[scirocco]

A few more clarifications:

1. You don't absolutely have to set up an account on the Portail Orange website; if you prefer you can use the #123 menu from the phone in your home country to activate the Internet Max option before you leave. My local carrier (Telstra) did allow the #123 phone menu to work on its network and it was free. But it was a bit flaky and did not work all the time. I can read French not too bad so the Portail Orange website option worked well for me and you can see exactly what's going on.

2. The Ebay seller sells the SIM cards with 15 euros credit. In theory this is enough to activate both the Internet Max and Mail options (9+6 euros) but the SMS to get the Portail orange password uses up 50c and prevents you from doing so. I found a different Ebay seller selling Orange recharges so I bought one and activated the Mail option prior to travel.

3. I have seen some people complain that they don't see the Internet Max option in the phone menu. You have to have enough credit (9 euros) on the phone for the option to become available.

4. If you are searching for the Ebay seller and you can't find him on your local Ebay, try searching on the French Ebay site.

5. Obviously this whole procedure only works with phones not locked to a carrier. You need to unlock if your phone is locked.