Family members will be staying in the Dordogne in a rented house for several weeks. They want cell phones mostly to be able to call each other, but also to keep in touch with home. They have Verizon GSM phones at home

1) AT&T will unlock your GSM phone if you've had an account for awhile. Will Verizon do the same? I assume that if its a GSM phone, it uses a SIM card.

2) Is it easy to just purchase a SIM card on arrival in France (or do they make it hard like Italy with its code fiscale)?

3) Or should they buy their cards in advance, and what is the most cost-effective solution for them (callineurope? other?).

4) Regardless of whether they buy their French SIM card here or there, how much will the calls cost a) within France, b) to home? Obviously, it would be good if incoming is free (which I think it is everywhere but here in the US, right?).

Thanks for your help.

Let me add a question to my own post. I just looked at the callineurope site and don't even understand it. You pay $29 for the card and then for airtime? How much is the airtime? How often do you have to pay for the service?

I also just looked at the Telestial site, where it appears you pay $59 for a card with about $15 of airtime credit on it (thus, the card is about $44 -- is that what you pay just for the privilege of buying it in advance? In other words, would there be a charge for the card if you buy it when you arrive in France, or do you just pay for the airtime amount if you buy it there?). Telestial also says all calls within France are $.56 a minute (.39 &euro and text message are .10 €. Is this correct regardless of where or from whom you purchase the SIM card?

So to summarize, it appears that callineurope you pay for the $29 for the "service" and then pay for what airtime you actually use. Telestial you pay $59 for the card and $15.00 in airtime credit. If you buy the card there, you won't pay for either "service".

Please confirm (right or wrong).

Thanks.

I got a great deal on a SIM card for France last year from Brightroam, and the calling charges in France (the Orange network, I believe) were very reasonable.

Yes - first you buy the SIM itself, sometimes with a credit on it, then you add the 'value' to spend down on your calls. After that, you can top it up with more 'value'.

I checked Brightroam and ekit passport (on ebay):

With Brightroam, you pay $29 for the card plus $15.00 shipping, and add airtime credit as desired, correct? Incoming calls free, outgoing calls $.45 (USD, I believe) to local landline or cell phone. $.69 to North America.

With ekit passport, the card is $20 plus $3.00 shipping, incoming calls free, outgoing calls are $.49 whether to France, elsewhere in Western Europe or North America (not clear if this includes calls to another French cell phone).

Does anyone know if there is any difference in call quality among these vendors (or does the vendor even matter, the way it does with calling cards)? We'd like "inexpensive" but we'd pay a few cents more for good quality calls.

1. I do not think Verizon uses GSM technology, therefore they will not work outside of the US.

2. It is very easy to purchase a SIM card in France. Here are a few choices:

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/france.html

Your AT&T (or T-Mobile) telephones must be either tri or quad band to operate in France and must be unlocked to be able to work with a SIM other that the one provided by AT&T.

3. Purchasing SIMs in advance is probably not the most cost effective choice.

4. If you purchase French SIMs, incoming calls will be free. However calling a mobile phone in France will cost many times what calling a normal land line will cost. If you activate your AT&T account such that it functions in France, you will be charged for any airtime (including received calls), including text messages. AT&T has several international rate plans which are explained on their website.

5. Callineurope has a plan where you purchase one of their SIMs and then recharge it as necessary which is the same in principle as with all of the prepaid plans. Callineurope's rates are good, particularly if you are travelling around Europe. If you will be only in France, there may be cheaper options.


Here are a couple of other ideas which you may find interesting.

http://www.rebtel.com/en/
http://www.talkster.com/

Sarastro, thanks for the suggestions. Verizon does have GSM phones now (and that's what they have). I just don't know yet whether the phones are or can be "unlocked".

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Let me add a question to my own post. I just looked at the callineurope site and don't even understand it. You pay $29 for the card and then for airtime? How much is the airtime? How often do you have to pay for the service?
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Look at their site again... scroll down just a bit and there is a rate chart... it's set by default to France but you can change to see pricing to/from other countries as well.

Their per minute prices appear lower than the 2 you mention.

You but a SIM for $29 and a phone for $19. Last year the total including shipping to my door in Canada was $60. It included not only the charged up phone with SIM installed but a case, instructions, charger and 100 stickers with the phone's number on them.

So how are you charged? The calls per the prices on the chart (39 cents a minute for calls in France, most other European countries and Canada/USA) go straight onto your credit card. That way you will never run out of prepaid minutes just when you need the phone the most.

As far as call quality is concerned... last year I called home from the Parthenon in Athens and the quality was sharper and clearer than my much more expensive Canadian cell. My wife even asked if I was really in Athens... she thought maybe I'd missed the flight or something as the call was so clear.

Ditto last summer... my father called from Canada when we were in Carcassonne... he kept asking me if we really were in France.

So yes, as you can tell I am a happy and satisfied CIE customer. There IS a 60 dollar charge if I go a year without using 60 dollars worth of talk time.

So why did I go with them? Mainly because I wanted something simple and hassle free. Sure I could have bought an unlocked phone on eBay and a sim somewhere else. I am pretty tech savvy and spend far too much money on eBay but who needs the hassle if the phone is a dud or not unlocked or whatever.

