SIM Card for London & Paris
 

Does anyone have a recommendation for a SIM card that would work in these two countries? Second question---would it be possible to purchase the card in the USA prior to traveling? I know locally in Massachusetts I haven't seen too many places that sell these and I'm not sure if one would be better than another. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places. ;-)

Thanks for any insight.

The UK and France have their own mobile networks, so you will need to purchase a SIM card for each country. I'm not that familiar with France, but in the UK, mobile phone shops are easy to find. Car Phone Warehouse is a big chain that offers service for several UK carriers. My advise is to just find a local shop and buy a SIM card there.

You'll have to get a card for both countries seperately. Though rates have come down for mobile phone use within Europe, it will probably still be more expensive to make calls in France on a UK card or vice versa.
Maybe check with Three UK - I've seen them in France too.

Most SIMs "work" in these two countries.

However, I doubt that was the answer you were looking for. To answer further questions, acquiring one, acquisition cost, usage cost, etc, require usage model: How are you using the phone? Voice calls between those traveling with you, calling local business, receiving calls from US, internet access, etc? There is no one solution suitable for all usage models.

If you usage is just in case minimum, perhaps less than 10 min in total, using your existing SIM from Massachusetts, unless it is a very restricted pay-as-you-go without roaming partners, would be simplest and actually the cheapest solution.
Beyond that, you can buy
1. SIM in UK, SIM in France with accompanying time and fund acquiring SIMS.
2. SIM in UK, roam in France (your usage is mostly in UK). SIM in France, roam in UK (your usage is mostly in France.)
3. Sign up for t-mobile Simple Choice plan for one month, and cancel on return unless t-mobile USA is already your carrier. You can buy one at home, have US number you know. http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-p...countries.html
Other people's experiences: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

4. Other third party SIMs you can buy in the US. Read reviews carefully.

i think the EU has recent regulations to make roaming in different countries not all that outrageous, at least not compared to roaming with a US based sim card. I would investigate Orange, as they are good just about everywhere, and my investigation (which was for Switzerland, so not entirely applicable for you) was that they were fairly cheap to use throughout Europe and coverage was good.

Another option might be a Lebara card. Prices were good, and you can get the card shipped to you before you leave.

I can't vouch for either of those from first hand experience, just giving you some names to follow up on.

Any SIM card that works in the UK will work in France and vice versa. The EU has now placed severe limits on roaming charges within the EU, so there's usually no point in getting separate SIM cards in different EU countries.

I agree, though, that if your usage will be minimal and if you have a GSM phone, and if you can get reasonable roaming terms from your current provider, the easiest solution is to use your current SIM card.

Be very wary of so-called "international" SIM cards, which are usually not a cost-efficient or convenient option. I would even be wary of reviews, because some reviews are planted.

Bumping an old thread.

We will be visiting Paris, Swiss, Italy over a period of 17 days. After some reading around, we are thinking of getting the "Mobicarte Holiday" from Orange.

http://sites.orange.fr/shop/forfaits...e_holiday.html

It may not be the cheapest but expecting better quality of service.

Is this a correct choice or other options like Lyca/lebara etc should also be explored?

TIA,
Rajat

RajatMakar, it would have been better to start a new thread, because new EU roaming rules have made this two year old thread even more out of date:
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-...oaming-tariffs

Since Switzerland isn't an EU member, the rule doesn't apply there, but there are lots of good deals for pay-as-you-go SIMs from ordinary providers that can be used in any EU country.