New prepaid offer in France: first MVNO on Bouygtel
 

http://www.budget-mobile.fr/Pages/Home/home.aspx

It's a prepaid offer for people based in France but calling abroad.

• Zone 1 (Europe – USA – Canada – Australia) : 0.24 €/min
• Zone 2 (Latin America – Asia – French Overseas Departements) : 0.29 €/min
• Zone 3 (North Africa – Middle East – Africa) :0.38 €/min
• France: 0.38 €/min

Debiting method
To France: 1/1
International calls: 60/60

If calling a mobile phone in the zones 1 and 2 (excluding USA, Canada, China, Hong Kong & Taiwan) the call costs 0,14€/min more.

The Budget Mobile card costs 14,90 € including a 5 € top up.

Does it permit roaming abroad? If so this would be great for me, because I could keep it active from Canada.

The only problem if my rusty French is correct, they steal your credit after a limited period of time the same way the other French prepaids do and once they do that, the clock runs for 4 months before they terminate the line.

That, like all the French sims, to put it mildly stinks.

no roaming yet.
biggest recharge is valid for 60 days.
after the expiry the balance is gone, and you have a phone time of 4 months before the card completely expires.

Chris

No one seems be willing to change the narrow period of credit validity in France...:mad:

Didn't a German court rule such practices in Germany to be illegal? Another something perhaps for the eu to do to protect consumers.

yes. some operators lost the trial and have to make sure that your balance doesnt expire anymore. They can still switch off the SIM-cards but you have to have a possibility to get the remaining balance payed back or reactivated later on.

Chris