Cell phone rental in Paris
 

Seven of us will be in Paris the first part of June and are interested in renting 2 cell phones so if the group splits up, we can still communicate as to where to meet up for lunch, etc., etc. Is there a place in Paris were this could be done or is this something we would take care of before leaving the US? We will be staying in the 7th if there is a store we could go to in that area. I am one of the few that no longer have a cell phone so am pretty clueless! Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Have you searched "cell" and read all the information..?

Have you seen www.mobalrental.com,
where you can buy a basic gsm phone for $49 and just incur the per-minute charges on your credit card? (high rates but ok for very quick calls or emergency backup).

This has been discussed many times, but with $49, I'd buy a telephone locally including SIM and airtime.

In the 21st century, one does not throw money away on renting a mobile phone...one does a little bit of research, one buys an inexpensive gsm dual band (900/1800) or tri band (900/1800/1900) phone and then one buys a local prepaid sim (or 2 local prepaid sims) upon arrival in France or

if one already has either cingular or T mobile USA and has a phone containing either 900 or 1800 frequencies, one can simply text message each other instantly for like 15¢ a message if one doesn't really want to make a whole lot of calls.

In the 21st century, renting a mobile phone is a money losing idea.

Walk into a phone store with a notebook in your pocket.
Say "Bonjour, monsieur."
Ask to see their visitor package.
Look it over and take some notes.
Say "Merci. Au revoir."
Walk out.

Rinse. Repeat. Within about three tries, you should have someone follow you into the street asking what he has to compete with. Pounce.