Question asked & answered; I can't understand! Cell phones in France?
June 11, 2013 10:07 AM Subscribe
I know this question has been asked many times, but I cannot understand the answers! They use terms like CDMA and other stuff that I don't get. I am an old woman (53) who thinks she's tech savvy, but is not really.
Going to France for 10 days with teen daughter. We have T-Mobile (we're still on the old service plan, have not converted to no-plan yet). She's addicted to her smart phone. I used to have one, but it was stolen so for now I'm just using a little, old flip phone.
I'm been told we can't use our phones in Europe. To just go and buy a "throwaway" phone when we arrive. Do we put our existing sim cards in these phones? How much should I expect to pay for this type of phone? And the minutes/service?
Can my daughter use her existing smartphone over there for emails and getting online even if she's not using it for voice calls?
I'm afraid to ask T-Mobile about all this: they'll probably convince me that I have to pay some huge fee to do anything.
Please tell me, like a 5-year-old, what to do when we get off the plane! Thanks.
Going to France for 10 days with teen daughter. We have T-Mobile (we're still on the old service plan, have not converted to no-plan yet). She's addicted to her smart phone. I used to have one, but it was stolen so for now I'm just using a little, old flip phone.
I'm been told we can't use our phones in Europe. To just go and buy a "throwaway" phone when we arrive. Do we put our existing sim cards in these phones? How much should I expect to pay for this type of phone? And the minutes/service?
Can my daughter use her existing smartphone over there for emails and getting online even if she's not using it for voice calls?
I'm afraid to ask T-Mobile about all this: they'll probably convince me that I have to pay some huge fee to do anything.
Please tell me, like a 5-year-old, what to do when we get off the plane! Thanks.
Eight years ago, when I moved to London, the thing to do was to go to one of the chain mobile phone stores and buy a basic mobile phone for something like ten pounds activated, and that had a good pay-as-you-go plan for minutes / texts. IF your phone is unlocked and can work with the mobile phone system over there, you won't even need to buy the basic phone.
posted by gauche at 10:17 AM on June 11, 2013
posted by gauche at 10:17 AM on June 11, 2013
Your daughter's phone will be able to get online for email, etc., on a WiFi network even without a French SIM.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:32 AM on June 11, 2013
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:32 AM on June 11, 2013
I went to France last month and purchased a special smartphone that was compatible with French networks for the duration of my trip. It was a HTC Explorer and it cost about $75 from Amazon. You can get a similar phone by searching for a "Quad-Band" phone. MyWorldPhone.com is another site where you can shop for quad-band phones but I do not know how reputable they are.
Your daughter can use her smartphone on WiFi, but if she tries to connect to a cellular network, it will either fail to connect, or else she will get charged very high roaming charges by her at-home phone company. She should check and see if her phone is quad-band compatible (900 and 1800 are the bands used in France).
If you purchase a compatible phone and/or if you determine that your daughter's phone is compatible with the 900 and 1800 bands, the first thing you want to do is to go to a cellular phone store (Orange is the one I went to, there is one in every neighborhood) and purchase a SIM card. Make sure you get one with a data plan. The word for data is "données". Also, "gigaoctée" is the word for gigabytes. The one I purchased had about 500GB and it cost, I don't remember exactly, but it was about 25-35 Euro. They will install it in your phone if you ask, and then there is a process to activate it (you dial some numbers from the phone and it sends you a text once you are activated). You can then go on the Orange website to add more minutes/data usage to your card if you need to refill it. I was there for 3 weeks and did not need to refill it, so you will probably not need to.
When you are in the cell phone store, see if you can get a representative who speaks English. My husband and I are at an advanced intermediate level in French, but we still had difficulty in the Orange store because the representative used a lot of technical terms, plus she either had an accent or just mumbled badly. The process to activate the card is a bit complicated and not extremely well documented, and you might need help getting walked through it.
One word of advice: you might get a phone number that was previously used by someone else, so don't be surprised if you get some weird calls and/or texts. Somehow I started getting really lame (but family-friendly) "joke of the day" texts every day around 10:30am.
posted by matildaben at 11:36 AM on June 11, 2013
Your daughter can use her smartphone on WiFi, but if she tries to connect to a cellular network, it will either fail to connect, or else she will get charged very high roaming charges by her at-home phone company. She should check and see if her phone is quad-band compatible (900 and 1800 are the bands used in France).
