"Unlimited" data-only SIM
 

Google shows this:

French sim card with unlimited data in France

$7 a day for "unlimited" data in France, no voice, on the SFR network (picture shows SFR packaging and I chatted with them and they confirmed SFR).

But each card only last 3 days so you have to buy in increments of 3 days.

Still a better deal than most prepaid data in France, unless you have to have voice.

Tempted to try it as I have a trip coming up in 2 weeks and hadn't thought about bothering to get a French SIM because there are no good values.

It's just an SFR data SIM plus a "Pass Internet 3G+ Illimité 24H + 24H offertes" recharge. :) (6€ per day)

OK but I didn't see that option anywhere on the SFR site or on these forums. Frankly, it seems to be a better deal than the Mobicarte. Actually, I'm paying $7 a day, which is less than 6 Euro a day. But you can't recharge it.

Oh well good to know. They said they will take care of activation.

Went ahead and ordered 2 SIMs for $42 total. That includes free shipping if you order 2 or more kits.

They ship out of Sweden! The guy I chatted with says 3-7 days to ship by post. They offer a UPS Express shipping option of 1-2 days for $30.

Their site redirects to some payment processor when you choose to pay by credit card (also Paypal is available). This is typical of overseas businesses. The $42 include VAT over there.

Uhm, I was wrong.
They exploit this offer on the activation of the sims:

http://www.sfr.fr/mobile/offres-deta...lus?vue=000mg0
That's why they send you lots of sims.

So it's about 10 Euro for 3 days unlimited.

Eh, not as good as Italy or the UK but better than Mobicarte isn't it?

The one recharge method they didn't mention was recharge with a slip. Am I correct that after day three you not only have to go through the registration stuff, but also basically need a French bank account to recharge it?

Or you could have a trip in France :p

So it's like the Free service which is only available to those with French bank accounts?

No, if you go to France, you can top-up there. But online you can use only French credit cards.

But the top ups for these have a very short duration right, like other Frech SIMs?

It's not like a TIM SIM which lasts 12 or 13 months since last activity?

Italian SIMs last longer than most European SIMs, mainly because nearly nobody has a subscription except professionals, etc. (long story). So the prepaid market is the main mobile market, while in most European countries the main market is made of subscriptions.

OK, so arrived and it seems to work fine. Good coverage more or less with SFR in a couple of the places I tried it. So as long as there's no secret cap or it gets throttled unexpectedly, this isn't a bad deal.

However, I forgot to pack the charge cable for my Huawei E585!

It looks to be a micro USB cable. Any ideas who might carry it in Cannes or Nice or one of the cities along the coast?

Maybe a FNAC in one of the cities? Or did a mobile operator in France sell the Huawei E585 like other operators in other countries did?

Any phone or electronics store should have those cables.

wco81 -

Can you update us on the cards? Did they work as intended during your stay? This seems like the best bet for me.

Yes it worked fine, though the hotel in Cannes that I stayed, it was hard to get good reception. On the same street, the reception was decent but in the building itself, which is behind walls to the street, it didn't work that well except once or twice and I think I measured around 2 Mbps down.

But I was on an hour train ride and for most of that ride, it worked well, going along small coastal towns between Cannes and Monaco.

Obviously didn't come close to testing the bandwidth limits because of the poor reception at the hotel, which also had really show Wifi. I would have used it at the hotel more if I could.

I'd be willing to get it again if I'm going to France, because SFR is suppose to be a major carrier. I would guess the reception would be better in bigger cities. Hopefully some other options come along in France.

Another update from France - the kit is available at local SFR stores as well for EUR9.95 - I got a "KIT PRET A SURFER Apple iPad", put the SIM card into a Huawei wifi puck and got three full days of HSPUA data.

The average download rates were good, in the 3-4Mbit per second range. Uploads were quite slow, but what can you expect for less than EUR3.32/day?!

Was it a hassle to get? Like did it take time to activate or did it work right away?

Some SFR shops have some waiting, where you have to take a number.

Is it really unlimited?

Hmm, found this and it looks like there are limits:

KIT PRÊT À SURFER IPAD - La Carte - SFR

No hassle whatsoever. I went into the store, got a ticket from the machine, had to wait no more than ten minutes before an agent became available.

Can't say for sure if there's a delay in activation. I got the SIM card around lunch time and only got to use it in the evening when I got back to my hotel room.

I also have no clue whether it is 'truly unlimited'. My usage was about 500MB the first day, 2.5GB the second one and about 1GB the third (kids and youtube - duh). No warning texts were received nor did we notice any slowdown during this time.

I'm not sure if this is common practice, but the shop registered my details with SFR thus eliminating the need to mail out the registration form.

Word of warning: make sure you have a micro to mini SIM adapter as they only had iPad packs available for sale.

Hmm, that's interesting. Holidayphone.com sent me full-sized SFR SIMs, not mini or micro.

If this is a kit for iPad, I guess it would be a micro. And now, Apple is starting to use nano-SIMs so that may be what they stock next.

Those won't be so easy to use in Mifis, which still take standard SIMs.

An update on the SFR data SIM.

The new SIM cards come with a 15day 200MB data pack preactivated and a top-up voucher for 72 hour unlimited access. The voucher can only be loaded by calling a 0811 premium rate number from another phone.

Other than that, performance is great.

No online topup?

How much is that card again, 6 Euro?

Not for the 72 hour unlimited voucher. You can buy other denominations, but the costs are much higher.

The card is EUR9.90 including VAT.

Offres Internet Nomad pr&eacute ?

you begin with 10€ with 2 days unlimited.