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SIM cards in France

Posted by (Illinois) on

I think I am finally down to the end of my questions.

Last year in Europe, I added an AT&T international plan for $30, only 200MB data plus $1/minute for calls. Service was iffy at best, data was mostly at 3G. Now it's $40. A quick Google search yesterday brought up Lycamobile. It looks like I could get a SIM card and an international plan that says it includes unlimited minutes to the US and 10GB data (4G or LTE, they say) for €25. The website also says unlimited national messaging, nothing about international. I would have to go to a store in France and buy it to avoid a €25 shipping charge for the SIM card. Sounds a lot cheaper than AT&T. My phones are unlocked so that's not an issue.

Anyway, whether Lycamobile or another company, does anyone have relatively recent experience with SIM cards and temporary calling plans in Europe? Seems like the plans change (usually improving) a lot almost every year.

Posted by
216 posts

I used Lycamobile last spring (May) in France... Paris, Bayeux and other parts of Normandy. I had no issues with signal in any of the places I traveled.
I DID have only a data plan, since I had no need for "recreational" calling to the USA. I'd bite the bullet and pay or use Facetime audio if the need was great enough.
I think I paid 15 or 20 euro for 1GB of data and unlimited messaging. Much better than the AT&T International Travel Plan I used for Italy in 2015 (and was not pleased/satisfied with)... the $30 per phone charge me 100MB of data.

It's easy enough to get the SIM (at least is was in Paris) once you find a place that has it. I could not find any at the train station when I arrived at Gare du Nord, so I just started wandering the neighborhood until I found a phone store. I sure could have used some data while I was searching. You can avoid that by searching before you go and seeing where the nearest phone store is.

By the way, my phone was unlocked when I used Lycamobile. It was not when I used the AT&T intl plan (that's kinda why i HAD to go that route in Italy)

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