Hi, I vist a second home 4/5 times a year and find it’s useful to have a French mobile number, so signed up for a SIM card with LeFrench Mobile. Now they’re closing, but I can port the number to another company. I’d like a simple, pay as you go SIM as I hardly ever need to make calls or use internet, it’s more for French admin, forms, etc. Can anyone recommend a simple, inexpensive, top up as needed, non contract SIM? Many thanks.
If you don’t mind paying €1.50 a month, LeclercMobile is the way to go. I even keep Fran’s phone topped up now even though it hasn’t been used in years. Just in case.
Thank you Dave, that sounds an excellent solution. Presumably I can buy one in store? Or do I order online?
I am sure you can do it online but I got mine in a Leclerc supermarket. Online they call it Reglomobile.
Easy to recharge online too, I stick a tenner on mine once it gets below €10, and €5 on Fran’s when that drops below that.
At €1.50 a month I think it is worth keeping hers on, never know when it might come in handy although she will never be able to use it.
Thank you for taking the trouble to explain the details. I have a Leclerc nearby so I’ll investigate. Always good to have a contingency, and some online sites seem to stall without a French number to input.
We have both had Réglo Sims since 2018 when we were first coming to France as second home owners, and we applied online. No French mobile was required to apply online fortunately, since obtaining one was the entire purpose of the exercise! A friend who recently obtained her Réglo sim applied in store and reported it was very simple and quick (the usual ID and justificatifs required).
Two things to perhaps bear in mind. One is that Réglo constantly produce new offers (not a problem) but it may be that those of us with existing deals find they can’t be replicated by others currently. I see from Réglo’s site that they currently seem to offer deals from 4.95€ a month upwards. The other point frequently made by people who use Réglo is that you need to ensure you can get good SFR coverage where you want to use your phone, as Réglo ‘piggybacks’ off the SFR network.
We’ve used Réglo with no service complaints and would recommend them, subject to the coverage point above.
It’s worth checking what coverage you have where you are. We bought Reglo SIMs which are on the SFR network and discovered afterwards we had no signal at our house. Leclerc were good and refunded our money. We are with SOSH, which is Orange’s cheap SIM because we have Orange cover here. I also have Giffgaff for UK calls.
Thanks George and Sue. So I will definitely check coverage (off topic, our village has just found TV fame on France 1 because all the new high speed internet cabling was nicked, so no phone or internet of any kind for over 2 weeks!)
And I also saw that Regio aren’t currently advertising a pay as you go SIM, just the €4.95 deal. I will visit my nearest store to check.
Appreciate your help.
Que Choisir is like Which in the UK, so independent (theoretically).
Thank you, I’ll take a look at that site.
Why pay as you go? I started out with a Free 2 euro a month account eleven or twelve years ago and I still have it and they’ve been faultless. They are a real telco, it’s their core business, not a supermarket or some other business that could get out of the market at the drop of the hat.
Now, in addition to our 2 euro line on one local mobile we also have three other 20 euro a month full lines, two for routers in the house and another for a mobile we roam with. I don’t understand why folk muck about with mickey mouse carriers when Free is reliable and cheap.
To be fair John, that isn’t really the case with Leclerc, it is really RegloMobile and if Leclerc’s stopped selling the chips somebody else would, or you could simply get them online, along with the whole service.
In fact if you Google LeclercMobile you go straight to Reglo.
I’m happy to get a monthly contract if it’s inexpensive - my UK plan currently gives me sufficient included roaming for calls and internet, so I just want the French SIM for a French phone number. An easy top up PAYG or cheap monthly option would be equally good, so I’ll investigate Free too. Thanks all, I think I have loads of info now.