I WANT TO USE MY IPHONE IN FRANCE (stamps foot)

[Shattereddreams]

My google searches show me nothing about getting an affordable way to have data while there.

I just want day to day iPhone browsing, I like listening to my local radio station via their app etc.

Please some one geek me up on how to pre-purchase this??

Which network are you with?

Three mobile - thanks for response!

Ok, so on three's website here they seem to have a step by step guide to how much it will cost and how to activate roaming.

Thanks for link but that is using my phone via UK and costs a bomb.

I pay £10 a month here for 500mb of data. How do I buy this in France? Ie make my phone French for a while? Does it need to be unlocked? Will some providers work abroad?

I don't need my phone number. Can I buy a payg French sim? Preloaded with data charge?. From London before I go? (Asking a lot I know). Surely this is do-able?

Will you have wifi, ever, while you're there?

The easiest and cheapest way to do this, afaik, is to get, and use, a mifi - this is portable wifi, basically. It needs its own sim card, but you get a data only plan, iyswim, and you can use a French data-only sim if you want.

If you want to put a French sim in your iPhone, well first, you'll have to ensure your phone isn't locked to 3. Second, you'll need to get a mini-sim in France. I don't know how hard it is to get PAYG sims there - it seems to vary from country to country. This page is probably useful.

What about a french payg mobile broadband dongle and take a laptop?

Don't do it. Activating data roaming will be a recipe for disaster.

Your iphone will be locked to 3 so you can't get another SIM to use in your phone.

The simplest option really is to get a mifi like suggested above. But to be honest I've always managed to live with just wifi when abroad. There's bound to be a cafe or hotspot around.

Move to O2! They have a newish thing where data roaming in Europe costs £1.99 per calendar day, up to 25mb data per day. Great for places where WiFi seems unheard-of (Lisbon!)

DH says Vodafone have similar deal but slightly different terms.

If you can get your phone unlocked, the orange payg mobicarte is good but its a bit of a faff to set up (google "mobicarte option internet max") gives you a months data for ?9 but doesn't include email (but you can use webmail instead). Also it can eat your credit in seconds if you havent activated it properly.