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Internet Access and Cheaper 3G Options in La Tania
While mobile phone calls have become almost reasonable between foreign networks since last season and limited internet access is available on certain UK packages if you’re out for the season then a local French SIM card will be the way to go. Also take in to account the cost of people calling your UK number from a Pay As You Go French mobile – soon mounts up.
O2 for example tease you with 25MB a day for a fixed fee which seems reasonable – until you get used to it and start to stray over it with a huge £3 per MB or £6 per MB in Geneva (non-EU) at the airport (you can get a free hours WiFi at Geneva airport by the way).
French pay as you go cards are even available in the UK from 0044.co.uk so you can get one before you go and simply slip it in your unlocked phone for use as soon as you arrive in France. There’s a mobile phone shop in the foyer area of the Carrefour supermarket in Moutiers and top up vouchers are available from the Tabac in La Tania if you need to wait until you get here.
Internet access is available in many bars, some for free and the La Tania Tourist Office has a WiFi signal across many parts of La Tania for a small charge – the cheaper overall access the more days you buy (Val Thorens has plenty of free access all over the ski area even while riding the lifts). Many of the chalets or apartments also provide WiFi or have an arrangement with one of their neighbours so you’re unlikely to need to stay disconnected for long – unless you want to be of course…
An alternative for Saisonnaires or a group travelling regularly to France is the Orange “Domino” portable Wifi units (pictured above) – they are sold by Three.co.uk in the UK as MiFi units – there are several of the Huawei units on the market now, some can be bought on contract and un-locked for any data SIM card fairly easily too. They generally provide Wifi for up to 5 devices at a time – even handy for a couple with 2 mobile phones, an iPad and a laptop for instance, never mind the kids devices.
The PAYG (or Let’s Go in France) version can be bought in Orange shops in France for around €50 and pay around €25 for 2GB of data valid for a month. Unlocked version are about double that on eBay but plenty of sites have instructions on un-locking codes – just check the model number is exact before attempting it – then it becomes handy for any local data SIM for Summer holidays too!
More info on the Orange France website.
I pay €9 per month on Orange prepay whilst I’m in France. Its an option you can select just like an O2 bolt on or similar. Not bad for unlimited internet data when you consider the phone charges in France. It just comes out of your prepaid credit each month.