ElsieJune--Relay Phone Store Experience
 

ElsieJune--Am a new poster to this board and am working the in's and out's of the forum's search system. You seem to have had very good luck at the Relay Store buying a SIM card for your phone.

I hope you do not mind answering a few questions. First, was there any problem with your not being a resident of France? (that seems to be a mixed response from other forums/websites). Second,what kind of cell phone did you have? Third, where was the location of the Relay store? Fourth, would the clerk help you install the SIM and answer any questions? I fear my command of the French language is poor at best.

Thank you for any help you can proffer.

Welcome aboard.

A couple of hints for future reference -

First of all it isn't you -- the search function is pretty useless most of the time.

second - to reach a specific fodorite it is usually better to post to a thread she has answered. Very often folks follow threads they on which they have posted, but if ElsieJean doesn't see this one soon it will drop off the 1st 50 and she might never see it.

Plus - often when asking a specific person a question, there will be some/many other fodorites who will have as much ot more useful info. So posting a question like this might work better w/ a title something like "ElsieJean or anyone - France Cell phone questions"

CharlesIII: I'm happy to be of help, if I can. Our phone is an older Nokia (model 3310), which my daughter purchased in Australia in 2002. She used it throughout Asia & Europe, changing SIM cards for each country that she traveled to that year. This has now become our "travel phone", as we are certain that it is unlocked and works outside the U.S. Rest assured, there is absolutely no problem with French residency. As far as the phone is concerned, it pretty much adopts the nationality of whatever country's SIM card has been installed. With a French SIM card, the phone will speak to you in French, an Italian SIM card in Italian, and so forth. This can be a little disconcerting if you don't speak the language, but really doesn't impact usage all that much. What is most important is to have the clerk in the Relay store write down your cell phone number and to know how much money you want to load into the phone. The Relay store is one of those all purpose magazine stores that one finds in airports these days. We flew Continental into CDG and after collecting our luggage, I asked for the store, which was well located on a main level of the terminal, although exactly which level escapes me now. I have nothing but rave reviews for the salesperson behind the counter, who quickly and efficiently answered my questions (mostly in French) and enabled my phone, all the while she was ringing up magazine purchases for other customers. My brother borrowed our phone for a trip to Spain and arranged to purchase a SIM card before he left the U.S. This is generally more costly, but may give you some peace of mind to have a phone number before leaving the states. Hope this has been of help. EJ ((#))

well, she obviously found it :) -- but my advice still stands . . . . .

janisj--It was quite kind of you to reassure me that the search engine has little to do with my level of intelligence, even if you were only being generous to a new poster. I shall also keep in mind your hints for the future. They certainly make sense.

elsiejune--Thank you for your information. Based on what you have told me, I think that after I find a Relay store at CDG1 (and I have stumbled on some sort of website that does have that information), I need to be able to ask in French the storekeeper to write down the cell number on paper for me. I shall look up that translation immediately.

I thank you for your very quick reply, and I hope I can repay you in the future.

CharlesIII: a great website for learning some elementary French can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/
Have fun preparing for your trip and welcome to Fodor's! ((#))

To ask the clerk to write down the number, say:

"Est-ce que vous pourriez
écrire le numéro du portable, s'il vous plaît?"

And then be sure to say "Merci Madame (or monsieur)."

Thank you, all of you.