If you purchase a compatible phone and/or if you determine that your daughter's phone is compatible with the 900 and 1800 bands, the first thing you want to do is to go to a cellular phone store (Orange is the one I went to, there is one in every neighborhood) and purchase a SIM card. Make sure you get one with a data plan. The word for data is "données". Also, "gigaoctée" is the word for gigabytes. The one I purchased had about 500GB and it cost, I don't remember exactly, but it was about 25-35 Euro. They will install it in your phone if you ask, and then there is a process to activate it (you dial some numbers from the phone and it sends you a text once you are activated). You can then go on the Orange website to add more minutes/data usage to your card if you need to refill it. I was there for 3 weeks and did not need to refill it, so you will probably not need to.
When you are in the cell phone store, see if you can get a representative who speaks English. My husband and I are at an advanced intermediate level in French, but we still had difficulty in the Orange store because the representative used a lot of technical terms, plus she either had an accent or just mumbled badly. The process to activate the card is a bit complicated and not extremely well documented, and you might need help getting walked through it.
One word of advice: you might get a phone number that was previously used by someone else, so don't be surprised if you get some weird calls and/or texts. Somehow I started getting really lame (but family-friendly) "joke of the day" texts every day around 10:30am.
posted by matildaben at 11:36 AM on June 11, 2013
No idea about the specifics of France, but to expand on zippy's answer above: A working mobile phone has two conceptual parts, the phone handset hardware, and the SIM card.
The hardware includes cellular radio(s) that use one of two major standards, CDMA or GSM. (These are two different ways of squeezing a lot of different calls into a limited amount of radio frequencies available. More importantly, they are mutually exclusive - you can only use one at a time.) Within each standard, there are different frequencies, so for example not all GSM phones can use all the available bands.
The SIM card is a tiny chip that carries the phone number itself. Think of it as a (transferable) license plate for your phone, that identifies itself to the network as "I am Primate Moon's phone". Further complicating the story, CDMA phones have their (conceptual) SIM card built in, so that they aren't transferable at all. But new generation CDMA smartphones also have a GSM radio built in, with an empty SIM slot.
So what you need to know is -
* What standard are you going to be using? In France, that's GSM.
* Is your phone capable of using that standard? Even if it is a CDMA phone, if it is new enough, it might have a GSM capability. If yes...
* Can you access the right GSM bands? If yes, just buy a SIM card and pop it in!
If you said no to any of the above, you're better off using a disposable phone. I'd be wary of international roaming except for very limited use.
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:41 AM on June 11, 2013
The hardware includes cellular radio(s) that use one of two major standards, CDMA or GSM. (These are two different ways of squeezing a lot of different calls into a limited amount of radio frequencies available. More importantly, they are mutually exclusive - you can only use one at a time.) Within each standard, there are different frequencies, so for example not all GSM phones can use all the available bands.
The SIM card is a tiny chip that carries the phone number itself. Think of it as a (transferable) license plate for your phone, that identifies itself to the network as "I am Primate Moon's phone". Further complicating the story, CDMA phones have their (conceptual) SIM card built in, so that they aren't transferable at all. But new generation CDMA smartphones also have a GSM radio built in, with an empty SIM slot.
So what you need to know is -
* What standard are you going to be using? In France, that's GSM.
* Is your phone capable of using that standard? Even if it is a CDMA phone, if it is new enough, it might have a GSM capability. If yes...
* Can you access the right GSM bands? If yes, just buy a SIM card and pop it in!
If you said no to any of the above, you're better off using a disposable phone. I'd be wary of international roaming except for very limited use.
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:41 AM on June 11, 2013
If you post the make and model of your phone and your daughter's phone, we can check the compatibility with France's networks.
posted by zippy at 11:48 AM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by zippy at 11:48 AM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
International roaming is quite expensive. AT&T charges $1.25/minute for roaming in Europe ("only" $1/minute if you buy a $5/month international plan). T-Mobile should be able to tell you their roaming charges. However, for only occasional use, it might be cheaper to pay roaming charges than to buy a pay-as-you-go phone.
