LeFrench Mobile (Unlimited credit validity)
 

Prepaid sim card for France

Must be the first one in France which is actually of any use for tourists as it's credit doesn't expire. Mobile Internet is still very expensive though (€0,48/MB).

cool. i send the link to my boss who is travelling to france once per week at the moment :)

interesting paradox:

Unlimited validity of credit for only €1.40/month*

Ah, I haven't noticed that :P

I think I'd also mention Lebara and Mobiho, which have noticeably cheaper rates.

do they also offer unlimited validiy or do you have to topup these every 30 days or more? The 1.4 per month wouldnt be a problem if the cards stay alive...

Chris

Mobiho looks a bit similar to most brands, with credit running out, though the SIM stays alive for 4 months for most recharges.

Mobiho : Votre Mobile moins cher !

Lebara seems to say credit stays valid while the SIM does, and the SIM stays valid 90 days from last use. There is a comment about credit rolling over from one month to the next which troubles me though, as it seems unnecessary

Quelle est la validité de mon crédit de communication ?

Bonne nouvelle ! Chez Lebara Mobile, votre crédit de communication est valable aussi longtemps que votre carte SIM est opérationnelle. Lorsque vous achetez une recharge, le crédit non consommé durant le mois en cours, sera automatiquement basculé sur le mois suivant et ainsi de suite mais attention Ã* garder votre carte SIM active (Voir question 14).

Lebara Mobile - International mobile phone calls & SIM cards

and

Ma carte SIM est valable combien de temps ?

Les cartes SIM Lebara ont une validité de 90 jours : Vous ne devez pas rester 90 jours sans utiliser votre carte SIM. Dans le cas contraire, votre carte sera bloquée ; Vous perdrez votre numéro de téléphone sans possibilité de le réactiver ou de vous l’être attribué.

Petite astuce : passez au moins un appel ou envoyez un SMS ou encore rechargez votre téléphone tous les 2 mois en moyenne et évitez les mauvaises surprises !

Lebara Mobile - International mobile phone calls & SIM cards#

[select tab on left]

calls to German landline 14 and 9 cents a minute, + 12c connection fee on latter, 39 cents a minute on LeFrench

If you use at least 10 euro in a month, this charge does not occur. But yes, it looks like unlimited validity, as long as you have 16.8 euro per year on the account that you don't mind losing.

All in all, this seems like a relatively good deal for France, though it would compare unfavorably in many other places.

Le French Mobile
 

I recently used LFM during my month in France and was satisfied with it (although admittedly I used it very infrequently, for very short calls). The only glitch is that there was no service in one small village in rural Gascony, although there was service in nearby villages.

What carrier do they use?