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?

Who knows what he or she is talking about? Both Orange and SFR are definitely selling prepaid SIM cards

Worst in terms of what, price or service quality?


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.

That wasn't my experience at all. I walked into the Orange store on Place de la Madeleine and, ten minutes later, walked out with a working data SIM card.

Price and quality.

In London you go to three and you will have for 10 pounds unlimited 1 week usage.

In SFR it cost more, was limited, and they only activate it after 48hrs.

Ditto in the Orange store in Forum des Halles. It did take until the next day for 3G data to work, though.

I'm going to be in Paris for 5 days at the end of next month, and have scoured the information in various threads here (including the main prepaid data SIM card one and the France/UK one). I'll have my Verizon iPhone 5 (which should be unlocked on international GSM carriers) and a factory unlocked iPhone 4 as backup if needed. I'd really like to have data, about 200-300Mb should be sufficient for those 5 days for email/maps/etc but it'd be great to have 1Gb and not worry about usage. This would be really easy in the UK with a giffgaff goodybag. Voice is needed but minimal use (so no data-only SIM).

I see that it appears to be easy to pick up an SFR or Orange SIM card once in Paris, but reports of it taking a day (or even two) to activate data has me hesitant in counting on this. In addition, I'd really like to have it activated and the number known before I leave the US.

I've found a couple of great plans through Sosh (an Orange MVNO) and SFR's Red Series, both have nano-SIM's too. It's 20-25 Euros for a month of 1Gb-3Gb data (even 4G speeds perhaps) with unlimited calls and SMS. This would be SO perfect and reasonable; does anyone have any experience with either of these? Any way to get it in the US? Looks like it'd be a real hassle to get even in Paris.

I'll also be in London for a day at the end of the year, so I could perhaps hang on to this and roam - data will be expensive, but it's only a day so I can keep the usage fairly low.

Please see the thread Free Mobile (Iliad) that I started in the France Forum a few months ago, particularly messages 3-6.

Thanks, don't know how I missed that. I may be able to contact a friend who lives in Paris, so perhaps he can sign up for Sosh or SFR's Red and mail the SIM card to me? Don't know if that'll be worth it just to sign up for a month and then cancel as these don't appear to be the typical prepaid product. A pity, it's such a great deal!

Given my desire to have an active SIM card upon arrival in Paris, perhaps it's best to pay a premium and buy one from eBay? The Orange Mobicarte is probably the cheapest option (still trying to decipher their packages, looks like Internet MAX is cheap but then no email access through that?); LeFrenchMobile could be good too, though relatively expensive, but they'll deliver it to me and have English instructions.

Depends on how good the friend is. :) There is no red tape in the U.S. that compares with French red tape.


I would not buy a foreign SIM on eBay but maybe that's just me. My advice is that if you have a good friend, have him or her buy the Mobicarte and activate it in France and then mail it to you.

I am an Orange subscriber and when I got my last SIM mailed to me here in the U.S., it was a major headache to have it activated here since New York is off-network. It took a couple of calls to France.

Does the Mobicarte activation tie itself to a phone; IOW, my friend can activate it using his phone, then mail it to me and I can use it in my iPhone without any problems? Then I can add the Internet MAX option a couple of days before I leave and should be good to go when I land?

In the UK, use 3: 15 pounds for unlimited data and a couple thousand minutes and texts.

In France, I used a Bouygues SIM. 3G data worked in a few minutes. The network was a little spotty, but it was fine.

Bouygues would be a good way to go for the least hassle, but that's still only once I get there. I'd still like to find a way to acquire and activate a local SIM before I leave. I did find a decent overview about doing this by buying one through an eBay seller and setting it up here in the US - a little risky though and hampered by the language barrier.

I don't see how a SIM card can be locked to a specific phone (some others here might know if this is possible) but I don't know because I have not been a Mobicarte customer for years. I'm a regular monthly bill subscriber. This would be an excellent question for your friend to ask Orange either on the phone or at one of their "boutiques."

Regarding Bouygues, I've said this here before; you can compare the top three French carriers to American ones. Orange is like Verizon, SFR like AT&T and Bouygues like T-Mobile. Few of my French friends have Bouygues.

Personally I don't recommend trying the activation over the web routine. If it doesn't work, then what? I can tell you that I was able to log into my account from here in the U.S. a few minutes ago (I had loads of French spam in my box) but I think I set it up while in France.

I think it indeed is risky especially if you don't speak French.

Ok, Orange or SFR would be better then. Got to see if my friend can get that SFR Red card, be great to have 3Gb of 4G data with great coverage in the city! :)

We just used the Lebara cards for voice only in two unlocked phones for a week. No issues whatsoever. Loaded $10 euros on each card which were mailed to us for free.

$0.15 connection charge then $0.01 a minute per call to the US.