sim cards

[Janb]

Sorry if this is something everyone but me knows about BUT ... have any of you logged on to www.0044.uk.com and bought their French sim cards/french telephone numbers BEFORE travelling to France. The cost is 29.95.

[Ecossais]

What they seem to be offering is normal foreign country network SIM cards delivered to the UK so you have the SIM for when you arrive in the foreign country.

You will first have to make sure that your handset is not locked to a particular network all Pay As You Go (PAYG) handsets and T-Mobile, Orange and Vodafone Live contract handsets will only work with their own network SIM cards. The easiest way to find out is to try a friends (different network) SIM card and see if it works.

The call charge comparison on their website does seem quite attractive, however you should first check with your UK network to see how much you actually pay (I pay 58p per minute to make a call in France back to the UK or to a French number and 28ppm to receive a call on an O2 contract). On my tariff Id only be saving 5p per minute on calls back to the UK, so Id have to make a lot of calls to make it worthwhile spending 30 on a French SIM card.

If you dont think youll make or receive many calls it may not be worth bothering about. One consideration - I believe all French networks require you to top up your PAYG mobile regularly otherwise the number will be deactivated (perhaps someone could comment on required frequency and value for SFR?)

You do not pay to receive calls with any SIM in its native country, but remember anyone calling you on your French SIM will have to pay a lot more than the normal UK call charge and may therefore be dissuaded from calling you!

One other possible consideration is network coverage where you are going. You can compare Orange, SFR and Bouygues through this link on the O2 website:

http://travelabroad.o2-uktech.com/coverage.php?n=b

A benefit of using a UK mobile abroad is that the phone will constantly search for the strongest network signal and switch automatically to that network.

[springbank]

How much or little does a top up card cost in france, if you just have it for emergency's it would be nice not to have to use up to much just so you don't lose it.

Graham

[Jonzjob]

We have only moved to France about 3 weeks ago, just outside Carcassonne, lovely.

My wife was with Vodafone in the U.K. and her contract has just run out. My phone was with Orange U.K. and didn't have a contract, just a direct debit account. It worked that if I didn't use it for a couple of months they just sent me a bill for £0. That happened a couple of times, not a money spinner for them, but great for me. When we got here I got an Orange pay as you go sim and since have bought another 10 euros worth of calls. I was told that the credit only lasts for 3 weeks and, I assume, it will be lost down the big Orange hole in the middle? One way of getting some money back from me I suppose? We will only be using our phones for emergencies. Has anyone any ideas as to how we can get around this one so that we have the use of our phones without it costing us a fortune.

If we make call to the U.K. then we will be using our internet phone which operates through the PC. The calls on that cost about 3.8 pence/minute to just about anywhere in the world. If anyone would like details I will see if I can find them for you, just e-mail me. I will point out that I don't work for anyone, retirement takes up ALL my time .

John