I'm going to be in the UK and France next week and I will need a cell phone. I
get there every few months so it's cheaper to buy rather than rent.
Will a phone I buy in the UK work in France and vice versa, or should I just
buy 2 phones and be done with it?

Thanks
Ron

[email protected] (Carbooks1) wrote in
news:[email protected]:

    > Will a phone I buy in the UK work in France and vice versa

Yes. Make sure your SIM allows roaming.

Regards

--
Ich gebe zu ich war am Anfang entzückt

Carbooks1 wrote:

    > I'm going to be in the UK and France next week and I will need a cell phone. I
    > get there every few months so it's cheaper to buy rather than rent.
    > Will a phone I buy in the UK work in France and vice versa, or should I just
    > buy 2 phones and be done with it?

Check newsgroup archives, because a lot of information has been posted
about this. I'll assume you're from north america, which uses a variety
of cell phone technologies. Most of the world, including France and the
UK, uses GSM. You could buy cheap pay-as-you-go phone in the UK. This
_can_ be used in France, but it will be cheaper and more convenient to
buy a French pay-as-you-go SIM _card_ while in France, for use in your
phone while there. However, in order to use the French SIM card, the
phone will have to be unlocked, as UK PAYG phones are locked to their
respective mobile phone companies. This is not too hard to do, and
you'll see shops that advertise the service. GSM use is growing in North
America- even Mexico's telcel uses it now, but it operates on different
frequencies- usually 1900, sometimes 800/850. The rest of the world
(with some exceptions, e.g. Peru and Chile) use GSM at 900 and 1800. You
can buy a tri-band (in the US tri-mode) phone which usually has 900/1800
and 1900, such as the one that I own. That will work in north america
where there is GSM coverage, and Europe.

To sum up, it will almost certainly be cheaper for you to buy a cheap
PAYG phone in the UK, get it unlocked, so you can use a French PAYG SIM.
It may, but not necessarily, be easier for you to get a cheap tri-band
GSM phone unlocked in north america, prior to your trip. You can buy,
for example, the older motorola timeports quite cheaply nowadays- I'd
recommend the Ti250.

Do a bit of research on the newsgroups and company websites- you'll see
there are many different choices and options, and then you'll be best
placed to make your own choices. Personally, I just keep the same (UK)
SIM card in my phone wherever I go. I tend to travel to other countries
for short times, and it is a lot less hassle to keep the same number,
for text messaging, checking email etc.- but if you'll spend quite a bit
of time in the same country, it's worth buying local SIMs.

David

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.co.uk
davidhorne (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

Carbooks1 wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I'm going to be in the UK and France next week and I will need a cell
phone. I
    > get there every few months so it's cheaper to buy rather than rent.
    > Will a phone I buy in the UK work in France and vice versa, or should I
just
    > buy 2 phones and be done with it?

You have the right idea in buying a phone. A pay as you go scheme is
probably most suited to what you are doing. Obviously have one phone number
is preferable.

Ok, now a big warning. Be EXTREMELY careful in choosing your phone carrier.
Do NOT choose O2, because their phones work fine in the UK, but will only
RECEIVE text messages when you are on the continent. You are also VERY
limited in which countries you can call from the mainland.

Mobile phone salesmen are a bunch of complete rogues, and will sell you any
old thing if they find out you are planning on leaving the country.

Hopefully someone here can recommend a decent pay as you go carrier. Good
luck!
---
DFM

Deep Floyd Mars wrote:

    > Ok, now a big warning. Be EXTREMELY careful in choosing your phone carrier.
    > Do NOT choose O2, because their phones work fine in the UK, but will only
    > RECEIVE text messages when you are on the continent. You are also VERY
    > limited in which countries you can call from the mainland.

It's customary for PAYG UK mobiles only to receive text messages abroad,
unless the company uses CAMEL roaming, which is also limited to certain
countries, and usually only to one mobile provider in the foreign
country. If you're only using the phone in UK and France, I'd recommend
either a Vodafone or Orange PAYG sim- the latter has among the best PAYG
international rates (calling from the UK abroad) but is limited to
roaming only with camel networks- it will work in France though.

