Wouldn’t basic phone data be chargeable - checking emails updating notifications etc?
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Whilst you’re in France you have the phone set to use your French sim card as the ‘primary’ sim to be using for calls, texts, data. The UK ‘secondary’ sim is there to receive texts, but if for whatever reason you need to call using the UK sim and number you can override to use the secondary sim for a call.
The default set up should be to use the French sim as ‘primary’, so effectively you’re not using the UK sim except to receive texts.
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No need to worry at all, @SuePJ - it’s just working as you wanted. @larkswood12 has described the situation beautifully! You do get a few free texts to start with, or at least I did, and then roaming charges kick in and you pay 10p per text out of your £10 (or whatever) balance.
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Yes data is charegeable! I didn’t mention it because @SuePJ only wanted to receive texts - you make a good point.
Sue - make sure your mobile data is off - best to turn off roaming data too! Otherwise you could use up your PAYG balance in minutes!
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Thanks for the info but sorry - no idea what that means or how I do it. 
Ah! It may not be a smartphone, if its a basic phone. i.e. no ‘apps’. Apps use data - 3G, 4G. If no apps then no data? Can the phone be connected to wireless?
What make and model is it? These functions will be in ‘settings’
It is. Samsung A21s. Just that I just have no interest in it, rarely use it and have no idea about any of its settings and what most of the rest of you take for granted - sorry. Hence my naïve questions. 
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Ah, That’s definitely a smartphone - looks not too shabby either if you like Android!
there’s instruction manuals and stuff on the Samsung internet site, from what I can see you go to
Settings, then
Connections, then
Data usage then you see
Mobile data – slide button leftwards to off.
my instructions not guaranteed obviously, I have an apple phone, hopefully someone else on the site has that model or similar, and maybe you could get a friend to check that mobile data is turned off?
hope that helps.
Edit - I see you have a dual sim model! Whoops. Fancy! In which case maybe you have to simply select the sim to use for calls, texts and mobile data? Instructions have this -
Connections → SIM card manager.
• Calls: Select a SIM or USIM card for voice calls.
• Text messages: Select a SIM or USIM card for messaging.
• Mobile data: Select a SIM or USIM card for data services.
Hi @larkswood12 thanks so much for this. I wouldn’t even have known where to start. Yes, the dual card thing is useful. One for France, one for the UK. Preference for the French one except when bank contacting me. 
By the way, what is mobile data?
Calls and texts I obviously do understand but not mobile data.
I think that’s browsing the web etc - anything that isn’t calls or texts!
Do you use any “apps” - they’ll probably eat up data
as an example, take using a browser for example for survive France. You can browse this site using the browser on your phone. If the phone is connected to your wireless router (WiFI) (your Internet connexion) it will use that connexion to load SF pages and upload your posts. Just the same way as a computer.
Mobile data is where the phone will use the mobile SIM connexion to download and upload pages. this is usually when you don’t have the wifi Internet connexion avaiable, for example when you are out and about.
The data is not being supplied by your Internet provider, but by your phone provider through the SIM - and your phone contract.
in the case of pay as you go, giffgaffs data tarrif is Mobile data, 10p/MB - so inadvertent use of the giffgaff SIM for any of the applications on the phone, for example browsing SF will rapidly result in your 10 pounds being used up!
I’m guessing you’re not using the browser on your phone or any other applications, but lots of them do use data in the background so best to make sure data is turned off -at least for the giffgaff SIM.
does your other SIM contract have a mobile data allowance in its plan? (assuming you have a plan on this one)
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I do have a plan, and no idea. I must look and see what my settings are. Another naïve question, sorry about this - can I have different settings for each card?
No, except, occasionally, bird net and Deepl - that was when I only had my French sim. I think I’ve tried to look at SF about twice and given up. Much easier on my PC.
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It looks like it - but I think you’d just set all to your French SIM plan. There are screens which show usage also so you can get an idea of how much data you’re using with your French plan or probably from the french plan on-line usage screen.
That way you can check if you’re on the right plan for France! I get periodic e-mails from giffgaff - “Good news your usage is zero - you’re on the right plan! (PAYG)”
Good heavens larkswood - thanks for the info. When I get a mo, perhaps I ought to get to know my smart phone better. 
Not sure if it’s said above the problem is apps do things in background without you asking them to do so. Suddenly you can find a huge bill for data or what you paid on PAYG is gone. There are ways of setting things to mitigate this but you can never be sure.
Example similar to this is if you travel near a border and your phone picks the stronger signal behind the tree in Alsace which marks the border with Switzerland. You are then officially roaming as calls you make are sent as though you are in CH and this can cost a lot more.
Or recent examples where people’s phones lost the UK signal a while after their ferry left Dover and not yet near enough for a French signal so their phone connected to a satellite signal instead. If a rogue app decides it needs to update its directories or consume other data you can be in for £00’s if on contract or lose all prepaid if PAYG
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An alternative option, which no-one else seems to use but I do, is that I have the cheapest possible simple non-smart phone for my “doing the bank in the UK” stuff and most of the time it’s switched off or sitting at home. Perhaps you’ve got a really old phone you could use for that purpose, @SuePJ ?
I tried a two-in-one phone thing and didn’t get on with it. To be fair, my partner does OK with his but then neither sim is operating in a “Smart” environment.
As I’ve got the 2 SIM option I’ll see how I get on - no idea where any of our old phones have gone.
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Just an update and a bit more help if possible please.
Giffgaff is working well for me and so far as I’m aware on my pay as you go plan each text I send to a UK number is costing me 1p.
Because all has gone well for me OH asked me to set him up and I’ve put his SIM into his phone today. He too is just on pay as you go and I put in £10 (same as mine). I think somewhere along the line I turned off my notifications and didn’t do so for him. We’ve sent a couple of texts to a friend in the UK just to confirm it’s all working and immediately after the texts have gone he’s had a notification from Giffgaff that the text has cost him 10p.
Has anyone with giffgaff come across this and can advise please? If not, I’ll contact giffgaff tomorrow to find out why the difference and if possible get him onto 1p per text.
Thanks for any help. Sue