Use android phone as wifi hotspot in france?

kindalen

Hi,

Will be spending a few weeks in caravan park in france. Wifi can be paid for, but can only be used on one device and can be slow.

I was thinking of using a spare samsung phone as a hotspot?

Or using the same phone with a french payg sim might be better?

Will be in france for about a month, and based in two different parks?

Any advice?

I think Orange in France do good prices on tethering. Not sure what reception will be like in a caravan park and I doubt it will be faster than the wifi.

GarIT

Was gonna do it with O2 Ireland in France before I saw it was €5 per Mb. Basically every YouTube video would cost you €500 so dont even consider it with your Irish sim. I think Three have free roaming in other countries that have the Three network so look into that.

Columbia

Have a read through this page if you haven't already seen it;

http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/France

It details the mobile internet providers & packages available in France.

Solair

Just be prepared for stereotypical French bureaucracy. They often won't sell you a prepay SIM without a French address.

You forget how straight forward things can be in Ireland !

ezra_pound

Solair wrote: »

Just be prepared for stereotypical French bureaucracy. They often won't sell you a prepay SIM without a French address.

You forget how straight forward things can be in Ireland !

Is your phone rooted and running custom ROM? If so you only pay for data and not tethering price.

Al Capwned

GarIT wrote: »

Was gonna do it with O2 Ireland in France before I saw it was €5 per Mb. Basically every YouTube video would cost you €500 so dont even consider it with your Irish sim. I think Three have free roaming in other countries that have the Three network so look into that.

It's called Three Like Home.

Lambsbread

Solair wrote: »

Just be prepared for stereotypical French bureaucracy. They often won't sell you a prepay SIM without a French address.

You forget how straight forward things can be in Ireland !

When I moved to France I got a SIM with just my passport as ID from SFR. No address needed.

Solair

Lambsbread wrote: »

When I moved to France I got a SIM with just my passport as ID from SFR. No address needed.

It depends on the humor if the shop assistant I found.

We'd major issues with Orange!

kindalen

Thanks for replies. Seem to remember reading somewhere before that there is an android app that lets you connect few devices if paying site for wifi, which only lets you connect one device??

Any tips on how to improve weak wifi signal? They tend to be slow.

donegal.

forget about THREE AT HOME , it doesn't include france.

And to improve wifi make yourself a pyramid shaped tinfoil hat :P

Inquitus

I bought a Mifi off Orange.fr last summer, and used that and it worked great. The person above who says you can't get a prepay sim without jumping through hoops is correct, you get 500Mb with the device and can't top up online until you provide id and complete a form. The guys in the shop however were able to bypass this by selling me €50 credit and ringing a number to add it to my IMEI.

Bluefrog

Solair wrote: »

Just be prepared for stereotypical French bureaucracy. They often won't sell you a prepay SIM without a French address.

You forget how straight forward things can be in Ireland !

I've bought a couple of SIM's here and each time been asked for my address - obviously its a little less inconvenient here where I do actually have one

RustyNut

kindalen wrote: »

Will be in france for about a month, and based in two different parks?

Any advice?

Sunscreen



I'm jealous.

Solair

kindalen wrote: »

Thanks for replies. Seem to remember reading somewhere before that there is an android app that lets you connect few devices if paying site for wifi, which only lets you connect one device??

Any tips on how to improve weak wifi signal? They tend to be slow.

If you've access to power, you could just bring a cheap wifi repeater/range extender. This connects to the local network and then creates a new wifi network that can handle multiple devices. You can pick them up in PC World etc.

Or, try a French electrical store like Darty.

As I'm sure aware, the electrical systems in France and Ireland are exactly the same except or the shape of the plugs.

Simplest solution is to fit a French plug on an Irish 4 socket extension strip that way you can use all your light appliances like chargers etc

kindalen

Thanks for replies