Keep in touch from Paris, France?

I don't know where you are staying in Paris. However, last year and again this year we have rented apartments that have free calls to the US.

My cell phone is with AT&T so I can make and receive international calles for $1.99 per minute or if I purchase the international roaming option for $5.00 a month the calls are .99.

I have found that the international calling cards purchased here (US) are a pain and won't work in most hotels. I have purchased phone calling cards from Fat Bike Tours in Paris which worked very well in phone booths around Paris. I think they cost around $10.00. Their office is near the ET. They are americans so no language issues. They also have internet you can use there for $1. They have great bike tours.

I know there are internet cafes around Paris. have not been in one and probably won't. Lots of people use them though.
If you look through this and other travel sites like Trip advisor people discuss all kinds of things having to do with locked and un locked phones and sim cards. Way to complicated for me to waste time on.

If the cost control is not important, you can use any phone or your cellphone from the U.S. if it is a quadband GSM. Of course you get hit with breathtaking phone bills

Skype also runs on smartphones. Go to the Skype web site if you have one of the supported phones.

Locally purchased international phone card, the kind with scratch off PIN, let you make cheap calls from hotel rooms. I have not done this for several years, since I now take my unlocked GSM phone and use a local SIM card.

You can pick up a pay as you go phone for as little as 29 euros in Paris. Every street has all kinds of phone stores.

You can get a phone before you go from http://www.callineurope.com I have one that I've been happy with on 2 trips to France and one to Greece. Calls are 39 cents a minute both in France and back to North America. That's cheaper than pay as you go. CiE will also provide you with a phone.

You can get an unlocked GSM quad band phone from ebay or where ever and then get a SIM from ekit... also available on ebay. I bought one recently but have yet to try it out.

mobal.com and roamsimple.com are other options... you can do some research and see which of the above best suits you.

You can get a calling card from pretty well any Tabac in Paris and lack of fluency in French is unlikely to be a problem... you can always mimic dialing a phone! ;^)

Fat Tire used to have computers but at last report they had been removed. Do drop in there and take a Segway tour though! ;^)

Rob

I use www.callineurope.com Happy Travels!

I stayed in the Marais and an internet shop was around the corner from my hotel.

For a short period of time in Paris I can't see the value in buying extra stuff.

I am in Suzanne's corner--why do you need to. But there is always the internet cafe.

I am going to paris in september and have been looking at all options. the most cost effective option, at least for me, was to pay $15 to have someone unlock my quad band AT&T phone and just buy a sim card whn I get there. Rates are super low and incoming calls are free.

I was there in May and both hotels had a computer that guests could use. I had to pay a small amount (I think maybe around $3) to get an hour of online time. It was plenty for me since I would only use it to get and receive e-mails. I'd check with the hotel first, but I know I saw internet cafes around but can't think of a specific one as I wasn't looking. I have also used my cell phone, I have Verizon and just had them unlock it so it could be used international. It was expensive - $1.99/minute but text messages were about 20 cents I think. I didn't need to use it but was glad to have it just in case.

Last I heard, Fat Tire no longer offers internet. There are fewer and fewer internet cafes.

I've used Call in Europe and have been very pleased many trips (with my own unlocked GSM phone). This trip, Roam Simple had the better deal.

If you only need to keep in touch with people in California for a week, the most economical choice would be a phone card, though it is true that many hotel phone systems block them.

Buy a phone card when you arrive.

I know things have changed, but I cant help remembering my trip all through Europe in the mid-70's. For four months no-one knew where we were. Too expensive to phone anyone, no cell phones, no computers. We left the American Express office addresses with family, and I still remember arriving at the first one to discover that NO-ONE had written to us.

Lots of postcards and letters home, but very little arriving. But we survived. I figured if we fell off a cliff, someone would notify the family. Luckily we didn't.

Keep in touch during a one week trip? Is someone in the family very ill or do you just want to annoy them?

Phone calls to the U.S. cost 0.01€ per minute with a phone card.

There is no shortage of cybercafes, and many have camera/speaker equipped PC's allowing you to play with Skype.

The major problem is the time difference - calls in late afternoons are best.

Haven't the French developed rather quickly since electricity arrived ?

Peter