transparent

Yes, pretty much.

RichMSN

This thread interests me, as I'm going to Paris for 3 days next week.

Coming from the UK on the Eurostar. I have a 3 (Three) prepaid SIM I use in the UK which allows unlimited data and cheap calling to the US with a rather inexpensive bolt-on which I'll buy upon landing tomorrow. The bolt-on lasts for a month.

Anyone know if it would be better to try to use this in Paris or see if I can get a SIM there? I've used Lebara in the Netherlands to great success, but I'm only staying 3 days and mainly want it for data access while I'm out and about.

02BNFR

On the next several months (years?), I will be spending a lot of time in the Languedoc near Montpellier, Beziers and Sete. Anyone have any ideas which carrier has the best coverage in that area?

TWA884

Have you tried CellMapper?

RichMSN

In the end, my Three sim from the UK worked flawlessly. Same $15 add on got me all you could eat data in France and the UK for a month. And voice and texts.

nmenaker

Anyone have any recent current recommendations? I need a good amount of monthly data for France, with maybe some reasonable calling back to the USA onboard? Could always just use skype.

wco81

I haven't tried it but to get a lot of data without paying a lot, you might have to try Free, see if there's a Free kiosk near where you're going.

Look up the prepaid with data wikia page.

char777

I had a great experience with Orange when I spent four months there, and I was planning on using them again for the next six weeks. The prepaid service is called Mobicarte. I remember topping up with the Internet recharge for 500 MB/14 days for €10, or the recharges max are also a good deal with €30 for unlimited domestic calls and SMS with 2 GB of data. All Orange customers can also log into Orange WiFi hotspots in France for free on any device.

The only time I didn't have a great experience with Orange was with the international roaming plans for inside Europe. I paid for these recharges, and it zapped up the roaming data within about two minutes both times I tried it, and I was left without any service. So I wouldn't recommend planning on using an Orange French Mobicarte outside France. But inside France, it worked very well.

The way I called to the US is I used Localphone. You can get an incoming US number for $3 plus $.99 per month, which you can then forward to your France number. All incoming calls in France are free regardless of where they come from (or maybe this is only true for Orange/SFR/Bouygues, I don't know). So your loved ones at home can call your Localphone US number, and they won't be charged anything, and Orange won't charge you anything. Localphone will just charge you $0.005 a minute, which is far far less than Skype's rates.

Nancy Colson

I bought a Lebara.fr SIM on eBay. It came from the seller activated.

The network is showing as Bouygues Telecom. I'm picking up T-Mobile Lebara in the US. (I have international data roaming off so I don't eat up balance on account.)

APN: mmsbouygtel.com

Will I need to change any of these settings manually to have internet access in France?

Also, I have an unlocked US version of the Samsung Galaxy Mega. I just noticed that Lebara is only MNVO GSM 900/1800 while other carriers like LycaMobile offer WCDMA 2100. Given the phone I am using will I have problems with Lebara? Would I be better off with LycaMobile?

Finally, the seller sent me log-in info so I could access the account online. She told me I could change the e-mail and password, which I did, but I haven't been able to access it since. The screen says they are experiencing technical difficulties, but this has been going on for days. I tried sending a message to Lebara via Facebook. They won't help unless I answer certain security questions, I've e-mailed the seller but she is no longer responding.
Any suggestions? I'm thinking that the best thing is just to forget about the online account.

FYI, I was even able to top up from the US as a guest user and paid via my PayPal account.

Any help would be appreciated.

shonamac

I will be visiting France for a week and want to get a back-up Wi-Fi solution for my laptop, just in case the varrious hotels I will be staying in have lousy W-Fi.

The applications I run are all pretty data hungry and I would like a solution that is not hugely expensive for large data volumes; "all-you-can-eat" sounds like a good plan for me

It should be something that can get quickly activated (for a non-resident of France) and work reliably, including on moving trains!

I do have an unlocked 2G dongle that takes full-size SIMs, but if the additional cost is not prohibitive, I would like to get a new 3G or 4G dongle, or better still, a Mi-Fi device. And it would be even better if the device / SIM works in other ....ries as well, so that I can use it for future trips elsewhere.

Can you recommend anything for me, which can be easily bought either at CDG airport or at shops / malls in Paris?

stimpy

While the 4G coverage is excellent throughout the population centers of France, you won't find it out in the middle of nowhere. Which is where the inter-city trains pass. However some of the Paris metro lines now have 4G coverage, such as the RER A throughout central Paris. It works great.

I live here so I don't know about pre-paid options. I would just walk into an Orange shop and ask. Or poke around more on orange.fr

char777

I've had a few longer stints in France, and while I can't speak of their dongle/mi-fi solutions, I had pretty good experiences with Orange prepaid. €10 for 1 GB for 2 weeks of data worked well for my iPhone. I don't know if the same thing works for any of those devices, but you could also try prepaidgsm.net as a good resource for international phone and data.

Dubai Stu

I am in Paris right now. I have Boingo through my Amex Platinum card and amazed how good it works. Boingo has included roaming on Orange hotspot. Like Free, most Orange residential hotspots also have an Orange hotspot mode. I have free access to the net in most residential buildings in France. Whether you want to supplement this with cellular data is up to you, but it definitely brings my megabyte consumption down.

shonamac

Thanks for the tip - unfortunately I neither have an Amex Platinum nor a Boingo account. Since you are in Paris right now, if you happen to go by an Orange store, could you perhaps find out if they sell a data-only SIM card, how much it costs (per GB) and how long it takes to activate? Merci!

Dubai Stu

I will look tomorrow. I know they have a tablet data plan.