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-   -   LTE for visitors? (https://prepaid.mondo3.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8553)

wco81 05-08-2014 16:50

LTE for visitors?
 
There aren't any prepaid products offering LTE access. However, it may be possible to sign onto a rolling contract for a month and cancel:

Quote:

4G LTEEdit
Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile have mostly rolled out their 4G LTE networks and they have mostly nationwide coverage. Orange and SFR do not allow access to their new 4G LTE networks to prepaid customers, however they all offer rolling contracts which can be cancelled at free will. They all use standard European LTE bands (800 MHz and 2600 MHz) however Bouygues was recently granted permission to "refarm" it's 1800 MHz 2G network into a 4G LTE network. This frequency enables iPhone 5 and iPad mini/iPad 4 owners access to the 4G network since the iPhone 5 only contains 1800 MHz European LTE bands.
http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/France

So I see these plans "sans engagement" offered by Orange. Not clear if tethering is allowed or not.

http://sites.orange.fr/shop/forfaits...o_tablette.php

Anyone look into LTE bundles/plans at all?

inquisitor 06-08-2014 01:28

Do you actually own an LTE device that supports the French frequency bands?

wco81 06-08-2014 01:32

iPad Mini Retina:

Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n); dual channel
(2.4GHz and 5GHz) and MIMO
Bluetooth 4.0 technology
UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900 MHz)
LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26)3
Data only4


Saw good speeds in Rome with TIM. It was 27/17 IIRC and without full 5 bars of signal.

wco81 06-08-2014 01:33

Anyways, the claim is that Orange requires a French bank account for those "sans engagement" plans and you have to request cancellation in writing.

But the prepaidwikia site also has someone claiming he was able to pay for the Boygues plan with a credit card.

inquisitor 06-08-2014 01:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by wco81 (Post 45896)
LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26)3

Not bad. Just for the records: there are different versions of each iPad which differ in LTE bands (see https://www.apple.com/ipad/LTE/), though the iPad Mini A1490 does indeed support all those listed above, which is quite remarkable. I didn't expect such wide compatibility to become available so soon.

inquisitor 06-08-2014 01:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by wco81 (Post 45897)
Anyways, the claim is that Orange requires a French bank account for those "sans engagement" plans and you have to request cancellation in writing.

I've no idea about Orange, but Joe Mobile (an MVNO on SFR) also offers such "sans engagement" hybrid tariffs (mixture between postpaid and prepaid because you pay in advance and have cost control but you have to enable automatically recurring payment), but you need to provide a credit card from a neighbouring country as others are blocked for fraud prevention. So even if there's a way to pay by credit card, expect this not to work with a credit card issued by an American bank.

wco81 06-08-2014 02:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by inquisitor (Post 45898)
Not bad. Just for the records: there are different versions of each iPad which differ in LTE bands (see https://www.apple.com/ipad/LTE/), though the iPad Mini A1490 does indeed support all those listed above, which is quite remarkable. I didn't expect such wide compatibility to become available so soon.

It's one of the reasons I bought it, because I wanted to use it tethered.

But reading through prepaidwikia site, it appears there are a lot of carriers where you can tether through Android but not iOS.

Also had considered the 4G version of the Nexus 7 but would have had to buy in Europe at 349€ and it didn't support as many bands but would presumably work in most European countries.

inquisitor 06-08-2014 10:55

The other issue with Apple devices is that Apple restricts LTE access to those network they are partnering with (read: those paying a ransom to Apple). E.g. until recently Apple devices, though technically fully compatible, did not register on the German eplus network as it was not whitelisted.

tux 06-08-2014 19:11

Orange "Let's Go" prepaid offer gives access to their LTE network ;)

wco81 07-08-2014 01:37

Interesting.

I had Lets Go in Corsica in April but I don't believe they have 4G there and I didn't have an LTE device at the time.

I still have the SIM.

Well I'll find out next month.

wco81 19-08-2014 22:52

Actually, anyone try to tether with Lets Go?

Even if they sell these forfaits sans engagement to those with American credit cards, it wouldn't be as useful without being able to tether to other devices.

tux 20-08-2014 14:18

I would be surprised if they blocked tethering, as the Let's Go offer is meant to be used in MiFi, tablets, etc.

wco81 20-08-2014 16:50

It would be great if they explicitly said it. The only possible reference I see is:

"Les usages Modem sont autorisés et décomptés de votre crédit."

http://assistance.orange.fr/le-forfa...fre-7447.php#5

But I don't even know if "usages Modem" means the same thing as tethering or more specifically, the "Personal Hotspot" feature in the iOS UI.

tux 20-08-2014 18:20

Is this sufficiently explicit for you?

http://sites.orange.fr/shop/forfaits...offres_cle.php

:p

Anyway, yes, "usage Modem" means tethering (or use within a dongle, a MiFi)

Eds 21-10-2014 04:02

Did you find out if you can actually tether the Lets Go sim, I'm doing a trip in January and am very interested in finding out if you were able to do so

wco81 21-10-2014 04:48

Yes I was able to tether.

But the amount of data used goes way up when you tether to a laptop.

I used the Settings app in my iPad Mini to track how much data I was using in the period and it seemed to go up more than what I would expect for downloading a few podcasts on my laptop. Hundreds of megabytes would click off some times.

Now of course this was just what my Mini was showing. I didn't register an Orange account to look for how much data they saw me use. They text you a registration code and my Mini can't get SMS.

So basically it would cost 28 Euros to get 2 GB of data over a month. You can use that up quickly if you tether.

Eds 21-10-2014 06:54

I'll only be using it to tether to the phone and other iPads from the iPad, also do you know if they allow VoIP (Skype), and do they charge for roaming in monaco?
About the codes I wonder if one could set up the account on an iPhone 5 and then switch back to the iPad?

wco81 21-10-2014 07:53

Not sure about Skype, I didn't try any VOIP.

And I don't know about Monaco either.

If your iPhone is unlocked, it should work.

Good luck.

tux 21-10-2014 10:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eds (Post 46317)
do they charge for roaming in monaco?

No, because in Monaco you get direct coverage from Orange masts.


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