In France, the fastest and easiest way to get a local SIM card in 5 minutes, working out-of-the-box, is to buy it from Free Mobile with the 
vending machine. All you will need is a credit card. Let’s see how to get it!
📱 The Different Mobile Plans
With , you can subscribe to 3 no-commitment mobile plans in France, which are the same, even if you want a mobile plan for a short period of time:
| ⭐️ 19.99€/month (5G) | 🤩 The best mobile plan for travelers 🌐 300 GB in 🇫🇷 🌍 35 GB in 🇪🇺/🇬🇧/🇨🇭/🇺🇸/🇨🇦/🇲🇽/🇧🇷/🇹🇷/etc 📞 Unlimited 💬 Unlimited |
| 12.99€/month* | 🧳 The mobile plans for short-term stays 🌐 120 GB in 🇫🇷 🌍 18 GB in 🇪🇺/🇬🇧 📞 Unlimited 💬 Unlimited |
| 2€/month | 🌐 50 MB in 🇫🇷 🌍 50 MB in 🇪🇺/🇬🇧 📞 2h 💬 Unlimited |
SIM card/eSIM: 10€
ℹ️ To learn more about the best mobile plans in France for short-term as well as long-term stays, you can read this article:
📍 Where to Get Your SIM Card
You will be able to subscribe to a Free mobile plan or internet home plan online.
However, you can get a SIM card/eSIM right away, with a local mobile plan, by going to a store or a 
shop, with your credit card only:
Free Store
FNAC Shop
🛬 ❌ Unfortunately, you won’t be able to buy a SIM card from Free Mobile in the Paris airports.
Then, you will need to look for a vending machine inside the shop, and subscribe to one of the mobile plans you chose. You will be able to get a mobile plan that stops automatically after 1 month as well as a normal subscription. After the subscription process is completed, you will get a SIM card working out of the box from the vending machine tray. The default PIN code is 1234.
Free Vending Machines (Bornes Free)
Free new vending machines (Bornes Free)
🆕 Buying an eSIM is only available with the new Free vending machines that are in stores only.
Free new vending machines (Bornes Free)
📂 What You Need to Have to Subscribe
You only need these documents if you subscribe with a Free vending machine:
- 💳 credit card: to pay the monthly payment and the SIM card/eSIM.
- 📧 email address: to receive the credentials to the Free customer portal.
- 📍 address in France: it is just for billing, you can input a random address.
That’s it! No ID documents are needed!
👨🏫 The Step-By-Step Guide to Subscribe
Free Vending Machines (Bornes Free)
Free new vending machines (Bornes Free)
Now, let me explain to you the 5-minute process to follow, to subscribe to a Free mobile plan with a Free vending machine, and get a SIM card. Let’s go!
Step 01: Press “Choisir” below “Mobile”
Step 02: Press “S’ABONNER” below “Forfait Mobile Free”
Step 03: Select the mobile plan of your choice by clicking on “SELECTIONNER”
Step 04: Choose The Limit of Validity of Your Mobile Plan
A few precisions for this part:
- “Pas de limite de validité“: the mobile plan won’t have any limit of validity, thus you will need to pay every month.
💡 If you select “Pas de limite de validité“, you will be able to:
- cancel your mobile plan
- change your mobile carrier and keep your phone number
easily in 5 minutes, by reading the article Cancel Your French Mobile Plan in 5 Minutes.
- “Valide 1 mois“: ⚠️ The mobile plan and the phone number will be cancelled automatically 1 month (day to day) after your subscription. ⚠️
To do so, you will need to:
- Go to the Free mobile customer portal
- Go to Mon compte > Mon offre > Prolonger mon abonnement
- Click on one of the buttons:
- Remove the limit of validity
- Extend the limit of validity by 1 or 2 months
Extend/remove the limit of validity for Auto-cancel Free Mobile plans in customer portal
Step 05: Choose A Phone Number (Mobile French numbers always begin with 06 or 07)
Step 06: Select The Sim Card Size (don’t make a mistake here!)
💡 iPhones and recent smartphones have a Nano SIM.
