Phone usage in France
 

I'm planning a trip to France in June. I remember going thru the exact run around described here when I took a trip to China 2 years ago. At that time my CDMA Verizon phone actuallly worked in China. I have since found out that China does have CDMA in some areas.

I just called Verizon and they said France has no CDMA, uses only GSM. I might be able to use the GSM phone I purchased in China (unlocked) and buy SIM cards in France I'm told. Does anyone know the per minute rate on the better SIM cards? What is a "name brand" for a SIM card there?

Anyway, Verizon told me I could get 4 cell phones for a one time charge of $9.99 to ship them to me. Then I'm charged for usage which is 99 cents/min if I add all these coverages to my cell phones. Then I could keep all my current cell phone numbers and use them to call each other either within France or to the US. Since the rate/min is kinda high, we could also text each other for 50 cents to send, 5 cents to receive.

I'm thinking of using a combo. This rental from Verizon, bring the unlocked GSM phone and try to buy France SIM cards for it, and maybe phone cards that will work on the landline hotel phones there.

Will this work in France?

I have a couple of spare Europe phones I loan to Fodorites that you're welcome to use. Check the SIM rates at vodafone.com, www.orange.fr, telestial.com, mobal.com, callineurope.com, etc. for what you want to do. The branded French suppliers are Vodafone and Orange.

Email <B>paristransfers</b> yahoo

You'll probably find these French companies offer the lowest prices available on the prepaid SIM market. They are <i>virtual operators</i> meaning they use the established networks of Orange, SFR, or Bouygues yet offer prices far below those of the well known companies:

http://www.leclercmobile.fr/
http://www.carrefourmobile.fr/
http://www.auchantelecom.fr/
http://www.virginmobile.fr/
http://www.tele2.fr/mobile
http://www.nrjmobile.fr/
http://www.breizhmobile.com/
http://www.m6mobile.fr/

I just bought a Blackberry Storm from Verizon. They say it will work in France, GSM. Do any of you have any experience with the Blackberry and usage in France? I plan to call them and sign up for some intl rate.

Verizon has a SIM that they sell for international use. It will add access to your current phone plan. I too have a Blackberry with world access. You can buy the SIM and only activate your phone for international use the for just the time you need it to cut costs. The Data Charges and Phone charges are more than you would pay should you buy a local Sim in the country you visit, but if you want the same phone number and travel to many countries the Verizon plan may be worth it. Also if you can't step away form the Crackberry email...Check out the Verizon Web site under international for full rates. Watch out for sticker shock for many countries...
http://b2b.vzw.com/international/inside_us.html

Note - should you be intending to use the Verizon World phone with a local country sim you will have to get it Unlocked 1st. I am not sure if Verizon does this or not or the process.

My personal recommendation is to buy a cheap unlocked phone and get a local sim that offers you the ability to make international calls. Note that if you looked at the Verizon Site - Vodaphone would probalby be you world access partner in France anyway. Link is provided in previous post.

There are inexpensive ways to keep your same phone number and yet have a local sim and avoid the rip off roaming rates charged by the American carriers when roaming in Europe.

For example there is a firm called Kall8. For $2/month they will give you a USA toll free number which you can program to ring on your local sim and set up unconditional call forwaring from your verizon mobile number to kall8 which then goes to your local sim. Rates are much better than the rip off rates verizon and the other American carriers charge for roaming in Europe.

We have A. T. & T. service and in 2007 we merely signed up for their international plan, you can do month to month, and our phone(G3 at that time) worked perfectly. The plan was a flat fee, .89 or .99 a minute no roaming. When we returned home, we waited for a month for any charges to catch up and then cancelled. I think the per month rate was like $4.99 or $5.99. We didn't have to change sim cards or anything. We did the same thing in 2006. We are traveling to Paris in September and now with the G4 phones, it is just as easy. So, I am somewhat confused that you are going thru all of these issues.

T-Mobile offers equivalent service for 99&cent; per minute - and no monthly charge. You just turn on International Roaming in your user profile at my.t-mobile.com, and you're good to go.

If you do the same thing with AT&T, they charge $1.29 unless you pay $5.99 per month <I>or fraction</i>, which lowers the tariff to 99&cent;. (Example: April 30 through June 1 counts as three months, because they don't pro-rate the monthly ripoff.)

I plan to take my iPhone which has Skype loaded. There are so many free wi-fi spots, I plan to call the US using Skype. The calls are very reasonable. Has anyone done this?

TIA