Reunion Island
Power & telecom standards in Reunion Island
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered dial-up internet access, WiFi hotspot access and broadband ethernet access in Reunion Island. We also offered Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access in Reunion Island for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
Reunion Island uses 230V at 50Hz. Power outlets are type C, E and telephone jacks are French en T / RJ-11.
Dial-up Internet Access
Tempest Telecom provided local dial-up access numbers in Reunion Island at $0.255/minute. Travelers could connect using any standard modem with an RJ-11 telephone adapter.
WiFi Hotspot Access
Tempest Telecom provided WiFi hotspot access in Reunion Island at $19.95/day for unlimited browsing.
Adapters & Power
Travelers from North America will need a power plug adapter. European Type C/F adapters are widely compatible.
A French en T / RJ-11 to RJ-11 adapter may be required for connecting a standard modem.
Reunion Island at a Glance
- Capital
- Saint-Denis
- Phone Code
- +262
- Voltage
- 230V / 50Hz
- Power Plug
- C, E
- Phone Jack
- French en T / RJ-11
- Currency
- Euro
- Dial-up
- $0.255/min
- WiFi
- $19.95/day
About connectivity in Reunion Island
Réunion uses the French electrical standard: 230V/50Hz with Type C and Type E outlets. The phone jack is RJ-11 in modern installations (the historical French «en T» jack has been retired). Orange Réunion (the regional subsidiary of France's Orange) and SFR Réunion operate the principal mobile and broadband networks. The country code is +262, distinct from metropolitan France's +33.
Réunion, a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean, has run its commercial Internet market through metropolitan-standard French ISP brands since the late 1990s. ADSL rolled out in the 2000s and FTTH from the 2010s, with the regional market structurally similar to metropolitan France but with Indian Ocean submarine-cable dependencies. The METISS, LION, SAFE, and SEAS submarine cables connect Réunion to South Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, and onward to Europe.
Tempest Telecom served Réunion through Indian Ocean regional dial-up coverage. Iridium and BGAN terminals served customers traveling to remote interior locations on the volcanic island (Piton de la Fournaise active-volcano observatory crews, mountain-rescue teams) and Indian Ocean maritime customers operating between Réunion, Mauritius, and Madagascar.
Modern Réunion has solid FTTH coverage in coastal urban areas and full 4G/5G mobile from the Orange and SFR brands.
Tempest's services across Reunion Island, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in Reunion Island between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in Reunion Island drew from the same balance for pre-paid international voice calling, RADIUS-authenticated dial-up Internet roaming, metered Wi-Fi hotspot access, Iridium satellite voice, and Inmarsat BGAN data terminals. An attempted kiosk-payment federation (PATN, 1998) extended the same architecture to public Internet terminals but failed to reach scale.
Iridium satellite voice was available in Reunion Island from approximately 2001 (post-bankruptcy relaunch). Thuraya coverage did not extend to Reunion Island; Inmarsat BGAN data terminals filled the broadband gap from late 2005.