Phones for our holiday home - does this seem like a plan?

[Stan Streason]

Have read many of the discussions here and have put together the following plan.  Thanks to everyone who regularly posts hints and tips of their experiences.

French holiday home we will visit probably half a dozen times a year, mainly 3/4 day visits, 3 weeks the most at any one time.  For other family members who use it in between they will have their own soloutions.

My plan is to purchase 2 pay as you go phones from Tesco (under £20each).  In one phone I will put the Tesco sim to use for calls to and from England.

I will then buy a Leclerc sim (after first checking reception) to put in the second phone so I have a number to give to people within France and for calls within France.

Can anyone see any flaws or have a better idea?

Thanks in advance.

[osie]

dont know if you will get a simlock problem...

I would suggest..

buy a bouygues phone and sim --- 80€ ish

put 10€ of credit on it when you are in France... will last a few weeks

only snag--- you can not leave the phone for more than 8 months without credit otherwise you will forfeit the contract.  So, put 10€ on it at least 2 times a year.

[cooperlola]

Osie has a point.  However, there is a Leclerc offer on at the mo' whereby for 60€, you get a free (if you chose the bottom of the range offer) phone, a LeClerc SIM card, plus 55€ worth of calls which last a year.  If you top up at any time before the end of that year, with as little as 5€, you retain any amount left over for a further year.

See LA COMPLETE

This could work out even cheaper in the long run.  A great selling point with the LeClerc package is that you are not charged for incoming calls from other countries.  I was a total Tesco mobile convert until this deal came along - since when I've availed myself of a French sim card for the first time for three years.

[osie]

that sounds very good and the free calls almost hard to believe....

I must say for 80€ I did get a really good phone with business related features.  Also, for me, bouygues is necessary for the reception.

[Cerise]

If anyone has a Leclerc phone do you know the tariff to call England FROM England, or indeed Germany from Greece or any other European country.  Leclerc don't seem to know and seemed astounded I wished to use my mobile anywhere other than  La Belle France.  Their leaflet makes no mention of international tariffs. 

[Martin963]

With regard to what Cerise has just written,  I'd be quite interested to know what the France - France rates are.    I can see no obvious indication of the cost per minute of these tariffs,   or how many minutes that €50 buys.

I'm always deeply cynical of any mobile phone advertising that does not make it clear just what rate per minute one is being offered.

But maybe I'm over-cautions.

[suein56]

[quote user="Cerise"]If anyone has a Leclerc phone do you know the tariff to call England FROM England, or indeed Germany from Greece or any other European country.  Leclerc don't seem to know and seemed astounded I wished to use my mobile anywhere other than  La Belle France.  Their leaflet makes no mention of international tariffs. [/quote]

Does this help?

You will need to scroll down a bit for International.

Sue

[Martin963]

The France - France tariff looks fearfully complicated.   One could never check to see whether one was being diddled or not.

But thank you for the link.

[Judith]

Just been checking the LeClerc mobile myself - it is possible to download a list of tariffs from the site - fiche-tariffaire.pdf - and that gives you some international prices, though NOT I think England to England (but I've not looked at in great detail yet as I only downloaded it about 30mins ago.  Any problem PM and I can send the pdf.

[Judith]

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]The France - France tariff looks fearfully complicated.   One could never check to see whether one was being diddled or not.

But thank you for the link.

[/quote]

I never can - I've decided it isn't worth the time spent on working it out for the amount I will be using it.

[Clair]

Fiche tarifaire

[AnOther]

Seems horribly complicated what with switching SIM's, posssibly having to unlock Tesco phones, working out what is costing what, and indeed pfaffing around with 2 phones in the first place.

A Global SIM in a single phone might be a better option, only one number to give out and with some, Onroam for instance, your credit never expires.

[Cerise]

Thanks very much - 55cents a minute is the answer to my question.  I think I can live with that.  NOW the big problem is how to get rid of Orange - think I need to have several stiff drinks before I even contemplate writing that letter.

[Scooby]

We looked at French PAYG and contract phones and they all seemed really expensive for the number of times we use them so we've stuck with our UK contract vodafone - international calls are 75p to connect then call minutes come off your normal plan minutes.

[Jacqui Too]

I have a 0044 sim card purchased for our use in France it cost me £34 a couple of years ago, it works on orange and I buy top ups from shops, tabbacs, and magazine shops , never had a problem getting top ups. You do have to top up at least every six months or you lose your number. Its very easy just change the sim in my ordinary mobile on the ferry going over, people can call me then without me having to pay receiver fees and because it is p a y g I'm a bit stingy when it comes to making calls from it.[Www]

[Stan Streason]

Thank everyone for input.

Now I can see that Leclerc tariff to phone UK from France is €.39c whilst Tesco is 35p.  Hardly worth worrying about.

Leclerc deal it is - and just the one phone.

[Ecossais]

Hi Stan,

The Leclerc PAYG SIM certainly seems to be the current favoured network for occasional use as the credit does not expire as it does on the mainstream networks.  It will also be cheaper for other people in France to call you from landlines or French mobiles.  Just check that you get good SFR reception at your house in France.

However…..  Going back to your original post, you say that you also want to make calls to and also RECEIVE calls from the UK when you are in France……  For someone calling you from the UK, a call to a French mobile will be expensive!

Someone phoning a UK mobile pays the normal rate for the call regardless of where the mobile they are calling is. If the caller has a contract phone, the call will come out of the “free” minutes. The receiving handset user is charged a “roaming” charge to receive the call (typically 15-20ppm). 

 The last time I looked at UK network’s international call costs, Vodafone and O2 phone, seemed to offer the best deals.  Vodafone has “Passport” whereby you pay 75p connection charge per call and are then charged as if in the UK.  You therefore pay 75p for an incoming call up to an hour. The proviso is that the handset must roam on SFR in France (this can be set manually on the phone).

O2 have “My Europe Extra” which costs £10 a month and gives outgoing calls to any landline or mobile in Europe for 25ppm and FREE incoming calls.  So, if a friend in the UK on O2 with a tariff which gives them free unlimited O2 to O2 calls, called you in France on O2, no-one would pay anything for the call!  If you have unlimited text messages [in the UK] – they also seem to be free when made from abroad!

One handset is obviously more convenient, however 2 handsets may work out cheaper if you anticipate receiving a lot of calls from the UK…..