It operated in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Senegal, Mauritius, Madagascar, Lebanon and Jordan.

The origin of the name Wanadoo is subject to some controversy, as some maintain it came about in the late 1990s when many internet companies chose to compete by creating "Yahoo!

In 2000, Wanadoo also took over the major British ISP Freeserve, which had previously been part of the Dixons Group.

Following the buy-out, Freeserve maintained its own branding for a while before finally changing to the Wanadoo name on 28 April 2004.

Wanadoo changed to Orange on 1 June 2006 to simplify branding by France Télécom: this merging of companies has created a single brand offering mobile telecommunications and internet services.