US phone AT&T international plan, how to make local calls while in Paris France

You might be paying AT&T but you will be on an Orange, FREE, SFR, or Bouygue network and from one of those networks you´ll make local calls just the same as anyone else; dialing a 10 digit number that starts with 0.

However, perhaps a better approach would be to use the international dialing format for France, +33 followed by the last 9 digits of the local number, omitting the leading 0. Dialing and saving numbers this way will automatically connect you no matter from where you are dialing.

Save US number as +1, area code, 7 digit local exchange.

The problem with saying "make local calls just the same as anyone else" is that the OP (and I) don't know how to make a local call in France. Actually when I was in Paris and got a SIM card at the Boutique Orange store in the shopping mall at Montparnasse, the clerk was unwilling to explain to me how to make a local call. Another customer, a young man from somewhere in Asia, was kind enough to explain it to me.

OP (and I) don't know how to make a local call in France.

Sure you do. Dial the required 10 digits, 0 always being the first digit, and press the talk button.

When you are in France with a US phone (with a US SIM anyway), you call France as if you were calling from the US. And you make calls to US numbers like you were in the US. At least, that's how it was with my T-Mobile phone used in Europe.

For example, to call the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome (where I stayed a few years ago for free with a credit card award - wow!), you'd dial +33 1 58 71 12 34 with your AT&T phone. + is the international access code, 33 is the country code. (To get the +, hold down the 0 key on the phone, even on a smart phone.) To call the Grand Hyatt Seattle at home to ask about the toothbrush you think you left there, call 206 774 1234 (no need to add the +1 with your AT&T phone).

If you instead bought an Orange SIM card in Paris to use in your unlocked phone...then French calls are "local" and you would call French numbers without the country code...though it seems you need to add a 0 in front. So to call the Hyatt Vendome you'd call 0 1 58 71 12 34 . To call the Hyatt Seattle from Paris, you're making an international call - so add the +1 country code for the US and dial +1 206 774 1234.

The + and the 00 or 011 (international access code) at the front are the same thing - but modern convention is to use the + (not possible on an old rotary phone), so almost all European phone numbers you see written out have the + and the country code in front of them.

Where are the Orange sim cards sold? I don't want to have to register it for a residence. I will not be in Paris. I have an unlocked phone. Thanks.

Denise, do you mean "where are they sold online" or "where in France?" Supposedly, you need to be in France to register a French SIM card with a passport (a requirement in many European countries but not all). I have seen Orange SIM cards on Amazon that claimed to have the ability to be activated without being in France, but I'm skeptical. (Plus they were really overpriced.)

If you mean "where in France?," Orange has mobile stores in France like Verizon and AT&T have mobile stores in the US - you can just buy an Orange SIM there at an Orange mobile store, once you get to France.