iPad in France

July 5, 2010 2:45 PM

I've got a 3G iPad, and am going to France on holiday and want to be able to use the 3G whilst over there. Any ideas on where I can pick up a 3G sim card for use in France to avoid the roaming charges?
posted by lloyder to Travel & Transportation around France (5 answers total)

Following the links from the French Apple Store's iPad page, here are the pages for French iPad data plans: SFR, Orange. En français, bien sûr.
posted by mcwetboy at 2:59 PM on July 5, 2010

You can just walk into any Orange or SFR store and pick up a micro-SIM. You'll need your passport and a credit card. I'd recommend going into a real Orange/SFR store and not a third-party store if possible (the difference will be obvious: the real stores are really nice looking and only carry/sell their own stuff, whereas third-party stores sell plans/phones from all 3 carriers).
posted by helios at 3:25 PM on July 5, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks for the answer so far. Anyone know how I could get hold of one of these before i travel to France?
posted by lloyder at 4:15 AM on July 6, 2010

Best answer: Hopefully someone has a better answer than this, but I don't think it's going to be easy or worth the frustration. They don't seem to ship outside France, and there aren't any on sale at eBay. You could try calling Orange (their number is [phone]) as they are the provider that is more known to deal with "international" clients, and see if they can help you. But in my experience, customer service people in France are rarely flexible, and usually incapable of dealing with anything that's an edge case. You might be able to buy one at the airport upon arrival at a kiosk that sells mobile phones/recharges. Another possibility: if you're staying at a nice hotel, you might be able to convince them to have one shipped there so that it's ready when you arrive.
posted by helios at 2:21 PM on July 6, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks Helios, thought that may the situation.
posted by lloyder at 12:20 PM on July 7, 2010