SIM card for France and England
 

Three of us with iPhones are traveling to France and England for 2 weeks and would like to get at least 1 SIM card to use. We only want to use data, so we don't need to have a card with talk or text included (but if it's cheaper we will consider). We are researching options online but wanted to see if any of you have experience and could share your suggestions. Is it better to buy a SIM card at the airport or buy one ahead of time and have it shipped to us in the USA? We will be going to France first. Thanks!

You shouldn't count on being able to buy a French SIM online ahead of time. Technically, you are supposed to register a French SIM with your passport. I have seen Orange SIM cards (seem to be French) advertised online on Amazon, but I have no idea how they get around the registration issue (they were expensive anyway). I'd probably plan to buy French SIM cards after you get there and expect to use them in the UK after you get there - given that the EU has done away with most roaming fees.

You can buy a UK SIM ahead of time online and register it - the UK doesn't yet have this passport registration requirement - but you may have trouble using the SIM in France when you land. Some people have said that some UK SIMs (e.g. GiffGaff) now require you to use the SIM in the UK for a while before they enable free EU roaming. Could be a Your Mileage May Vary situation. I'm not even sure the French SIM cards would have this issue either - maybe depend on the mobile company.

Last year I bought a Dutch Vodafone SIM on eBay and used it in Slovenia, Italy, and France for 2.5 weeks and it worked great (I never visited the Netherlands). I'm planning to use it again this spring - assume it still works the same way, but I guess I'll find out. (I just added funds to it so I know it's still active, just not sure I can still roam with it.) But I bought it mostly because I didn't yet have the EU roaming option available on a Slovenian or Italian SIM on my trip. Today maybe I'd just wait and buy a SIM upon arrival in Europe. It is nice to have a working phone when you land, though. One of you could buy the Dutch Vodafone SIM I guess if you want to risk about $9 USD to buy one on eBay and add some money to it and try it - and the others could buy French SIMs after they arrive. Look for seller "cheap_eu_sims" on eBay.

No reason you shouldn't be able to roam with your card Andrew if it is still active, though you have to watch out for the fair use policy. Come visit the Netherlands ;).

I will be interested to see the answers as we are visiting the same countries - UK first, then France - and I've been wondering what SIM to buy. My sister has bought 'TravelSIM' for Europe so waiting to see how that works. That's a SIM bought in Australia so may not be applicable for you as you are in the USA.

Hope you don't mind me tagging on to your thread.

Kay

sim card options
 

Orange

SFR

Bouygues Télécom

Free Mobile

these are one of the best ones!

Olivia1216, one more person hijacking your thread!

We will be in France for almost a month starting June 13 and I plan on buying a local SIM on arrival at CDG. This will mainly be for some local calls plus limited data usage, our rental properties all have have wifi and data will be required only if we need to google something while sightseeing. I will be downloading maps and other relevant information to be accessed offline.

From what I hear Orange seems to be generally recommended, any other suggestions? Thanks in advance and my apologies to the OP :)

Orange may have changed - I hope so - but we used them while living in the UK and they were shockingly bad. No service, intermittent service, no service, it just went on and on for months. We were tearing our hair out with frustration.

Kay

Here is some info on mobile companies in France, including Orange:

France | Prepaid Data SIM Card Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia

Kay, sometimes these names are just licensees and not really the same company when you go from country to country - and after mergers etc. a company with the same name in one country may have little or nothing to do anymore with a mobile company with that same name in another country.

My experience with Orange France is roaming on them while using T-Mobile (and maybe my Dutch Vodafone SIM), don't remember. I used Orange in Poland a long time ago. Again, not sure they were or are even the same company.

I purchased the Orange Holiday Europe Prepaid SIM card on Amazon for a trip to Europe this past spring break. I chose this sim card because it has the capability to turn on hotspot mode and share data with other phones and devices.

It worked really well. I just swapped the sim card from my Verizon iPhone and I was online within a few minutes after I landed. I registered the sim card ahead of time via the Orange website.

Thanks.

France is Oranges home market. They are the largest French company.

The only issue with the Orange tourist package is it's fairly expensive. IIRC €40 for two weeks.

Trony, can you please give me some more details about this SIM, how much did it cost and for how long? Did you have calling and texting in addition to data?

I need the SIM only for France and as someone just said Orange is a French company and generally works well in that country, so am not concerned about patchy network, etc.

I need to research this in greater detail myself, hopefully over the next weekend...

