 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all, since I'm heading off to France soon for three weeks, I've decided it's time to get a French sim card and avoid roaming charges. I've browsed offerings from Orange, SFR, Bouygues and Virgin but can't decide which sounds best. Before I attempt to discuss this with someone in French when I get there, does anyone have any recommendations?
I figure I'm looking for a pay-as-you-go (prépayé) sim card (I have an unlocked phone) with the best deal for texts and data. The awkward bit is data - all the websites seem to gloss over this. I would be looking to check emails and browse, maybe use Google maps, on a daily basis, but not download movies.
Thanks for any help.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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may be best to check out local coverage, for example around my places in paradiski sfr appears to have better coverage than orange or bougytel
you may be best to check mail etc somwhere thaqt offers wifi
l
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I'd say over 50% of bars now offer free wifi in any half decent resort (it's a great way of pulling the punters in) and on that basis I'd recommend not bothering. Are you phoning home or places in resort? If your phoning home it does't get you a huge saving due to international rates applying. Phoning in resort obviously does, but you still have to make a good few calls to see the benefits!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| .Ro wrote: |
"€ 5.12 / mo"[/url] for data - presumably per month?
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More likely short for mégaoctet or Mb in English.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Swirly, thanks. that sounds more realistic.
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Thank you. I've never heard of simyo. I'll check them out. If necessary, I should be able to mimic a French resident 
I seldom make calls on my cellphone, using it mainly for sms and internet.
I wasn't thinking of ski resorts in particular. This upcoming trip will be through Normandy and the Loire. Even if wifi is more available nowadays, I'd quite like the freedom to use the cellphone at an acceptable cost whenever I feel like it, just like in Britain.
I just discovered we leave on Wednesday, which could have been problematic since I had planned to pack on Thursday. I'll post my eventual choice of card in case it may be useful info for others.
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I used virgin France for the whole of last season. Cheaper than sfr and you get different options for topping up, cheaper texts, cheaper calls or a topup that lasts 3 months. If I remember correctly that is.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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One word: Zero Forfait
but lets just keep this between ourselves, ok ? 
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LeClerc had an option with no expiry on the mobile credit, and (I think) no charge to receive foreign calls, but I'm not sure what the data charges are.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Hi, i'm looking for a sim with a data deal and calls in resort for Chamonix, has anyone got any suggestions?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Mt, sounds like you're after the same deal as me (I was more interested in data and texts). After ploughing through the websites for Bouygues, Orange and SFR, I decided I liked Bouygues the best. However, each time I went round to a Bouygues store they were so busy I couldn't be bothered waiting.
In the end, I decided that the restrictions on PAYG credit were sufficiently severe in France that it wasn't really worth bothering about. A credit of €30 may be valid for 30 days only, whereas, with Virgin here, the credit seems to last forever (well, not exactly but there's no danger of it expiring before I use it). I never established if I would need to supply a French address or not. Also, the savings weren't as great as they might be, certainly not as good as domestic British rates compared to roaming rates.
Finally, since I generally have some internet access when I'm in France, I decided I could do without it on the phone. And, since most of my texts are to British numbers, there would really be no saving at all for texting.
So, for the time being at least, I decided the best option was to do nothing. If I change my mind in the future, I might still be tempted by Bouygues.
http://www.bouyguestelecom.fr/
http://www.orange.fr/
http://www.sfr.fr/
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dmac442, there are other phone providers as well - I believe LeClerc and Lebara do credit which doesn't expire if unused.
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You know it makes sense.
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Roaming is not a bad option these days. All texts are no more than 10p or 11p, and with Vodafone data is charged at £1 per MB, much cheaper than the French SIM mentioned above! Calls are expensive but personally I manage to get by using mostly texts.
My contract with Orange has just finished so for this reason i'm going to transfer my number to a Vodafone PAYG SIM for the duration of the winter.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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That said, I won't be data roaming much. I may use it to check emails/FB occasionally but will turn off pictures and def won't be using google maps.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Lizzard, I'd looked at Leclerc before but had forgotten about them. I see they allow credit to last a year, which is fine. But there is also a monthly charge of €1.50. So you could return after a few months and buy some credit, only to find it all used up by monthly charges that accrued while you had a zero balance. Lebara has better call rates than typical UK roaming rates but SMS may actually be more expensive (15¢, compared with Lebara UK's 10p roaming SMS).
musehead, You're right. Roaming isn't a bad option nowadays. Especially since browsing confusing, poorly designed phone company websites must be bad for the health. My conclusion from all this (and having previously been a Canadian cellphone customer) is that mobile phone service is one thing that Britain seems to do quite well.
Still, I would like to use Google Maps more when out of the country.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Watch out for data with any of the pay as you go providers in France. It's really expensive compared with the UK. You'd definitely be better off just using the free wifi wherever you can.
Happy holidays!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Skype? For calls and free wifi in bars.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I use a roaming sim card which I found on Time Dial's price comparison tool http://www.timedial.net/sim-cards-price-compare/ . You get a UK number, free incoming calls and cheap outgoing calls in Europe. They say on their site that they will be adding local sim cards soon which can be delivered before you travel.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Quote: |
Skype? For calls and free wifi in bars.
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And McDonalds
I am not sure that they will allow allow Skype protocols, but I have found in the UK that skype and a data conection costs less than using the mobile phone tarifs.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Have a look at this:
http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data
Saying that I spent a season in France and got used to having no mobile internet, saying that we managed to score the code for our neighbours wifi so could surf the net at home (as you can imagine we had lots of friends 'visiting' to use it)
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Hi all,
Last season i used a pay as you go sim card from LeFrenchMobile and Im deffenitly using it again this coming season!
I found the tariffs really ok and the coverage never failled.
As I wasnt using a smartphone I didnt use internet, but I read on their website they offer some data bundles with cheap rates for internet.
Overall, the service was great. hope it can be great for those of you looking for a mobile option in France too!
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My iphone deal with Vodafone comes with 25mb of data a day in Europe. I make calls via Call2 to anywhere and the cost is pennies.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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My iphone deal with Vodafone comes with 25mb of data a day in Europe. I make calls via Call2 to anywhere and the cost is pennies.
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could also try lapostemobile, its a virtual operator using SFR network, just converted our french mobiles to 1 small contract and 2 PAYG's for less a month than my old sfr contract
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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In France for calls and texts I just use my roaming option. Quite often when you arrive you will get an info text from your provider offering a reduced rate for calls and texts for a fixed sum - often worth taking.
Val d'Isere has a WiFi network that covers most of the central area. You can access its info page for free and it gives the tariffs - access code cards are purchasable from the tourist office. I took out a fixed time one of 5hrs for €15 but it only decrements the time when in use. I d/l my emails and disconnected; wrote replies offline; re-connected and sent them and was surprised by how little I used each day even considering that I did the odd bit of web surfing. www.internet-ici.net - no English version.
Heavenly, USA and Whistler, Canada - most of the mountain lodges had free WiFi but in the latter Skype was being throttled. A couple of bar/restaurants in the town had Wifi where Skype did work (just!!).
BTW I'm with T-Mobile
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FAQ
) at €0.19/min - the site says 
