It may not be as easy to find the SIM card once you disembark. The places I saw where you could purchase SIM cards were past security. However, it's pretty easy to get a SIM card at a tabac or a grocery store, if not an actual phone shop. All of those should be easy to find at your destination after you leave the airport unless you're going off immediately into the countryside.

Look for a shop called "Relay". A TA member recently reported buying a Lebara SIM at CDG at one of their shops. Use http://www.easycdg.com or similar to locate their shops on a map.

Or go the the http://www.Lebara.fr site and order a SIM. Free.
http://www.lebara-mobile.fr/Pre-Pay-Cards On the order form add "USA" after your zip code in the box marked "Postal Code"... it only took about 10 days for mine to arrive in Canada... ;^)

I went on the Lebara site and ordered the SIM card. I received two confirming emails,but the SIM card never came. Went back to the site and discovered the fine print "Offre uniquement valable pour les consommateurs résidant en France." Interesting you got one sent to Canada.

Just now I went back to the site and requested again. When I added USA on the order form after the postal code, it wouldn't accept it. I then added USA after the state with no problem, so we'll see if I get a SIM card this time. Hope so.

Ok, thanks, but what kind of a SIM card is free? Is it one where we then have to buy time on the card, once we get in to Paris?

Lebara has a free SIM offer. I received one here in the USA.

You can purchase time on line from anywhere in the world and be ready with an operable phone as soon as you reach CDG. Otherwise the SIMs sold at CDG, there are several tabacs and magazine stores selling them, must be activated on line.

so, if I understand, I can get a lenses sincere sent to me here in US, then I can buy some time on it, on line, before we fly to France, is that correct?

Yes taconictraveler, that is correct. You can have a SIM sent to you in the USA, register it on line in English, and purchase any additional minutes you may need on the English version of the Lebara web site.

Allow 2 to 3 weeks to receive your SIM.

Sarastro: How did you manage to get a SIM from Lebara sent to you in the USA? It says only for people with a french address. (I can give them my hotel address, and wait til I get there to pick it up, is that a better idea? ) I'd rather get it in the US, and then buy minutes before I leave (home computer easier to manage than iPad or iPhone)

Thanks for any additional help.

Sarastro: How did you manage to get a SIM from Lebara sent to you in the USA?

I asked. There are no guarantees.

Otherwise you can simply purchase one when you arrive. Lebara SIMs are sold at tabacs or magazine stores all over Paris. I purchased a second SIM from a magazine vendor in the métro.

I emailed Lebara last June about them sending me a SIM card to the USA and said that they don't. You may be able find one at a tabac near the hotel where you are staying. It seems that to buy minutes you need to have the SIM in the phone and logged in first, you can't do that until you are in France. The other option is Mobiho (http://www.cheap-mobile.fr/) their site is easier to search for where they are available. The Mobiho SIMs are available from Amazon if you want one before leaving, that way you will have the number if you want to give it to family and friends. You can search for a post I made in June for more info.

I registered my SIM and setup my account from the USA so my Lebara phone operated the minute I arrive in France (though when I arrived in Paris anyone I might have wanted to call in the USA was fast asleep).

At one time, Lebara did list a number of distributors of their products on their website. However, as their SIMs are now sold ubiquitously throughout Paris, it would really be pointless to list the hundreds of locations that now sell their SIMs. Lebara does list the retail chains that do sell their SIMs, Relay and Tabac are two of the larger outlets.

While Mobiho does offer pricing which is cheaper than Orange, SFR, or Bouygues, this is how they compare against Lebara:

Calls to another French mobile:

Mobiho - .39€/minute
Lebara - .15€/minute

Calls to a French fixed line:

Mobiho - .19€/minute
Lebara - .15€/minute

Calls made to others within the same network:

Mobiho - .29€/minute
Lebara - .09€/minute

Calls to the USA:

Mobiho - .18€/minute
Lebara - .09€/minute

SIM cost:

Mobiho - 15€ with 8€ talk credit
Lebara - 10€ with 7.50€ talk credit (free SIMs available on line)

_____

Presently, Lebara is the price leader in France for Mobile phone service. When recharging a SIM on line, Lebara gives additional incentives making the above rates even cheaper.

Going back to the OP's original question: the answer is YES. It is very easy to buy a SIM card at CDG.

