Unfortunately this is no longer practical for the reasons above, unless our new French friend wants to help us?

I already have my B&You SIM card, but I'm still willing to help others to get one.

I only exchange one as promised. The choice to officially only block FR people for this card is to be sure than you are a FR citizen. i think it is to avoid bad usages as drug/stolen objects traffic.

I only make one risk not more sorry.

You are honouring what you promised, no dispute about that. However, this is a community where sometimes we do favours for each other. If you are satisfied of the identity of the person for whom you are ordering a SIM card (e.g. from Facebook, LinkedIn etc), then you might want to reconsider whether they are a risk. You're under no obligation to help, so it's your decision.

Someone's offering these on eBay for 12.95 (with inflated postage - 5 EUR outside France), so if it's not possible from one of you, I might get one this way instead. But - pardon if this has been explained already - how do I recharge it within the first 30 days (from Germany or elsewhere outside F)?

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/121050583584?...84.m1423.l2649

It's the same chap I got mine from.

As for the top-up, you can use a Bouygues top-up voucher. To top up call 630 from France or +33-981-660-630 from elsewhere.

So it is. I jumped into this thread without reading all of it first.

Right, that's sort of my question. What's the best way to get a Bouygues top-up voucher or equivalent code from outside France?

i accept to give you code with fees if you want. PM me.

Thanks, willemijns, I'll let you know once it arrives. But are there any other options (such as online services, using a foreign provider's topup card) for topping up besides asking somebody who lives in France?

(My 500th post!)

i know one but i do not guarantee because you must type your phone number and the voucher name is "Bouygues Telecom" not "b&you"

if the number is refused, you can lose your 10€.

It looks like you can recharge it on the B&You website using a non-French credit card. I just did with a German Visa card, even though the address given is c/o the guy on eBay. (I haven't found out how to change this yet - and my date of birth is wrong too.)

For some reason the main site doesn't let you edit your address, but the mobile site does let you change it. However, despite successfully changing it from the delivery address to my UK address, B&You have changed it to the billing address entered by the person who ordered the card for me and every time I try to change it, it says "erreur interne : merci de réessayer ultérieurement". To enter a non-French address, the convention in France is to use postcode 99000.

Code Postal 99000. Ce code postal appartient a la ville Monaco du departement Monaco

My mistake, you're right. It should be 99 followed by a variety of three digit codes. For example the French postcode for the UK is 99132 and for Germany is 99109. 99 is the département code for "l'étranger". See Insee - COG - Pays et territoires étrangers

No, I was right. Monaco is 98000, and 99000 is the general French post code for "l'étranger", but it's also possible to use more specific last 3 digits as I wrote above.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_postal_en_France

There's someone in the Buy, Sell, Trade forum in France who wants to buy SIM cards from various countries. He even gives his Skype user ID. He might be willing to order a B&You SIM card in exchange for a SIM card from your own country.

Hi
I have a french address but because I do not have a french credit card it will not process my request.:confused:

FYI i now sell virtual credit card to buy yourself your b&you credit card (mandatory FR snail mail address of your side for SIM card reception), 6€ by "virement international" or 7€ paypal. contact me by PM

I have used one of willemijns' virtual credit cards to buy a second B&You SIM card, and I confirm it all worked very smoothly, despite B&You saying that you can't pay with an e-Carte Bleue. I even entered my French delivery address as the account address and the card transaction was still authorised. All that matters is the correct card number, 3-digit CVV and expiry date. Thanks for offering this to a wider audience.

is there any cheap way to solve the French delivery address problem?

Offering a 99109 postcode for Germany in my case is most likely not the solution.

How about sending it to my hotel address in France?

you can try... postal time is 2 or 3 postal days (monday-saturday) maximum after ordering.

And for those without an address, do you know any mail forwarding service? Like VIAddress for the USA, for example...

Ubidoca's Forfait Reexpedition Eco

French Office

Expect to pay around €10.

Thank you very much NFH!

Using TransCash debit card to order B&YOU sim
 

Has anyone bought the French TransCash debit card and used it to order and send a B&YOU sim to an address (even a hotel) in France?

scratch that, if you want a French card, you have to live in France. Plus costs $10 a month.

Thanks to willemijns who kindly provided me with a virtual credit card that I was able to use to purchase a B&You sim. Now, I just hope that it will arrive in the mail at my hotel and that they will keep it for me until I get there next week!

