One look at the shelves of the local  Relais de Pressewill tell you: Internet fever has hit France, and how! "Great," you think, "so let's get connected." But faced with more than 200 companies fighting to hook you up, becoming an authentic surfeur seems a daunting task.

 Unless you have an accommodating friend or employer, getting connected in France means one of two things: visiting a cyber café or setting yourself up at home with your own PC or Mac.

Assuming you have a computer and a modem, your first job is to choose a service provider, or  fournisseur d'accès Internet(FAI). The enticements are many and varied, from France Explorer's catch phrase, "And you, are you free?," uttered by national idol Yannick Noah, to CompuServe's ludicrous 650 hours of free connections in the first month (650 x 10F = a phone bill with a hangover!). Before parting with your card details, take a minute to check out the competition and don't equate cheapness with value. Low prices mean lower quality somewhere, be it the hotline, the bandwidth, or the company's long-term prospects.

The best solution, if you want to surf and email regularly, is the monthly  abonnementfor around 99F. Aim to get at least five email addresses and 10Mb of Web space for your personal site, as well as unlimited connection to the Internet.

Beware of companies who offer a few (normally  veryfew) hours of connection per month for an attractive sounding rate. Additional hours are always expensive  19F is typical. Most people can spend three hours on-line in one evening, and the service providers know it.

With any company in Paris, you will be connecting at your local call rate. This means you pay 16.8F between 8am and 7pm on week-days and between 8am and noon on Saturday. All other times are half price, at 8.4F an hour. If you're a night bird and subscribe to France Telecom's  Primaliste Internetservice. This costs 10F a month and lets you surf between 10pm and 8am for 4.2F an hour, but if you're already on-line make sure you  reconnectjust after 10pm, or you'll continue to be charged at the normal rate. Sneaky!

Most companies provide a CD-ROM which leads you painlessly through the set-up process using the configuration details they supply. Don't be conned by free CD-ROMs offering a month's free access which come with magazines and through your mail box. They'll take your card details and some will deduct your first payment even if you cancel on time. The onus is then on you to try and get your money back. This is normally a bureaucratic nightmare and you'll probably just stick with them, which isn't the ideal way to choose.

If you already have a CompuServe account, check to see if you can connect using a local access point without having to subscribe again. Otherwise just go ahead and sign up with one of the many fine French companies like Newedge, Almanet or Easynet.

Reading a respected magazine like  netor  Netsurfwill familiarize you with the French Internet scene if your French is up to it. The number of ads is bewildering but comparative tables appear regularly which help.

Without a computer you can still surf or check your email by visiting a cyber café. The  Web Barin the 3rd arrondissement is one of the most popular and costs a competitive 40F an hour or 300F for 10 hours with a free email address. Their hi-tech decor is tempered by the regular art displays and all their technical staff speak English.  Le Jardin de l'Internetoffers a friendly atmosphere just off the Jardin du Luxembourg in the 5th.

If you're looking for something a little more exotic, try the  Cyber Café Latino, near the Panthéon, where you can try South American cuisine and view the art exhibition when you need a break from the keyboard.  Café Orbital, also on the Left Bank, has the usual wide range of Internet services, allows you to connect your portable equipped with an Ethernet card and boasts live music on certain evenings. All the cafés run training courses if you need one.

So, if you've been desperately missing your connection since you saw Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in "  You've Got Mail," wait no longer. Getting connected in France is now easier than ever.

 Some unlimited access providers, their monthly charges and phone numbers:

 Almanet      88F, tel: 01.44.18.70.70

 AOL      95F, tel: 01.41.45.81.00

 BD Way      65F, tel: 01.53.36.24.24

 ClaraNET      75F, tel: 08.03.30.73.06

 Club Internet      77F, tel: 01.55.45.46.47

 CompuServe      135F; tel: 03.21.13.49.49

 Easynet      79F, tel: 01 44 54 53 33

 FranceNet      99F, tel: 01.43.92.12.12

 France Teaser      99 F, tel: 01.47.50.62.48

 Magic On-line     81F (56 FF for Paris), tel: 01.53.69.54.59

 New Edge   70F, tel: 01.49.09.00.22

 Wanadoo     95F, tel: 01.41.33.39.90

 WorldNET     99F, tel: 01.40.37.90.90

 Paris cyber cafés:

 Web Bar,  32, rue de Picardie, 3e, tel: 01.42.72.66.55, 1hr    40F, 10hrs + email address    300F

 Le Jardin de l'Internet,  79, bd St-Michel, 5e, tel: 01.44.07.22.20, 1hr   48F, 10hrs + email address   290F

 Prorata,  27, rue Linné, 5e, tel: 01.45.35.94.14, Web access, email addresses, AOL, Hotmail, etc

 Cyber Café Latino,   13, rue de l'Ecole Polytechnique, 5e tel: 01.40.51.86.94, 1hr  40F, 10hr  250F

 Café Orbital,  13, rue de Médicis, 6e , tel: 01.43.25.76.77, 1hr    55F, 10hrs + e-mail address    300F