Cheapest pre-pay SIM for calls from France

TRAVELMAN_2

Hello! My other 1/2 is French & when she goes abroad she always racks up HUGE bills (she won't be told!).

Thanks to the advice on this board I can now call her free on my bundled minutes from O2 (haggled-got 500 mins for £25 as my contract had expired & threatened to go to 3) via the thread earlier down-BUT she obviously pays to receive the call.

I've looked on the web & the cheapest pre-paid SIM I can see seems to be a company called oo44.com-£30 +6 euros credit-only catch is it expires after 8 months ulness topped up.

Any other ideas? I could try the phone card route BUT she's a bit scatty & would probably get the pins wrong, etc & I'm not sure how much the 'connect to the local number' (you can do a freephone local connect but its slightly more).

I think a pre-paid SIM for France would be better-can get her parents on the case but they are a bit old & don't quite understand. She has about a NOKIA-about 3 years old-so don't think it could be 'dual-simmed'-she'll just have to take one out & replace!

Sorry to go on.....

Chris!

thefirs

You're between a bit of a rock and a hard place, unfortunately. It is true that a French network sim card would make reception of calls free, and all three networks (SFR- La Carte, Bouyges Carte Nomad, and Orange France Mobicarte) offer sims. Ask in Carrefour, Auchan, or any mobile phone shop in France. It would be cheaper for elle à l'étranger to get one there rather than buying in the UK - perhaps as little as €15. The topping up business isn't that big a deal, costing maybe only €10 every seven or eight months. The top-up for making calls will only last a month or two though.

There is another side of this to consider. Find out the cost of your 02 calls to a French mobile. It will be ... a lot per minute. I'm doubtful that 02 CS will even be able to give you an accurate figure. Reduce this by calling from a BT line and you can get that cost down to 13p/min using Ratebuster, or from your 02 phone via 1899/18866 (do this via their London 020... dialup number) 15p. See the callchecker for details.

If this is all too complex then get a UK Virgin sim and set up a direct debit. The cost of calls from France to UK is 60p, or to receive in France 30p, and I reckon this is about as cheap a no-strings roaming as you can get. PAYG Virgin works in France but costs more. There are some contracts that allow cheaper roaming for an extra monthly rental.

Bon chance, mes enfants

TRAVELMAN_2

;D

Thanks!!

I'm not too concerned re costs of ME calling her as I can get this free within my 500 min bundle (see thread further down-'free international calls from your mobile').

Will get her dad/brother on the case so she can put the sim on arrival (I have a spare unlocked nokia)-so she can have the spare for incoming & I'm pretty sure on her contract phone (ulness you know otherwise or the pay up front sims in France are cheaper-perhaps you could advise??) she's still cheaper for sending texts.

Thanks for your help!

Any advice re: the pay to go text cost would be great!

Chris

thefirs

Travelman

As you'd expect, there's a wide variety of different rates, depending on which plan you choose, how much you top up with etc. The following links should give some indication, and as far as am able to summarise, the international texts are around €0.30. A bit of Googling should reveal more, but be prepared to take advice from the people on the spot.

Mobicarte
SFR La Carte Calls

SFR La Carte texts
Orange Fr

Finally, if you're prepared to engage the outlaws' help in obtaining a French PAYG sim have a look at https://www.ebay.fr, where you may well pick up a sim for a few €uros e.g. here

TRAVELMAN_2

Thanks SO much for your help! Think I'll leave the e-bay bit as the setting up, delivery address, payment, etc is too much hassle if the cards are only about £10 anyway!

You've answere my question re: texts well-so in effect I'll keep her UK phone here & the pay-as-u-go card will be fine for incoming & tests!

Do you live in France or are you French?!

Chris

thefirs

Do you live in France or are you French?!
Chris

Well neither actually, but I do spend a lot of my working life there, and live near the channel ports and can speak the lingo reasonably.

I used to run a Mobicarte bought on UK Ebay which turned out not to be activated so I took it into Carrefour to ask what I could do and they said I needed to prove my ID and give my address. When their system couldn't take a UK postcode they said no problem, we'll just put the Calais code instead!

Pleased to be of help, Chick.