[scirocco]

Yes, I was a little inaccurate. The wasted money is €10 for say 10 months inactivity and €20 for 12 months (assuming you only recharge with the minimum).

I guess my point was that with Orange, for people who return to France yearly there may be no need to waste more than €10 each year. For example, last year, I left France in mid August. I recharged the card with €10 to keep it alive in mid February (wasted money). To keep it alive I will need to recharge again in early August. I will recharge with €25. I will start using the credit in early September (taking advantage of two months credit validity). This is not wasted but will be used on calls and internet during September.

So even though I will have been out of the country for 12 months and two weeks it has only cost me €10 in wasted money. True, if I recharged with only €15 I would have needed a second €10 "keep-alive top-up". But €15 is not enough for me for a 3-week visit- it only gets you Internet Max and Mail and leaves nothing for call credit.

Compare that with Le Clerc where all twelve of the €1.50 monthly fees are wasted money. €18.

Sorry to the OP regarding SFR La Carte for hijacking the thread.