Travel Technology - advice for connectivity during a month in Paris

I'm going to spend a month in Paris soon and I want to make sure we're equipped.

I have a 1st gen iPad with AT&T, and other than that I don't have GSM phones or tablets.

I will have broadband when I'm there in the apartment but I want to make sure I can make calls and take calls as I do at home and not have a huge bill.

And I want to be able to have connectivity in cafes around Paris. I've noticed wifi isn't that available in Paris the way it seems to be in the US.

Please advise. Thanks!

Ability to receive calls, I guess you can look into Skype or Google Voice call forwarding.

For your iPad, there are probably some prepaid data plans. There is a long thread about prepaid data in various countries.

You can also look at prepaidgsm.net -- they have forums there as well.

French carriers have high prices compared to neighboring UK or Italy.

Here's a TA thread on some people who bought prepaid data SIMs in France recently:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187070-i12-k4781004-Prepaid_French_3G_micro_SIM_for_iPad_it_s_not_a_pr oblem-France.html

Here is a link to an October 2011 thread on the subject on the Apple Community Forum:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3249372?start=0&tstart=0

Here is a new French MVNO targeting Anglophiles on the Seine:

http://www.lefrenchmobile.com/en/data-bundles.html

My solution would be to get a French pre-pay cell phone, and buy into a month of unlimited WiFi from a company with lots of hot spots in France, like Boingo. It's not as common there as it is in the US to find cafes with free WiFi.

I think free2 and lebara are the two new companies in France to watch

I think free2 and lebara are the two new companies in France to watch

I thought Free was only available to those with FRench bank accounts, for direct payment.

I thought Free was only available to those with FRench bank accounts, for direct payment.

I just looked on Amazon and there are a ton of unlocked basic quad band phones in the $25 to $50 range that will work in most places in the world (not Japan or Korea. You need 2100mhz 3g which the basic phones don't support).

I used an app called Skype wifi which allows you to use skype credit to buy wifi access and utilizes all the available wifi providers in the area.