Mobile 'Phone Costs

I%26#39;ve just moved to Paris and on initial viewing it seems that pay as you go tariffs are very expensive. Can anyone give me some advice? I will be using the %26#39;phone for local calls only. Thank you.

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sf go to the rain coat topic. we are looking for your reply

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Britain%26#39;s Carphone Warehouse does exist here too, under the (more French sounding? ) name of %26quot;The Phone House%26quot;. They are all over the place in Paris, and, as in the UK, are quite useful for newbies since they carry these leaflets that compare the different tariffs and subscriptions between themselves. It is right that pay as you go is quite expensive here, but you get basic %26quot;mini-forfaits%26quot; that start at 30 mn, so it won%26#39;t set you back more than 10-15 euros or so a month. Plus, as you know, the handset itself is virtually free with subscriptions, whereas you have to pay for it in pay as you go. As a rule of thumb, of the different mobile phone companies, Bouygues Telecom is the cheapest - and as good as any other one.

There is also a comparison service on the web: www.comparatel.fr or.com

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does anybody know the secret to using my French cel phone in Italy? I bought alot of Euros worth of time on the phone (Orange Plan) when I was docked in Corsica, and I%26#39;ve been trying to use them since I arrived in Italy, to no avail. I understood that the Euros I put onto the phone would work for all of Europe. I%26#39;m trying to dial the U.S., just like I did from France....in other words: 001, then the area code and number. I just get a few beeps and then a disconnect. ??? Also cannot dial local calls in Italy either. HELP!!

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I have a subscription GSM phone with Orange and they told me I had to request to have the international calling feature %26quot;activated%26quot; (at no cost) to use the phone outside France. I haven%26#39;t done it yet.

Also, SFR and Bouygues don%26#39;t have GSM networks and most of Italy is GSM. Orange is GSM. Could that be the problem?

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OOPS, I forgot to finish the sentence %26quot;Orange is GSM but they still sell phones for their RC2000 network which won%26#39;t work at all in Italy.%26quot;

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I am not sure about the fact SFR is not GSM. When I was using my Canadian GSM phone with mu Canadian SIM card in it, I could use it in France and Italy without problems (and the network I was connected to in France was SFR).

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Yeah I noticed that too. When I was on the EuroStar north of Paris last winter, my [US T-Mobile] GSM phone switched back and forth between SFR and Orange, then came up VodaPhone when we came out of the tunnel in England.

I suspect that all the phone companies are migrating to GSM. it%26#39;s gradually (and quietly) happening in the US.