At least it was in the terminal I arrived in, the Relay store was easy to find at the top of an escalator. If you know what terminal you arrive in, you can look at the maps ahead of time but they are all over, it isn't hard.

Several months ago I bought a sim card from Le French Mobile online, got it in the mail and used it successfully for the month I was in France.

http://www.lefrenchmobile.com/

Pay attention to the "must be activated online" advice mentioned above. If you want your phone to work on the spot then you may be better off getting a SIM card from a real phone or electronics store where they can make sure your phone works before you leave the store.

French law requires that mobile phones have a traceable owner - one with a name and address. The required information can be provided either on line or by completing a form where the SIM/phone is purchased. The accuracy of this information is left to the purchaser (few of us who purchase pre paid SIMs have permanent addresses in France).

J62, the sim from Le French Mobile was active and ready to go when I arrived in France. Not sure which "above" you refer to. I got one online for just that reason, so I wouldn't have to do it on arrival. You can, of course, quite easily shop for one then but I like to not have to do that and I also like having a phone in case I need to make a call immediately. But mostly because it's one less thing to think about.

See sarastro's post.

>>>, there are several tabacs and magazine stores selling them, must be activated on line.<<<

Last time I was in Germany & bought a SIM card (congstar) it had to be activated online, the website was only in German, and there was about a 12 hr delay until the card was active.

I'm not saying that's true for every SIM card you buy, but it's something you need to pay attention to if you need the phone to be active asap or you won't have internet access. caveat emptor.

J62 - thanks for the heads up. I've bought a number of cards in Europe and Asia and never had that particular requirement. But buying in a store does not necessarily mean a carefree experience. One I got (in India) required the seller to register it and I guess they assumed I'd leave town and be stuck somewhere out of reach. I did not and they were not but even after I went back they still did not do it so they won. I gave up. An unusual case I would hope but better to deal with a recommended source I think and reduce the probability of trouble.

Sarastro and MaineGG: MY LEBARA CARD ARRIVED TODAY!
Hard to believe, cuz I don't think I ordered it more than 5 days ago!
Now, I have another question: the web site seems only to be in French. I can manage it if necessary, but Sarastro: were you able to find the site in English? And did you just use your American credit card to buy time?

Forgot to say , it arrived here in New York state, and I had put the "USA" after the state name..

Sorry taconictraveler, I use the site in French. However, you should see the word francais on the upper most part of your browser which, when selected, should display the word English which changes the site to English.

Similarly with the Lebara SIM installed, your phones default voice functions (voice mail etc.) can be changed to English as well.

Congratulations! Glad you got your card. Hope mine comes soon.

Well, so far having the Lebara sim card is not doing me much good. I have registered the new phone number up to a point, but I cannot top it up without the security code, which I can't get from them, because my European Nokia phone is not picking up a network, ergo, I cannot get the SMS text message they have sent to the phone, containing the security code?

HMMM - I wonder if I give them my US cell phone number if they would send it there, hmmmm???

Unless anyone has any ideas, I am on the horns of a dilemma, which of course, can be solved once we reach CDG!!

SARASTRO: any ideas of what I can do? I've tried to go back to the screen where I started the activation process, where I think there was a space for an alternate phone number, but I can't get back there now, it is all automatic.

I've sent them an email, so maybe I'll get a reply.... let's see....

Register it when you get to France. You may receive an SMS as soon as you arrive. So far, the SIM shipments to the USA, Canada, and Australia have been under the radar so I doubt there will be any official support from Lebara until you actually arrive in France.

Complaining about free SIMs or asking for resolution before you are in France may jeopardize future shipments.

OK, good thought. I'll just wait til I get to CDG.

I may have a valid, leftover German SIM card I no longer need taconictraveler. If it's still valid I can just give it to you. Let me check on the card when I get home tomorrow. I may be out your way over the weekend.

Since I never got the Lebara SIM I ordered on line twice, I arrived in Paris four days ago with my little unlocked phone and high hopes for finding one at Relay or some tabac or other phone provider. First stop was the Relay at CDG, then one at Gare de Lyon. They both said that Relay only recharges Lebara and doesn't actually sell the SIM cards. Next up was FNAC where they were very nice but had nothing to offer at a low cost. After that I wandered into a Darty and several other tabacs with no success. The next day we went to Lyon where I also checked with a few tabacs who did not sell the Lebara SIMs.

