Buying a SIM card in France for a months visit?

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Eddiex

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I will be travelling around France for 5 weeks in May. I'm a little confused as to the best way to approach the 'data cap' issue when roaming in France.

I have read on here about buying a PAYG sim in France and on arrival, pop it into my phone and use that until I need to top it up again or return here to the UK and put my current UK one back in the phone. Is it as simple as that or are there downsides that make this idea not such a good idea?

For reference - I won't be streaming TV at all, but will use data on my phone for searching for areas of interest to visit and internet access by hot spotting my phone to a laptop for reading the news, journey planning and reading forums.

I have no idea how much data that kind of 'limited use' would be needed?

Currently with Smarty on a monthly rolling contract that is capped at 12mb per month in the EU.

My thoughts are that a French PAYG sim might be all I need?

Thanks
 
If you are not streaming you will probably get by with what you have, you will probably only use a couple of GB a week.
Best not to hotspot to a laptop just read on your phone. Mobile sites on your phone use far less data than the desktop site on your laptop.
 
All the time you have the SIM in your phone you will not be able to receive and calls or texts using you own phone number. Best to buy a Mifi unit and use that with your French SIM. You can then log into the Mifi with phone or laptop just as you would with your wifi router at home. If you get a Mifi unit with aerial ports you will be able to buy a mobile signal aerial, which will improve your signal.

I have a Huawei mifi which is connected to an aerial that is permanently mounted on the roof and it works well. You can buy cheaper temporary aerials.
 
Lenny HB said:
If you are not streaming you will probably get by with what you have, you will probably only use a couple of GB a week.
Best not to hotspot to a laptop just read on your phone. Mobile sites on your phone use far less data than the desktop site on your laptop.
Click to expand...
Thanks - I am a light user generally and we have 2 phones on different contracts that would both have a 12gb cap so that might work for us.

Top tip about data usage on mobile site versus desktop sites - something I hadn't considered!

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peterc10 said:
All the time you have the SIM in your phone you will not be able to receive and calls or texts using you own phone number. Best to buy a Mifi unit and use that with your French SIM. You can then log into the Mifi with phone or laptop just as you would with your wifi router at home. If you get a Mifi unit with aerial ports you will be able to buy a mobile signal aerial, which will improve your signal.

I have a Huawei mifi which is connected to an aerial that is permanently mounted on the roof and it works well. You can buy cheaper temporary aerials.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I know there are loads of threads on this subject but at the risk of being a bore! Which Huawei unit do you have?
I don't think I want a permanent aerial but if a cheaper temporary one will work that might be an option.
 
peterc10 said:
Sorry for the delay, but I had to go out to the motorhome to check. It's a Huawei E5577C.
Click to expand...
Great - many thanks for checking. Looks like that would do the job and won't break the bank!
 
O2 currently dont have any roaming charges. Think its capped at about 25gb when abroad so you could get a UK payg sim before you leave
 
For me the problem getting a Sim card when I arrive in France is my total lack of French language skills. I would need to know exactly what I needed.

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Both our phones have roaming, and though capped are adequate for our use. Browsing, email etc. We do not feel any need to stream TV when away
 
Reallyretired said:
Both our phones have roaming, and though capped are adequate for our use. Browsing, email etc. We do not feel any need to stream TV when away
Click to expand...
Trouble is you get spoilt our 6 week trip last Oct/Nov we used 110GB on our sim in the Mifi plus a few GB on our phones.
 
Aly1 said:
For me the problem getting a Sim card when I arrive in France is my total lack of French language skills. I would need to know exactly what I needed.
Click to expand...
I'm ok with speaking French, it's the interminable waiting in French mobile phone shops that does for me!
 
peterc10 said:
All the time you have the SIM in your phone you will not be able to receive and calls or texts using you own phone number. Best to buy a Mifi unit and use that with your French SIM. You can then log into the Mifi with phone or laptop just as you would with your wifi router at home. If you get a Mifi unit with aerial ports you will be able to buy a mobile signal aerial, which will improve your signal.

I have a Huawei mifi which is connected to an aerial that is permanently mounted on the roof and it works well. You can buy cheaper temporary aerials.
Click to expand...
you can if you have a dual SIM phone:giggle:

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Eddiex said:
Thanks - I am a light user generally and we have 2 phones on different contracts that would both have a 12gb cap so that might work for us.

