<p>My daughter will be spending the fall semester in Paris, and I've already learned a lot about European cell phones from reading this forum. I bought her a quad-band phone on eBay (since her old cell phone was inoperative anyway), and I know she can purchase a SIM card in France, but I'd like to compare rates in advance, if possible. I looked at the Telestial website, but their rates for calls within the country seem very high.</p>
<p>Domestic Calls
Domestic rates are per second for outgoing calls within France from your France SIM card while you are in France. All incoming calls, regardless of where they originate, are FREE with your Mobiho France SIM card.
All domestic calls to fixed lines and mobiles within France are charged at EUR 0.39 per minute (approx. US$0.56).
Text messages are charged at EUR 0.10 per message (approx. US$0.15).</p>
<p>International Calls (to U.S.)
EUR 0.18
(approx. US$0.28)<br>
International text messages are charged at EUR 0.17 per message (approx. US$0.26). </p>
<p>Since I don't imagine she'll be calling home a lot (she barely talks to us when she's here!), I'd like to find a plan that offers (much) cheaper calls within the country. I'd appreciate it if any of you who have bought SIM cards in France would share your experiences.</p>
<p>How did you find your French service provider?
What was the per-minute charge for calls within France? To the U.S.?</p>
<p>D is currently in Ecuador and we use Skype and LOVE. Know it isn't a cell phone but it is so clear we had to make sure she wasn't stowed behind the monitor ;) And it is FREE !</p>
<p>Thanks - we signed up for Skype when she went to Vietnam earlier this year, and it will be great for calls home. But I think she's also going to need a cell phone for times when she's not at the computer. I imagine she'll be traveling a fair amount, both within Paris and in Europe, and she'll need to keep in touch with her fellow students and traveling companions. And I will feel better knowing she has a cell in case of emergency. </p>
<p>My son is in Costa Rica. We talk through Gmail chat, MSN messenger, text messages, and land line phone calls. I read a lot about cell phone usages in Costa Rica. </p>
<p>I thought he couldn't use his AT&T cell phone but he can use his cell phones there. International calling rate is very expensive. To call from Costa Rica using his cell phone costs $2.29/minutes without any plan. If you have AT&T international calling plan ($10/month), it will cost $1.99/minutes. I do call him at his host home land line using a calling card. That is pretty inexpensive depending on the calling card you use.</p>
<p>I think the best way and the most inexpensive way to communicate internationally is through internet chat if they have an internet access.</p>
<p>I have no idea how this works but we talk to my daughter in China through skype but we're all on phones. She sometimes talks to us on her computer but I've also called her and talked to her on her cell. It costs her $15 a month for a local PA phone number, so when we call her it's not long distance. She bought an unlocked cell phone in China and has been able to buy sim cards in other Asian countries as she visits them. We're assuming her brother will be able to use it in England because she won't need it here in the States and he'll need it over there.</p>
<p>Hi so I am a French student, living in France.</p>
<p>Buying a cellphone separately is not a very good idea unless it was very cheap because you won't get the discount that comes with signing up for an "abonnement". Sorry, I do'nt know the right translation for that word, probably the closest I can think of right now is a "subscription".</p>
<p>The way it works is you are charged monthly the same amount that gives you the right to x hours of communication, y text messages and other options, x and y depending on how much you pay/special offers and whatnot.</p>
<p>There are basically 3 service providers in France: Orange, SFR and Bouygues. Orange is probably the most reliable, especially when it comes to international communications, however it is not the cheapest. I think the best thing you can do is googling these and browse their websites and see for yourself. They should have english webpages (I hope).</p>
<p>I just got back from a semester in Paris - your daughter is going to have an amazing time!</p>
<p>What I, and most of the American students I know, did was to get a phone and rechargeable SIM card from either SFR or Orange; they are two of the most reliable providers and finding places to buy more minutes can be done at virtually any drugstore. That said, they are best just because of that convenience factor - the rates are pretty much the same as what you described (.37 euro/min for calls, .10 for texts) with all incoming calls free. Because of that, I just went through the semester texting within the country and using Skype to call back home. It worked out very well; I only spent something like 40 euro on my phone the entire time. That's quite a few text messages!</p>
<p>I agree with the pay-as-you-go option. If you sign up for cell phone service, you usually have to commit to it for a year or more. Since she's only there for the fall semester, the pay-as-you go option, while a bit more expensive per call, is probably best. Also, know that in France, you do not pay for incoming calls. Calls within France are not that expensive, as long as she doesn't chat for hours and hours. Calls from you to her cell phone will be more expensive (but there is no charge on her end). </p>
<p>We use an ATT phone card (purchased at Wal-mart/Sams). The purchase cost is, I think, 2.5 cents/min. When you call an international land line in France it's 10 cents/min (4 of those 2.5 units/min). When you call a cell phone in France (French cell #s all begin with 06), its 3-4 times more. However, if you use Skype, you can call her cell phone, too. </p>
<p>Recharges are easy to buy in most newstands and even from some vending machines.</p>
<p>I got my phone on my first weekend there. I was in Paris, where there are many SFR and Orange stores around, but I went to one that has no affiliation with a provider since I thought they would have more options and not be so obviously biased (not sure if that's true or not!) called The Phone House (very French). </p>
<p>The phone is a lot cheaper when you buy it in a package with the SIM card; mine was 8 euro, and the whole package (including phone, SIM card, 10 euros of credit, charger and all that) was 40 euro or so. I got the cheapest phone that I saw - no camera or anything, but it was very functional, reliable, and smaller than my cell phone at home! </p>
<p>On the whole, it worked out wonderfully - the only tough part was conducting the "buying of the phone" conversation in French on my second day in, but it worked out. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>Nope, I just bought it with only the rechargeable SIM card. No plans to worry about. If you're interested in that, though, you can go to the Orange or SFR websites; the shortest plans usually last 6 months, but I found them more expensive than what I needed.</p>
<p>My daughter is getting ready to study in Caen, France. A friend who was just over there gave her a cell phone with an "Orange" sim card in it. Do we just reactivate it or do we need to get a new sim card for it? Or is it worth even using?</p>
<p>Kaleidoscopeyes, thank you again for your helpful posts. In the rush to get my daughter to her 7 AM flight to Paris this weekend, guess what got misplaced? The quad band phone! Because of the info you have given here, I was able to tell my daughter that buying a phone in France will probably cost about the same as if I mailed her phone to her from home. (If we ever find it!)</p>
<p>We have already Skyped her twice, and it worked pretty well. Problem is, there's no wireless internet in her dorm - three students must share one line - so using Skype is not always going to be practical. Fortunately, there's a land line in the dorm, so we can contact her in an emergency.</p>
<p>What about getting an AT&T prepaid phone and using it over there? It is on the same GSM network. Or if I have a phone, just getting a sim from them. Has anyone looked at that?</p>
<p>If your are going to study in France under a Student visa, you are entitled to the same great mobile phone rates and services as the French. Those services are available to all citizens and Legal residents. In my experience, SFR and orange have the best packages. If you are going to be in France as a temporary visitor or tourist, Keeptalking has been our choice. They are in association with SFR which is considered the best carrier in France. They are much cheaper than using your US based phone company. But before you commit to any carrier, read the fine prints and check them out through google. You will find horror stories posted about almost any of the carriers but many times the unhappy customer did not read the fine prints. You cannot get a rate for one Country and expect to pay the same every where else. Students cannot spend hours on the phone on the local line as they do at home while in High school. Use skype for long conversations. One customer signed up for the France rate and sim card and was upset because she ran up a huge bill by using the France service in Dubai, North Africa. Read the fine print!</p>