Best SIM for France - suggestions please

PaulR

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On our recent trip to France we had no landline when we arrived at the house. We still didn't when we left 10 days later (calamity) and part of the problem was not being able to give a mobile phone number as a point of contact for the tech service.

I believe that things have changed in France since I last looked at things but what I want is a PAYG SIM that doesn't expire (as they used to do). I don't intend to use the phone much, if at all, so preferably one that doesn't get cut off if the phone is switched off.

Does such a thing exist now?
 

rolfw

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I'm with EE in the UK and have full use of my phone minutes and data in France Paul, I think there are others now in the UK who offer the same.
 

Topper

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Indeed Rolf is correct Paul, Three network, BT, O2 and Tesco all offer free EU roaming services, I am currently investigating Freedom pop network which I understand is either just starting in France or has already started as the free data each month is amazing value
 

sonnetpete

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I'm not certain about this, but Orange (who have the monopoly on landlines in France) may not accept a UK mobile as a contact number. I'm still using my Vodaphone mobile here which has EU roaming, though I use it for calls very rarely. It may also be worth looking at the SIM deals the larger supermarkets (LeClerc, Carrefour, SuperU) offer, which I believe now have no credit expiration...
 

PaulR

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I'm with EE in the UK and have full use of my phone minutes and data in France Paul, I think there are others now in the UK who offer the same.
I'm with Three and have similar but that's not the problem.

With it being a UK SIM I cannot access the short code necessary to contact the French service providers. Further the service provider in question (SFR - the others may be the same) cannot accept my UK number with international prefix as they can only accept 10 digits - no more, no less and must begin 06 which denotes a mobile number.
 

PaulR

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I'm not certain about this, but Orange (who have the monopoly on landlines in France) may not accept a UK mobile as a contact number.
Exactly my problem Pete.

It may also be worth looking at the SIM deals the larger supermarkets (LeClerc, Carrefour, SuperU) offer, which I believe now have no credit expiration...
Ah, that sounds more like it. Trouble is I'm in the UK now so can't investigate myself.

I'm going to look at the link that Topper posted though.
 

PaulR

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FreedomPop isn't suitable for me unfortunately.

First it's UK based which means I'll have a UK phone number. Second it's a monthly account which means that everything dies after the month expires. Most months would go to waste.
 

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Had very similar problems at the start of my France stay this year. Had to go to a neighbour to call orange (later found the international contact nr's). Took 3 phone calls and 3 weeks to fix the line :0)

Now got a working fixed line + 2 Norwegian sims (roaming on Orange and Bouygues) + 2 French sims, 50 GB Bouygues (the only 3G internet working in the mountains here) and a sfr payg sim for backup and coverage testing (which 'I think' will not die if not used for a while, check it out).

About this:
With it being a UK SIM I cannot access the short code necessary to contact the French service providers.

sfr +33 6 10 00 10 23
orange +33 9 69 39 39 00
free +33 1 78 56 95 60
bouygues +33 6 60 614 614
 
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sonnetpete

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English speaking line for Orange France +33 9 69 36 39 00
 
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