Nope... No reply from the eBay-er yet.

Of course you can join. Nothing is finalised yet. We haven't yet concluded whether we go via the guy on eBay or get a French payment card and forwarding service.

He has prematurely closed the sale, having sold only 3 out of 10 available. Let's hope he decides to offer his services directly to us here instead of via eBay, which would save himself fees. If he sets a reasonable price such as €8, he'll get more business from this forum anyway.

No reply yet...

I e-mailed French Office and there appears to be one problem. Each mailbox can be used by only five people in total. They said "D'autre part, cette boite est familiale. Vous pouvez ajouter le nom de 4 personnes en plus du votre. Vous aurez tous le même numéro de réception. Après, il faudra prendre d'autres abonnements". So either we need another service or persuade French Office to waive this restriction on condition that we receive only one item per name.

As for the solution with the Carte Cadeau - from what I read we will first need somebody to go to France. It costs €12 to make this card in a Post office (€10 is if you fill in the form and order it to your French address).

But if we have a French address where we receive the SIM cards, we can also use it to receive the Carte Cadeau beforehand.

I think I've been covered by a friend in France. Sorry I can't extend her kindness onwards, but she's from the US and her boyfriend is French. So it's complicated already.

But I'll still try being in touch with the eBay-er to see if I can help get something for all of you.

Still no reply... So I think it's a lost case with the eBay-er...

I am wondering, though, when we already get the SIMs, how do we top them up from abroad to keep their validity? As I understand it, initially the SIM is only valid for 2 months. :confused:

You don't need to top up to maintain validity. You only need a chargeable communication once per year, even an incoming roaming call of one second.

The initial €1.50 credit is valid for one month. Subsequent top-ups are valid indefinitely provided that you top up once per year.

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LeFrenchMobile is a total rip-off, targeted at foreigners. First, you have to pay €1.40 per month, even if you don't use it, which makes it unsuitable for occasional visitors to France. Second, data is charged between €0.13 and €0.30 per megabyte (depending on which bundle you buy), compared to B&You's flat rate of €0.05/MB. I really don't understand why you posted information about such an expensive operator, unless your post is disguised spam (which you have also posted in another forum). We already know about all the rip-off options in France. This thread is specifically about the only non-rip-off option.

the same guy has opened a new auction:

eBay | B&YOU Sim Card with 15 min airtime credit - BRAND NEW - AVOID ROAMING FEES

price has risen to eur 19,95, (still free shipping) and he says one sim per ebay-member.

French Office came back to me about the limit of 5 names per mailbox and said that each additional name would cost €5. I replied that this was disproportionate, given that we are paying only €3.50 per SIM card (excluding credit) and there is no increased cost to them of an additional name when each name will receive only one item. They still don't get the point. Our best bet is a private address in France.

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We are prepared to go to some trouble because B&You's SIM card is the best on the market for an occasional visitor to France. Most of us are high data users, and LeFrenchMobile's data charges and monthly fee (even if not used) are way too high. If you want to advertise LeFrenchMobile's high prices, please start your own thread instead of hijacking this thread.

I'm not sure what you mean by "we". You don't speak for me. Many of the posters and readers on this forum are based outside France and Europe. For many of us, convenience and ease of obtaining the SIM and subscription outweigh the data and call costs. So I want to hear B&YOUs cons as well as pros, warts and all.

And no, I'm not spamming for LeFrench Mobile SIM, I use a Mobicarte, supposedly inferior for "occasional visits to France". So I'd like to hear about coverage for B&YOU. Runs on the BT network, yes? How does that compare with the "inferior" Orange product when you are on holiday in remote rural France and need to use the phone? There are some pretty big white areas on the BT coverage map, including the little village in the Pyrenees I go to each year that has Orange coverage.

The 8 people who are trying to find a way to obtain a B&You SIM card.

Thanks for pointing this out. If there were other non-expiring SIM cards available, I'd prefer one that runs on Orange or SFR. Hopefully Buzz Mobile, SFR's equivalent of B&You, will follow B&You's lead on non-expiry (currently 3 months).

Well if it helps, I got the card issued by HSBC in France. But not sure if this works for all of you.

Update on my eBay purchase. I got the SIM card in the mail all activated and registered in my name. The portal account was already setup with the email address I provided - all I had to do is change the password. Overall a very smooth transaction.

A word of warning for those interested in the card, the initial credit is only valid for 30 days. A minimum EUR10 top-up is required to get unlimited credit life (assuming one paid transaction every 365 days).

Calls to the top-up line (630) are free while in France but charged as a call back to France from anywhere else (EUR2.30/minute from Canada). There is an alternate top-up number you can call from any phone line for next to nothing - +33-981-660-630.

