The mobile phone industry in France was deregulated in the nineties, which means that phone contracts have never been exorbitantly priced. However, for most of the last fifteen years, the same three networks have existed in a cosy arrangement, which ensured that real competition never really drove prices down either. And it's not just me saying that - the official body that oversees pricing and competition in France fined the three phone companies a total of close to half a billion Euros in 2007 for an illegal pricing agreement.
All that changed at the beginning of this year, following the award of a fourth network licence to Free, an aggressive newcomer that made its reputation (good & bad) as an internet service provider. By offering an unlimited contract (phone calls, SMS and internet) for just 20 euros a month, it totally shook up the industry. Never mind that Free's network coverage was a fraction of that of the other three (a problem which they partially solved by reaching a network-sharing agreement with Orange) and that there were plenty of initial problems, the price seduced subscribers away from their competitors in droves. Something like 3 million took up their offer in the first six months. And the other networks were forced to respond and bring their prices more in line.
All of which eventually motivated this particular phone user to get off his arse and shop around for a better deal than the one that I've had more or less unchanged (in price and service) since I first took it out. And for an upgrade to my battered but trusty 10 year-old phone whose battery was beginning to require charging every couple of days despite being hardly used. And so, a week or so before our recent trip to the UK, I duly switched provider and contract for something that gave me more than twice as much for barely half the old price, and went shopping for a new phone. Given that the new contract allowed limited internet access I decided to go the full hog and upgrade from a phone on which I could merely make calls and send texts to a so-called smart-phone. Cheapest one I could find, I hasten to add.
Eager to try out my new toy, I duly snapped out the new micro-SIM and opened the phone to insert it. Should have checked that it indeed took a micro-SIM rather than normal size one. Oops. However, I cobbled together the micro card and the cutout and managed to get the ensemble into the phone and, what's more, it all seemed to work. Phew.
Alas, I soon discovered that the wifi on the phone didn't work, which limited its use somewhat. And by now it was only a couple of days before we were due to leave on the two week holiday. No matter, a hasty phone call or two to the technical hotline of the shop I bought it from eventually produced a promise to replace it. Phew. So I opened the phone to take out the SIM card before taking to back to the shop. Only to find I couldn't get it out due to it being in two pieces. Bugger.
Eventually, after much cursing and with the help of a thin-bladed knife I did manage to get it out. Most of it anyway, and without destroying the phone in the process. Fortunately any bits of plastic that might have been left inside weren't visible, so I took the phone back and got it changed, no questions asked. And the new phone worked, wifi and all. Phew.
However, with our flight the next morning, there was no time to get a new SIM card. ie two weeks away without a phone beckoned. The question of whether that was a good or bad thing never really arose because la bienheureuse always had her phone for emergencies. Anyway, ordering a new SIM card was a painless and not-too-expensive process, and it was waiting when we got home two weeks later. And new phone and new SIM have since worked flawlessly. Long live commercial competition.