If your phone will work in France, and you're thinking of buying a French SIM, check to see whether the phone is carrier locked. When you bought it, it would have been set up to work only on T-Mobile's network. Your contract probably requires them to unlock it after you've owned it for a certain period (after you've basically paid back their up-front investment in the phone, which they sold to you below cost), so if it is locked, get them to unlock it.
In Europe, making calls with a pay-as-you-go phone is reasonably expensive; the exact cost depends on which carrier and how many minutes you buy at a time, but it works out to around 50 centimes/minute for making calls. Receiving calls is free (unlike in the US), but the person who calls you pays more to call a mobile than a land line. If someone in the US calls you on a French mobile phone, the person in the US will pay much more per minute than if they call you on a land line, though there are services that offer relatively cheap calling rates to overseas mobiles. Skype out pay-as-you-go, for instance, charges 2.3 cents/minute to French landlines, but 20.9 cents/minute for calls to French mobiles.
I'm not sure about data for smartphones, since when I'm in France I use an old unlocked RAZR.
posted by brianogilvie at 11:55 AM on June 11, 2013
If your phone will work in France, and you're thinking of buying a French SIM, check to see whether the phone is carrier locked. When you bought it, it would have been set up to work only on T-Mobile's network. Your contract probably requires them to unlock it after you've owned it for a certain period (after you've basically paid back their up-front investment in the phone, which they sold to you below cost), so if it is locked, get them to unlock it.
In Europe, making calls with a pay-as-you-go phone is reasonably expensive; the exact cost depends on which carrier and how many minutes you buy at a time, but it works out to around 50 centimes/minute for making calls. Receiving calls is free (unlike in the US), but the person who calls you pays more to call a mobile than a land line. If someone in the US calls you on a French mobile phone, the person in the US will pay much more per minute than if they call you on a land line, though there are services that offer relatively cheap calling rates to overseas mobiles. Skype out pay-as-you-go, for instance, charges 2.3 cents/minute to French landlines, but 20.9 cents/minute for calls to French mobiles.
I'm not sure about data for smartphones, since when I'm in France I use an old unlocked RAZR.
posted by brianogilvie at 11:55 AM on June 11, 2013
France & wireless: You can get free wireless at (and outside) almost every location of McDonalds, Quick, and Starbucks. The Paris city buildings and parks have lots and lots of wireless. One time during a picnic with a couchsurfer in the Champ de Mars we called her mother in Brazil with the Eiffel Tower in the background and mom nearly cried. It was so cute.
France & vulnerable smartphones: France is a pretty safe country. BUT pickpocketing and theft are problems especially in Paris and Marseille. Noticing the "addicted to her smartphone" comment I gotta add
- don't use the smartphone if you are sitting near the exit of the metro; people will grab-and-go as the doors close
- don't put the smartphone on the table at the cafe or restaurant, even indoors but especially not on the sidewalk. people come by, distract you, cover it with something, then it is gone.
- don't put the phone in an open bag or pocket. Zip it, bury it, and make it inaccessible.
posted by whatzit at 12:18 PM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
France & vulnerable smartphones: France is a pretty safe country. BUT pickpocketing and theft are problems especially in Paris and Marseille. Noticing the "addicted to her smartphone" comment I gotta add
- don't use the smartphone if you are sitting near the exit of the metro; people will grab-and-go as the doors close
- don't put the smartphone on the table at the cafe or restaurant, even indoors but especially not on the sidewalk. people come by, distract you, cover it with something, then it is gone.
- don't put the phone in an open bag or pocket. Zip it, bury it, and make it inaccessible.
posted by whatzit at 12:18 PM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
1) DEFINITELY yoink the sim card from her phone before you go...unless you want her buying you a new mortgage. kids these days....
2) Give her the job of figuring this out...teens know how to connect technology like water knows how to run downhill.
