There was a time when the internet connections in France outside of the big cities were notoriously poor, with countryside dwellers forced to make do with achingly slow and unreliable connections.
But over the past decade France has been working to roll out high-speed fibre internet connections to every town and village in the country in what is known as the Plan France Très Haut Débit.
So what's the situation like in reality in rural France? Has the internet speed really improved or does it feel like nothing has changed?
READ MORE: How is France’s high-speed internet rollout going?
A survey of residents living in rural France reveals a mixed but largely positive picture.
The verdict was basically where fibre has arrived, speeds and reliability have improved dramatically, but access still remains uneven, even within the same commune. Over half of respondents said their internet connection was "excellent", whilst only around one sixth described it as "poor".
One anonymous respondent living in Brittany said "before fibre the internet connection was terrible but now it’s great. Sometimes mine is better than people I speak to in big cities".
Many others agreed. Some respondents reported significant improvements after upgrading from older connections such as ADSL or VDSL.
One resident in Lot-et-Garonne, a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France, said they switched to fibre in spring 2024 and have since experienced a connection that is “fast and rock steady”. Another resident in the village of Beauville, in the same department echoed this experience, describing fibre as a clear upgrade from their previous VDSL line.
Others reported that fibre has been working great for some time. Toby Clark, living in Poigny-la-Forêt (Yvelines département in the Île de France region), said their connection has been “quite stable for five years”, averaging between 300 and 400 Mb/s.
Gillian Courtney, located in Suze-la-Rousse, a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France, described a “huge improvement” following fibre installation in 2024.
Jim Stephenson, living in a small commune 30 kilometres south of Limoges (southwest-central France), said that the speed had not changed but the "quality and reliability of the internet connection had improved quite a lot since the installation of the fibre".
However, the survey also highlighted ongoing frustrations in rural areas where fibre deployment is incomplete or inconsistent.
Several dissatisfied responses about internet speed, came from readers communes including Sahorre (Pyrénées-Orientales), parts of Finistère (Brittany), the Puy-de-Dôme (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region), and Villeneuve-la-Comtesse (Charente-Maritime), where high-speed fibre connections are still unavailable or unreliable.
Russ Goff, who lives in Bessin, Normandy said he had not fibre internet "despite a fibre pole" at the edge of his property.
He said he continues with the Starlink "after waiting too long for fibre to arrive".
Susannah from Condeon in Charente said her internet speed seemed to have got slower and less stable over the last 6 months.
Elizabeth Beekley, who lives in Pouant, in the Vienne département said "Only in my dreams", when asked if her internet speed had improved.
A resident living in the hamlet of Aynès, in southern Cantal (a rural department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes), reported that although fibre runs through the village (2 kilometres away) and along the nearby road, their home remains unconnected.
“We do not have fibre although it is in the village and along the D42 which runs from Vieillevie to Entraygues-sur-Truyère,” they said, highlighting a common rural issue: fibre passing nearby without reaching all homes.
As of June 30th 2025, according to the Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques (ARCEP) fibre connections are now available in more than 33,000 municipalities. Check here to see if fibre has been installed in your area.
While official coverage maps show rapid progress, the lived experience on the ground can vary over short distances. For many rural residents, fibre has delivered urban-level speeds and reliability. For others, particularly those in isolated hamlets, the wait continues...
Thank you to everyone who responded to this survey and shared their thoughts.
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