Go Back  Fodor's Travel Talk Forums > Destinations > Europe
Reload this Page >

My experience using a cell phone in France

My experience using a cell phone in France

Old Aug 26th, 2002, 06:01 AM
  #1  
Betty
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
My experience using a cell phone in France

A few days before leaving on my trip to France (July 28-Aug 12), I decided to
investigate the possibility of buying a cell phone that I could use there. I had an account with Cingular, but my old phone was not working well (it was one of the $10 models you get when you open an account) so I needed a new one, anyway. On their website they were advertising a Siemens “World Phone” GSM triband for $80. I knew that was not much more than the “packs” you can buy in France, so I thought it made sense to have one phone that I could use here or there.

So I went to the Cingular store to check it out. Sure enough, they had the Siemens World Phone for $80. It was my intention to buy a Mobicarte in France and replace the American SIM card with it, so I could use it just like a French cell phone at French rates. I was assured that I could do this, I just needed the “unlock code” (no charge) from the home office. She said she would e-mail them and I should have it within a couple of days, well before my flight left on Sunday. You guessed it, no “unlock code” by the time I left, so I asked her to e-mail it to my Yahoo address so I could check it from France. In the meantime I had asked Cingular, via their toll-free number, to authorize my phone for “International Roaming” in case I didn’t get the code or decided against using it.

I finally got the code late Tuesday. But by that time I had learned that the Mobicarte cost a minimum of 30 € and that the unused time and the assigned number would expire after a few months. (One place said three months, another, 8 months.) I had hoped that I could keep the same number and any unused time for my next trip to France next June. Since that would not be possible it didn’t make sense to buy the Mobicarte as I didn’t plan to use my phone that much during this trip and would have to buy another card when I go back in June.

I was able to use the phone with the “International Roaming” feature. I just dialed the local number as I would have on a French phone. But, in order to call me on my cell, someone there had to use the international prefix 001 as if they were calling the States. I haven’t got my bill yet so I don’t know for sure how much my calls cost, but if it conforms to the rates on the Cingular website, it should only be a few dollars for the half-dozen or so calls I made. Most of the time I either used the hotel phone or a public phone using a Télécarte, neither of which was very expensive.

I don’t know whether your experience would be the same as mine using another type of phone or a different service, but it might be worth checking into. Whether it is better to buy a triband phone, rent one, or buy a European cell phone or SIM card probably depends on how long you will be in Europe and how much you plan to use it. I hope my experience is helpful to those debating the question.
 
Old Aug 26th, 2002, 07:58 AM
  #2  
Rex
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Thanks, Betty. I feel like I had something to do with threads like this one, from my last experience (and I will do the same again next month) - - I bought a phone for $80. It came with the first 25 euro of calls included. I used about half of that in about a week. Mostly, I called home and had them call me back. Incoming calls were free.

I mentioned that I would be glad to "sell it forward" here on this forum - - and someone bought it from me for $55. I paid the shipping. She used it with great success, and bought more minutes with it. and she "sold it forward" too.

Best wishes,

Rex
 
Old Aug 26th, 2002, 09:12 AM
  #3  
up
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
up
 
Old Aug 27th, 2002, 05:14 AM
  #4  
Ann
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
We've been looking into the cell phone situation because our daughter is going to France for the academic year. My husband called AT&T and was told that yes, incoming calls are free on the cell phones, but calling the cell phone from the States is very expensive. We could get a plan for 14 cents per minute to call her on any regular phone, but it would cost us between 40 and 50 cents per minute to call her on the cellphone. Since incoming calls are free on the cell phones, we had planned to call her, but with those charges, it doesn't make sense. Does anyone know what the price per minute is when calling from the cell phones? Thanks.
 
Old Aug 27th, 2002, 05:49 AM
  #5  
anon
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
All my European friends and business associates cell phones work fine both in Europe and US...I'm thinking of buying one THERE next trip. Not sure why US phones/companies make this all so difficult. Am I missing something here? Especially if you have a prolonged need--such as daughter at school mentioned above--wouldn't this make sense? Thanks for any further thoughts on this.
 
Old Aug 27th, 2002, 06:00 AM
  #6  
Ann
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Anon, the AT&T rep told my husband that the cost of calling a cell phone from the U.S. is so high because of charges added on the other end (in France, in this case), not because of AT&T.
 
Old Aug 27th, 2002, 09:14 AM
  #7  
Wendy
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Betty thanks for the info. I have the Siemens tri band S40 (purchased with Europeon use in mind). I was told that I just needed to swap out the SIM Card
 
Old Aug 27th, 2002, 10:49 AM
  #8  
top
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
to the top
 
Old Aug 27th, 2002, 11:23 AM
  #9  
anon
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Thanks Ann,
I think AT&T would say anything (not my favorite company!) but suspect this part is true since French Telecom or whoever probably charge a premium for incomimg from a US base.
My point was to get a phone in France with a French provider. These calls are pennies...from US, from anywhere in Europe! They don't even have to switch cards to come to US. It is the US phone companies that are behind the curve on this, phones that don't travel well and generally high costs for using them. I think you daughter should look into getting a phone once she gets to France, will save you all a lot of money on phone calls!
 
