Avoiding Roaming Charges:

Pocket Wifi vs a French SIM Card

Europeans now have free Europe-wide roaming, and Americans with T-Mobile Magenta plans or Google-Fi subscriptions also get free international roaming… but everyone else will get absolutely killed with roaming charges, or else will spend their vacation running around on a hunt for free wifi.

There are two ways to stay connected on the cheap:

  • You can jump through hoops to get a French data sim card (see below)
  • Or the easiest way, especially for a 1 to 2-week trip, is to simply rent a pocket wifi for around 8€/day and get unlimited 4G/5G everywhere during your vacation for your whole entourage.  There are several companies that offer this, but the Nice Tourist Office (and other tourist offices around France) work with TravelWifi, so instead of having to figure out how to get it mailed to your airbnb, you instead can just pick it up from the tourist office when you arrive, which is a huge advantage.  And it comes with a prepaid envelope so you just drop it in the mail from the airport when you leave.  Easy peasy.

How to Order a Pocket Wifi

Travel Wifi pocket hot spot for unlimited wifi while travelling in France

  • Book it here in English and pay on-line.
  • Pick it up at the nearest tourist office when you arrive; it’s all set up and ready to go – just turn it on.
  • You get unlimited stable and fast 4G/5G internet and can connect the whole family with up to 10 devices.
  • It costs around 8€ a day, but you will easily drop 8€ in roaming charges the first time you look up a restaurant on the fly, so your pocket wifi will pay for itself every day.
  • At the end, you pop it in the prepaid envelope and drop it in the French mailbox at the airport. That’s it!

Everyone in your group can have access to their apps, do voice translation while out and about with Google Voice Translator, get an Uber from anywhere, check map distances and train schedules in real time, translate menus, convert currency or sizing… and keep the kids occupied with streaming and posting videos on social media, even from the beach.

It’s the most internet bang-for-the-buck with the least hassle.  I tested it personally before writing about it, and it was easy and seamless, and gave me a full strong connection everywhere, even for video conferencing, and streaming.

Going the French SIM Card Route

If you have an unblocked phone, you can  just walk in and buy a prepaid French SIM card from a phone boutique, an electronics store (Darty or FNAC) or even at a newsstand (tabac).  Of the 3 major phone operators, Bouygues has the weakest network connections, so stick with Orange or SFR as operators.  The best prepaid SIM card deal that doesn’t have to be pre-ordered is Orange Holiday which costs 40€ and is good for 30 days, and offers 30 Go internet anywhere you go in Europe, unlimited calls and texts in Europe, and 1000 free texts and 2 hours of calls to numbers back home (outside of Europe). You can also recharge the card on-line to add another week or 2 and it is good anywhere you travel in the Eurozone.

Another possibility, which is the better one if you plan to be here for a longer time, is to get a local French SIM card.  You’ll need an unblocked phone, so verify with your carrier in advance.  Here is a great article from the New York Times that explains this SIM card option is granular detail: A Comprehensive Guide to taking your Smart Phone Abroad for Cheap.

The best SIM card deals in France are online-only, with Sosh, SFR Red, and SFR-la-Carte.   The very best deal is with Free Mobile, which gives you unlimited worldwide calls plus 150 Go of 4G web use anywhere in Europe for just 19.99€/month with no commitment (‘sans engagement’ is the magic phrase here)… but there are a lot of catches:

  • The web site is only in French and difficult to navigate, especially when translated.  And every time you hit the back button or change anything, you have to start over.
  • If you have a new model phone (unblocked!!) you can get an instant eSIM, otherwise you’ll need a French address to get the hard SIM card by mail.
  • You will need a French IBAN number for the monthly fee (not just a credit card) so will need a French ‘account’ like with Revolut.
  • If something goes wrong, almost non-existent customer service

So now that effortless pocket-wifi is starting to sound pretty good…!

See related pages 

Back up to main Practicalities – Miscellaneous Page

Photo credit: Pocket wifi photo by Best of Nice

Comments are closed.