I received yesterday my B&You sim (and then began the number portability of my Orange mobicarte number), too, thanks to willemijns e-CB (thank you :D)

I also was able to top-up with my Italian credit card, but my bank called me to confirm what they called "a suspicious purchase" :rotfl:

Can't top up
 

I'm in France now. to get the card sent to my hotel, so it was here when I arrived.
The problem I have is that I get an error message when I try to top up using my US credit cards. The message says that something is not working on their website and that they're trying to fix it. I've gotten that message 2 days in a row. Does anybody know what this is about?

No idea, but as you're in France, just buy a Bouygues Telecom voucher from loads of shops - Tabacs, supermarkets, everywhere. You can then use the voucher number to top up your B&You balance by dialling 630.

yep never forget to DO NOT CHOOSE 5€ ticket, only 10€ and more ;)

I assume you mean the Bougyes recharge slips that you buy in the stores? The only ones I was able to buy were for 10€, anyway.

OK, FYI, here's my report on using the BandYou card.

I just got back from a trip to France a couple of days ago, and I used my BandYou SIM card quite a bit while I was there. I also had an Orange Mobicarte card I got because I was there a couple of days before I was able to pick up the BandYou card at my hotel.

The coverage on the BandYou card seemed comparable to the Orange SIM, more or less, at least in the Southwestern part of the country where I was. 4G coverage was sporadic and somewhat unpredictable.

I bought one Bougyes 10€ recharge and applied it using the 630 number. I bought another 10€ recharge to bring home with me. The one I brought home is good until October of 2014.

My plan is to recharge the account again within a year using the Bouyges recharge. I'm hoping that will extend the account for another year.

All-in-all, I think the BandYou card is a good option. The website is not too useful. It doesn't show any usage detail that I can find and the only recharge option on the website is by using a credit card. I tried to recharge using 2 different US credit cards, but was unable to to. The message I got said that they had a problem and were working on it. It would be nice to be able to recharge on the website using a US credit card, but that may never work.

The website also does not show what the account expiration date is, as far as I can determine.

Question: Does anybody know for sure if recharging the account will extend the expiration date? The only thing that I've read says that you need something billable to extend the date. I'm not absolutely sure that I will be able to use the card for roaming while in the US, so I don't know if I can create a billable event, other than by recharging. Does anybody have any thoughts about this?

It should roam fine in the US, in which case you can send a text message to extend validity (or load a page in your phone browser if data roaming works). Mine roams in Germany - in fact, I have never been in France with it, so it's unlikely to cause problems in the US (just remember to put it in a phone that works on the US frequencies).

I can't say about roaming in the US, but B&You cards roam just fine in Canada on all three incumbent networks (Rogers, Bell and Telus).

dunno in fact, i know i only ask 10€ recharge because this amount is the minimal asked to top-up. period.

> The coverage on the BandYou card seemed comparable to the Orange SIM, more or less,

officially less. that is a fact. in France BoT network is well-known to give priority to urban areas.

> 4G coverage was sporadic and somewhat unpredictable.

only 600 antennas / 11000 at the date of today.

> My plan is to recharge the account again within a year using the Bouyges recharge. I'm hoping that will extend the account for another year.

yes.

> The website also does not show what the account expiration date is, as far as I can determine.

SMS 30 days and 6 days before the end of validity (phone + money loss)

> Question: Does anybody know for sure if recharging the account will extend the expiration date? The only thing that I've read says that you need something billable to extend the date. I'm not absolutely sure that I will be able to use the card for roaming while in the US

i did it X weeks ago. no money loss.

www.willemijns.com/divers/b-and-you.htm?
Roaming/Accord d'itinérance: La liste officielle des pays accéssible en voix/SMS et DATA/MMS est lisible dans le "tarifs.pdf" de l'opérateur.
Lien bonus: Probablement les mêmes opérateurs que ceux proposé aux abonnés prépayés de Bouygues Télécom mais cela reste entièrement à confirmer !!! http://www.reseau.bouyguestelecom.fr...0fevr.2012.pdf
RAPPEL: La liste des pays du "tarifs.pdf" prime sur la liste du lien bonus.

Tethering supported?
 

This SIM looks ideal for my trips to France - no worries about expiry or using up credit.

Does anyone know if it can support tethering though? - I really need to be able to use my laptop via the personal hotspot on my iphone 4s. If not - can someone suggest an alternative SIM deal that would? Initially this would be for a 3 week trip.

But my question is, if I don't make any calls for a year, but I add money to the account just before expiration date, will the account be extended for another year? When you say 'X weeks ago', what does that mean?

the top-up action (only) is not considered as a method for delaying card expiration. you must call or send 1 SMS every 364 days minimum. period.