Would appreciate your sharing your wise input on this subject with me!!

What is the "best/most reasonable/easy to use" telephone card (both from pay booths and hotel rooms) for calls from France to the US? Please advise exact name as well as places to purchase.

Thanks for any and all useful information http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/cool.gif

I am aware that American Express offices here sell such a card, but I have not used it and therefore don't know how economical it is.

I would suggest seeking out internet cafes for communication, instead. I even stayed one hotel in Europe this summer that had internet access in the lobby which could be charged to the room. Fifty cents to a dollar gets you all the time you need to check & send e-mail, which is much cheaper than any trans-atlantic call.

If you go this route, be sure that you know how to & have practiced how to check your e-mail on from a computer not your own.

JP

The easiest-to-use card that I have found is that telephone card that you get from 'Tabac's. Look on the street for a shop with a a Tabac sign -- some are magazine/news shops, others are bars. Ask for "une carte de téléphone -- la plus petite" (sorry if this isn't the official term, Paris people, but it works for an American who speaks French like an American who speaks French).

The cards work in telephone booths, but not in hotel rooms. Here's how to use it:
[list=1] Take the phone off the hook. Insert the telephone card into the slot. Wait until the display on the phone shows you how many units ('unites') remain on the card. Dial the number. The instructions in the phone booth tell you the code you need to dial first if it's an international call. After you connect to the person you're calling, units are automatically deducted from the card, and the remaining number of units are automatically displayed on the telephone.
[/list=a]

I've found this system to be 1000 times easier and lots cheaper than the cards where you have to dial a toll-free number, enter your crad's number, then dial the number you really want to call.

I don't have exact $$ figures, but a 10-minute call to the U.S. from Paris using a telephone card is no more than $2-3, if that.

I have used both cars.
The one mentioned by wideman with a chip and the other one with a PIN, where you have to call a toll free number.
Both work fine and both are very cheap.
I had some trouble with the PIN card, could not access my voice mail, which I have to initiate with a "#", and this triggered the "help-line" from the phone card company.
I found the AT&T and MCI cards much more expensive.

We used our MCI cards from Costco. It ran about 4*3.5 cents/minute to the US. Paris Hilton did not charge to connect to the MCI
local toll-free number.

Thanks everyone for your wonderful suggestions .... especially "littleleaguemom"

I'm off to Costco before my trip!! http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/cool.gif