French Pay As You Go SIM Card

A snowHead

So......as a lot of French websites want a French phone number I thought that I'd buy an Orange PAYG SIM card. Trouble is I find that the credit expires in a very short time and you lose the number. Do any French providers offer a PAYG that doesn't expire like the ones that you can get in the UK.

A snowHead

@Matt1959,if you are a Free broadband customer, you can get a free contract SIM. It is a very basic calls and data package, normally 2€, but FOC if you have your broadband with them. I didn't find a PAYG that didn't expire.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

We got eSIMs when we went to Canada earlier this year which also gave us a +1 phone number.

That was a fixed cost for the 10 days we were there but this looks similar, gives you a French number (I think!) and is PAYG.

https://www.mobilitypass.com/sim/en/coverage_country?country=France&type=Pay%20as%20you%20go

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Red by SFR is a no contract monthly SiM. Currently it's 5€ per month for 5G of data. You can cancel at any of time.

Not bad value if you want to pay a bit more for a SIM with more data too.

The other option but doesn't look such good value at the moment is Sosh by Orange. You only get 100MB for your 5€

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@sno trax, SFR have the worst customer service I have yet encountered in France (after 16 years).

And they don’t work properly in Monaco.

I’d avoid SFR like the plague.

Bouygues also do no contract SIMs worth checking out.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@under a new name, SFR have just installed Fibre at our residence. Not quite complete, and I think I am OK to use another provider for my contract. I know others who have had dreadful experiences with them.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@Hells Bells, the two specific problems I have are,

1. if you need to complain about something they employ first line of call centre defence whereby you have to be really quite rude and shout a lot before you get connected to someone whose response is not, "it's all your fault"

2. If they want to upsell or query your contract cancellation, they will call you about once an hour until they've decided you are a lost cause.

Truly appalling.

After all it is free

I have an sfr sim - the credit expires after 1 month or something, but the sim stays active. Whenever I'm not planning on being in France for a while I turn the phone on and send it a text from my uk mobile, it's kept the sim active.

Last top up was in Nov 2021, but received a lot of texts when was out in France in march, sent it a text a couple weeks ago and it still worked, I should do that again today, will be out in France from beg august so will buy more credit then

Basic Free sim is €2 pcm - I had that for a long while (double sim phone) and actually upgraded that to €17.50 and I use that for all my data (cut back my UK contract), and sometimes even at home as old school adsl can be so slow.

@Hells Bells, you've done well to get fibre - but is it connected into the building?

As that seems to be the problem with a lot of co-props we were told March and still waiting, I don't think I know anyone yet that has it!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

@Weathercam, yes, it was being installed in the hallways of each residence when we were there last week. We just have to arrange our own subscription once the work is signed off. Our coprop agreed the work at the AG last year.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

@Matt1959, I was in a similar situation to you, I needed a French number to order furniture for our apartment.

I got a pre-paid sim from https://www.lefrenchmobile.com ; cost me €25 delivered to my UK address, but the credit doesn't have any time limit to be used up. If you go over 31 days without making or receiving a call I think they deduct €2 from your credit as a 'service charge', but I just make sure I turn the phone on once a month when i'm in the Uk and call it from my Uk mobile, answer the call then hang up, and i've never been charged. Still got around €21 credit on it and had it for ages now Happy

@under a new name, with RED, there is no customer service, it is very much a self-service package. The first SIM I had was cancelled easy enough via web chat.

The second one I have had has rolled on for a few years now. Apart from cancelling the old one, I've never needed to contact them. Gives good coverage and speed as I use it in a 4G router. It's faster (and cheaper) than fixed line. Probably worth looking to see if there are better deals to around to swap to.

@Hells Bells, @Weathercam, our co-prop also agreed fiber install last year and has been going into each floor of our block in LaDaille. Once it's signed off I might look.

You know it makes sense.

@sno trax, tbh no contact with vile horrible humans would be better than the service we've had. We are definitely switching once our phone contracts are up in Nov however.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@under a new name, I prefer a chat bot, they are programmed to try and be helpful. Plus, it's always easier to copy and paste into translate if it goes beyond the limits of my French.

Good luck with your switch later in the year. Very Happy

A snowHead

You could try the CloudSim app. It's an e-sim that provides me with a French mobile number and I just use my normal handset - you just open the app to make calls/send texts, and if anyone calls/texts you your phone responds as it normally would (slightly different ring/text tone if I remember correctly Smile

)

I can't remember exact costs but I think it's approx £20+ for the year, and you have to buy credit on top to make calls/text. You can buy the number for shorter periods/less money up front, and it's easy pay extra to increase the period. I got mine when I was setting up the phone line/broadband for our apartment earlier this year. Quite a smart solution

Help!!

French Pay As You Go SIM Card

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