What is the cheapest way for an Orange mobile to call a French mobile?

knuckledragger

My friend is on Orange and his girlfriend is going to work in France for a couple of months. She'll be using a French (SFR) sim in her mobile while she's out there. What is going to be his cheapest option for keeping in contact with her? Should he use a landline instead?

andy88_2

If it's Orange contract, calls cost 20p/min. But you can pre-buy blocks of foreign calls with 20% extra added, making it 16.7p/min. Payg costs 25p/min.

The best cheap calls providers are about 15p/min, so Orange is pretty good.

SFR charges to UK would be €0.75/min; is it a work phone or is she paying?

matrix999

What tariff are you connected to with Orange?

knuckledragger

Hi there.
He's on an Orange contract with inclusive Xnet mins (shame about Simply-Fone!).
She's going to be on an SFR PAYG (to receive calls only really) topping up as necessary.
Would it be worth getting an O2 sim on a 30 day rolling contract for £30 which would get him 400 Xnet mins + 1000 texts. Then use Simply Fone. Equivalent to 7.5p/min if he used the full minutes up?

Davey_s2

Interesting. Does anywhere know where I can buy a french sim which won't need topping up regularly- the last orange f one i bought got shut down because of inactivity.

matrix999

Theres an Orange number you can phone throught a company called Pre-Dial.Com http://www.pre-dial.com but i'm unsure whether it will work to numbers abroad but certainly worth a try

The number is 07976 827878 and will be deducted from your inclusive Orange mins. When you dial the number, you will hear a message "Please dial the number you wish to call" Enter the international mobile number you wish to call and if it works your laughing!!!

Let us know how you get on

knuckledragger

matrix999,
I'll pass this on and let you know what happens.

andy88_2

Pre-dial will not work to many foreign mobiles (Hong Kong, USA and a few?); certainly not France. Try finding a landline to call her on.

Simply-Fone has more, and I wasn't aware they seem to have added France Mobile, in daytimes only.

Davey s2 all SIMs will expire if unused for a time, incl UK ones.

knuckledragger

andy88,
I'm a bit confused by SF's website. They show calls to France mobiles as available 24 hrs a day Mon-Fri and also in the daytime only list? HHmmmnnn.

andy88_2

Er yes; I hadn't looked at the middle column, only left and right.

Maybe send them a query; they're very good at answering

knuckledragger

I'll do that now!