nymphlys

I'm going to be studying abroad in France for 3 months this summer and would love to be able to use my cellphone while I'm there. I do not want to pay for international rates through Verizon, so would like to somehow pay cheaper rates through a French phone company. My friend abroad now has Free but said that you may have to have a french bank card in order to sign up, and I do not plan on getting one. Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can text/call/use social media and google maps while in France for an inexpensive cost?
Thanks!

Andrew

If you have a Verizon smart phone now, you can almost certainly buy a prepaid SIM (e.g. Orange) in France and use that and WiFI for everything. Tourists can buy these SIMs without a French bank card. You won't have your local Verizon number without the Verizon SIM in your phone, though - you'll have a French phone number, if you get a SIM that includes voice not just data. Verizon phones use CDMA technology in the US, but they can roam on GSM networks in Europe. Verizon 4GLTE phones are not locked per agreement with the FCC; however, sometimes it isn't easy to use your Verizon phone on GSM. (Depends on the exact phone you have.)

I suggest installing Google Hangouts on your smartphone so you can make free calls back to the US (even to landlines). That is, calls use WiFi or data (so mobile data isn't free, but WiFi probably isn't).

And get a Google Voice number (also free) before you leave; it's sort of a forwarding service (sort of) so it needs an existing phone number to set it up at first. But once you do that, you can receive calls via Google Hangouts (almost) anywhere in the world via your Google Voice phone number - a US phone number. You could forward your Verizon calls (if you keep your Verizon service while gone) to your Google Voice phone number, so people would be able to call you for free from the US. You could use your local French SIM to make local calls in France, and French people could call you on that number, convenient for them.

tomboy

ttt

Robert2016

If you had T-Mobile as a service provider, you wouldn't have a problem, but since you don't, and you are going to be there for that long, having a local SIM card will work.

michelhuebeli

Yes, buy a local SIM card, you don't need a French anything, just walk into a shop and have them install one, or even buy a local cheapie phone (sometimes available for a pittance). I'm with T-Mobile in the US but that has nothing to do with what I just described.

However, your phone has to be "unlocked". If this is a hassle, just buy a cheapie phone in France.

You'll get a French phone number of course, communicate that to whoever needs to call you urgently, use Skype for idle chit-chat and it will be cheap.

Andrew

I just found this good summary page of pre-paid SIM options for France, targeted specifically for foreigners in France:

http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/France

StCirq

Or buy a cheapie (like $25) dual-SIM phone on Amazon, then buy a SIM in France (Orange, SFR, FREE, Bouygues...whatever) and install and register it. I have a $25 Blü phone I bought on Amazon that holds 3 SIMs. Works fine for me.

Coquelicot

For a phone we use only in France, we've had success getting a free SIM from Lebara before each trip, which we top up as needed. We used to get it sent to us in the US but that didn't work last trip, so we had it sent to us at our first destination. The SIM comes with just a few free minutes but we had no trouble finding top-up cards in tabacs in small towns.

We also take our US phone, which is on the T-mobile Simple Choice plan with unlimited data and text. Calls to the US from our US number made over wifi are free; all other calls are $0.20 a minute. But you'd have to check with T-mobile to see if the plan lets you use it for 3 consecutive months.

WoinParis

I have got a French SIM card paid with a Belgian credit card. And it works on our iPad.