Thanks, all...and bon voyage, Stu...hope the traffic on 101 (or 280 as the case may be) isn't bad.

SS

Hi...

I activated one of them today and put some money on. A call to my wife's cell phone (with her normal USA SIM) worked, so it looks like all is well.

I'm still a little worried about deactivation, so I plan to send an SMS once a month between now and when I leave for Paris.

I'll wait till the week before, also, to activate the SIM that will go in my wife's phone.

Thanks to all for the advice.

When my phone had the Lebara SIM in it, it still showed ATT (my normal carrier) on the signal strength icon...not sure why that was...maybe the SIM grabbed the nearest GSM tower, which happened to be ATT. (I really have no idea how these SIMs work.)

(Stu is probably in Paris by now...lucky guy!)

SS

Got my SIM today. I ordered it on July 12, and I've been a little nervous since filling out the online form seemed trickier than the last time.

When I filled out the fields, there was nowhere to indicate city or country. Just postal code. It then said that the address was "introuvable" (couldn't be found), but said it could be entered manually. This time there was an additional field for Ville. I entered my town name followed by Usa. I did not write France.

The envelope it came in was addressed as follows:

M. Prénom Nom
Street Name
Street Number
Zip Town Usa
France

It was mailed from the UK and somehow found its way to me.
I'm happy to have it.

So ssander... you say you were able to make a call to and from your activated phone? I got a message that said the international number I was calling was not is service in the country I was calling... My chip is activated and I added some minutes in order to make some test calls but something isn't allowing it.

Any thoughts? or does that mean it just won't work until I get to France?

<i>does that mean it just won't work until I get to France?</i>

How are you dialing this number or what dial sequence are you using?

If you are being told that the number you are dialing is not in service, it probably means that the number you are dialing is not in service. Try different number.

sarawf...

I wish I could be of help, but I'm at a loss about how this works. My two tests were from home (US) to my wife's cell phone and my home land line, and they both worked. I do remember, however, that at first it did not work...maybe I entered the number manually with international codes (can't remember). It definitely worked when I just clicked on the contact entry and let it figure out the country prefixes itself.

Interestingly, the first time I tried it was over a month ago, and when I put the SIM in, the phone showed ATT as my carrier (which is my regular carrier). The second time was a few days ago and it showed T-mobile as the carrier. I think (and this is just a guess) the SIM is just grabbing the first GSM cell it finds.

Unfortunately, ATT billed me several dollars for an "international call" for my test call here in the US. Must be routing it through France and back to the US. I assume that won't happen when I use it in France. I'm not going to test it again. :-)


SS

<i>the SIM is just grabbing the first GSM cell it finds.</i>

Effectively, that is correct.

<i>ATT billed me several dollars for an "international call" for my test call here in the US.</i>

Only possible if you had an AT&T SIM in your phone at the time you made the international call (one that started by dialing 011). With a Lebara, or other, French SIM in your phone when calling from the USA, AT&T (or whatever company provides the signal you are using) only knows to bill Lebara for the call and Lebara subsequently bills you (or uses your credit) to settle the call´s cost.

With a French SIM installed in your phone, AT&T will not have any personal information about you. AT&T only knows that you are a Lebara customer.

Sarastro...

It looks like ATT billed <strong>my wife's phone</strong> for receiving the call...not my phone for calling.

Yikes.

I'll call them tomorrow. I had not idea you could get billed for international calls received.

SS

<i>ATT billed my wife's phone for receiving the call</i>

People often forget that using a US SIM while traveling internationally means that incoming calls will be charged. The charge is typically somewhere from $1 to $2 per call, even if you do not answer as unanswered calls will be picked up by voicemail.

Ahh...Sarastro...I see...that's good to know.

Called ATT and they rescinded the charge...it was a call FROM a UK number, not from me ("France"), and it was not during the time were were in London in May.

In addition, it was at the exact time that she was making a local call..so maybe it was a mistake on ATT's part, or a technical glitch...or a nuisance call from the UK that somehow got logged even though it didn't get through.

Is there any way to block overseas calls?

Thanks.
SS