Page 264 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Brittany

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Communications and Media Mobile Phones
Mobile (cell) phone coverage
French telecommunications are reliable and efficient. is generally good throughout
The French national telephone company, France Télécom, Brittany, though signals may be
is now rebranded as Orange and the postal service is called weak in some rural areas, and
La Poste. Post offices (bureaux de poste) are easily identified local granite can interfere with
signals inside buildings. Mobiles
by the blue-on-yellow “La Poste” sign. from other European countries
Foreign-language newspapers and magazines (sometimes and the rest of the world will
a day late) are available in most large towns and resorts in work without problems here
Brittany. Some television channels and radio stations provided they have roaming
broadcast foreign-language programmes. enabled and a tri- or quad-band
facility (now standard in most
phones). However, before using
you do not dial the initial zero. your mobile phone abroad,
French mobile (cell) phone check with your network service
numbers begin with 06 or 07, provider on the level of charges,
while 08 indicates a special rate which can be high. Overseas-
number, which in most cases call packages, offered by many
cannot be called from outside companies, are one way to cut
France. All 0800 numbers are costs. With a smartphone, be
free; conversely, 0891 and 0892 sure to disable automatic data
are premium numbers and can roaming or its equivalent before
be quite expensive. There are arrival, so that the phone only
also 09 non-geographic connects to the Internet when
numbers. For conventional you want it to, or you can incur
landlines, cheap rates operate very high unexpected costs.
from 7pm to 8am Monday to If you expect to make a lot of
Friday, from noon on Saturday calls, you may find that buying
and all day on Sunday and a cheap pre-paid SIM card will
Girl using a mobile phone public holidays. Avoid making work out cheaper. (Remember
calls from your hotel, since it will that your new number will be
International and Local likely incur a hefty surcharge. local, and possibly expensive
Telephone Calls
If you are planning to make for people calling you from
All French landline telephone a large number of local calls, outside France.) The three main
numbers have 10 digits, and it could be worth buying a service providers, Orange, SFR
you must always key in all 10, French prepaid SIM card (carte and Bouygues, all have a range
even if the number you are prépayée sans engagement) of packages to choose from.
calling from is in the same area which costs around €10–20
as the number you are dialling. and can be easily bought from Internet
The first two digits indicate the the main service providers
region: 02 covers the whole of Bouygues, SFR, Orange and As elsewhere in France, the
the northwest, including Free. Skype is another option Internet is widely accessible in
Brittany, while 01 is the code for for making calls at reduced Brittany. Internet cafés are
Paris and Île de France. When rates. Once it has been increasingly difficult to find, but
you phone from outside France, downloaded, you can pay-as- tourist offices often provide
you-go with Skype Credit. Internet access at low cost.
Useful Dialling Codes
• France’s country code: 33.
• Calling France: from the
UK and US: 00 33; from
Australia: 00 11 33. Omit
the first 0 of the French
area code.
• International calls: dial 00
+ the country code + the
area code (minus the initial 0)
+ the number. Country
codes: Australia: 61; Canada
& USA: 1; Eire: 353; New
Zealand: 64; UK 44.
Many central town squares in Brittany offer Wi-Fi connectivity

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