Best option for mobile phone

[Rob Roy]

I have a PAYG French mobile that was with Orange, but it has been cut off as I used it so rarely (only wanted it for emergencies whilst driving). However we are off on holiday to the U.K. at the end of May and I think we ought to have a mobile with us whilst travelling.

Has anyone suggestions on the best tariff / provider for me? I've heard Virgin have a much longer credit limit than most French providers and others say a U.K. sim card is a good deal (although not much help between here and the tunnel unless they post to France!)

 

[Chiefluvvie]

Hi

Free Mobile - http://mobile.free.fr/

Either their no contract 2€/ month domestic fixed line and mobile numbers - 60 min and 60 sms

OR

their no contract 19,99€ / month unlimited domestic fixed and mobile numbers , unlimited fixed line international (40+ destinations) plus mobiles in France, US / Canada, unlimited sms and unlimited domestic data deal (slower speed after 3GB).

Tarif brochure here : http://mobile.free.fr/docs/tarifs.pdf

They use their own transmitters in some areas and the Orange network elsewhere.

Chiefluvvie

[Gardengirl]

I don't know if it's still a best buy, but we've been happy with Leclerc for a couple of years. We have their mini PAYG, and €1.50 is taken each month, plus whatever calls we make; we only make a very few texts and a few calls to other mobiles (for other calls we use the house phone for 'free' included with our internet package). We used to use top ups from newsagents and found it expensive; unless we bought the very expensive top ups they always seemed to run out quickly.

I seem to remember that when we went to the Leclerc supermarket, we had to take a couple of bills to prove our address and maybe we took our passports too, along with a RIB for direct debit payment. Here's a link to their website with charges etc:  http://www.leclercmobile.fr/formules/formule-mini.html

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

Free mobile doesn't seem to support international roaming. My wife's phone is with them and doesn't work in London. If you look at their site all the statements are about calls from France Metropolitaine.

Meanwhile, my Leclerc PAYG roams quite happily.

Having done a bit of digging behind the scenes it looks like Free are negociating roaming agreements around the world (including the UK) but that none of them are live yet.

Actually, for anyone spending a significant time in the UK I'd strongly recommend getting a UK SIM. I'm working here for a few months so I got a Lebara PAYG SIM in Tesco, which gives very cheap calls to France. I think there are a few similar providers.

[HoneySuckleDreams]

Albert. That's a good call. Do you think FREE would work in Luxembourg? I was just about to go for a FREE sim. I'll Have a look at the T&C's

[Frederick]

If anybody needs a sim in the UK for a mobile phone ...Just help yourself to a free pay as you go one  in TESCO that are in a rack by the checkouts  for people to take .  Calls are  10p .p/min  texts 5p  Calls to within the EU 35p/min .   Top up with £10 they triple it to £30 ...

[Chiefluvvie]

LOL ! Freemobile most definitely DOES support international roaming!! I use it all the time. In any case, just take a look at all the tarif pages on the pdf link above.

Sounds like there may be something wrong with your wife's phone settings Albert!

Chiefluvvie

[cooperlola]

Go into the Carphone Warehouse when you get to the UK.  All the operators' SIMs are free there if you buy £10 worth of calls.  They won't cut you off so long as you make 1 call a year.  I have 3 for internet (tablet, smart phone) and T-mobile for calls only on my ancient phone.  Costs for calls are all pretty similar but the people at CW will explain the positives and negatives of each deal.

Tesco are good too.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

[quote user="Chiefluvvie"]LOL ! Freemobile most definitely DOES support international roaming!! I use it all the time. In any case, just take a look at all the tarif pages on the pdf link above. Sounds like there may be something wrong with your wife's phone settings Albert! Chiefluvvie[/quote]

I'll have a look into that. Did you have to set anything up on the Free site?

Out of interest, which country(ies) do you roam in?)

On the other hand, 42 cents per minute outgoing and 13cents incoming charges make a pretty good argument for getting a local (UK in my case) SIM. Lebara is 5p (6 cents) a minute to UK or French land lines and 10p to mobiles. I just checked Lycamobile and they are also 5p to landlines, but 19p to French mobiles.

[Chiefluvvie]

Hi Albert

Nothing to set up on the Freemobile site - check the phone roaming settings.

