Internet Access/Caffes in France

[Norrsken]

I am going to France for aabout three monthds, mainly Southern Brittany. Whilst there I would like to use my laptop to access my emails. One suggestion is to go to an internet cafe and plug in. I know you can do that in Canada but can you do it in France? And are there many internet cafes?

Or does anyone have a better idea of how I can get access?

Many thanks

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[RPC]

Internet cafe's are prolific everywhere. You will not have trouble finding them in any country, including France. If your email is Web based you do not need your own computer, just use the internet cafe' machines. If you need your own machine (due to non web based email) it is sometimes more difficult in many Internet cafe's to plug in your own, it depends on what each place supplies.


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[Stevie_T]

If it is purely for email, why not use a mobile phone, the short period online will not cost a great deal.

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[trouville]

there are almost no internet cafes in France ,nor will anyone let you plug your laptop in even if you have a French wanadoo subscription
Wi-fi is almost non existent, or very expensive 33 euros per hour!!!some youth hostels say they have wi-fi for free but ive yet to find it and lyon and paris arnt really near the sea and the hostels except lyon arnt near to the canals

Now the good news all French telecom agencys have a free conection to use it for 15-20 minites or longers no problem,and all bigish towns have one so do some small busy towns super markets such as carrfore some times have a computor for customers but rearish
pocketmails a good idea a bit expensive and arrl will connect you if you have a call

otherwise vodaphone portable 56k costs 30euros per hour only in cities.

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[jerryat]

Hi!

Why not do what most cruisers do in the Med and Caribbean and save your email messages to a floppy. Take that ashore (no risk to your expensive laptop!) and use it in the Cafe. From experience, you'll only need to be in there for a few minutes, even for a dozen emails.

Hope this helps

Have a good time!

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[snowleopard]

agreed, get a hotmail account and copy your emails to/from a text file. you can then read and reply at your leisure.

hint: when signing up to hotmail be sure to un-tick the 'put me in the hotmail directory' option and choose a long user name that's not easy to guess, the spammers generate possible addresses using combinations of common names and numbers.

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[cynthia]

Largish post offices in France have internet facilities. You buy a card from the appropriate desk. The machines tend to be Macs, and all too often the drives don't work, so the floppy option is out.
France is the only european country we have visited so far which does not have an abundance of internet cafes.

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[BobE]

FWIW Seemed to be one in Carentan right next to the "Comanderie".. Tho' I didn't use it!
Cheers Bob E.

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[Sunnyseeker]

Loads of them! even fi-wi or whatever its called for free! next to the harbour in Sable de lone, I just cant remember how to spell it.
The only place in the world I know its difficult even to find international call boxes is......the USA! can you believe that...Utah is out of touch...but France no problem

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[trouville]

as cynthia said as well there are not many. im in France now and have been for a while and to find and internet cafe or connection takes time if thats what crusings about ok but often there just isent anything--look on the internet there was a list of cafes in France not all still work.This morning i was at a French secondhand market they still sell win 3.1 with 90khz prosessor and 64megs memory huge box and screen for 300Euros!!!
Internet tech is ent hear yet,and jugdging by the way people in the uk use the internet its not well used there either
Best is to download a list of French telecom shops and go to those 70% and all the big ones have an internet connection and free

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[cynthia]

So, Trouville, who are you supporting for this evening's match? I know that if England win our friends and neighbours over here in France will go into depression mode for a day or two, and after all they are lovely folks. But then, even if I'm not a footie supporter - I am English.

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[Birdseye]

There is always somewhere that will allow you on to the internet, from the Bureau de Poste to the marina office and some internet cafes. I would be very surprised if any of them allowed you to hook up your lappy, leave alone the messy process of doing so.

Assuming you are using normal ISP type e mail (as opposed to web mail like yahoo, fsnet, hotmail etc) the best thing is to get yourself a Hotmail account (its free but to avoid spam give yourself a complicated address like 127reservoir@hotmail.com) , and then simply set up your normal e mail to send a copy of all mails received to this hotmail addy. That way you can collect your e mails simply on any computer connection to the net and without haveing to set up smtp addresses etc..

The alternative for just e mail is to log on using your lappy and a mobile. For just e mails this is quick and not silly expensive - just the cost of a 2 min UK phone call. You wont be able to use your French pay as you go mobile to log on, as only their monthly contracts allow data calls.

If you want internet banking, then the best approach is via the bureau de poste, and ensure you clear the cache after use.

<hr width=100% size=1>this post is a personal opinion, and you should not base your actions on it.

 

[trouville]

im nutral! once i supported France while in Italy , we had a good evening myself suporting France and 7 Italians suporting Italy. France won!!!! There was silence and we all went back to our boats.Are we playing Portugal?

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[cynthia]

Not unless both teams get through this round, Portugal are in a different group. England have Croatia and Switzerland to beat to get there (I think). Had 'Land of Hope and Glory' ready to play - after all it was a warm evening and therefore the windows and doors were all open! Never mind maybe we'll earn another chance - hopefully for the final.

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