mobile phones

[Trev]

can I use my uk mobile if I terminate my uk contract, and is there something similar to our pay as you go, where I can use my phone with a french chip. or will I need to take out a complete new phone .

regards trev

[Couserans]

Yes

1. Make sure your phone is not sim locked > Orange usually is, Vodafone/O2 usually aren't. Check with your operator.

2. All the networks offer pay as you go, just buy the SIM card pack and away you go...

[Richard-R]

Yes you can use your old U.K. phone you just need to phone them and get it unlocked( they give you a number to type into the phone?) than when you arrive in France just pop in to an Orange/France telecom or one of the others and buy a pay as you go sim card. If you use pay as you go in the U.K. you can also keep the account open with 10 and leave an answer phone message giving your new Frence mobile number.Keep the U.K. sim card and if to go back just pop it into your phone to use as normal.
Hope thats some help
Richard(Aude)

1802 (2004 ME THINK'S ALSO)
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour;
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,


Wordworth

[Jon 1]

Your question has obviously been answered. However, consider buying a dual sim add on for your phone. This will enable you to switch between the UK and French sim cards without physically making the change.
Depending on your model they can be purchased cheaply on Ebay.

[JohnM]

Many of you will probably look at the original date ot this enquiry and think "How the hell has that old one resurfaced" (I know I would). Well its resurfaced because I am thinking of getting a new phone with a France/England dual sim capability, but Carphone Warehouse does not want to advise me on which is the most suitable. So, I did a search on here to see if the subject had come up before and it has. So rather than start a new thread (to prove that I did try to search first [:)] ) have any of you got dual sim phones? Is there a ready made phone or do I need to get a gizmo? Do certain phones accomodate dual sim gizmos easier than the others. Any thing else that I need to be aware of?

TIA

John

[JohnM]

Many of you will probably look at the original date ot this enquiry and think "How the hell has that old one resurfaced" (I know I would). Well its resurfaced because I am thinking of getting a new phone with a France/England dual sim capability, but Carphone Warehouse does not want to advise me on which is the most suitable. So, I did a search on here to see if the subject had come up before and it has. So rather than start a new thread (to prove that I did try to search first [:)] ) have any of you got dual sim phones? Is there a ready made phone or do I need to get a gizmo? Do certain phones accomodate dual sim gizmos easier than the others. Any thing else that I need to be aware of?

TIA

John

[Ecossais]

John,

I don’t believe there is a ready made mobile phone which will accept 2 SIM cards at the same time.

You can get a twin SIM adapter for some mobiles.  If you search on eBay for “dual SIM” you will see what mobiles people are selling these for.  You may already have a suitable phone?  They are not expensive, generally under £5, although there are versions which replace the battery on handsets like the Nokia 6210 / 6310 range which will be more expensive.

Many of the adapters being offered for sale seem to be for older mobiles, although I note there are some for newer mobiles like the Samsung D500 / D600.

I used to have one of these for a Nokia 8210 and a Nokia 6510.  They worked very well.  The SIM adapter for these phones was built into a replacement back cover.

Be aware only one SIM is active at any time, so anyone calling the inactive SIM would get the same response as if the mobile was switched off.  To switch between SIMs you have to turn the phone off and back on.  If I remember correctly I had to move a small switch on the back of the 6510adapter as well.

You need to have an “unlocked” phone if you are using different network SIMs.  You will also need to have your phonebook on both SIMs or set your phone to save numbers on its internal memory rather than SIM memory unless you want to have different contacts on each SIM.

It may be easier just to carry two mobiles?

[David]

John,

When you say you want a dual sim phone, I am not sure whether you mean a phone that has two sims at the same time, or a phone where you can change sim cards.

We have just returned from UK where we bought an unlocked basic no photo, no contract, Motorola from carphone warehouse for about £25.  The people there were very helpful, and had a selection of unlocked phones.  Other phone retailers were unhelpful, and said they had no unlocked phones.

We did not ask for advice about which phone to use in France, we merely asked for an unlocked phone, as we were replacing a Siemens phone that had become rather aged.

We then use O2 sim card pay as you go when in UK, and orange mobicarte pay as you go in France.  The O2 card does not expire, or lose credit, as long as you use it at least once every six months.

The orange mobicarte has strict time limits, and you can lose the credit if you do not top up in time.  However, orange do text you to remind you to top up, and credit can easily be checked by texting orange.

When on the ferry from France to UK, or vice versa, we merely change sim cards.  All our friends and relations know both numbers.  We do not use the mobile for business or strangers as we have no mobile coverage at our house in France.

Not being technically minded, we have found this to be the cheapest and easiest way of using mobiles in both France and UK.

Hope this helps,

David

[JohnM]

Thanks for that. I was hoping that there would be a phone / adapter that was "clever" enough to respond if either of two sims were called. There must be enough people who have a work phone and personal phone that would prefer to have just one handset, that it would be worth the boffins working out how to do it.

I think the solution is... two phones.

(Edited to correct an incorrect usage of "their")

[BJSLIV]

If you are feeling handy (brave?) with a Stanley knife you could try one of these adaptors.

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/6579.htm

[David]

Yes, these dual sim adaptors seem very good, and I am sure that they would be great for a business and private phone in the UK.  In fact this may be exactly what my daughter needs.

However, for us when in France, I still prefer to use a separate French sim card and deactivate the UK card, because I know what would happen.  All my UK business friends would continue to use the UK number, as would most of my private UK friends and family.  I think only our French friends would use the French number.

Thus, because of international charges, I would be very afraid of getting an enormous bill on the UK number, or alternatively with pay as you go, continuously topping up the credit.  At least when phoning a French number, my friends and family keep their calls short.  The business friends do not worry as their company pays the charges.

I can see that a dual sim phone would be useful for short trips to France when it is important not to miss a call, but I do wonder how good it would be for long term use.

David

[Ecossais]

John,

The Orange boffins have already cracked it!

If you’re on a contract with Orange UK (maybe France too?) you can have a “Line 2” number and tariff on your handset.

You have a second number, maybe one for work and one for personal use, on the same SIM and phone.  You can switch between Line 1 and Line 2 when making calls by pressing the “#” key.  You can set different ringtones for each line so you know if an incoming call is a business or personal one.  The phone will automatically switch between Line 1 and Line 2 for incoming calls.

Details:  http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=OUKPersonal&c=OUKService&cid=1096023563451

 

 

[JohnM]

Splendid! I'm looking to change network as O2 have annoyed me so I'll contact Orange UK and see if they can swing something with a PAYG with Orange France.

Thanks

John

[Ecossais]

John,

Orange Line 2 is only available on Contract mobiles – both lines have to be on UK Contract tariffs (or French Contract tariffs, if Orange France offers the same facility).  You cant have Line 1 on a Contract and Line 2 as Pay As You Go or Line 1 on a UK Contract and Line 2 as French Pay As You Go, convenient though it would be!

Orange UK and Orange France seem to be run totally separately – for example, a French PAYG top-up voucher cannot be used to top up a UK phone.