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July 13, 2005
Communicating While Traveling in France
I've gotten so used to having a cell phone that when I arrived in France, I started looking for cheap ways to have one while I'm here. Before I left the US, I had talked to TMobile and asked them to unlock my cell phone so I could buy a SIM card in France. Although I'm still waiting to for the code to unlock it, I've been able to buy a SIM card and use my cousin's old cell phone. Prepaid cards are really affordable especially considering that you don't pay when receiving calls.
The main prepaid card providers are SFR, Orange and Bouygues and they all offer the same deals. The first one you buy is 30 euros which includes a French cell phone number (which always starts with the numbers 06) and 10 minutes of call time or text messages.
Once you've used up your call time, you can still receive calls and text messages for up to two months. You can then buy prepaid cards in most bars, phone or tobacco stores. Prepaid cards are 10, 20, 30 or 45 euros.
The only bummer with these cards is that unless you purchase a card every six months, you will lose your phone number which means that if I'm not back in France until next summer, I will have to pay 30 euros again.
As for prepaid call cards for pay phones or landlines, I've found Tele2 to be the best deal. For 7.50 euros, you get something like 300 minutes to call the US, and plenty of call time to call within France. These cards can also be purchased in phone and tobacco stores or bars.
--Helene Goupil, Editor
Posted by insideoutmag at 05:01 AM