Top tip about data usage on mobile site versus desktop sites - something I hadn't considered!
Click to expand...
Also make sure as many as possible auto updates of apps etc are turned off - these can hammer your roaming data if you get caught out.
 
Having read this I'm being tempted with a mifi unit!

The Huawei E5577C mentioned above seems to hard to track down. Can anyone recommend a, not too expensive, mifi unit with the ability to add a simple magnetic aerial (or would I be OK with the internal aerial)?
 
Aly1 said:
For me the problem getting a Sim card when I arrive in France is my total lack of French language skills. I would need to know exactly what I needed.
Click to expand...
Simple before you leave print out using a translator app just what you want in French and English and show it to the sales assistant. A smile and Bonjour goes a long way
 
Bessy765 said:
Simple before you leave print out using a translator app just what you want in French and English and show it to the sales assistant. A smile and Bonjour goes a long way
Click to expand...
No need for that, just point and shout loudly so they understand usually does the trick:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
A few questions regarding buying a data only SIM in France for use in France, Spain and Portugal. The objective is to avoid paying roaming charges as we’d want a lot of data so we won’t have to keep worrying about it.

1. Can we buy a data only SIM in France without a French address?
2. If yes to the above would it work throughout Europe?
3. Has anyone had this experience and would they recommend it?
4. If yes to the above which company would you recommend?

Many thanks

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Billylou said:
A few questions regarding buying a data only SIM in France for use in France, Spain and Portugal. The objective is to avoid paying roaming charges as we’d want a lot of data so we won’t have to keep worrying about it.

1. Can we buy a data only SIM in France without a French address?
2. If yes to the above would it work throughout Europe?
3. Has anyone had this experience and would they recommend it?
4. If yes to the above which company would you recommend?

Many thanks
Click to expand...
Why data only. All sims will work.

You may also want to know how easy it is to stop/end it, when it’s no longer required
 
Landy Andy said:
Why data only. All sims will work.

You may also want to know how easy it is to stop/end it, when it’s no longer required
Click to expand...
Many thanks
I should of said for use in our MiFi.
 
We have been in France for a couple of months and have used Lebara, you can get the sim from Tabacs or small shops. The sim is free, just put in your phone and add some money, you can see the site in English and it works well. You can’t use it as a hotspot or in a mifi only on the phone. There are various packages I think outs was €10 for 40gb and unlimited local and 50 minutes international. We to have 3 but will be changing next week when we return because of their £2.00 per day charge whilst abroad which starts tomorrow.
 
Do PAYG sims have a data limit abroad, as your paying upfront

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Eddiex said:
I will be travelling around France for 5 weeks in May. I'm a little confused as to the best way to approach the 'data cap' issue when roaming in France.

I have read on here about buying a PAYG sim in France and on arrival, pop it into my phone and use that until I need to top it up again or return here to the UK and put my current UK one back in the phone. Is it as simple as that or are there downsides that make this idea not such a good idea?

For reference - I won't be streaming TV at all, but will use data on my phone for searching for areas of interest to visit and internet access by hot spotting my phone to a laptop for reading the news, journey planning and reading forums.

I have no idea how much data that kind of 'limited use' would be needed?

Currently with Smarty on a monthly rolling contract that is capped at 12mb per month in the EU.

My thoughts are that a French PAYG sim might be all I need?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I’ve been travelling through France, Portugal and Spain for nearly 8 weeks using Smarty which allows 12 GB of roaming and had no problems.
 
I have just had a dreadful time in France with a 3 sim in my Huawei mifi - got cut off twice - and struggled with their complaints, as I had to use my O2 phone to get through to them!
Am trying a Spanish Sim now - but of a faff getting it to Uk and registering etc, but it’s up and running and we will see how it goes in Uk this weekend
http://SIMCARDSPAIN.COM
Have been great - walked me through the process
 
I was in Tesco the other day and they have a sim only deal £30.00 for a 100gb and that covers roaming in Europe with no fair usage which I thought was quite good as last year I used smarty and only received half my allowance due to the fair usage. I plan to get one for my mifi so I can watch the tour de France while wait for them on the route.
 
We are going to France soon. We have a Huawei mifi with a smarty SIM card. Will it work straight away or do we have to change any settings ie roaming. If so how do we do this with no keypad or screen?

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