Purchasing a Sim card at Nice airport

I dont' know about what's available at the Nice airport, but as for carriers - it's going to depend on where in France you are going. Orange has the broadest coverage, followed by SFR. LaPoste is supposed to also be okay. (You can buy a SIM at the post office). Bouygues is hit-or-miss on coverage, but less expensive. Virgin is the cheapest, but they have very few retail outlets for their SIM Cards (re-charge cards are easier to come by) and most people order over the internet. Do you want 20 minutes of calling within France, or are you going to use those minutes to call the US? Price will be different, and you need to make sure you get a pre-paid card that allows international calling.

Thanks, Dina. We will be in Nice, Provence (Menerbes, Carpentras, Aix-en-Provence, and Arles) and Paris. Perhaps Orange would give us the best coverage? We are planning to use the phone in France only. I guess if we needed to call the US we could put my US sim card back in our phone for a nice expensive call. I would say 20 minutes with the option to add additional minutes would be best. If I do add additional minutes do they come in certain increments or can I just choose the number of minutes? Can I add minutes at a local tabac? I imagine that one can do it through the phone but I also imagine instructions will be in French... not so good for me.

This past December, I purchased a SIM card in Europe for my unlocked phone. I bought one at T-Mobil for 10 Euros with a set amount of prepaid minutes (can't remember how many). My friend bought a Vodafone sim card. I made one phone call to the States, and in a few minutes my 10 Euros of prepaid minutes was gone. I put more minutes on that card at a gas station. I learned, obviously, that calls and texts to the States should be done with my other sim card that I use in the States. However, I avoided the juggling of SIM cards by taking another phone. I had arranged, previous to my departure, with my carrier (AT&T) to temporarily add an international calling plan. This allowed me to make calls for 99c/minute and texts were about 50c each with a max (can't remember how much). So, what I learned, was to use the international sim for only calls within the country. Hope this info helped. Have fun on your trip!

Kay, I'm assuming you mean an unlocked quad-band GSM Phone? The airport in Nice is somewhat smaller, so doesn't have the same range of shops that you'd find at a larger airport. You might have to wait until you get into the city to find a Cellphone shop (hopefully one where the staff can speak some English). If you want a working phone as soon as you step off the plane, you might consider using a "travel SIM" from Roam Simple, Cellular Abroad, Call In Europe, Telestial or Mobal. Most of these use postpaid billing, with calls charged to a credit card. Happy travels!

The RELAY convenience store at the airport will have SIM cards, but unless your French is adequate, I'd wait until I got into Nice. The instruction booklet with the SIM card will be in French and the voice prompts will be in French. Find a cell phone store in Nice where someone speaks English. He/she will be able to walk you through the basics. But you might be lucky. At a RELAY store at Charles de Gaulle airport, the clerk was extremely helpful. He helped me set up my phone number and add credit to the account (I got SFR).

Hi Bets, good to hear from you. I do need to check the two Gites in Provence to see if they have the phone on the premises. The description didn't say that they did but I should check anyway. The apartment were renting in Paris does not have a phone. We'll probably wait until we get into Nice to buy the Sim card. I have learned to say "my French is very a limited" in French, but that has to be the understatement of the year. We were able to get a Sim card at the Rome airport last year because (1) my husband speaks/understands a little Italian and (2) the woman selling the cards spoke excellent English. But I wouldn't want to count on my very inadequate French. In any case, I'm glad to see that you'll be able to get your Sim card at the Nice airport. I hope you have a great trip! My thanks to everyone for your help and advice.