Hi Alan,
First of all, in order to use another provider's SIM in your phone, your phone has to be unlocked. Any phone you buy on contract is not unlocked, but I know for sure in Canada and I think also in the States, carriers now have to unlock your phone if your account is in good standing after a certain time period. Here in Canada that time period was just reduced to 90 days. That means that if you buy a subsidized phone on contract, after 3 months you can call the carrier and ask them to provide unlock instructions and once you have followed them you can put in somebody elses SIM. I bought my iPhone 4S directly from Apple at full price and factory unlocked so when I went to Thailand back in April it was super easy to get a SIM from a provider in Thailand and use it there. Yes, you will get a different phone number and it will be a phone number local to whatever country you are in, in my case it was a Thai phone number and in your case it will be a French phone number. Getting a local SIM is always preferable because roaming fees can totally kill. You often hear stories when somebody went to Europe and they were happily streaming music and videos and then they came home to a $5,000 bill from AT&T. When I went to Thailand the SIM Card cost me $4 and for another just over $20 I had 1 gig of prepaid data and a bunch of local phone minutes Most of the world including Europe and Asia is much more ahead when it comes to low-cost and prepaid phone and data services. In most of those countries you can get prepaid data which here in the USA and in Canada is not easy if at all possible. As soon as the carrier here know you have an iPhone they all see 2 year contracts and expensive plans. If you go to France I suggest you just google "using my iPhone in France" or "prepaid mobile phone service in France for visitors" and I'm sure you find good information. You can also do what I did and that is to write an email to Rob from the Today in iOS Podcast and ask if he could put the question out to his listeners. Then you have to listen to the next couple of episodes to see who called in with information. I did that for my trip to Thailand and had about 3 or 4 responses which rob read or played on the show and I had a good idea which carriers to avoid and which to look for. If that is something you want to do, the email is [email protected] and either way, it's a very good Podcast to listen to if you are interested in what's going on with Apple and iOS. Regards, Sieghard From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Alan Lemly Sent: Monday, June 10, 2013 8:01 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Mobile Phone Service and International Travel I've only been an iPhone user for about 4 months so please forgive the elementary nature of some of my questions. When I first joined this list, I remember reading a few posts about traveling to other countries with your mobile phone. The issue being discussed had to do with mobile plans and getting SIM cards in the visited country and not with charging of the device. Can someone please give an overview of how to use your iPhone in another country such as France when traveling? I assume the issue is that whoever is providing the mobile service in your home country is not in the visited country so fees can really run up. What I don't understand is how you get service at a more reasonable rate when traveling internationally by purchasing a SIM card in the host country. Does the type of card you get have anything to do with your current phone service provider as it seems to in this country? I wouldn't think so but I'm fishing here. Do you get a new phone number to use while traveling? Is there any way to use your current phone number and what about having access to your contacts? I'm really just looking for a primer on this issue so if anyone knows of a good website to direct me to, that would be great. Thanks in advance for any information on this topic. Alan Lemly -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. To search the VIPhone public archive, visit http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. To search the VIPhone public archive, visit http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