We have had Orange since moving to France 3 years ago. No issues at all with it. AFAIK, it's the biggest phone company and has the greatest coverage, which is important to us as we live in a remote village and often travel to remote places. I don't know what kind of deals they offer to short-term users, but we have their basic plan and it's very affordable.

I saw that Orange holiday SIM card on amazon and that’s what we were considering. It has pretty good reviews but the comment above concerns me. I also read somewhere about needing to show your passport to get a SIM card so I don’t understand how the one you can prepurchase on Amazon is legit. It would be nice to have data access right away.

It sounds like they are getting around the passport requirement somehow. Given the review above, apparently it works out - even if not quite legit. I suppose the worst that could happen to you is that it doesn't work and you have to buy another SIM. (Given that it's Amazon, I doubt getting a refund would be that difficult in that case.)

My biggest problem with this Orange SIM from Amazon is the expense. $50 for the SIM that is good for only two weeks, whereas I got my Dutch Vodafone SIM for only about $30 good for my entire 17 day trip. (I got only 3GB of data, but I used only 2GB in 17 days, and by the end I was trying to use it up, knowing I would have lots leftover.) But if your trip is only two weeks, then the one SIM should (almost?) cover it, and $50 for two weeks isn't much more than I paid. If you were going for three weeks and needed to spend $100, then I'd say it would be too expensive.

To my knowledge, you cannot ever circumvent the passport/identity requirement no matter how you cut it. You can buy an Orange Holiday SIM online and with a credit card that isn't French/European, but you still have to give them your passport information. Whether you buy it on Amazon at an inflated price or purchase it directly from Orange, you're going to have to give up your passport/national identity information, as I understand it.

https://boutique.orange.fr/mobiles/panier.aspx

Always read the Terms and Conditions.

But giving them your passport information online is pointless, isn't it? The idea is to have some level of knowledge about who is buying and using these SIMs. If I am trying to circumvent this requirement, I can give them any passport info I want online. If I go to an Orange store with my passport, they can at least look at my picture and be fairly sure it's me.

That might be true, Andrew, but I'm guessing, since it's French law I believe that governs the registration process now, that they can match your name/address up with your passport number and "identify" you. And even if they can't, or don't, do that, the passport information has to be recorded and kept in a database, linked to your phone number, whether temporary tourist phone number or otherwise. There's no such thing anymore, as far as I know, like ordering one of those Lebara SIMs from overseas and just popping into your phone when you land in France.

From the questions/answers in the Amazon listing, you can use the Orange Holiday SIM for 14 days without registering it:

https://www.amazon.com/Orange-Holida.../dp/B06XBYMX58

After that (if you wish to top-up and extend the use of the SIM), you need to register it. So perhaps there is some loophole in the law, for tourists?

Yes, it's 14-day temporary "loophole," but they are still going to register you.

Anyone familiar with giffgaff in the UK? A friend who visits there often has recommended that

Familiar with but not from first-hand experience. As noted above, there have been reports that in order to use EU roaming with a Giffgaff SIM, you may need to use it for a few weeks in the UK first. This is because free EU roaming is technically only for residents, not tourists. (Not enforced by all the mobile companies yet, if ever.) They don't want you to buy a Giffgaff SIM at some crazy low rate and use it all over the EU without ever visiting the UK.

If you were planning to visit the UK for a few weeks first (or not go anywhere else), this might be fine - let you have a working SIM when you get off the plane or something. Otherwise, you could just buy a SIM as soon as you arrive.

We will be in the UK for a week first, then on to France. So you are saying I could use the giffgaff card there as well? Or should I get an Orange card?

giffgaff should work reasonably well here, if you have your phone set for roaming and you're not way out in the boondocks, like we are. Orange would likely be more predictably reliable.

"Orange" is just the new name of France Telecom and has a lion's share of the market in many countries around the world, particularly in Europe and Africa.

I have used them from the start and have no complaints. It should also be pointed out that the EU has eliminated all roaming charges for mobile phones in the EU. Since the UK has not yet managed to slink out of the EU, that is still valid for that country.

In theory, yes. Most EU roaming charges have been abolished. (The UK is still part of the EU for now.) I have roamed with my Dutch Vodafone SIM to different countries without issue. (Not even to the Netherlands yet with it!). But as I said, Giffgaff may not let you roam in France with free roaming until after you've used it in the UK first for a while - maybe more than a week.

But you might as well try it. If the Giffgaff card doesn't work in France or is still not on the cheap roaming, just buy an Orange card when you get there. Understand how to top off the Giffgaff card after you leave the UK too if need be (or top it before you leave). You may have to use Paypal to do it online.