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Pay As You Go SIM cards with internet in France and 3G reception in Three Valleys

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Off to 3V in March
and ideally I would love to have internet on my iPhone
are there any easy to use French PAY AS YOU GO sim cards with 3G data allowance?

It believe it might be hard to get in Mottaret but we will be in Moutiers train station for a few hours
so I could maybe buy one in local newsagent?
We can not speak French so I would rather now what card to ask for exactly.

Thanks for help.

PS
It might be a stupid question but I hope there is fairly good 3G reception in 3 Valleys? Any experience?


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 31-01-12 12:16; edited 1 time in total
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
How much data are you planning on using? Orange for example will sell you PAYG data access in Western Europe for about 1ukp / MB, which although I admit is expensive for what it is, it's a lot easier than faffing about getting a new SIM.
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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?
kieranm, I am with O2 at the moment and I think they want over 3£ for 1Mb.

I don't need a lot but I would love access to 3V apps which seems to be very useful for weather. webcams and lift openings plus if there is no WI-fi in the apartment access to email/Faceb etc...

Don't mind to change to local pay as you go Sim card if it doesn't need to be registered etc and will give me let's say 250-500mb.

Cheers
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
Assuming you have a UK phone with 3G. I use my phone abroad and just switch data roaming on for a couple of minutes every now and then to get emails etc. Then switch it off to stop the roaming data charges. This costs very little to do as long as you are diligent! If you want to use your 3g connection more than that then I guess it gets expensive.

If you want to ask for a sim at a tabac then try "Bonjour, j'ai besoin d'une carte SIM prepayee pour mon portable s'il vous plait"
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Quote:

If you want to ask for a sim at a tabac then try "Bonjour, j'ai besoin d'une carte SIM prepayee pour mon portable s'il vous plait"

I wouldn't, because you'll end up with an ordinary SIM which will neither fit your iPhone nor give you any data capability. Don't know of a provider here which does PAYG SIMs for iPhone.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
Lizzard wrote:
Quote:

If you want to ask for a sim at a tabac then try "Bonjour, j'ai besoin d'une carte SIM prepayee pour mon portable s'il vous plait"

I wouldn't, because you'll end up with an ordinary SIM which will neither fit your iPhone nor give you any data capability. Don't know of a provider here which does PAYG SIMs for iPhone.


Ah yes well spotted, I didn't read it was for Iphone. However its dead easy to cut a normal sim down to fit Iphone. I have done it several times.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Lizzard, jirac18,

I have an old iPhone 3GS so standard size Sim card is perfect, no need for mini one.

I have not even looked on pay as you go cards here to see what they offer with internet but surely there must be something for 10-15E with reasonable internet for a week.

I bought Orange sim card in Poland on my recent trip for around 5£ and it had 1G of internet and around 100 minutes for calls. It was very useful.

Guess I will try the tabac shops if anything will be open around train station.

Cheers


Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Tue 31-01-12 12:15; edited 2 times in total
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I have to say the 3Valley, Meribel, Val Thorens apps for iPhone are brilliant.
Access to all the webcams, live lift openings and weather is very tempting.
In case of mixed weather we could just check it and decide what looks better before we head to Courchevel or the other side to Val Thorens.
Dreaming. Still 6 weeks to go. Little Angel
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Tom W, if you do that, you're going to get calls/SMS only. Don't see a PAYG internet option on any of the major providers' websites.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Lizzard, Many thanks for your help.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Have a look at GiffGaff. Never used it myself but some friends use it and it looks good value
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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.
HI Tom, this is just a pointer, not sure how it will pan out but there's a French PAYG company called free.fr that do a similar sim-only, no contract deal to GiffGaff but obviously just for France. Not sure which area it's for but worth looking into.

One of the US tech sites reviewed the prices last month, sorry I can't remember which one!!!

T-Mobile does a nice Euro booster package 50MB for £10. Make sure you turn off flash, images, video etc and you should be sorted for a weeks email and light web surfing

GiffGaff doesn't do any Euro Net packages!!
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
mrpugster wrote:
GiffGaff doesn't do any Euro Net packages!!


http://giffgaff.com/index/pricing

Tab down to international tariff. GiffGaff can be used in EU countries relatively inexpensive for data usage depending of course on how much you will have it on.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
What I was refering to was their Goody bags which is similar to T-Mobile Boosters etc....

£1.50 per MB will get pretty expensive if the OP intends using it to surf etc

GiffGaff uses the O2 network if I remember rightly, shame they don't do a goody bag for Euro access!!

Orange do a pretty good deal it seems, for £3 a day you can get 30MB, so £21 for 210MB over the course of a week
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Just checked 02 and by texting DATA to 2020 they add a service that gives you 15MB a day for £1.50 a day. Sounds pretty good (certainly better than £3 per MB!).
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
andy from embsay, how do you stop it?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
You only pay on those days you use data abroad - so I guess you don't need to.

http://www.o2international.co.uk/usingdataabroad/PayMonthly.aspx - scroll down to "web daily service".
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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?
mrpugster, Thanks. I will check them!

andy from embsay, wow that looks more reasonable - £1.50 per day with 15MB sounds just enough for basic use. I somehow missed this on the bottom of O2 website when I checked earlier. Cheers!
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
everything you need to know is here:

http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data

short summary - orange.fr simcard that must be purchased from an orange shop and activated for the PAYG with internet plan (that a lot of the staff have no knowledge of). 9E for a months 'unlimited' data which im guessing is 500mb. planned to do this myself but when I have time off dont feel like a trip to grenoble and back.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Used the 1.50 per day on our recent trip to Val Tho. Worked fine - they give you a warning if you go over 15mb and if you do it again they put you on a £5 max with 50mb. I only went over once when I looked up a couple of videos recommended by our instructor but otherwise used it for email / instant messaging / internet and twitter and didn't get near the 15mb limit. You only get charged up to 1.50 (10p per MB) depending on what you use.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
Vodafone £2 a day for 25mb roaming data but you need to opt in,if you don't use you don't pay.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
gbium, That's reassuring. Our chalet's got wifi so i doubt i'll use it much out on the hill, but useful to know you're not going to get hammered.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Skola, This is a very useful link. Cheers
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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.
I just got a text on my SFR prepaid that said unlimited calling to 3 numbers with any €5+ top up- not sure how it works and recall being disappointed with the relatively short life span of your credits (issue for longer stays or multiple visits, not a one off ski week)
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