This is my first post - sorry if it's a repeat,I checked a little ways back and didn't see anything pertinent.
My family will be travelling to Paris for a month, strting in two weeks. While we're there, my husband will be working, and the kids and I will sightseeing (or throwing tantrums - i hope sightseeing). We'd like to get two cell phones so we can coordinate our days, since he'll be in his office, and we'll be out and about. Has anyone tried purchsing a pay-as-you-go phone in Paris? We are hoping there's an option like Tracfone,etc- to just run to the store and grab a cheap phone and sign yourself up without a lot of phone rental or advance planning. Anyone know if this is possible within their current cell phone system. If you've done it, can you recommend the plan/store you've used?
There are some threads about this and if you use the "find" feature, you'll probably be successful. Or look at the section "Technology on the go" Here is a link to a current thread on French Cell phones.Cell Phone in France
Quickly though, last year I bought 4 "unlocked" European tri-band phones on Ebay for our travelers and we bought the SIM cards when we got to Italy. We will buy French SIM cards next year when we go there. I paid about $30 plus shipping for each refurbished phone and we bought the SIM cards for about 20 euros each and that included about 15 euros of talk time. You can add time when you use up your initial prepaid minutes.
If you have a quad band phone now and service with Cingular or T-Mobile, you can request the "subsidy Unlock Code from your carrier, and when you get to France, you can buy a French SIM card and use it in your own phone. Verizon, Sprint etc use different technology so you can't use a phone from these carriers with a European SIM Card.
Pregaidgsm.netis a good website to look at the different French wireless carriers and the different rates they charge.
Bill's solution looks like a good one. Possibly, the in-France SFR 39 euro "La Carte" offer - phone, SIM card and a few free minutes at the start - I mentioned in the thread he referenced is a few dollars cheaper, if you don't expect to need a cellphone in another European country in the future, but not much cheaper.
Topic Closed
