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Communications in France

Post

Postage costs vary according to the weight of your mail and its destination.

The French mail service is very efficient. Allow 24 to 48 hours for a letter posted internally. Allow 1 to 5 days for a letter sent France internationally.

Telephone

All French telephone numbers have 10 digits and the first digit is 0. When calling within France, dial the full 10 digits. When calling from the UK, dial 00 33 and drop the first 0 of the telephone number.

Mobile

There are three French mobile phone providers and they all provide good coverage.

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Voice over Internet Protocol

VoIP is a new technology which allows users to verbally communicate through their computer. Essentially a telephone call made using the internet, VoIP is becoming increasingly more common in the business world due to its low costs, and easy set-up and maintenance.

Forget installation engineers and phone number changes, as long as you have a broadband connection, you can use VoIP any time, any where.

For businesses, this software is sure to eventually phase out the traditional phonecall. For as low as 4p for local and national calls, the economical potential is vast. With international calls often even less than that, VoIP is perfect if you are prone to long-distance telecommunication, or have offices, clients, partners, etc, overseas. What's more, calls made between VoIP users are typically free all you pay for is the standard internet service.

Internet

Until recently, broadband access was limited to one supplier, France Telecom. Since then, alternative operators have appeared offering differing levels of service. There is much competition, so you will have a good choice and, with a little shopping around, you should be able to have broadband installed for about half the price of the UK.

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