Phone Cards in Paris
 

Are pre-paid phone cards still available at the TABAC and are they still the most inexpensive method of making phone calls, both within France and back to USA? I really have no need of immediacy of cell phone contact during forthcoming extended holiday in Paris

The pre-paid cards are still available at Tabac's, at least they were when I was in Paris in April. I found them most useful to call my parents in the U.S. when I was living in Paris for a year, but I would also buy them and use them to call different EU countries, like Ireland or Spain to make hotel reservations, rather than racking up my host family's phone bill. I believe that you can use them from a home phone without incurring a fee (as it will likely be considered as a local call). Obviously, don't use it from a hotel phone as it will incur a hefty charge as a local call, just use a pay phone.

Sorry for the lengthy post!

Thanks for the good info Parischick. I'm leaving for Paris soon and have decided to ditch my cell phone in favor of a pre-paid phone card as I won't be making many calls. One less item to worry about.

I agree, too much trouble to bring my cell phone which wont accept a SIMS card. rental phones are outrageous. Question is: a phone card from a tabac is great for Paris, but I'm going to London and to Ireland afterwards. any clues?

In the immigrant neighborhoods (like the Indian neighborhood along the Faubourg Saint Denis behind Gare du Nord -- an interesting place where <b> French citizens</b> speak better English than French), you can buy phone cards that cost less than 1 eurocent a minute for the USA. The phone cards sold at most tabacs will be 10 or 20 times more. And that's still pretty cheap.

Interesting to know that France T&eacute;l&eacute;com offers phone calls (from one's home) to anywhere in France or 40 other countries (Europe + North America + industrialized Asia) for exactly the same price. So it really seems strange to me that I call my neighbor 3 meters down the corridor or my brother in California for the same price.

Alienor, sorry I know nothing about getting phone cards for Ireland and England. Perhaps Kerouac might know, since he lives in Europe? Or perhaps you might try posting a new message?

Michelbarri, have a great trip. I love Paris and am soon moving there for two years. One word of caution about Kerouac's advice: I would NOT, if you are a woman esp., travel to the immigrant neighborhoods at night. If you're going to go there to buy a cheap phone card, go during the day. I lived in Paris two years ago and would never feel comftorable walking alone at night in one of those neighborhoods. Paris is generally a safe city, but I prefer not to take any risks. Have so much fun!

Not all hotels charge you for using their phone with a phone card as we discovered when we checked out of an Ibis in Paris 10 days ago. A rule of thumb is the more expensive the hotel is the more likely that you will be charged to make &quot;free&quot; phone calls.