[Closed] French SIM cards

Three pay as you go no need to fuss with French sims

Oops didn't see the bit about flying in from America...

Will I be able buy a Three SIM in France? I'm flying direct from Canada....

I believe not. Pay as you go SIMs need a bank account I think. (Side effect of terrorism/security concerns)

Three is probably only available in the UK

you mean America don't you really !

North America, yeah 🙂 til Trump is President then we'll need a new identity...

Pay as you go SIMs need a bank account I think. (Side effect of terrorism/security concerns)

Hmm, that could be a pain in the derriere though I (obviously) have a Canadian bank account

4g is generally widely available in France, you'll be able to get it from Orange who probably have the widest coverage (as they bought the old France Telecom) and the most shops around if you have a problem. Other suppliers are available etc etc. Generally French telecoms are good in my experience so I wouldn't worry too much if you don't have a wide choice of sim cards from different operators once you get to the airport.

Thanks Jim...anyone else have any knowledge of bank account requirements for PAYG?

I was in France for 3 weeks, finishing about almost 2 weeks ago.

When I got there I went into an SFR shop which seem to have a presence in most decent sized towns and bought a SIM card
Une carte prepayee sans engagements, or something like that. Luckily the dude spoke English 🙁

Anyway, you can get the card weighted for data, or a combination of calls, texts and data. I got just data.
Paid around E20 and it came with some credit.

When that ran out I bought a recharging card or code essentially from a Tabac shop. You can also get them in the big supermarkets.

First time I called the number to recharge my credit I had to get a bloke in a shop to do it as I couldn't quite understand the options on the phone. 🙂

Anyway, dead easy, and you don't need a bank account or owt.

Oh, and the signal? Pretty much 4g shizzle everywhere. I was all down the East side in the hills and villages and then into the alps and I can't recall a single occasion where I struggled for signal.
Vive la France.

^^^ thats cool about no bank account. I tried to get one and I thought my (French) wife said our bank account details where required. We didn't bother as Three do "feel at home" so I get all my uk data / calls / texts here too. I woukd second Orange (Mrs has this and excellent 4G) or Boyouges, avoid Free as they are merde !

just walked into corner internet shop and bought orange payg sim
nasty surprise was that
if you don't use it you lose
credit
and number
so no use keeping it for future
trips

Jamba.. .do you know which French network Three uses? Turns out I've got an old Three SIM from my last visit to the UK which is still active. In theory, I just need to get a Three top up voucher to put some credit on it...

I'm in France with a three prepaid 12gb data sim in the second sim card slot in my phone.

The card cost £25

3 use bytel, orange or Free. Not boygues or SFR

The problem is that 3 massively throttle any streaming or media, including twitter images. Photo uploads are slow too. Its OK for some websites but not all. They don't make it clear just how much they throttle, I get less than 30kbs when waiting for Twitter images. I won't use three again.

I have a LeFrnchMobile data sim too and that has better speeds but it's a lot more expensive than 3.

My Vodafone sim running on SFR is the fastest and uses my UK data allowance. Costs £3 a day. But I lunch through 3gb quickly.

If you've got a "North American" phone, check the bands it supports. Phones over there tend to be designed to only work in North America (as Yanks don't travel overseas 😉 ). May not support the correct European bands even if you get a local SIM. A local European supplied phone will likely work worldwide though.

Similarly, make sure the phone is SIM free / carrier unlocked, else you won't be able to use a foreign SIM in it.

Stoner: interesting...what are speeds like for regular browsing or Skype? I want the data plan for researching and booking accommodation as we move around and Google Maps/navigation + Google translate I don't expect to be uploading lots of photos or streaming media etc.
What's involved in actually activating/topping up LeFrenchMobile?

DK:phones already unlocked and I used it in the UK and Spain last year,so it should be ok

Depending on how much data you're using, renting a hotspot can be worthwhile instead of faffing about with a SIM. I've been using Bienvenue for the last couple of months and can recommend (works out about 7 euro a day):

https://www.bienvenue-wifi.com/

Ouch, we're only likely to be making a small number of calls over the 3wk period and shouldn't need huge amounts of data so that hotspot works out pretty expensive.i imagine it would be very useful for working though....

Getting about 20kbs on Orange 3g after three throttling using Google maps. Its OK for maps and directions. Not fir satellite imaging though.

I get 300-500kbs on sfr though.

Lefrenchmobile has got a particular stupid top up system which means you can't add credit until it's expired and of course once it's expired you can't get online to pay. They may have changed things but I haven't used them since last year and a fruitless argument with a custom service halfwit.

a fruitless argument with a custom service halfwit.

So, assuming regular 1:1 audio calls only, 30kbps is required for Skype. Hmmm.

My other problem is French hotels not accepting credit cards so I either have to carry a ton of money around with me or I have to call my bank in Canada and make individual IBAN transfers for each place I stay at $30 a pop and at least 3 business days in advance....

I bought a £10 Three simcard for a trip to france recently. I need to go through the T&C's as it seems my 1gb data allowance wasn't used in France, so only the last day I got a text balance update and I'd used about £9.60 for 250mb ish of data. From what I read, and what the shop told me, the 1gb data allowance worked abroad so I should still have £10 credit for my next trip...

I do speak French but this was an email conversation.

Things may have improved and if you plan correctly you probably won't need to top up anyway.