For all international roaming, voice rates are the same regardless of the carrier. In France, it's $1.29 per minute with AT&T Standard International Roaming (free--activate it via 611 or the website) or $0.99 per minute with the AT&T World Traveler package ($5.99/month; activate by 611 or online). AT&T has roaming agreements with Orange, SFR, and Bouygues Telecom.

If you have an international data package, it does matter which carrier you connect to. Often, only some of the carriers with which AT&T has a roaming agreement will participate with the discounted data roaming plans. Transferring data when connected to another carrier can result in you having to pay the standard data roaming rate ($0.0195/KB), even if you are subscribed to an international data package.

However, good news for France: all three of the carriers AT&T has a roaming agreement with also participate in the discounted roaming packages. Therefore, if you have an international data package, it will not matter which carrier in France you are connected to.

If you are not subscribed to an international data package and are just paying per KB, then, like voice, it does not matter worldwide which carrier you are connected to. You will pay the (exorbitant) data roaming rate for that country. If you plan on using even the tiniest bit of data, I recommend getting at least the base 20MB plan for $24.99 (which works out to $0.0012/KB--less than 10% of the normal metered rate).

For full details about roaming in France, see http://www.wireless.att.com/travelgu...40.99&x=35&y=7.