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Hello,   This is my 1st topic, so I am hoping someone can advise me on a mobile phone question.

I have signed up with Bouygues for the 4G broadband and I am now connected to the internet. They also provided me with a mobile phone number, but I do not have a French mobile Phone. My question is can I convert my English mobile phone to a French number?

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Well, I’m no technical wizard, but I’d say that all you need is a new SIM card to be provided by Bouygues for your phone.

That should do the trick.  Surprised (no, not very surprised, they can be very dopey) that they didn’t organise that.

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I'm wondering whether the number you've been given is - and forgive me if I'm misunderstanding your set up - for the SIM card that is in your 4G router that is providing your internet.     In which case I doubt you're going to be able to use it for phoning,   unless said router (presumably provided by Bouygues) has a phone socket on it.

 

Many commercially available 4G routers have such a socket,   as well as ethernet and Wifi.    This allows one to plug a conventional cabled-phone,   or a DECT phone,   into the 4G box and make phone calls (*).    However,   I think most of the routers provided by companies for 4G broadband don't have the socket.

 

I don't know whether Bouygues can give you an additional SIM card to go in a phone,   I rather doubt it would have the same number,   and would probably be chargeable?

 

As I say,   I may be completely misunderstanding your set up.

 

In general a mobile phone will work on the network that the SIM card inserted into it is tied to without any problems.    At least in Europe.....

 

(*)   To plug a phone into the 4G router you will almost certainly need a different cable,   namely an RJ11 to RJ11 cable.

Edited by Martin963
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Hi Martin 963,

Thanks for your message, Yes, my Bouygues router does have a phone socket, but I will have to pay extra to receive a fixed line connection to it.

However I understand the phone number they have given me is for a mobile phone, so I take it that if I buy a secondhand mobile phone I will need Bouygues to supply me with a SIM card!

As I am resident in my holiday home I am able to use my English mobile phone, until I return to England in June.

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Ah yes.    The sort of 4G router I was describing (non Bouygues) allows you to plug a phone in,   and then make and receive calls via the same SIM card that is providing the internet,   without the need for any sort of landline;   in fact whilst one is on the phone the internet connection has to drop down from 4G to 3G for technical reasons,  but that's generally a minor drawback.    You've obviously not got one of those....

What you could try - although the card size may be wrong - is putting the 4G card into an ordinary mobile phone.   In theory you would then be able to make calls on that phone (whilst of course losing the internet completely,  because your router wouldn't have a card in it).    But it's likely to be very fiddly,   as the card sizes may be different and require an adaptor (always fiddly and prone to the card getting stuck in the device) and you wouldn't be able to receive calls 24/7 as most of the time the card would be in the "dumb" 4G router.

 

This is the sort of job I was talking about that does the business:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Huawei-B315-4G-Unlocked-Networks-Warranty/dp/B013P15G4K?th=1

but it may well not work with your particular Bouygues SIM card,   although it certainly did with my SOSH and SFR Red cards.    Maybe if you're still in need of the set up and don't want a landline you could eventually consider changing over to that,    funds of course permitting!    And of course by then there may be better options......

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Hi Martin,

Thanks for the info, the Bouygues 4G router I have does have a phone socket, to which I can plug in a phone, this can only be used if I pay extra for the connection. ( No phone line is required ).

My question is, Why have Bouygues given me a mobile phone number?

If I buy a mobile phone, would they give me a sim card?

Sorry to be a bit vague but I do not speak French so conversation with Bouygues is not easy.

         Any more advice would be appreciated.

                        Ray.

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Difficult to say with certainty,    but ALL SIM cards have to have a number associated with them to identify them on the network,  even if you can't use it for phoning.    There was a time back here in Britain where the mobile phone companies made a distinction between a "phone SIM" and a "data SIM",   the latter had a number but was intended for use in - say - a tablet which wasn't designed for phoning.    But that all stopped a few years ago and nowadays you can use the card for either purpose.

Because Bouygues seem determined to make life difficult in comparison with SFR and SOSH/Orange I guess they're trying to squeeze every last penny out of you by unnecessarily "hobbling" the SIM card they've provided for your internet use.    Similar to what they did a while back by stopping one moving the 4G router to any cell other than one's "home" cell when every other company gave one the freedom to take a 4G router anywhere in France of indeed the EU!   Would be interesting to know if that restriction applies to your set up too.

TBH I don't know what they'd do with a second SIM in terms of charging.    I think were I you I'd try SOSH or RED/SFR for a separate phone as they're cheap and sans engagement,   rather than let Bouygues muck you about more than they already are.

I do feel for you,   pity you fell into Bouygyes' hands in the first place.   Mind you,  none of them have a good reputation,   although SOSH and SFR/RED worked well for us.....

Edited by Martin963
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I was intrigued by the question, this is the answer I found on the Bouygues site;

Bonjour , 

C'est un numéro de ligne mobile comme sur les sim data Nomad par exemple 

Il faut bien que la sim ait un numéro qui serve à son identification sur le réseau 

Bonne journée

By this it is just an ID rather that mobile phone number as Martin963 indicated. 

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Hi Lehaut,  By tanslating your message from Bouygues,

"Hello ,

It's a mobile line number like on the Nomad data sim for example

The sim must have a number which serves to identify it on the network

Have a good day, "

Do you think I would expect to have a mobile phone with the " Mobile Line Number " ?

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"Thanks for the info,   are you suggesting it would be possible to take the sim from the router and put it in a mobile phone to make calls?"

A "Wi-Fi hot spot" uses any mobile phone with a decent 4G contract to act as the router you have bought.  The opposite to what you have done.

The best thing to do to answer your own question is to take the SIM card out of the router and install it in a mobile phone.  Make sure the size of the SIM card is compatible (the new ones are breakable down to the smallest size but are not so easy to rebuild back up to full size).  Any mobile phone not locked to one service provider will do, you can even borrow one to try.  Do let us know how you get on.

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