Some help with a French SIM?
 

Bonsoir Monsiers et Madames!

Given that 1/ I am not travelling overseas as frequently as many of you and 2/ that one (and potentially a second) of my trips is taken care of by virtue of 3 abolishing roaming costs (Ireland & Italy) I've begun to reconsider buying an International SIM for now.

Therefore I'm looking at what's what with French pre-paid SIMS and was hoping for a little guidance from the collective wisdom here! I don't anticipate coverage being an issue given that we're unlikely to stray far from central Paris and I don't know anyone in Paris to call so I'm not inclined toward any particular network or MVNO.

Seeing as it's only to be a short trip (4 days) the higher the credit-SIM price ratio the better although of course, the lower the call/sms costs the better too.

Any help would be appreciated i.e. recommendations for SIM and also whether there is anything I should need to know (like need a French address to buy etc). Would I be better off buying via ebay or direct from source?

I think the A-Mobile (Auchan department stores) seems to be the most convenient one (also for international calls), and finding an Auchan is rather easy (even if they are usually outside the centre).

Take a look here:
http://www.auchan.fr/achatsenligne/A...ns_chere.asp#7

I know, I have to prepare a page in English too... :D

I'd look for a callback service to use with it as well, as French SIMs don't have very good normal rates, although there are some interesting illimité call packages on Orange, and SFR has a 30c per call option, either weekdays or weekends, for a €5 a month fee, which could be useful with a calling card and local access

I got a Mobicarte by Orange and an Auchan Mobile.

You need a French address for Auchan Mobile. However you can use a made up one like the "Hotel de ville".

Orange can be bought with a foreign address. And they have a never canceled promotion that offers 25 Minutes European calls for 10 Euros. This makes Orange as expensive as Auchan for foreign calls.

Also Auchan has no USSD commands for checking the balance or recharging.

Validity is pretty much the same.

Thanks ], GSM-Fan. Effendi kindly mentioned the Auchan and from what I can see it looks appealing. Having said that, for such a short trip I'd rather have the card with me before I travel and it seems that these are only available in stores which would seem to be out of the centre of cities.

Sadly I'm not having much luck on Ebay: there's a seller on Ebay France selling NRJ SIMs with €6 credit but he is not prepared to ship outside of France. Perhaps a France-based forum member might be able to help me out?

Bonsoir!
I would be glad to help you and send you the SIM.
Auchan has the best call rates : 0,39€/min to France and 35 other countries (including Europe and US, mobiles and landlines), but the SIM costs 15€ and comes with 5€ credit only.
NRJ Mobile has an interesting offer untill the end of this week : the SIM costs 15€ and comes with 15€ credit + 6€ for SMS. The rate is a little higher (0,45€/min to France, 0,75€/min to Europe and US), but as Andy suggested, you may use a callback.
For both SIMs, the included call credit is valid for 1 month.
Contact me via PM to tell me your choice and when you need it.

Merci! That is indeed very kind you. I will PM you asap.