🆕 Buying an eSIM is only available with the new Free vending machines that are in stores only.
Free new vending machines (Bornes Free)
Step 07: Validate Conditions
You will have to pay once 10€ for the SIM card, and monthly the mobile plan.
Step 08: Press The Button To Proceed To The Credit/Debit Card Payment
Step 09: Insert Your Credit/Debit Card And Type Code
⚠️ This credit card will be used for the monthly payments of the mobile plan until the mobile plan is cancelled.
You can change the credit card used, in the customer portal.
Step 10: Select Your Sex
Step 11: Type Your First Name / Last Name
Step 12: Type Your Email Address
⚠️ Type a legit email address:
it will be used to create your customer portal for the mobile plan you are subscribing to. You can then make modifications to your mobile plan in the future.
Step 13: Type Your Address
💡 As the address is mainly for billing, if you don’t have a French address yet, you can fill in the fields with this random address:
- Code Postal: 75004
- Ville: Paris
- Type de rue: Rue
- Nom de rue: RUE DE RIVOLI
- Numéro de rue: 1
- Complément d’adresse: (blank)
Step 14: Press The Button To Get The SIM Card
Take the SIM card in the tray just below the screen.
Step 15: Last Message From Free Mobile
The default PIN code of the SIM card is 1234.
🎉 Congratulations, you have your SIM Card working directly out of the box!
Conclusion
Now, you know everything about how to get quickly a SIM card in France from Free Mobile. Enjoy!
48 replies on “📱 Get a SIM Card in France in 5 Minutes with Free Mobile”
Thanks for this! This was so smooth and easy to do with your guide. Can’t wait for more tips
Thank you!
Hello. awesome information step by step. Thanks a lot.
Question:
1. Is there any option to buy more than 1 sim at a time?
Hi Emran,
Thanks for reading my article.
You cannot in this machine. The machine is more done if you need your SIM right away.
Otherwise, you can order online multiple SIMs. To know more, you can check this article:
The Best SIM Card and eSIM in France
You can order multiple Lyca Mobile SIM cards in a shop.
PS: Free Mobile just increased the roaming part from 25 to 35 GB in many countries abroad, so it could be really interesting for your needs.
Hello,
Thank you this is very insightful.
What will happen to my WhatsApp account if I change the sim? Will all the data change because I’m changing my mobile number?
Hello Melanie,
If you change your SIM, Whatsapp will ask you to switch phone number. You can keep your previous phone number, but if you want to switch to your new French phone number, all the groups you are in should switch to your new phone number.
Here are some official information from Whatsapp.
Hello, is there a way to keep my current mobile number and buy a new sim card? I bought a temporary sim card when I first came here and only need the sim card for mobile data.
Thank you for this explanation by the way, it’s really helpful.
Hello Ada,
Yes if it is a French mobile number.
You need to get the RIO number by calling 3179, and they will send you the code by SMS.
Then if you subscribe online, they will ask you to fill the RIO code you got.
Then after the registration, you will get a temporary number, you will need to wait some days to get your number transferred.
You can check the procedure here for more explanation:
https://www.newinmycity.com/paris/cancel-your-french-mobile-plan/
But I will be taking the sim card and the mobile plan from the kiosk, so how would that work?
I am not sure if from the kiosk, you can do that. The best would be that you go on a Free store, and you subscribe with the new vending machine. I think you can change from there.
First, did you get your RIO code by calling 3179?
No, everything got confusing now lol. I’ll try calling them, thanks.
Oh sorry 😬.
In fact, the vending machine is useful to get fast the SIM card, but they don’t manage certain use cases.
In the article, I talk about the old vending machine (in the cover picture) and the new one (shown also in the article).
The new one might be able to take the RIO code to initiate the transfer of the phone number.
I tried to be didactic there to explain you the procedure in an easy way:
https://www.newinmycity.com/paris/cancel-your-french-mobile-plan/
My last message I promise:
I checked and you can keep your phone number with what I said previously, but it is only available in the new Free vending machines. But they are currently only available in the Free stores.
Do you have a bank account?
