eSIM France
France eSIM from 1,95€ on the Orange, Bouygues and Free networks: 1 to 50 GB or unlimited data, prepaid with no contract and no registration — online the moment you land at Paris Charles de Gaulle.
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2GB highspeed/day, then unlimited at 1Mbps
Your Selection
Your plan only starts counting when the eSIM first connects at your destination — so you can buy today and travel in three weeks.
How does Simbye eSIM work for France?
Get connected in under 2 minutes
Install it at home
You buy the plan and get the eSIM by email: a link to tap, plus a QR code and the details to type in by hand. Set it up on your home Wi-Fi, it takes about two minutes. The clock is not running yet — validity starts with your first connection in France.
Switch it on after landing
Whether you arrive at Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly, Beauvais-Tillé, Nice Côte d'Azur, Lyon Saint-Exupéry, Marseille Provence, Toulouse-Blagnac, Bordeaux-Mérignac, Nantes Atlantique or EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse: turn on data roaming for the Simbye line and set it as the line for mobile data. Orange F appears in the status bar within a few minutes.
Running — and easy to top up
From here you browse as usual, hotspot for your laptop or tablet included. Your own number stays reachable on your home SIM. When the data runs low, you top up in your account without installing a new eSIM.
Check Device Compatibility
Make sure your device supports eSIM before purchasing
Which networks will you be on in France?
The eSIM runs on the Orange, Bouygues and Free networks — your phone picks the strongest one where you are, there is nothing to configure.
The Simbye eSIM uses 3 networks in France: Orange · Bouygues · Free.
Average measured mobile internet performance, nPerf barometer (measured 01.01.2025 - 31.12.2025). What you actually get depends on where you are, the time of day and your phone.
The moment you land in France your phone finds the network by itself and takes whichever of the three is strongest where you are. The status bar then shows the operator’s name — usually “Orange F”, depending on the region “Bouygues Telecom” or “Free” — rather than Simbye. That is correct. You never have to type in an access point by hand. Only two switches matter: turn on data roaming for the Simbye line, and set the Simbye line as the one used for mobile data. If nothing happens after ten minutes, toggle flight mode on and off, or turn off automatic network selection and pick one of the three networks yourself.
Coverage is dense in Paris and across the Île-de-France — the Métro and RER have had full 4G since mid-2020, tunnels included. It is just as reliable along the Côte d’Azur between Nice, Cannes and Antibes, in Marseille and Provence, in Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nantes and Lille, around the Loire châteaux near Tours and Amboise, on the Atlantic coast at Arcachon and Biarritz, in Brittany and Normandy, and along the Corsican coast between Ajaccio, Bastia and Bonifacio. It thins out where almost nobody lives: the side valleys of the Alps and Pyrenees, the gorges of the Ardèche and the Verdon, inland Corsica and parts of the Massif Central.
eSIM or a local SIM card in France?
In France the eSIM saves you a detour: you land already online, while a French card means a shop that shuts for lunch and on Sundays, plus your passport for the registration — though it does add a French number.
| Compared | Simbye eSIM | Local SIM card |
|---|---|---|
| ID required | No, there is nothing to register | Yes, the seller asks for your passport and registers the card in your name |
| When you get online | Minutes after landing, the eSIM is already on your phone | Only after finding a shop — French shops close for lunch and are mostly shut on Sundays |
| Where you get it | By email, wherever you happen to be | Airport shop, an Orange, SFR, Bouygues or Free store, sometimes a tabac |
| Data and validity | 1 to 50 GB or unlimited, 7 to 180 days | Mostly monthly packs, shorter or longer terms are rare |
| Phone number | None, data only — your own number stays active | Comes with a French +33 number |
| Payment | Card in advance, in your own currency | Cash or card in euros on the spot |
| Language | Purchase and setup in your language | Advice and plan details at the counter are almost always in French |
| Topping up | Any time in your account, same eSIM stays on the phone | Reload by voucher code, app or in store, often only in French |
When a prepaid eSIM for France pays off
Every operator bills roaming differently, and the price is almost never where you look for it. Before you buy, check three lines in your own contract: is France included at all, how much data may you use abroad, and what does each further megabyte cost once that is gone? If your plan covers it cleanly, you do not need us — and we would rather tell you that beforehand than afterwards.
