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pay-as -you- go mobile?


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There are three main mobile phone companies in France, Orange, Bouygues and SFR (there are others that work more locally). They all do pay as you go cards, with slight differences between them (the time periods available, for example), which depending on what you want might be a factor in you choice. The big difference compared to Britain is that if you do not keep your phone topped up, the sim card is deactivated. This is not as drastic as it sounds, for example I am with Bouygues, and I can buy a card for 25 euros and it lasts 2 months for I can't remember how long, perhaps 2 hours worth of calls, but again there are options on this when you actually make the selection. With this option the sim card is activated for a further 8 months for receiving calls, and I just have to remember to top it up before next year.

You can get recharges either from the agencies of the specific providers, or just from an ordinary tabac. The price is the same where ever you go. You can also top up with a credit/debit card. The cards themselves are called different things depending on the provider. Bouygues calls their la carte nomad, Orange calls their la mobicarte, but I don't know about SFR.

hope this helps!
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When we moved over to our place in the Creuse last June we bought an Orange pay as you go. Since then we've found it a pain in the bum having to use up any credit left on the card before it expired or lose the money. As we only use the phone for emergencies, breakdowns etc., we bought an Orange payg sim card on E-Bay for £2 and ask our daughter in the UK to top it up for us in Tescos every now and then. We no longer have to worry about time limits on the cards. We had to unlock the phone but there are several internet sites you can log onto for this. I think it cost about £4.50. As long as we make at least one call every 6 months the sim remains live.

 

Dave 

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I quite agree about the nightmare of French pay-as-you-go phones!

A couple of years back, I had a Bouygues one.  You could almost never find the cheapest of the three top-up cards to buy.  They expired (with your unused credit) if you didn't use them within specified times (shorter times the cheaper the top-up card).  And I often seemed to have no signal (though this has probably improved now).

I have reverted to using my UK p-a-y-g one for my visits to France (my UK Vodafone service works with SFR in France).  It's only for very occasional use, so is not too expensive.  I do try and get people to *text* me rather than telephone, though, as on a UK phone one is charged to *receive* calls while abroad as well as for making them.

Angela (85 & UK)

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I was looking for a mobile for my son yesterday.   Do they go in for confusion marketing or what!!!

I came out of the experience wondering how on earth youngsters afford to have these state-of-the-art phones, with all those millions of textings going on all the time? 

In his collège class of 26 11-yr-olds, my poor neglected son was one of a handful who didn't have a phone.

Now he has.  18 euros a month abonnement for 1 hour's worth of calls, and if he uses that up the comte is bloqué.   If I'd abonn'd for 2 years, he'd get a few SMSs thrown in every month.  The phone itself is much cheaper with the abonnement, and I reckoned that if I did the pay-as-you-go he'd only spend a fortune phoning everyone just for the fun.

I got the cheapest half-decent non-abonnement phone I could find, 69 euros, and even if I don't use up all the credit on the pay-as-you-go card it'll still be cheaper than the cheapest abonnement.

And there you have it.  

I have the impression that it's more expensive here than in the UK.  Am I right?

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Hi,

I use http://www.united-mobile.com . if you have an unlocked mobile, and now a days all mobile are suppose to be unlocked or it should be very easy for you to get it unlocked, this service is a good option.

You buy a sim card from them, they will send you one anywhere in the world and you can easily update the sim card either by phone or on the web. The card will expire if there is no value on it after 9 months.

The service is limited as but very suitable for me when I need to use my mobile phone and what was more important when we travel it works anywhere in the world, unlike the French pay as you go service.

--

Tink

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