FriendlyExpat

Hi all,

I'm going to be relying on my mobile phone for internet the next few weeks as I'll be staying at a French farm without wifi. I am currently using my UK mobile phone (which may not even be free to use after 31 December) and I only get 20GB free a month which isn't enough. Can anyone recommend a good pay-as-you go or equivalent French equivalent package? Where do I actually go to buy a simcard? In the UK I pay £10/month for 30GBs.

Thanks!!!!

Listen Very Carefully

Do a trawl of the various phone shops if they are open of course and look to buy a dongle with a french sim card You just plug it into your computer and away you go

EuroTrash

Do they still do dongles? I thought they'd been superseded by mifi devices.
I have a "Domino" that I got from Orange years ago, that I still use when I'm travelling in the motorhome. I think their current version is called an Airbox. But that is because I need to connect my laptop as well as my phone. For just a phone all you need is a sim card.
But, if the farm is fairly remote then I think the first thing you need to do is check what network coverage there is there. It is no good signing up the cheapest mobile deal you can find, with free or virgin or whoever, and then finding that free or virgin or whoever have no signal at the farmhouse.
I went for orange because they have coverage most places but even then, some locations they are not your best bet.

Tweedpipe

I have a cheap smartcard issued by LeClerc which I can recommend. Although I generaly never carry the phone, I keep it in the car for possible emergencies. Suits my needs perfectly.

EuroTrash

.
I also have a LeClerc sim in my phone for daily use. I use it for calls and sms and also for checking and sending emails and looking things up quickly on google when I'm out and about locally, and it is fine for that, I never get big bills. But I try not to use it for uploading and downloading and serious surfing.
LeClerc, alias Reglomobile, uses the sfr network.

Tweedpipe

Yep, LeClerc Reglomobile, same as mine.

Scots in Treignac

I too had a LeClerc Portable, but it was awkward as I had to keep it topped up, which I sometimes forgot to do and sometimes it was difficult to top up when I was inScotland.

I now have a contract with "FREE" and pay 2euros a month . I use cheap phones which I buy in the UK. I have more than one of these , so I use the extra two phones as battery back-ups and so I am up and running very quickly if the battery runs out.
The phone only works in France which made it a bit awkward when Credit Agricole sent me passwords. (Ive since changed it to my UK mobile phone.
I think a contract for 9 euros a month would allow me to phone to and from the UK.



Im waiting to see what the phone companies do next year .

One of the possibilities is to use my French portable in the UK as my only phone.

If French phones continue to have free roaming in the UK , then it would be ideal for me in the far north of Scotland . My portable would be able to get the best of a bad bunch of signals instead of being stuck with one network as I am with my O 2 mobile.

EuroTrash

I have my Leclerc sim set to top itself up 10 euros automatically from my bank account when the credit falls below a certain level (3 euros I think).
It works without a problem in the UK. There's a monthly charge of 1,50 which can be used on calls, texts and data, and I rarely exceed it by very much, so a 10€ top up can last for six months or more.. I use a dual sim phone with the Leclerc sim and an O2 sim but I tend to use Leclerc in both the UK and France. Although as you say, the cost of using Leclerc in the UK may rise next year.

KJMW

My wife bought me a phone forChristmas; I'm still trying to work out how to use the bloody thing!!!

Tweedpipe

Was it an Apple iPhone or Android phone?
I'd be the first to agree that the iPhones can be fairly complicated to initially set us correctly, especially to turn off all the 'special' default settings which are far from battery friendly.
If required I can give a link to an excellently explained video for this on an iPhone. Not too sure with Android though as I've never used one.

EuroTrash

When I got my first Samsung Galaxy it took me about two days to figure out how to put the sim cards in. I'd grabbed the phone out of the box and thrown the little pin thingy, that you have to poke into the hole to release the sim tray, away with the packaging.

KJMW

I had to ask my wife, that's how thick I am!! It's an Android (Samsung) If I didn't know how upset she would be I would throw it out of the window!!!

KJMW

Yep, did that too!! In fact it took a trip up to Darty to get the SIM card in!! He promptly took out a paper clip and did it!! Talk about a babe in the woods!!

cyrian

Use Google to make a relevant search e.g. "Samsung *** install a sim card"
If you include "video" in your search then there is always someone who has posted an appropriate video.
HTH

EuroTrash

Don't do that, you'll get used to it soon enough.
I've had mine for about 3 years now and all I know is the basics. Sometimes when more tech-minded friends see me struggling to do something that I don't normally do, they take it off me, do whatever it is for me, and give me it back. But I can communicate with people on it and I can listen to music on it and that's all I need, it can keep its bells and whistles.