B&YOU: carte prépayée

[willydat]

the same guy has opened a new auction:

eBay | B&YOU Sim Card with 15 min airtime credit - BRAND NEW - AVOID ROAMING FEES

price has risen to eur 19,95, (still free shipping) and he says one sim per ebay-member.

[NFH]

French Office came back to me about the limit of 5 names per mailbox and said that each additional name would cost €5. I replied that this was disproportionate, given that we are paying only €3.50 per SIM card (excluding credit) and there is no increased cost to them of an additional name when each name will receive only one item. They still don't get the point. Our best bet is a private address in France.

Originally Posted by NFH

LeFrenchMobile is a total rip-off, targeted at foreigners. First, you have to pay €1.40 per month, even if you don't use it, which makes it unsuitable for occasional visitors to France. Second, data is charged between €0.13 and €0.30 per megabyte (depending on which bundle you buy), compared to B&You's flat rate of €0.05/MB. I really don't understand why you posted information about such an expensive operator, unless your post is disguised spam (which you have also posted in another forum). We already know about all the rip-off options in France. This thread is specifically about the only non-rip-off option.

post deleted

[NFH]

Originally Posted by cris

I mean, have you noticed all the trouble (costs) you are going through to get the B&you sim card?

We are prepared to go to some trouble because B&You's SIM card is the best on the market for an occasional visitor to France. Most of us are high data users, and LeFrenchMobile's data charges and monthly fee (even if not used) are way too high. If you want to advertise LeFrenchMobile's high prices, please start your own thread instead of hijacking this thread.

[scirocco]

Originally Posted by NFH

We are prepared to go to some trouble because B&You's SIM card is the best on the market for an occasional visitor to France. Most of us are high data users, and LeFrenchMobile's data charges and monthly fee (even if not used) are way too high. If you want to advertise LeFrenchMobile's high prices, please start your own thread instead of hijacking this thread.

I'm not sure what you mean by "we". You don't speak for me. Many of the posters and readers on this forum are based outside France and Europe. For many of us, convenience and ease of obtaining the SIM and subscription outweigh the data and call costs. So I want to hear B&YOUs cons as well as pros, warts and all.

And no, I'm not spamming for LeFrench Mobile SIM, I use a Mobicarte, supposedly inferior for "occasional visits to France". So I'd like to hear about coverage for B&YOU. Runs on the BT network, yes? How does that compare with the "inferior" Orange product when you are on holiday in remote rural France and need to use the phone? There are some pretty big white areas on the BT coverage map, including the little village in the Pyrenees I go to each year that has Orange coverage.

[VladS]

Update on my eBay purchase. I got the SIM card in the mail all activated and registered in my name. The portal account was already setup with the email address I provided - all I had to do is change the password. Overall a very smooth transaction.

A word of warning for those interested in the card, the initial credit is only valid for 30 days. A minimum EUR10 top-up is required to get unlimited credit life (assuming one paid transaction every 365 days).

Calls to the top-up line (630) are free while in France but charged as a call back to France from anywhere else (EUR2.30/minute from Canada). There is an alternate top-up number you can call from any phone line for next to nothing - +33-981-660-630.

[NFH]

Originally Posted by VladS

A word of warning for those interested in the card, the initial credit is only valid for 30 days.

To be clear, it's 30 days from the first call, not from the date or purchase or activation. This is made clear in the T&Cs.

[NFH]

It seems I have found a solution. The costs would be as follows:

• €10 La Carte Cadeau from the French post office
• €9.80 for Ubidoca's Forfait Réexpédition Eco which includes 2 forwardings (excluding postage costs)
• €1.35 postage for forwarding of La Carte Cadeau
• €4.10 postage for forwarding of SIM cards up to 250g total
• €5.30 recorded delivery fee for forwarding of SIM cards with €150 insurance

The total of €30.55 would be shared amongst all of us, i.e. around €2.50 each with 12 of us. The onward postage from London to each recipient would be on top of this. Ubidoca seem a lot more accommodating than French Office.

If you're interested and I don't already have your e-mail address, please PM me.

[kuba.g]

Very good deal when there's 12 of us When can we start this?

[NFH]

Originally Posted by kuba.g

Very good deal when there's 12 of us When can we start this?

We can start when everyone sets up a B&You user account and sends me their e-mail address and password. Without this, I can neither make the order nor include them in the amount to be loaded on the prepaid credit card.