We are traveling to Amsterdam - Brussels - France and would like to have a phone to call ahead for hotel and restaurant reservations. Since we will be in Amsterdam for only 4 days, Belgium for 6 days and France for 3+ weeks, we think having a phone for France only makes the best sense.
My question is: our first stop in France is Strasborg (Alsace) and last stop is Paris. Would we be able to buy a phone in Strasborg and would there be limitations to its use? This is our first experience with cell phones outside the U.S.
Thanks for your help.
Buying phone for temporary use.
Recent Activity
View all Europe activity »
- 1 Travel in Spain
- 2 When is the best time to buy train tickets/where?
- 3
Germany: From the Mosel to Munich - A Detailed Trip Report
- 4 Shopping in France for the larger than average...
- 5 American Citizen Buying a Home in Spain
- 6 Gothenburg or Aarhus?
- 7 Seems to me this forum is a lot less active than in years past....
- 8 Lucerne where to stay
- 9 Torun and Zamosc similar?
- 10 To Madrid/Barcelona on Sunday! 8 Qs to help make the trip amazing
- 11 Driving from Bordeaux south into Spain- tips please!!
- 12 Spain Pyrenees overnight stopover Help needed with route?
- 13 I Need To Vent!
- 14 France: CDG to Beaune
- 15 Athens licensed tour guide
- 16
Tales from Venice, Bologna, Pienza and Rome
- 17 Comfortable shoes to wear in Italy this summer and not look like a tourist
- 18 Transportation from Landshut to Munich Airport?
- 19 Venice Hotel near Cruise Terminal
- 20 The Adventure Begins.. Sarge56 in Italy
- 21 Visit to Russia - Money
- 22
If you had 7 days for Romantic Road..What would you do
- 23 Train from London to Edinburgh
- 24
Ireland - Doolin Ennis Dingle Kenmare Adare
- 25 Solo Female First Time Traveler - Scared to Death
You can purchase a used world phone on eBay and buy a sim card once you land in France, or order one online. Vodafone is one of the major service providers.
Vodafone owns a large part of Verizon, to give you an idea.
Here are options:
1. Use your own phone from the U.S. if GSM capable and supports 900/1800mhz: For some reason you did not mention this option. If the usage is just a few minutes overall, you can continue to use your U.S. plan provided if you turned off your data roaming if it is a smartphone. If your phone is unlocked, you can just buy a SIM card in France.
2. Obtain a GSM 900mhz/1800mhz unlocked phone in the U.S. Buy French SIM card in France.: You did not mention this option, either. Either buy one or find someone else's old phone which might be just sitting doing nothing in their closets.
3. Buy a phone with a SIM card in France. Places like FNAC has a large selection.
You can also rent a global phone for for a short period of time through Verizon. We have done this several times and found it to be fairly inexpensive and convenient. This works best if you are already a Verizon customer as your number stays the same
Or,to answer your original question, you can buy a BIC phone in France for 29 Eruos.http://www.bic-phone.fr/
Available in Orange boutiques, supermarkets, tobacconists, etc.
Travelnaia: We are in the same boat: trying to find an economical phone for six weeks in France, Italy, Switz,, GER. Tried global phone last time but the per-minute cost is prohibitive. Carlux, good suggestion...but, If I get a bic-phone, how do I know what the per-minute cost is? It's great that I can recharge anywhere, but how do I know if 50Euro will last for 2 days or 2 weeks?
IF you get a BIC phone, have a look at the manual for costs - it's in French, but shows 50 centimes a minute for calls in France, 70 centimes in Europe, and 1.55 for the rest of the world.
http://boutique.orange.fr/doc/contrat2013.pdf