3) Check out either google talk or skype for VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol....basicially 'calls over the internet' ...usually over WiFi.) It will be limited to wherever you can find internet, but will also be your cheapest option...
posted by sexyrobot at 12:37 PM on June 11, 2013
2) Give her the job of figuring this out...teens know how to connect technology like water knows how to run downhill.
3) Check out either google talk or skype for VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol....basicially 'calls over the internet' ...usually over WiFi.) It will be limited to wherever you can find internet, but will also be your cheapest option...
posted by sexyrobot at 12:37 PM on June 11, 2013
What zippy said: if you tell us the make/model of her phone and the amount of time she's had it, then we can better judge whether it supports French GSM frequencies (for both calls and data) and whether it can be unlocked.
posted by holgate at 1:05 PM on June 11, 2013
posted by holgate at 1:05 PM on June 11, 2013
Response by poster: Her phone is a Samsung Exhibit 4G. Mine is a Samsung STH-T139.
posted by primate moon at 3:17 PM on June 11, 2013
posted by primate moon at 3:17 PM on June 11, 2013
Response by poster: Oh, and she's had her phone about a year.
posted by primate moon at 3:18 PM on June 11, 2013
posted by primate moon at 3:18 PM on June 11, 2013
According to this page, France uses GSM bands 900 and 1800 for voice, 900 and 2100 for data.
T-Mobile's specs page for the Samsung Galaxy Exhibit 4G points to the official manufacturer site, which has the phone's manual on-line (pdf).
The manual says this is a quad-band phone, which means it will work in France. To use it, you may need to ask T-Mobile customer support for the SIM unlock procedure. Tell them you are travelling internationally. They should give you a few steps and a code to use. This will allow you to pop in a new SIM when you get to France.
posted by zippy at 3:36 PM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
T-Mobile's specs page for the Samsung Galaxy Exhibit 4G points to the official manufacturer site, which has the phone's manual on-line (pdf).
The manual says this is a quad-band phone, which means it will work in France. To use it, you may need to ask T-Mobile customer support for the SIM unlock procedure. Tell them you are travelling internationally. They should give you a few steps and a code to use. This will allow you to pop in a new SIM when you get to France.
posted by zippy at 3:36 PM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
According to this entry on PhoneArena, the Samsung SGH-T139 (couldn't find an STH-T139) is a dual-band phone, on the wrong two bands for France, so it won't work there.
posted by zippy at 3:43 PM on June 11, 2013
posted by zippy at 3:43 PM on June 11, 2013
If you decide to let your daughter bring her phone and use it on Wifi, make sure she doesn't "accidentally" use the cell phone network and rack up huge roaming bills.
posted by radioamy at 4:04 PM on June 11, 2013
posted by radioamy at 4:04 PM on June 11, 2013
Response by poster: You guys! Especially Zippy! You're all great. Thanks so much.
posted by primate moon at 4:29 PM on June 11, 2013
posted by primate moon at 4:29 PM on June 11, 2013
For your daughter's phone, here are some articles and Flyertalk forum discussions on PAYG SIM options in France. You'll want a plan with data. I'd recommend a decent allocation here. Say 200MB/day if she's a heavy maps and music user.
posted by zippy at 10:10 PM on June 11, 2013
posted by zippy at 10:10 PM on June 11, 2013
Response by poster: I assume nobody is going to be checking back on this question, but I thought I'd just y'all know that I have and am back from France, took your advice, and all was well--and easy. Thanks so much for all the very clear and thoughtful suggestions. Merci, mefites!
posted by primate moon at 3:52 PM on July 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by primate moon at 3:52 PM on July 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
France and most of the world use GSM, however the US uses oddball frequencies for our GSM network and some phones sold here do not use all of the frequencies that are used in Europe. This I think is more a factor with smartphone data than with calls, but I'm not sure. Someone with more knowledge about France and T-Mobile phones can suss this out.
But ... you can search the internet and see if your particular phone is compatible with the networks in France. If so, then you can buy a "pay as you go" (PAYG) SIM card once you arrive in France, pop it in the SIM slot in your phone, and you will be able to make phone and receive phone calls at a reasonable rate that locals pay, rather than a more expensive international roaming rate.
posted by zippy at 10:13 AM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]