To be clear, it's 30 days from the first call, not from the date or purchase or activation. This is made clear in the T&Cs.

I just exchanged a few messages on Twitter with a B&YOU rep who claims a Banque Postale Carte Cadeau will not work for ordering a SIM. He says: Only a Bank Card from a French Bank.

It seems I have found a solution. The costs would be as follows:

• €10 La Carte Cadeau from the French post office
• €9.80 for Ubidoca's Forfait Réexpédition Eco which includes 2 forwardings (excluding postage costs)
• €1.35 postage for forwarding of La Carte Cadeau
• €4.10 postage for forwarding of SIM cards up to 250g total
• €5.30 recorded delivery fee for forwarding of SIM cards with €150 insurance

The total of €30.55 would be shared amongst all of us, i.e. around €2.50 each with 12 of us. The onward postage from London to each recipient would be on top of this. Ubidoca seem a lot more accommodating than French Office.

If you're interested and I don't already have your e-mail address, please PM me.

Very good deal when there's 12 of us :D When can we start this?

We can start when everyone sets up a B&You user account and sends me their e-mail address and password. Without this, I can neither make the order nor include them in the amount to be loaded on the prepaid credit card.

I've received a PM in a UK forum saying that even a card issued by a French bank was rejected by B&You (for delivery to a French address). I'm therefore evaluating whether a prepaid credit card from the French post office is the best option as I might load money on the card and be unable to spend it.

Well... the money could also simply be spent on other (daily) purchases, right? Then we only loose the 10€ the card costs. The best way would be to spend it on purchases denominated in EUR. Living in the UK that might be a bit more of a hassle, but for example I have the possibility to cash out such a card in euros without any costs.

Just a quick update. I'm trying to find a prepaid credit card with a French BIN, as I think this is what B&You are checking for. This can be checked at https://www.bindb.com/bin-database.html

Transcash VISA has an FR BIN: 4577 37

Carte bancaire prépayée rechargeable TRANSCASH VISA®

Thanks for this suggestion. I quite like the small British bank behind this, Raphaels Bank. Although they are the issuer of Ryanair's ill-fated prepaid cards, they also have a small network of EUR-denominated cash machines in London which allow EUR account holders of other banks to withdraw cash at face value without any charges.

The initial purchase price of €9.90 and ability to top up makes it worth considering. Although I don't see why top-ups by bank transfer should be charged at 3%, this isn't going to adversely affect the total price paid by each of us.

I managed to get through to B&You on the phone, by entering a failed order number (despite failed orders not usually giving an order number). They assured me that any physical French Visa card or MasterCard (not an e-Carte Bleue for example) should work. Thanks to VladS, I am therefore planning to buy a Trans Cash prepaid Visa card for €9.90, which has the crucial French BIN. Fortunately I now have a French address at which I can receive post (but addressed only in my name), so I can make sure the Visa card works before paying for the mail forwarding service for everyone else's SIM cards. The disadvantage of the Trans Cash card is that they charge 3% for loading money on to it, but the advantage is that it's reloadable unlike La Poste's Carte Cadeau.

If you would like a B&You SIM card and haven't yet PM'd me with your e-mail address, please do so now.

Unfortunately I've hit two problems:

• According to a thread in a French forum, you can't order more than 5 SIM cards in the same name or with the same payment card in a 90-day period.
• A friend tried yesterday to use his French relatives' Carte Bleue to order a sim card for me, and even that failed with the same reason "Votre commande a été annulée".

It's incredible how restrictive they are...

Anyhow, I still think we should give it a go. Worst case scenario is that we loose the money that the card costs.
BTW, should there be a need to cash out a card in euro's without loosing value - I'm willing to help (I can do so here without any problems)

My first experience with my b&you card wasn't stellar. I was in transit through Paris late last year and tried to use it to make a few local calls and check email. Even though my devices connected to the Bouygues network, both inbound and outbound calls failed and data sessions would not connect. I used my french Lycamobile card (also an Bouygues MVNO) and had no issues placing calls.

I just made it back to Paris tonight and the b&you card is back to life and works as expected.

lycamobile does the same since july 2011 ;)

i think no

u right. i'm on it.

Lycamobile charges €0.09/MB (rounded to the next megabyte), whereas B&You charges €0.05/MB (rounded to the next kilobyte). Also, you only need to use B&You once per year, whereas you have to use Lycamobile every 80 days to stop it from expiring.

you right i forgot this due to my use in France. soory.

Is it too late for me to join you all?
I also like one, and if possible, 2 cards.