SIM Card for Paris
 

I've never traveled overseas before. I know there's a forum for "travel technology" but since my question is specific to PHV I thought I would post it here.

I'm looking for a SIM card for my visit in August. I want to be able to use the GPS on my Blackberry and check web pages. Actual phone calls will be very limited (just an emergency contact method is case Mrs. Redtop and I get separated).

Any recommendations on where to get one and what brand or plan to buy?

Are you going to be in France only, or visiting other European countries while you're there?

What model Blackberry do you have and who is your current cellular carrier?

1. What or where is PHV?

2. Does the Blackberry use a standard size or micro-SIM?

Just came back from France, and picked up a couple of SFR sims for 10 euro each, 5 for the sim and 5 in credit. They were prepaid, so the case on the sim could be used for data, text or voice. The one I picked up at CDG in the store across from the RER ticket office and the other I got at an SFR store. Insert and go.

I picked up a French SIM from Orange last year. I used it in my MiFi but I would think it would work in a Blackberry. I think I put 10 euros on it, because I was using it for four days of data and that seemed to be enough.

SFR worked almost fine for me, except data only starts after 72hs of activation

That is strange. I know I had to manually update my apn settings, but it worked for me as soon as I left the store. Maybe I was just lucky?
And as a note, my 5 Euro in credit lasted about 3 days.

Sounds like you used Mobicarte. It should be available for data and voice although I cannot find this on their website which is obtuse as usual.

The best prepaid SIMs when travelling are from Lebara. They are in France, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, UK, Australia and growing.

If you are travelling as a couple, Lebara to Lebara calls are free.

The data and voice costs are the best around.

I have no association with them other than saving money. Their closest competitor is Lycamobile. Usually they have the same pricing. So either will do.

I've used my MiFi in France, Ireland, England and Italy. The only place I had to update the APN was Italy - in every other country, I just popped in the SIM card and it worked fine.

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.

48hrs data wait is a stupid thing. France have the worst data service in europe it think

http://www.lebara.co.uk/allinone

Unlimited Lebara to Lebara calls + SMS (though there is a cap of 3k minutes & sms messages; valid through 9-30-12), and a total of 300 to apply to minutes (which includes calls to 60 countries), SMS messages or data MB for £10. Really interesting way to do it, and I like how it doesn't force you to buy individual top-ups each for data/voice/SMS.

For infrequent travellers, it looks like the best part may be that if you top up online, the credit doesn't expire.

The only downside I see is that their roaming charges aren't great. For data, they charge the max allowed under the new EU rules.

Edit: Whoops! Those are the Lebara UK rates. On the Lebara FR page, I can't find any reference to this all in one plan. I see that each call has a 0.15€ connection fee. I can't find any rates for data though. Can't imagine that it's not offered, but there's no mention anywhere.

Two years ago, my recommendation for France was a Vodafone IE or Wind IT SIM with a roaming package. It was easier and cheaper than dealing with the French system.

I'm wondering whether the loophole in their system may be the iPad SIMs. They don't seem to be restricted by some of the rules. You don't get voice, but data is becoming increasingly what most of us want.

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.

@jsocpa, how was the Lebara coverage in Paris? Did you have/use 3G data without any issues? Were the cards active before you left the US? Thanks!

We had no issues with coverage. We only used these phones for voice. Paid Verizon the $25 for data on our iphones.

I activated the cards before leaving. Used my Sapphire Preferred to load and notified Chase first that I would be making charges abroad.

Lebara's site only mentions shipping the SIM to French residents, how did you get and activate it in the US?

If you enter a US address, you will receive it. It will come addressed as

John Smith
111 Main St
NY, NY 10001
France

But we received it with no issue. In fact, I had one sent to my office as a backup and it arrived as well. Received 2 cards at each address.

Again, assuming your friend speaks French, try and have him or her available in case you need someone to talk to customer service or tech support. Tech support in a foreign language is, let's say "interesting" because even if you speak the language well, your technical vocabulary may not be extensive.

Please stop back to this thread and report on your experience.

Bonne chance!

Before I traveled to Paris in July of 2011 I went to Ebay and purchased a Orange sim from someone that sells them. It was really cheap.

I've emailed my friend and will see how it goes. I also got in touch with LeFrenchMobile and they've been very responsive (and in English!) so I may just go that way even though it's quite a bit more expensive at €39 for 300Mb. Free incoming calls and €0.19 outgoing (to France, USA, etc.) works well for me.

Does anyone have experience with LeFrenchMobile's coverage in central Paris?

I mentioned that possibility in earlier posts here; did you activate your Orange card before leaving the US? How did that work out for you?

The woman that was selling completed the initial activation steps before sending it to me after she determined which level of data I wanted and how many minutes i needed. Once she had that information she sent the sim along with the pin, which I used to complete the activation. It the sim worked as advertised. The only issue I had was that using Google Maps was a iffy proposition. Not really sure why. Calls were fine. I only called for taxis but not issue there.

Are there any sims that work in both London and Paris? Kind of assuming not, but I sort of remember an Orange UK last time I was in London.

Sure, almost any card bought from either country will roam in the EU - there is a maximum imposed on roaming charges and it's pretty high (especially data, which can be exorbitant).

It's probably a good way to go if one will only visit a country for a few days, saves the hassle of looking for a local SIM in that second country.

Three UK (and Giffgaff, which is an MVNO of 3 I believe) have great UK rates, FWIW.