French PrePaid phones
 

A friend of mine in in France and bought a prepaid phone for use there. When she gets back, can I take the sim out and use it later in my unlocked phone or is it somehow restricted to the specific phone?
Thanks

That will work however you should be aware of the extermly short validity of French prepaid SIMs, which depending of the amount of recharges may be deactivated within few weeks.

I know the value runs out but isn't the number active for a while? I was thinking of asking her to pick up some 10 euro recharge vouchers and adding them just before I went in July.

Depends on the provider. E.g. an Orange mobicarte's validity cannot be prolonged by more than six months and € 10 will forfeit after just 12 days (Orange - Mobicarte - Rechargement).

As I understood it, if I recharge an Orange mobicarte sim 10 euro every 6 months it should stay active. I may be mistaken though.

Thanks. I checked out the link and it's very helpful.

Indeed, it will remain active for 6 months but the credit will forfeit already after 12 days. I hope free, France's recent entrant into the cell market, will launch some prepaid product suitable for visitors soon.

LeFrenchmobile?
 

I just noticed some posts on LeFrenchmobile which uses the Bouygues network. Have you heard anythin good/bad about this? At this point, we intend to be mostly in Paris with a trip to Normandy so hopefully the service should be good with all carriers. It's appealing becase you can keep it valid for little cost.
Thanks