RE: Whats the best solution to avoid mobile roaming charges!!??

[katz]

Hi All,

I am just after some expert advice. I am due to start a post grad course in France next month and desperately need a mobile solution. Since it will be my only form of contact and i can not afford to pay roaming charges.

I understand that by using a french SIM i can avoid roaming charges but i would rather a postpay solution than a prepaid solution. However i can not find anyone that offers this service.

Any suggestions?

Thanks x

 

[Will]

I think you would do well to look at www.sim4travel.com - it's still pre-pay so not exactly what you need. The alternative is probably a French pay-monthly contract, there are some low-cost ones for those who make few calls.

[Alane]

I bought a pre-paid SIM in France - it seemed that as a non resident the monthly contracts were not available to me although I didn't press the point hard. These are also available on e-bay for below cost price and are presumably OK as the same sellers seem to flog a number of them over a period. Whichever option you go for make sure that you buy a SIM for a network that is good in the areas that you will be using the phone most often. Obvious I know, but we missed the fact that the Orange network was a bit iffy in the area of our house. A UK phone on roam will generally roam to any available network so you tend not to notice that one network is weak in a particular location whereas the French SIM will only use its home network.

If you are using a phone from a UK network you will need to ensure that it is unlocked before you can use a French SIM. Someone told me that I could just put a French Orange SIM in my UK Orange phone - not true (at that time anyway) although I've found recently that very low cost phones from Orange UK may not be locked at all. The other thing to beware of if you go for a pre-pay option is that the credit expires quite quickly, sometimes after 1 week although generally a longer, depending on the value of the vouchers purchased.

[Ecossais]

Katz,

Who you will be phoning and who will be phoning you will have a bearing on the best solution.

If most of your calls will be from people in France and your outgoing calls mostly to people in France then a French PAYG SIM would probably be the best option, but remember calls to and from the UK will be expensive.

If most of your calls will be to and from the UK, an O2 or Vodafone PAYG SIM may be best.  Both of these networks offer discounted international calling schemes.

O2 have “My Europe Extra” which costs £10 per month.  All outgoing calls to almost any European landline or mobile cost 25p per minute.  You pay nothing to receive up to 1000 minutes of calls per month.

Vodafone have “Passport” which is free.  You are charged a 75p connection fee and then are charged as if you were using the mobile in the UK.  For incoming calls you are charged the 75p connection fee and no more for calls up to 1 hour long.  With “Passport” you must make sure your mobile is manually set to SFR in France otherwise you will be charged a lot more.

You can get more info on these offers on the O2 UK and Vodafone UK websites.  Remember if you go the UK SIM route you will have to leave a top up card (and some money!) with a friend in the UK in order to get credit added to your account when you need it.

It may be worthwhile to consider having a UK mobile and a French mobile, depending on your circumstances.

[katz]

Wow! Thanks for all your great feedback.

I think i have got it down to two solutions.

1. If i want to keep and use my UK mobile I should sign up to O2 My Europe Extra plan.

2. Or if i want to make friends with french people i really should get a french SIM.

So i did a bit more digging on the interweb yesterday and I have found a company called 0044 who do a few french contracts: http://www.0044.co.uk/Pay-Monthly/France-Pay-Monthly.htm

After a few calculations i think i will just cancell or reduce my O2 contract and take out the £14.99 p/m plan with 0044.

I will let you know how i get on........

Once again thank you for all your help! This is not the last time that i will be using this forum. Hopefully i will actually be able to contribute with some answers in the future :-)

Thanks x

 

[cooperlola]

I also feel that, in spite of the apparently wonderful bargains when you sign up, that it is better to invest in a SIM-free phone, even if they seem more pricey initially.  It makes it much easier and cheaper to change companies whenever you want and when conditions alter (as they did for NRJ some while back).

[Pierre ZFP]

Be careful between SIM-Free (very cheap phones with no SIM card locked to a providers network) and unlocked phones which are more expensive but you can use with just about any SIM card.  I heard that Nokia have given in and posted the unlock codes of all their phones on their website.  When I get a mo' I'll check it out.

[cooperlola]

Sorry, yes I did mean the unlocked kind, Pierre.

[ChezShells]

Have a look at http://www.united-mobile.com

I used to use one for travelling, reception wasn't too good but recieving calls didnt cost anything

Lee

[Ecossais]

Katz,

Cooperlola and Pierre have mentioned “SIM free” and “unlocked” phones.  As your mobile is on an O2 contract it will almost certainly be “unlocked”, meaning that it will accept any network’s SIM card, so there should be no need to buy another phone if you go for the 0044 deal.

The easiest way to check if your mobile is “unlocked” is to try a friend’s Vodafone or Orange etc SIM in it and see if it works.

You’d be as well cancelling your O2 contract when you go to France as any inclusive minutes or messages you get on your tariff are only for use in the UK.  If you wanted to keep your number if it’s important to you, you could convert it to PAYG – just make sure you / someone makes a quick chargeable call every 3 months to keep it active when you are in France.