SIM Cards for France & USA (part boaty!)

[Robin]

We just changed our mobilephones and still have our old ones (only 12months old) which are 'unlocked' Nokias that I believe we can use with French pay as you go SIM cards for cheaper calls when in France and calling another French number, or indeed phone to phone. My idea is to put French SIMs in these two phones and keep them on board for boat use over there, maybe to leave them even in the grab bag in French waters. We are also visiting the USA later and are thinking of the same idea there, the phones are triband and work on GSM in the USA but we know from experience that using our normal UK ones is very expensive and really crazy when calling between both mobiles in the USA which although a mile apart involves 2 transatlantic long distance charges!

OK now for the questions!

I'm pretty sure getting a French PAYG SIM is easy enough - does anyone know where in Cherbourg to buy one? Does the card (and therefore the phone #) expire if unused for some months?

The USA idea seems more difficult. Looking on the web there are a variety of PAYG options and one called Net10 seems cheap with all USA calls at 10cents/min and International at 15cents. However I contacted them by e-mail and they told me we had to buy their phones, that our own will not work even with a SIM card from them. OK they sell Nokias from $50 ea or $30 for recons but that eats into any savings made on calls. Also the cards are of different values for calls, like 300mins/60days/$30 but if not recharged after 60 days as we wouldn't because we are back here, the service is automatically cancelled and the phone number and unused minutes are lost, however the phone CAN be reactivated later by buying a new card next trip albeit with a different phone #. All very confusing, does anyone have a better idea how to do this?

 

[st599]

http://www.0044.co.uk/index.htm

Used these when I travelled to Russia last year - saved a packet (my UK mobile charges about £3.50 per min there). Will probably keep the global sim topped up.

 

[andy_wilson]

The USA networks use 2 distinct technologies. Perhaps the package you identified does not use GSM 1900.

 

[Robin]

Thanks for that link. Whilst it looks very useful it does however still have the limitation on the time it remains valid for if not topped up both in the USA and France. That makes it very similar to the Net10 deal in the USA (including buying a new phone at $50) because the call charges are much higher than net10's 10c/min or 15c/min International. As far as France is concerned I don't know if all the PAYG networks autodestruct if not topped up within the set times? I may be looking for something that doesn't exist!

 

[Roberto]

hello Robin,

as for France, a friend came to visit us in paris and bought a sim card (most phone shops can sell them, and they are mushrooming everywhere, it should not be difficult to quickly locate one in cherbourg), used it a few times in a couple of days then went home; back to france six months later and the french number was still active.

Doesn't help much but just to say that you have *at least* six months.. -.<)

 

[franky]

Hi
I am using sim4travel...Very international..can top up with the phone ..no card needed.check credit available by phone.Best of all no charge for incoming calls and most local calls at local mobile rates.www.SIM4travel.com

 

[Robin]

Thanks Roberto


That sounds better for France use anyway! Iknow you can get long ones (from 60 days up to 12 months) in the USA Net10 but only by buying huge numbers of minutes credit, 1800 I think for 12 months, and the cost then is the same as being on a contract tarriff or using a UK roaming SIM over the time we are there.

Robin

 

[Robin]

Thanks Franky but OUCH that looks expensive for the USA!

Robin

 

[charles_reed]

Can only speak for France

2 major networks:- SFR part of Vodafone and Orange owned by France Telecom.
Pricing marginally cheaper than UK.

SIM cards can be purchased in any phone shop (they are to be found in nearly all villes) and top-ups at any Tabac.

Credit lasts for between 30 days on the cheapest topup card (€20) and increases to 120 days on the most expensive top-ups (€80), you also get a discount which rises to a 20% on the most expensive top-up.
The number stays yours for 12 months of non-use, after which it reverts.

Also Bouygues - less coverage but far cheaper, don't know their costings in detail.

PS the discounts are in the form of additional talktime.

 

[sailorgirl]

Mobile phones services in the USA are very different from Europe. As stated elsewhere they use two distinctly different technologies. Not only that but many mobile operators are local to a particular area and roaming is a relatively recent concept, hence very expensive!

You need to do some research based on where you are travelling to. That said in most major US cities a modern UK tri-band or 3G phone should work and as a regular traveller to that part of the world I've never had a problem.

 

[Robin]

Thanks sailorgirl.

Yes we have used our phones over there often too but last year the bill was worse than usual. The problem is that friends and family over there expect to treat calls to our UK mobiles as if they are local ones and don't understand that WE are not local just by being there and a call between 2 phones in the same room invoves two transatlantic calls! I have managed to track down a couple of options now. One is Cingular Wireless who will sell us a PAYG SIM and cards, $25 for the SIM and either 25c/min or 10c/min but $1 one-off every day a call is made, no charge if no call, but the good deal is mobile to mobile on the same network is free so SWMBO & I can exchange free calls. The other is Net10, similar deal except you MUST have a Net10 phone, our UK ones will not work so maybe this is an analogue network? Cost is 10c/min too and no daily charge, phones are $50 for a basic Nokia. In both cases if the cards are not topped up, you lose the phone number but Net10 will reactivate the SIM next trip (no need to buy another phone!) and Cingular just issue a new SIM with a new number.

Confusing! We may go the Cingular route and take our old phones to use with their SIMs and keep our new ones on the UK SIM which I need to do for business anyway.

Robin

 

[Robin]

Re: Can only speak for France

Thanks Charles

Useful information, it seems then that the French system is like the USA one in some ways except that we will probably be able to retain the numbers as we go there more frequently and for longer periods and they don't destroy the number allocated after just 60 days.

Robin