phone for France

If all you intend to do is make calls within France, just buy a cheap pay as you go phone when you get there. They often come with so many minutes to start out with, which might be all you need for your trip.

Thanks, Nancy. That may do the trick. I assume it's easy to find a place that sells phones. Our first stop is Paris, so I don't think we'll have a problem.

Barbara, As the first reply mentioned, using a phone purchased with a local cell networks usually provides the cheapest rates, especially for in-country calls. The cost of calls back to the U.S. or to other countries often depends on which plan you choose when you sign-up. However, if you plan on taking any "side trips" out of France, it may be problematic to top-up the phone at times. You could also have a look at the "travel phone" firms such as Cellular Abroad, Roam Simple, Call In Europe, Telestial, Mobal or TruPhone. They can provide just a SIM (for those that have their own unlocked quad-band GSM phone) or a basic phone as well. One advantage of using that approach is that you have a working phone as soon as you step off the plane, and with many of them there's no need to top-up as the billing is post-paid (calls charged to a credit card). Bon Voyage!

thanks for your reply Ken. Those are good suggestions, too, and I'll research them. As I stated at first, I'm not very tech-savvy, and don't know whether or not I have an unlocked GSM phone-guess I can check with my phone provider and find out if I do.-Barbara

Barbara, Whether or not you have quad-band GSM phones will depend on which cell network you're with and which model handset you're using. If you are using a GSM phone that will work in Europe, you can contact your network regarding getting it unlocked.