I roam all over the place (including UK) - pilot! I tend to keep an eye on the best deals!!

Also - I have the Freemobile 19,99€ forfait. So all calls to UK landlines are included and it's 19 cents for calls to UK mobiles (calls to French mobiles are also included).

However....I misread the OP - I see that he needs to use a phone whilst IN the UK. In that case it's a no brainer - use Vodafone PAYG with their international option (Vodafone Freebies) where you get 60 mins of international calls / month when you top up at least £10.

Chiefluvvie

[Chancer]

Unless it has changed roaming is definitely not available on the €2 (or nothing to existing Free customers) tariff, its a social tariff for people with low revenues launched in response to the other companies R.S.A. tariffs, the €19.99 tariff (€15 for existing customers) has roaming.

Provision was made for people on the social tariff to purchase a top up voucher in order to send SMS's to other countries and I think use their phones abroad but I am uncertain of the latter, anyway it was not up and working as of last week.

My advice to the OP would to be to buy a Tesco/Asda/Lebara whatever mobicarte in the UK and to sign up for the Free €2 offer for use in France as they are concerned about the ferry journey.

[Quillan]

Looking for something the other day I noticed that Amazon UK sell dual SIM phones from as little at £19.99. Perhaps a LeClerc SIM and something similar from the UK and then there is mucking about swapping SIM's around. Just an Idea.

Mrs 'Q' has a LeClerc SIM and one nice thing you can do is top it up from anywhere via the Internet if required.

[Salty Sam]

[quote user="Rob Roy"]

I have a PAYG French mobile that was with Orange, but it has been cut off as I used it so rarely (only wanted it for emergencies whilst driving). However we are off on holiday to the U.K. at the end of May and I think we ought to have a mobile with us whilst travelling.

Has anyone suggestions on the best tariff / provider for me? I've heard Virgin have a much longer credit limit than most French providers and others say a U.K. sim card is a good deal (although not much help between here and the tunnel unless they post to France!)[/quote]

Take a look at http://giffgaff.com/

Excellent rates, no expiry, works fine in France and elsewhere.

If you want a SIM sending over to France, send me a PM.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Unless it has changed roaming is definitely not available on the €2 (or nothing to existing Free customers) tariff, its a social tariff for people with low revenues launched in response to the other companies R.S.A. tariffs, the €19.99 tariff (€15 for existing customers) has roaming.

[/quote]

That would account for it. Mrs A is on the cheapo deal because we already had Free broadband. She only switched to Free at Easter so this is her first trip to the UK since. It's no big deal for us because she can use my Lebara for calls while she's here and has my Leclerc SIM in her phone for emergencies when I'm not around.

[Wilko]

I use Zero Forfait

http://www.zeroforfait.fr/cgi-bin/cie.cgi?p=index.html

I only use it in France but I think they have an international package. You sign up, they send you their sim and off you go. Been using it for 2 years, hassle free , bills run at about 7 euros/month.

W

[Rob Roy]

Crickey, it's like putting a pin in a map to decide on your holiday!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I'll mull them all over and let you know.

[cooperlola]

Apart from a couple of companies like giff-gaff, most of the British providers are pretty similar, imho.  The critical thing is to have an unlocked phone (you can get a basic one for next-to-nothing on Amazon or phone Orange to unlock the current one) then if you get fed up with the one you choose you'll only have given them a tenner at most and you can change without any major investment.

[powerdesal]

Somewhat slightly associated with this topic..........I have been given a Samsung SGH-U900 to replace my ageing Motorola. The Samsung obviously has no SIM fitted but is 'locked' on Orange and hence will not accept my existing Tesco PAYG Sim.

I could wait until I am back in UK and take it to a 'phone-unlocking-shop' but I wonder if there are similar establishments here in France who can do the bizz on it.

[elamessa]

You need the IMEI number before you can unlock your phone. Check http://help.orange.co.uk/orangeuk/support/personal/474187 (why can't I add a link in Firefox) for information.

[powerdesal]

the Orange link shows a cost of GBP 20.42 . I am sure a ''shop'' will do it for less. The charge is made by Orange to the previous account holder - I don't think they would be very impressed by receiving a bill for a phone they had given away !!!!

[Quillan]

Advert removed