The last time I was in the UK I was able to ring a German mobile number free. I have the 4,95 deal.
Yes you should be able to do that.
Where you get clobbered now, is calling other places from France. You can call all EU and France (and UK which as captainendeavour says still seems to be given the honour of being treated as European by the telecoms)ā¦ from all EUā¦ but not from France, if you are homed in France, without either paying or some sort of option on the contract that includes this. With very rare exceptions such as some of the more specialist Lebara offerings and one or two of the Orange ones.
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I mentioned Lebara earlier but I think I got away with it.
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Ah ok seems like Iāve misunderstood European roaming then. Fingers crossed it wonāt be long until there is not distinction between calls in France and calls to Europeā¦
Iām with Sosh. The deal was cheaper for the 1st year, then went up to 30.99ā¬ - as they do.
I see that now. Amen to that
It seems bizarre to me, getting freee calls all over the place except from where oneās based. Thereās only one person I call thatās not on Wazzapp, other than 'adminācalls in FR, so moving to Reglo hasnāt helped there but at least my new deal is ā¬4 p.m cheaper than the Sosh deal. That pays for the mark-up on Sosh i/n for year 2
European operators only give free roaming on the Europe list because they are obliged to by European legislation - part of homogenising Europe- intra-Europe level terms of trade etc.
They explicitly donāt give free calls to the Europe list from your home Europe country because the legislation didnāt go so far as to cover that.
There were a nunber of providers that did include calls to Europe from France on some basis a few years back. Whether 1 hour or 2 hours per month- or could be more. Those all seem to have got pulled around 2 years after the no extra charges for calling whilst roaming in EU/on Europe list legislation came in.
So now itās possible but either niche- such as variants for including calls to a specified list of countries - apparently aimed at ethnic market needs offered by specialists such as Lebara- or Orangeās offerings- lists would be- say- Maghreb countries or some African countries- on offerings Iāve seen recently from France. Otherwise you are looking at much higher monthly tariffs before Europe calls may be included.
Also beware on some of those higher tariffs - the small print may say it only includes calls to fixed lines in the other country and not to mobiles there - that was always a trap to check for.
Interestingly ISTR many years agp checking in UK if I could port my much-loved landline number to a mobile network and was told yes.
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Hi Rachel Can you tell me if you can go to the store and get this plan or is it only online. I ask because the online port wonāt except my French bank card. Thank you.
Hi shaddy - welcome!
Iām sure you can get this done through any eclelerc store but I didnāt as I was able to complete it all online. Good luck.
Thank you for your answer.
Unfortunately, like in the UK, you have to ring up every year to negotiate another 12 month+ contract in return for a better deal. Iāve been doing this with my broadband provider for years, itās a faff but worth it every time
Are you in the UK or France? I didnāt think that would be possible here.
Hi, Iāve got mum here from Oz and weāve only just had a mobile conversation. She comes every year for around 3 months, mainly here but then goes elsewhere in Europe and the UK. I just found out when she is here she doesnāt have roaming but when she glgoes off she pays 25aud for 2 weeks roaming. Iāve suggested we get her a French sim. Is there anything that is pay as you go here that she can use here and in UK ect, mainly for internet but also for calls, particularly when away from here? We are thinking even if she has to pay 2.99 a month for reglo itās still worth it to have s French number for ease, even with airlines etc but pay as you go would be better.
Lebara, as mentioned previously
Thanks, sorry I did read but got a bit overwhelmed! So you mean French lebara?
Just looked and no pay as you go, only monthly. It says you donāt need a RIB ect though so canāt quite work out how it works!
Can only quote UK deals but although monthly there is no tie in beyond each month so by any other name its PAYG.
You give payment details then tick a box if you want it to renew automatically again next month. If you donāt tick that box then it doesnāt renew.
Just finished with Lebara so I know. I have no idea if they email to remind you to do it manually, or not as I was always automaric.
Box can be unticked anytime and stops any renewal immediately.
However from France to other EU or UK charges are higher - the free roaming is always between nonFrance EU countries and/or Uk - or from them TO France (not from). Dialling from France to those countries on a French SIM is going to get surcharged and work out expensive.
If you can live with that then nrjmobile is 3 euros for 5Gb a month, lebara cheap and wonāt renew if you didnāt tick the box, Youprice.fr also cheap but there are others. Others may not be as easy to Not Renew as Lebara.
Best SIM to have would be a nonFrench nonUK SIM. No surcharges calling to anywhere in EU or UK from France if, say, a German SIM.
Very few SIMs have inclusions or add-ons that get round this especially at the cheap end. I use Skype and I think others might use Whatsapp (those use data not voice so it works) if calling UK or other cointries, even EU, from France.
My UK Lebara sim gives 100 international call minutes per month included, is that not the same for a french Lebara sim?
No they donāt.
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Thanks Tory, not such a good deal in France then. I will stick with reglo in France 
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