See Pacific List of Radio Nets
Note: Starlink's satellite internet service is not currently available for individual use in French Polynesia and the importation of Starlink terminals is banned.
The International Dialing Code for French Polynesia is +689. Every town and little village has a public call box. It is best to use a pre-paid international calling card which you can get from the post office.
French Polynesia uses the Global System for Mobiles (GSM) technology. Check with your wireless company before traveling to see if you have a GSM phone. If so, you may be able to use it in the islands if your home provider has an international roaming agreement with the mobile network Vini (www.vini.pf). If not, you can always rent a phone or buy a local SIM card from Vini once you arrive.
To communicate on the Vini network in French Polynesia without changing your SIM card, check if your mobile operator is a Vini partner.
If your mobile network is a partner, you only need to switch to the Vini network to start communicating (calls / SMS / data). Check the roaming charges with your mobile network.
Internet access is possible in most of the major anchorages near towns of any size, although it is very slow. You can sign up and pay online for a block of time after connecting your WiFi antenna to the provider’s network. You may need to buy blocks of time from 3 or 4 different providers because coverage varies from place to place.
A long range WiFi antenna is very useful to have. Coverage is pretty spotty in the Tuamotu: Rangiroa, North Fakarava, Makemo, Manihi, Tikehau, and perhaps a few others when anchored near a post office (see Vinispot info. following).
"Vinispot" (www.vinispot.pf) is a provider from the French Polynesia postal service and as such operates in all islands where there is a post office, i.e. even in some of the remotest outer islands like the Australs and Gambier.
However, the WiFi range is sometimes limited. The Marquesas are ok, eg Fatu Hiva (Hanavave Bay or Bay of Virgins) with a great vinispot signal, also Taiohae Bay. In Papeete, it is better than the marina WiFi. Further west, the signal is not so good. Check their website for locations. You can buy access cards at the post office, or sign-in online using a credit card. In many post offices, you can also use your access card to connect at the post office public computer which is available free of charge.
this is another WiFi internet provider, with WiFi zones in all Society islands, Nuku Hiva, Hiva Oa and Ua Pou in the Marquesas, and Manihi, Rangiroa, Fakarawa and Tikehau in the Tuamotu. You can sign-in online using a credit card, or buy access cards at their WiFi zone stations like hotels or “pensions”, or marinas (check their website home page for locations).
Cruisers can also use this privately owned WiFi service run by a yachting-affiliated person. They are reported to have a better Wi-Fi signal, but not necessarily a faster internet connection. Iaoraspot has WIFI zones in all Society islands, Nuku Hiva, and Hiva Oa in the Marquesas, Rangiroa, and Fakarawa in the Tuamotu, and Mangareva in Gambier.
You can sign-in online using a credit card, or buy access cards at their WiFi zone stations like hotels or “pensions”, or marinas (check their website home page for locations). From their home page, you can also get free of charge weather forecasts from: Windguru (various islands), Meteo France website (very complete including satellite pictures of the South Pacific), and 7-day GRIB files covering all of French Polynesia.
Rent a Pocket Wifi from Tahiti WiFi at the Tahiti Faa'a InternationalAairport and take it anywhere during your time in French Polynesia. Wi-Fi routers will follow you anywhere and will allow you to stay connected to the unlimited internet. Our Pocket Wifi will allow you to connect up to five devices at the same time like smartphones, PC tablets, computers, cameras, gaming devices. Tahiti WiFi works in most FP islands, they speak French and English and will come to any Tahiti marina. See https://www.tahitiwifi.com/home.html
There are excellent postal services throughout the islands. At its 54 island branches, the post office (OPT) provides a wide range of services besides stamps: phone cards, parcel post, placing collect calls, international calling cards (ATT, France Telecom), sending & receiving money orders.
If hoping to receive anything by normal express post, remember that post office will only hold items for 14 days before returning to sender. The alternative is to give a hotel or cruiser-friendly outfit as a mailing address. Mail first arrives in Papeete, Tahiti, but then if not addressed or invoiced properly, it will often just get stuck there. Advice is to get the sender to scan the invoices of the goods and the postal invoice and email them to you. Then you must make sure you have the invoices for the goods and the postal invoice on the outside of the package. Also in large letters somewhere other than the small address label, you should write the name of the yacht and “YACHT IN TRANSIT”. If all else fails, go to the PO with your tracking number, a scanned copy of both your boat registration and the customs form copy which they give you on check-in, PLUS scanned copies of the invoice. The head of the PO can then e-mail the customs/PO Papeete attaching your scanned copies and with luck, you should receive your packet without having to pay import duty.
Last updated: April 2025
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