I could also have bought a pay as you go phone upon arriving in Europe. In fact I did just that in 2007 in Amsterdam. Before leaving for Greece I found that T-Mobile does not exist there and as luck would have it the Sony phone is one of the trickiest to unlock and would have cost me $60 plus postage to get unlocked... so for me Call In Europe was simple, easy and at a fair price. Knowing what I know now, if I was leaving for Europe and needed a phone I'd do exactly the same thing again.


Rob

sf7307 - I have a Verizon GSM phone (called World Edition) and they will not unlock the phone for you. I think since they bought the GSM phone, they should automatically have an international plan (no need to sign up) with Verizon. When I bought mine, it comes with instructions as to how to dial #s internationally. The rates are expensive, but TXT messages are much cheaper. I mainly used it to TXT my husband once a day (and receive one TXT from him daily) so the cost is relatively minimal in the grand scheme of things. However, if they like to talk on the phone a lot then it can get very expensive very quickly.

<i>There IS a 60 dollar charge if I go a year without using 60 dollars worth of talk time.</i>

Meaning what, if you don't mind one more question. They don't travel overseas that often. Can't they just cancel the service when they get back?

sf, there is not a charge for using less than $60. and there is no need to cancel the service, if you don't use enough to equal $60.00 in one year the contract expires.

From Callineurope's FAQ:

Your SIM card line is activated for one year from the date that we shipped it to you. The service will automatically renew at no extra cost provided that within the 12 month period you have made $60 worth of line usage*. If you did not reach that usage amount after the 12 months, then we will contact you and will offer you either to renew the line for $29 or to disconnect your service. Note: If we disconnect the service and you would like to renew it at a later date, you will be assigned a new number and will not be able to keep the same cell phone number that you previously used.


I am considering this company because of problems I have had in past years with sim card coverage I have purchased in France. I have spent more time than I ever wanted at Orange.fr and other telecom stores.

If only it were as simple as just picking up a phone and dialing a number!!! Deborah

Deborah has explained the $60. No action required. As I understand you just get a new SIM from them
(and therefore new phone number) when you want to travel again.

CiE IS almost as simple as picking up and dialing!
LOL

Rob

Thanks all! My job is just to explain the alternatives to them (we have unlocked AT&T phones ourselves, so when we travel we either use AT&T international service, or we get a local SIM)

<<Sarastro, thanks for the suggestions. Verizon does have GSM phones now (and that's what they have). I just don't know yet whether the phones are or can be "unlocked".>>

If the company refuses to unlock the phone, you can find codes all over the web to do so. The lock is a coded issue and not a physical one. In the USA, it is perfectly legal to unlock your own phone. Just follow the directions found at cell phone forums and cross reference the info with another cell “hack” forum just to make sure the code wasn’t typed into the post wrong.

All of my buddies unlock every new phone they get. I just kind of followed that trend.

Tho I do want to mention, there are a few exclusive phones (exclusive to a particular company) that may not have correlating codes just yet. So if the phones are a new model that came out in the past several weeks, the above mentioned forums may not have it posted.

If you have the phone in your hand at this moment, perform a google search, and the phone can be unlocked in a matter of minutes.

~Jay

<<I do not think Verizon uses GSM technology, therefore they will not work outside of the US.>>

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I have a Verizon phone (Blackberry), and it has worked beautifully in France, Italy, Switzerland, Kenya, and India in the past two years, for phone phone and data.

sf

Are you going to be the the Dordogne also??? If so, when?

We have an AT&T phone that we used for a couple of years while traveling in Europe (mainly France). On a subsequent trip, we had it unlocked and we purchased a French SIM card, which we used for 1 trip. We decided that using the AT&T SIM was actually less expensive for the volume of calls we made. When calling back to the US, we purchase a telephone card from French Telecom and use it - It's ridiculously cheap. Calls from France to my wife's father in Indiana is less expensive than land line calls from where we live.

two years ago, we purchased a callineurope phone, and use that while in France. We take our AT&T phone with us in case I need to call my wife when she is somewhere else in France (shopping), to arrange to meet, etc.

Yikes - we just had an earthquake !!!!!!!!!!

All is OK in Burlingame/San Mateo - I think

Stu Dudley

Gee, Stu.....you ok?

Yep. Can't find the cat, however.

Stu Dudley

Stu, hope you find your cat. How do you use your French telecom card? We've always found it was cheapest to use phone cards from a pay phone but those are getting harder to find in France these days. Do you use the cell phone, if so, isn't there a usage charge from callineurope plus the cost per minute on the phone card?

I appreciate the information as I'm trying to find the most convenient and affordable way to keep in touch within Europe and back to the US while traveling. I haven't found it yet Thanks, Deborah

You can not use the phone card from a cell phone. We've tried to use it on AT&T, FSR, and callineurope SIMs - didn't work.

You're right - phone booths are vanishing - but we've still been able to fine enough. Of course, if you have a phone in a hotel, you can use it there. We don't stay in many hotels (we stay in Gites), and we've always been able to use the cards there. Some cards don't work very well, however. On some, you call a central number & they call you back - sometimes. We've been disconnected on some cards too. We now ONLY buy France Telecom cards.

Stu Dudley