David

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.co.uk
davidhorne (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

"David Horne" wrote in message
news:1ftwup0.3ftutonyuldoN%[email protected]...
    > Carbooks1 wrote:
    > > I'm going to be in the UK and France next week and I will need a cell
phone. I
    > > get there every few months so it's cheaper to buy rather than rent.
    > > Will a phone I buy in the UK work in France and vice versa, or should I
just
    > > buy 2 phones and be done with it?
    > Check newsgroup archives, because a lot of information has been posted
    > about this. I'll assume you're from north america, which uses a variety
    > of cell phone technologies. Most of the world, including France and the
    > UK, uses GSM. You could buy cheap pay-as-you-go phone in the UK. This
    > _can_ be used in France, but it will be cheaper and more convenient to
    > buy a French pay-as-you-go SIM _card_ while in France, for use in your
    > phone while there. However, in order to use the French SIM card, the
    > phone will have to be unlocked, as UK PAYG phones are locked to their
    > respective mobile phone companies. This is not too hard to do, and
    > you'll see shops that advertise the service. GSM use is growing in North
    > America- even Mexico's telcel uses it now, but it operates on different
    > frequencies- usually 1900, sometimes 800/850. The rest of the world
    > (with some exceptions, e.g. Peru and Chile) use GSM at 900 and 1800. You
    > can buy a tri-band (in the US tri-mode) phone which usually has 900/1800
    > and 1900, such as the one that I own. That will work in north america
    > where there is GSM coverage, and Europe.
    > To sum up, it will almost certainly be cheaper for you to buy a cheap
    > PAYG phone in the UK, get it unlocked, so you can use a French PAYG SIM.
    > It may, but not necessarily, be easier for you to get a cheap tri-band
    > GSM phone unlocked in north america, prior to your trip. You can buy,
    > for example, the older motorola timeports quite cheaply nowadays- I'd
    > recommend the Ti250.
    > Do a bit of research on the newsgroups and company websites- you'll see
    > there are many different choices and options, and then you'll be best
    > placed to make your own choices. Personally, I just keep the same (UK)
    > SIM card in my phone wherever I go. I tend to travel to other countries
    > for short times, and it is a lot less hassle to keep the same number,
    > for text messaging, checking email etc.- but if you'll spend quite a bit
    > of time in the same country, it's worth buying local SIMs.
Very sound advice from David.
Most UK mobile companies offer payg that can be used in France, but don't
get Virgin as you can't use it in France without direct debit from UK bank
account. Others allow it, but make sure you top it up before you leave as it
will be difficult if not impossible to do so in France. While call charges
within UK are reasonable (typically 15-25p a min, cheaper after 3-5 min,
nothing to receive), charges in France will be much higher (typically
£1-1.50 a min, £1/min to receive). David's advice re getting French SIM card
with unlocked phone is good as call charges will be similar to UK rates, but
your phone number will obviously change. When you get one, ask the staff at
phone shop to help you register it (you'll probably need your passport). BTW
Orange and Vodafone have operations in both countries, but they are run
separately and you'll still be stung with high charges once you take the
phone out of the country.

Alec

Alec wrote:

    > BTW
    > Orange and Vodafone have operations in both countries, but they are run
    > separately and you'll still be stung with high charges once you take the
    > phone out of the country.

Indeed, the company I'm with, Orange UK, is a french company, but it
doesn't give cheaper rates when roaming in France...

David

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.co.uk
davidhorne (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

Alec wrote:

    > Most UK mobile companies offer payg that can be used in France, but don't
    > get Virgin as you can't use it in France without direct debit from UK bank
    > account. Others allow it, but make sure you top it up before you leave as it
    > will be difficult if not impossible to do so in France.
If you arrange with Orange to authorise use of a credit card, you can top
up from anywhere. I recently called Orange(UK)from abroad to top up my
phones. It needn't be a UK card - I used a US-issued MasterCard.