French mobile phone.

January 17, 2009 2:53 AM

Is it possible to buy an inexpensive mobile phone in France along with a prepaid SIM card?
posted by Neiltupper to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

Yes, it is. I bought a prepaid SIM card at a phone shop at a train station, and you can buy cheap (less than 50 euros) phones at supermarkets (Carrefour and so on). There are doubtless other places you can go, but that is what I did.
posted by jacalata at 5:20 AM on January 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yes.

And, if you're coming from the US with a GSM phone (T-Mobile or AT&T), and call and ask, you can unlock your phone and just pop the SIM into that saving you the phone cost. I don't know if this is possible for you, but I figured I'd mention it.
posted by The Michael The at 6:42 AM on January 17, 2009

I live in the States, but travel to Europe sometimes. If you're just looking for a cheapish way to have a phone there, I've had good luck with Mobal.

They'll sell you a cheap phone that will work in Europe. Their phones come with a pay-as-you-go style plan with no contract. I've used them for several years now (using the same phone and # each time) and have had no complaints.
posted by kongg at 8:25 AM on January 17, 2009

(as a follow up to my own post above) I just went to the Mobal website, and it seems if you are visiting France only, a local SIM is probably the cheapest way to go. Mobal makes more sense if you are traveling to several different countries (like I do).

So disregard. It sounds like you are on the right path.
posted by kongg at 8:49 AM on January 17, 2009

I live in the UK but frequently travel to France - last week I bought an Orange SIM card for about EUR 20 (including EUR 5 credit). Cheap phones are as widely available as they are anywhere, you just have to make sure it's unlocked which isn't too difficult.
posted by altolinguistic at 10:41 AM on January 17, 2009