How to Open a French Phone Line with Orange (2026 English Guide)

Three possible situations at your French address

Before you subscribe to any French internet plan, you need to know whether a phone line already exists at your address. There are three possible situations:

The home was inhabited within the last six months, with a working phone line. The line just needs to be reactivated and the operation is free.
The home has been empty for more than six months, or the previous occupant terminated their line. The copper line might still be physically present but needs a paid reactivation.
The home is a new build with no copper infrastructure. A brand-new line has to be built, which means a technician visit and a one-off fee around 119 €.

A few clues tell you which case you are in:

Look for a telephone wall socket ("prise gigogne" or RJ45 "prise T") in the home. If there is one, the home is most likely already wired.
Ask the landlord, the seller or the previous occupant for the line identification number, called NDI in French (Numéro de Désignation d'Installation). This is the key piece of information to speed up the activation.
If you can plug a fixed phone into the wall socket and hear a dial tone, the line is active. If you hear nothing, the line may simply be switched off, or physically disconnected.

Case 1: reactivating an existing line (free)

If a phone line is already physically installed at your address, the activation with Orange is free. You only need the NDI ("identifiant de ligne"), which any past or present occupant of the home can give you, and which Orange can also look up by address.

How to find the NDI

Ask the previous occupant or the landlord: they usually still have the number on an old bill or contract.
Plug a fixed phone into the wall socket, dial a working landline number and listen to the automated voice: Orange's network returns the NDI of the line you are calling from.
If neither works, call Orange directly: with the full home address, an advisor can identify the line in the operator's database.

How to trigger the activation

Once you have the NDI:

Subscribe to the Orange (or Sosh) internet plan of your choice, online or by phone.
Give the NDI when prompted in the subscription flow.
Orange schedules the activation, with or without a technician visit depending on the technology (fibre always requires a visit, ADSL reactivation is usually remote).

Reactivation is free: no setup fee, no technician fee, no extra one-off cost on top of your monthly plan.

Case 2: an old or long-disconnected line

If you cannot find any NDI, and the home has been empty for more than six months, the line may still be physically there but in a "dormant" state. Orange can usually reactivate it remotely from the local exchange ("central téléphonique"). In some cases, a technician visit is required to reconnect the copper pair to the active part of the network, which can trigger a small reactivation fee.

If the copper line is missing or severed (a renovation, a heavy storm, a building rewiring), you fall back to Case 3 below and pay for the construction of a new line.

Case 3: building a brand-new line (around 119 €)

For a recent build that has never been connected, Orange charges around 119 € for the construction of the line, regardless of the operator you eventually choose for the internet plan. The amount covers the technician visit, the wiring from the street pole or basement to the inside of the home, and the installation of the wall socket.

The construction process, step by step

In practice, here is how the construction of a new copper line plays out:

You subscribe to an Orange internet plan and ask for line creation during the subscription.
Orange schedules a technician appointment, usually within two to four weeks depending on the area.
The technician runs the wiring from the street to the home, installs the wall socket and connects the Livebox.
The 119 € fee is added to your first invoice; the monthly internet plan starts from the activation date.

Should you build a copper line in 2026?

Orange has started phasing out the copper telephone network, with full decommissioning planned by 2030. Building a brand-new copper line in 2026 only makes sense if your address is not eligible to fibre and there is no rollout planned. If fibre is available, prioritise the fibre subscription: it has no line-creation fee, much higher speeds and is the technology Orange is investing in long-term. Test your fibre eligibility on the Orange website (in French) before paying for a copper line.

How long does it take to get connected?

According to the French regulator ARCEP, the average activation time for a new internet line is between 9 and 14 days across the four major operators. Orange is usually the fastest, especially in urban areas, since it owns the underlying network.

Average activation time per French operator (ARCEP data)
Operator	Average activation time
Orange	Around 9 days
SFR	Around 9 days
Bouygues Telecom	Around 11 days
Free	Around 14 days

For a brand-new line that requires construction, add a few extra weeks for the civil-works appointment. While you wait, Orange lends a free 4G key with a generous data allowance, so you can have internet at home from day one.

Documents to prepare and cost recap

Documents to bring

For any Orange internet subscription, including a new-line scenario, prepare the following:

A valid ID document: passport, French ID card or residence permit.
Proof of address ("justificatif de domicile"): rental lease, electricity or water bill, recent bank statement.
A French IBAN for the monthly direct debit. A foreign IBAN is not accepted on Livebox plans.
The NDI of the existing line if you have one (saves time).
The result of your fibre eligibility test, if you have already run one.

Cost summary at a glance

One-off fees for an Orange line activation
Situation	One-off fee
Existing active line with known NDI	Free
Dormant line, remote reactivation	Free in most cases
Brand-new copper line (construction)	Around 119 €
Fibre activation (first time)	Free

Our verdict: how to open your Orange line quickly

Nine times out of ten, the home you move into already has a working copper or fibre line, and the activation with Orange is free. The two practical steps that save the most time are: asking the previous occupant or the landlord for the NDI before you sign anything, and testing fibre eligibility first, since fibre never has a line-creation fee. Pay the 119 € copper construction fee only if no fibre is on the horizon at your address. For everything else, the Orange English helpline or Selectra's English-speaking team can finalise the subscription in one call, often the same day.

Livebox-news, Selectra editorial team specialised in Orange and Sosh offers.