Old Aug 27th, 2002, 01:05 PM
  #10  
stacy
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Based on Betty's original message (thanks, Betty!), I was trying to figure out what the rates would be for a pre-paid service in France (since I would not want a 6, 12, or 24-month contract, which seems to be the other choice). I couldn't figure out from the web site whether it was, in fact, easy to buy the SIM for the pre-paid service from Orange (the largest provider - "Mobicarte" seems to be their name for the pre-paid service), but my French isn't that good, so it may be in there and I'm just not seeing it.

I did think that their web site might be useful for Ann, to figure out the cost of calling to the US - like the plans for our own cellular services, the price per minute varies with the plan. The web site with all the tariffs is:

http://www.orange.fr/0/visiteur/PV

The price per minute within France if you only have pre-paid (not contract) service varies from 0.3 Euro to 0.6 Euro per minute, which is pretty high. I didn't check the other French carriers (Bouygues and SFR), but they also have web sites with tariff information.

I do realize that there is no magically "superior" European phone that works here, when our "inferior" ones won't work there - you still have to have service with a carrier who has a roaming agreement with one or more of the US carriers who support the GSM technology (now AT&T, Cingular, or Voicestream, which has just been taken over by T-Mobile, a European carrier), you have to have a tri-mode phone (900/1800/1900 MHz), and you have to figure out how to "top off" your service remotely if it's pre-paid and you don't have access to new cards, and you're running out of minutes. If you don't want to be paying a high price per minute based on being a "roaming" customer from Europe, you also have to have a phone that is "unlocked" (that is, not tied to a particular carrier), buy a SIM for service from a US carrier (something else that I read said that AT&T won't provide service to an "unlocked" phone, but probably Voicestream/T-Mobile would), and either sign up for a contract with a US carrier or use the US version of pre-paid service. (Do any of the US GSM-based carriers offer pre-paid yet?) Anyway, if we all keep chipping away at this, eventually we will have all cell-phone know accumulated in this thread. -) )
 
Old Aug 27th, 2002, 02:48 PM
  #11  
Rex
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
This probably will get better results if I start it as a separate thread - - but then it might attract the mudslingers more, also.

As I am planning a trip just barely two and a half weeks away, it occurs to me...

Just as I previously "sold a phone forward"... does anyone have a pre-paid phone they would be willing/interested to now "sell forward" to me?

My e-mail address is real if you want to contact me...
 
Old Aug 27th, 2002, 03:57 PM
  #12  
StCirq
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Just to muddy the waters, on France2 news this week there have been stories about Orange starting now to charge by one-second or possibly six-second increments for its service, which it in the past has charged by the full minute. This means considerable savings for those using the Orange plan/phone (I have one)in the future. Of course the speculation is that the other suppliers will follow suit.

I bought my cell phone from Orange about a year ago and am very happy with it. I've only used up one Mobicarte (probably made/received about 20 calls, most in France but two or three to the USA)in that time. The only downside is that if I don't use the phone within an 8-month period, I have to get a new cell phone number - this has only served to get me to make an extra trip to France each year. I paid about $80 for the phone, and it's fabulous. I can also get and receive e-mail on it and access the web.

My phone is not usable in the USA, though. And it didn't work in Morocco. I think it's pretty much limited to Europe and perhaps parts of the Middle East.
 
Old Aug 28th, 2002, 09:14 AM
  #13  
stacy
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Hi, StCirq,

That was one of the things that I couldn't understand from the Orange website: if I let the service lapse after 8 months, what do I have to do to get reinstated? (I don't really care if I get a different phone number, but, as a pre-paid customer, do I have to pay a penalty to start using the phone again, or do I just buy a new Mobicarte when I arrive in France and start making calls again?)

Also, have you used the Orange pre-paid service from other European countries, or do you have to have a contract service with Orange to be able to roam at all? Their web site talks about something like "Orange without borders", for which you have to notify them 48 hours in advance that you're planning on using the phone outside the country, but somehow it didn't sound like it was applicable to pre-paid customers. Thanks!
 
Old Aug 28th, 2002, 09:18 AM
  #14  
StCirq
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Stacy:

My understanding, from talking to people at the Orange office in Sarlat, is that if you don't use the phone for 8 months you'll need to go to an Orange store (they're pretty much everywhere) to get a new number - or at least call them.

It's also my understanding that if you're pre-paid you can use the phone from anywhere - anywhere that it works, that is.

I haven't done so yet, but I'll check the website and see what more I can find out.
 
Old Aug 28th, 2002, 09:25 AM
  #15  
stacy
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
StCirq, thank you for such a quick response! We're actually leaving for France on Friday, so I've been trying to research this, but because we don't go there as often as you do, it wasn't clear whether owning a phone from a French cellular company would be practical. It sounds like I might need to make more frequent trips, too...
 
Old Aug 28th, 2002, 12:13 PM
  #16  
Rex
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
topping... still thinking maybe I should start a new thread, asking about someone recently returned - - willing to sell "forward" to me.
 
Old Aug 28th, 2002, 08:50 PM
  #17  
up
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
up
 
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
lss1
Europe
5
Jul 5th, 2007 05:15 AM
jackster748
Europe
8
Jan 13th, 2006 05:33 PM
JEAN33437
Europe
13
Jul 10th, 2005 07:33 AM
gracejoan
Europe
13
Sep 17th, 2004 07:04 AM
tim
Europe
19
Jul 30th, 2002 08:25 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -