family to play games when I work!) the resilience offered by the roaming SIM just seemed a far better option?
That’s good news
Fair enough - if you are only coming to France intermittently and don’t want to be paying for service when you are in the UK that makes sense.
I got the impression you would be in France for longer periods.
I’m puzzled - from whom?
I have a vested interest as I need to sort out a SIM/service provider for my own place in France - which means I’ve been ploughing through the fine print of just about every mobile deal going and reading more SIM T’s &C’s than is good for me recently.
Tesco (O2 MVNO) do unlimited at ÂŁ30/month but 12 month lock in, 100GB will set you back ÂŁ20/month (there is no 300GB option). Tesco PAYG is ÂŁ30 for 100GB but the T&C specifically disallows use in hot spots or routers.
The Tesco unlimited deal is ÂŁ25/month if you opt for a 24 month tie-in.
Voda will do you 150GB “Xtra Euro Roam” which does appear to allow all 150GB when roaming but at £32 a month after a six-month period at half price and it’s a 24 month lock in. Unlimited data (again, no 300GB option - are you sure you aren’t thinking of French operators) is an option but at £48/month and a 12 month lock-in. Opting for 24 months only drops the price to £46/month.
With Voda if the product name does not include the text “Xtra Euro/Global Roam” you don’t get roaming as part of the package.
O2 cap at 25GB
EE cap at 50GB for pay monthly customers, 25GB for PAYG
Three only do inclusive roaming on older contracts - IIRC the cap is 30GB
iD mobile (Three MVNO) allow roaming up to 30GB (on plans which include at least 30GB, otherwise it’s whatever is in the plan).
Lebara (Voda MVNO in the UK) cap at 30GB
Giffgaff (O2 MVNO) cap at 5GB
I’ve looked at some others - they’ve all got caps and none are anything like 300GB but if you have found a UK sim-only deal which genuinely allows use of 300GB of data a month for £30 on a 30-day rolling contract I would love  to know.