If so, you can order a sim card online on their website, and be able to keep your phone number in the same procedure, but the sim card will take a few days to be delivered (Tuesday/Wednesday if done today I would say).
I think I figured it out. Thanks a bunch and sorry to have wasted your time.
No worries Ada 🙂. I just replied in the very last message for what you need to do.
And don’t hesitate to navigate the website for the banking, housing and so on, if you need tips 😉.
Share my website if you think it was useful, I would be super happy to help newcomers 😊.
Will do!
Hi, thanks for this. Is it possible to take the 19.99 option for one month (I will go to Switzerland for a week end of Nov.) and then change to the 12.99 option? If so, can I do this online in the customer portal?
Hello Craig,
You cannot downgrade from the 19.99 plan to the 12.99 plan as the latter is a special 1-year plan.
You can pay Lyca Mobile if you need a SIM card or an eSIM otherwise, roaming in Switzerland is included in it.
thanks, but I could in principle take the 19.99 /month option and then cancel it after one month and then take the 12.99/ month? (I need the sim card more or less immediately as there is a problem with my current UK one and free allows me to pick one up in person rather than wait for a mail).
Yes. Just that you will pay 10€ for the SIM, or for any change.
And with Lyca mobile, that you can find in many shops, it is cheaper.
You can get the SIM in person for both brands.
thanks, I was just replying when I noticed that Lyca also has shops so I can get one there and do what you suggest. What does it mean ‘Lyca Mobile is great for occasional usage’? I read it uses the Boeygues network so why is the network deemed ‘sometimes slow’? Finally, do I understand correctly that e.g. 9.99€/30 days Lyca deal from a shop means I pay for a sim card that gives a French number and data plan that is valid for 30 days only? Then I need to buy a new sim/extend current one from a shop to continue? Thanks!
Lyca is a MVNO: they buy access to Bouygues Telecom network. Bouygues Telecom can throttle the network during the rush hour. But as I don’t know your consumption, and how long you need a SIM, and based on what you said before, I thought the SIM card would be for the short-term, so Lyca, would be more than enough.
For the extension, you can do it on a shop, or online on lycamobile.fr. Online can be good, because you can check an option which says that you want auto-renewal, so you won’t need to worry about renewing.
So, here up to you which one you choose, I think they will be both ok.
thanks I ended up ordering the so called ‘prepaid plan’ 100 Gb option for 9.99€, that is the Forfait Lyca S Plus on the website. The problem is that the sim arrived but there is no bundle attached to it, which I can see on my online account. So either this is super confusing advertising there which cheats any buyer or they have made a mistake with my shipment. Do you assume also from the website the sim will arrive with 100gb of data already attached with this prepaid plan?
Hello Craig,
What do you mean by no bundle? If you bought it online, it should be associated with the SIM card you ordered.
I am not sure if you need to activate your SIM card on Lyca mobile website. For me, there is no additional card you need to have.
Could you confirm me this information?
I went on my account and clicked ‘My plans’ and it says ‘No bundle found’
It is weird, can you check your invoice? Have you activated the SIM card?
I think I had activated it (I have the number) but it says to activate the plan I need to type a PIN but I don’t see this PIN in my invoice (only the order number ORDXXXXXXXX…). Will call tomorrow morning.
OK. Sorry for inconvenience.
I thought you would have gone to a shop as you needed fast the SIM card.
Keep me updated.
thanks, will do, before I go where did you get your PIN from? Is it the pin number (=order number for me) or parent pin in the invoice that was sent to your mail? For me the parent pin field is empty. And what is the format of the pin?
I am less knowledgeable on that. It was a friend who did that.
Did you receive the PIN?
Thanks, I called them up via 323, got sent to the Ireland customer service. Then called the french service, 322, they are not speaking English so I got my friend to speak and convey that I got no PIN and need one to activate my forfait. They said one will arrive via email within 24 hours but no email came. Now I have sent an email to them but somehow I am not expecting a reply. If no reply within 2 days I will send an email to complaints and then call back the Ireland service to ask them to provide a pin and hope they can do so. I still have no idea what format this PIN is. Do you know if there is any official lycamobile shop in paris? (Not tabac shops, official ones)
Sorry for the bad experience with them. You would have lost more time than just taking the Free Mobile SIM card from the machine at the end.