Then I had the good fortune to go into The Phone House store on Rue Victor Hugo near our hotel. There a charmante mademoiselle fixed me up with a Carte Bouygues Nomad V5 kit for €5 for the SIM card and another €15 for a one-month activation. She also activated the phone and tested it for me. I think she took pity on this "femme d'un certain age" who obviously was not very au courant with phone technology.

So, TaconicTraveler, if you have no luck with Lebara, perhaps this would work out for you. We're in France now and the phone works very well. The Phone House is a chain with over 300 stores in France. http://www.phonehouse.fr/magasins.php

Bon voyage!

Phonehouse at one time carried Lebara SIMs which is where I first became familiar with Lebara. I am surprised that you had such difficulty obtaining a Lebara SIM as they are widely available, the last one I purchased was from a magazine store within the métro. The easiest way to find Lebara is by looking for their blue logo which outlets selling their products usually display on their front windows.

The downside to your solution MaineGG is what you will pay per minute but just finding a solution is all many people will need.

Woops, glad I looked. MaineGG, I laughed at the "femme d'un certain age" cuz I am certainly that.

We are off tomorrow to Paris, and I needed this info. from you and Sarastro. Thanks to you both.
I have the sim card, cuz as you will remember, it actually came in the mail.

I can't set it up, cuz my son tells me, it doesn't recognize the (what) signal? provider? whatever!
I think I'll try the Relay shop to see if they will set it up. Other wise I'll go to the Phone House. I just printed out the nearest location to the Ile Saint-Louis, which is on BoulMich, at Maubert-Mutualite.

Hope your trip is great MaineGG. I love people from Maine. We go a lot cuz our best friends retired there!!

TT - I love people from Maine, too. I married one of them, but even though I have been going there for many years and living there for more than ten years, I'm still "from away." Good luck with the phone. Hope you have a great trip. Look forward to your trip report.

Sarastro - You're absolutely right. I just needed a solution and didn't want to spend much more precious time in France looking for one. The way I figure it, I have paid €20 for 21 days of mobile service in France, or less than €1 per day. I probably won't make enough phone calls to run out of time, and anyone who needs to reach us by phone can do so. Thanks again for your helpful advice.

OK so here is our experience: arrived at CDG, and had a very ggod driver from Shuttle-Inter ( thanks , GraceJoan!)
However he asked if we could please not waste too much time as he was solidly booked for the day, so we went in to Paris.
Later we went to BHV where our hotel thought we could organize the phone. (we had a fee sim card mailed to us in US by LEBARA)
No luck at BHV, who passed us on to a phone shop on Francois Miron in the 4th. (nearby to where we were)
No on seemed interested in LEBARA, but I wanted to use it cuz I gave that phone number to a few people. then we were directed to a tabac, where two guys said "pas de probleme" and the young bar guy simply took my phone, hit a few keys, then asked for my number, called the number, and my phone rang. so, then I bought some time and now have an operative phone!!
so my conclusion is that it is, as we lawyers say: "Sui generis."
JUST keep trying and keep asking which is what I did in my limited French!

Great information. Bookmarking.

Great!! So happy to hear you were successful in getting your phone up and running. Would love to know the name and location of that tabac for future reference. My problem, though, seems to have been that none of the tabacs I asked actually sold or provided Lebara SIM cards - just recharges. Do you know if you could have bought a SIM card there too?

maineGG: somehow I don't think so. the tabac was on rue Francois Miron, a street parallel to rue de Rivoli in the 4 th, east of two restaurants we liked: Bourguignon du Marais, and Fuxia (which was actually Italian-ish, but v.v.good pastas and salads) right next to each other.

whoops, I mean west not east.

There's a store finder link on the Lebara site:

http://store.lebara-mobile.fr/storefinder/default.aspx?country=fr&language=en-GB&search=

PA - The storefinder does not work for me. When I put in an address on Boul. Diderot 75012 it tells me 'no results' even when I broaden the distance to 10km.

We got home from Paris last night. This morning we picked up our mail and there was my SIM card from Lebara!

On their website, Lebara says that they will block the card after 90 days with no use, and that it will not be able to be reactivated. So I guess I can't keep the card for a future trip. Hoping to have better luck getting one in time for my trip next spring.

TT - How did your Lebara card work out?

maineGG : still in Paris and LEBARA is working well, no problems. My original E10 purchase still has room left. We are here for 5 more days, and it should be enough time.
Glad you are home safely. There is never enough time in Paris, is there?