French Mobile Phones

[Robbie34]

If I get a French pay-as-you-go sim card, or phone, will it be possible to receive calls when the sim card has expired?

I want to keep my English phone but it's too expensive to receive calls from the UK. I understand that French sim cards expire after a certain length of time, but that won't matter if I can still receive calls.

[Tourangelle]

So, just from personal experience, I thought the sim car was the thing in the phone that gives you your number and means you are on a network.  I have one of these in my phone, which was given to me by my brother in law who hadn't used it for a while, so I had to buy another.  It cost about 15 euros.  Now, I buy cards, and as I understand it, it is not so much that the sim card in itself runs out, as when your card (and it is not a card really it is a number you put in the phone)  runs out, the sim card is cut off by the operator.  So to avoid this, you have to keep your phone topped up, but it is not as bad as it sounds.  I am with Bougyges and if I buy a card that last 2 months, (25 euros) meaning I can make I think about 2 hours of calls, within 2 months it allows me to receive calls for the next 8 months without my losing my number.  But if I were to buy a card for 6 months, I would beable to receive calls for much longer.  So basically I don't think it is the sim card that expires, but yes, when you have no credit on the phone you can still receive calls but not forever.