Originally Posted by
Dubai Stu
There is a thread on the Lonely Planet Travel Tech forum about someone who has been repeatedly refused the right to purchase a data enabled prepaid SIM without a phone at both Orange and SFR stores. In additional to the 48 hour data waits, they seem to be saying that they no longer do SIM only sales. I have not verified it and am passing it on without recourse.
Who knows what he or she is talking about? Both Orange and SFR are definitely selling prepaid SIM cards
Originally Posted by
EZETravel
48hrs data wait is a stupid thing. France have the worst data service in europe it think
Worst in terms of what, price or service quality?
Originally Posted by
gfunkdave
I'll be in France early next month as well and would like to better understand 3G SIM options. I don't care about voice or text so much as data. I'd like to be able to call restaurants and such if needed, but I'm mainly after data. Lebara seems to be geared more towards recent immigrants who want to call home for cheap - its data options seem pretty spendy.
I've heard good things about SFR, and their La Carte seems to fit the bill if they can get me a micro SIM. Has anyone used SFR with an iPhone?
One of my friends there uses SFR for his iPhone and he seems pretty happy although he doesn't know much about tech. Take a look here:
http://www.sfr.fr/mobile/offres-deta...nly?vue=000029 The prepaid iPhone SIM is at the bottom of the page.
In the past, based on comments of French friends and colleagues, I have likened Orange to Verizon and SFR to AT&T in terms of service. (Bouygues was T-Mobile.)
If you are coming from the USA with an iPhone, it is absolutely essential to verify that your phone has been unlocked.
By the way, while France may sometimes have a lot of red tape, it has nothing on Japan.