There is no proper Lyca Mobile shop. However, you can find resellers with the Lyca Mobile logo at Gare du Nord, Barbès or La Chapelle for example.
Hi Paul, another quick question, I have set my Lyca plan to auto renew – does it mean when the time comes to renew, the saved debit card on my online account will simply be charged or should I make sure there are sufficient funds in my ‘credit balance’ on my account first? Thanks
Hi Craig,
I am not sure, but imo, it should be paid by the credit card your paid the first time with. So no need to add credit balance, which is the phone credit to make phone calls and so on, not money credit to pay.
Hey Paul, Can I order an E-sim online for free mobile? I can’t seem to find it. I’m only looking for a one month plan. I know I can get an Orange e-sim easily but only for 50gb vs 250gb for free mobile. What network has more reliable and faster speeds?
Thank you!
Hi Sean, You can order an eSIM for a one month plan with the new vending machine, but it makes the eSIM kind of useless to order if it is too go somewhere. You can also order it online, but you will have to cancel it yourself (easy with this article, but you have to think about it).
Orange has the best network in France. The 4G should be more or less the same, but it is more about the coverage of the antenna where Orange is better, even though Free is getting better.
If you want something cheaper with the eSIM, you can check the Lyca Mobile plan which should be cheaper than Free and Orange especially if you need it for 1 month.
Hope I answered well your questions 😉
Thank you for your response. The cost of the Orange 50GB plan is fine, just want to make sure it is fast and reliable. I’d Prefer more data like what Free offers but don’t want to sacrifice coverage or reliability. Just travelling between the Eiffel tower and Disney for the most part. I followed your link to Lyca and found a 250GB XL plan that looks good. How is the network speed and coverage compared to Orange? Is it good enough to stream HD video? Overall what do you recommend if cost is not a factor, just amount of data, data speed and coverage?
Hi Sean, if I were you, I would choose:
1: Orange if you only value the network, but in terms of data, you will lack a bit if you really need a lot
2: Lyca which will have a good network but maybe not the best during the rush hour, easy to get online, but needs extra steps to activate the eSIM (don’t forget to “swap to eSIM” in the checkout section)
3: Free which will give you access to 5G, but doesn’t have the strongest coverage, and anoying to get if you need an eSIM.
If I pay for the free mobile 19.99 euro 250gb data sim for one month at a booth and return to France 6 months later can I still use the existing sim or do I have to pay another 10 euros for a new one?
Hello Joe,
Unfortunately, you will have to pay another SIM card/eSIM 10€ with a new phone number.
Thanks for the swift reply Paul
You are welcome. Hope you will enjoy France 😉
If I buy the Free Mobile 19.99 euro 250gb data sim for 1 month on the 15th of May does it expire on the 15th of June or the 31st May?
It will expire 1 month to date, so in the case of the 15th of May, it will expire on the 15th of June at midnight Paris time.
However, you can easily extend by 1 month or switch to no limit of expiration on the customer portal.
Thanks again Paul. Your site is wonderfully informative and I’m so glad to have read the 5 minute process. I speak French (not brilliantly) but wouldn’t have been so confident at the booth without your advice. I use the sim in our motorhome router to provide wifi for our TV and devices. I need about 60gb per month but as the 250gb offer is 5g I’ll go with that and hope coverage in Brittany is good. Again many thanks. Joe
Thanks a lot for the feedback.
The process is only for their old booth, it is even easier with the new one.
The only drawback is that all their vending machines are not translated, but someone will help you then.
You can also have Lyca Mobile for the 5G if needed, but you will need to activate the SIM card yourself. The SIM cards from Lyca have a 3-month validity period after you cancel the plan. You can find them around Gare du Nord in Paris for example, or you can mail them to yourself.
But the easy way, with no people to speak to, is Free.
Also, for the coverage, Free is ok in the cities, but might be weaker in the country side.
Free uses its own network, and Lyca Mobile uses the Bouygues Telecom network.