It gets expensive or murky in four cases. First, if your operator charges a daily fee for France, as is common from the UK, Switzerland, the US, Canada, Türkiye, Japan or Australia: over a two-week trip that adds up fast. Second, if your allowance abroad is smaller than your domestic one — cheap or unlimited home plans in particular hide a separate, much smaller abroad limit in the small print. Third, if your data runs out mid-trip and buying more on your home plan costs more than a whole France plan. Fourth, if you do not want a contract at all: prepaid, a second device, a work phone that is not allowed abroad privately.
The practical difference is control. A prepaid eSIM is paid once in advance, simply expires after 7 to 180 days and cannot trigger a bill afterwards. Your home number stays reachable on your normal SIM — the eSIM only carries the data.
Where the networks actually reach
France is well built out, and the places where it gets patchy are predictable. In cities and along the coasts you have continuous signal, and in Paris even underground: the Métro and RER have had full 4G since mid-2020, tunnels included, built jointly by the French operators. On the motorways heading south, along the Côte d’Azur, in Provence, in Alsace, on the Atlantic coast and in the wine regions around Bordeaux, Reims and Beaune, the network holds up reliably.
It weakens away from all that. On a TGV journey the connection drops again and again — that is the route, not your plan. In the side valleys of the Alps around Chamonix or Val d’Isère, in the Pyrenees, in the Verdon and Ardèche gorges, inland Corsica and thinly populated corners of the Massif Central it can stay silent for minutes at a time — and there none of the three networks reaches you. The French regulator has been running a programme against these dead spots since 2018 and now reports almost all affected village centres as covered, but still counts around one percent of the population as poorly served.
In practice: download the map of your region offline beforehand, and on a mountain hike or a drive through the Cévennes do not count on always having a bar. That applies to every network in France, including a French contract.
How much data do you need in France?
So you can work it out instead of guessing: how much an hour costs in the apps you actually use on holiday.
The Netflix and Spotify figures come from the providers themselves (Netflix Help Center, Spotify Support, retrieved 28 Aug 2026). The rest are network-operator estimates (o2, Vodafone, EE) and vary with picture quality and reception.
What “France” means on this plan
The plan works in France — the mainland and Corsica. It does not work in Monaco, nor in Belgium, Spain, Italy or Germany even if you only cross the border briefly, and not in the overseas territories such as Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, Mayotte, French Guiana or Tahiti. Those run their own networks. If your trip covers several countries, the Europe eSIM is the right choice.
There is nothing to register, though. Buy a prepaid card in a French shop and the seller asks for your passport, because the card is activated in your name. With the eSIM that disappears entirely: no ID, no form, no queue ticket. France blocks neither foreign eSIMs nor internet calling — WhatsApp calls and FaceTime work normally.
What does an eSIM for France cost?
Simbye offers 9 plans for France from €1,95 to €46,95 — data packs from €1,95, unlimited from €18,95. Prepaid, no contract.
Plans for France range from 1 GB to 50 GB, plus unlimited options.
Validity runs from 7 to 180 days and starts with your first connection in France.
| Plan | Validity | Price | Per travel day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 7 days | €1,95 | €0,27 |
| 3 GB | 30 days | €3,95 | €0,13 |
| 5 GB | 30 days | €11,95 | €0,39 |
| 10 GB | 30 days | €11,95 | €0,39 |
| 20 GB | 30 days | €18,95 | €0,63 |
| Unlimited | 7 days | €18,95 | — |
| Unlimited | 15 days | €32,95 | — |
| 50 GB | 180 days | €41,95 | €0,23 |
| Unlimited | 30 days | €46,95 | — |
- Networks
- Orange France + Bouygues France + Free France
- Setting it up
- A link in your email, or the QR code — one tap is enough
- Network technology
- 4G/LTE — and 5G where the network already offers it
- APN and settings
- Nothing to set. The eSIM brings everything with it
- Hotspot
- Allowed — for a laptop, tablet or a travel companion
- Adding more data
- Top up any time, without setting anything up again
- Calls and texts
- Not included — WhatsApp calls run over the data
- Your own number
- Stays in the phone and stays reachable
- Contract
- None. The plan ends by itself
- Worth knowing
- Prepaid instead of a contract — useful as a second line, or when your own data allowance is used up
Frequently Asked Questions about France eSIM
Data, calls, real phone numbers, top-ups and setup — everything you need to know before you buy a Simbye eSIM.
