Low cost prepaid calling in Germany and France?
 

I'll be in Germany ( 1 week) and France (2 weeks) next month and have an unlocked GSM quadband phone.

What is the best prepaid card for this trip? (Local calls only..I plan to use Skype for calls back to the US. )

Would separate card for each country be better than trying to keep the same phone number in both countries?

I'll be in Germany first, and from my browsing, it looks that the per minute rates in Germany are much better than the rates in France.

Would it make sense to keep a German card and roam in France. If not can someone recommend a card for my trip?

Thanks

Bill

For Germany I'd recommend Fonic, since their national and international rates are very cheap (€ 0.09/min to Germany and the US) and their SIM is quite widely available. For details check Germany - Fonic - Prepaid Wireless Internet Access

Roaming with a German SIM in France doesn't really make sense. You'd have to pay € 0.17/min for inbound calls and outbound calls would be more expensive than with a French SIM. In this posting I listed a couple of French MVNOs with cheap national and international rates. It seems like Mobiho (formerly "Primus Mobile") is the only one selling their SIMs offline (retailer search). Interestingly Mobiho has cheaper international rates than national ones.

I think Lebara Mobile could be a good solution for France.